4 Steps for Running an Evil D&D Campaign (without it blowing up in your face) 

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It's amazing when the evil rogue decides to backstab the party and proceeds to be thoroughly shocked after he gets deleted by the evil wizard casting Hold Person and the evil paladin critting him with a smite.

I think you just need the right people with their characters having motivations that don't clash. My friend was the evil party leader, a cleric who wanted to "rule the world". My evil elven multiclassed character (old AD&D rules) was a thug who happily killed anyone the cleric asked him to. Since we had few players, we had multiple characters. My friend also had a wizard ('magic-user" back then) who wanted to also rule the world, but not in the same way as the cleric, so no problem--the world is a big enough place to share. My other character was a monk who simply wanted to run an evil monastery. He was a silent killer who was happy to let fate take him on its journey. We never once betrayed each other, we were not murder hobos, and we had a great deal of fun.

I've only played one 'evil' campaign, and it was a supervillains campaign. We kept our villainy to what could be depicted in a comicbook and worked together as a team. The GM got frustrated with us because we wouldn't commit bombastic crimes like rob the jewelry exhibit at the art museum because that would attract superheroes.

Bonus: While you can do the "Lair defense" ordeal, evil campaigns can still run "mostly" like a normal campaign, just more player driven. Because while the players may be wanting to accomplish their own goals, they still need to clear that hag-infested dungeon to get those off their backs, uncover the ancient ruins to find the macguffin so they can progress their own goals, and either hire help, or sabotage the "good guys" who are going to say "no, we don't want you here."

The Code Of Conduct caused me to remember Matt Colville using the Corleones from The Godfather trilogy as the best example of Lawful Evil. Very much not nice people, but they all follow a strict set of rules.

Way of the Wicked. PF campaign. Goes 1-20. PCs are a cell of a Cult of Asmodeus. Had a great time running it. Evil triumphed. It was so good it inspired not one but two good campaigns to try and take back the kingdom. Ended in an epic battle Royal between 2 20th level parties. It came down to one on each side with evil winning with 16hp remaining. It's been a few years and my players have requested I run it again. Looking forward to it.

I think you can still use all the nasty creatures in the Monster Manual. Evil groups come into conflict with each other all the time! They could be fighting liches and beholders, since these creatures are equal opportunity bad guys. They do not exclusively attack good-aligned characters.

I've only played one evil campaign and sadly it only ran a couple of sessions due to the scheduling spiral of doom. Mostly our evilness was just the party being more snarky to each other than usual. 😂

The main difference between a good party and an evil one, is that the latter has very few restrictions in how they will achieve their goals. We are still playing DnD. We don't get a free pass to destroy everything in our wake, we just have characters that are not shackled by morals.

My DM is running two campaigns in the same setting, one good, one evil. I'm lucky to be in both and it's fun to see how they cause issues for each other.

Lol, I was just scrolling. Glaced at the thumbnail and thought it said "Evil Dead" campaign and I was like hell yeah, that sounds like a game I want to get tips on running. It' was still a great video, but now I really want info on what I thought it was 🤣.

there was one DnD campaign i ran where i had 5 people who wanted to play but one of them literally couldn't play when the rest could, so i thought maybe him being the antagonist would be fun. he was a necromancer trying to take over the region, we both played table top war games so during our off week (we play every other week) i would invite him over he would say what he was going to do (attack certain villages, move certain forces) and we would use custom stat cards for our minis to play out how the battle went. the campaign week came and the players got news of what the necromancers most recent activities were if they asked around. this created a cat a mouse game with a built in timer, for the longer the necromancer played the larger his army became and the more he could do. the players really liked it as did my villain friend and it was a fun an unique experience to DM but a lot of work to set up and even more to keep going.

I run one of these once every 5 or 10 years where I lift the alignment barrier and put evil on the table. I did that for Ravenloft and it went a solid year and dissolved with an actual ending, it didn’t fizzle. I put it in no uncertain terms that if you betray the party you’ll become an npc. You can pursue your own interest but the moment you attack a pc or actively work against the group you’re an npc and will play another character As far as when you do pursue your own interest whenever the PCs dip off I narrate what they do if it’s off book and may make them roll one die roll, tell them how it went and put them back on the main course. I don’t really have boundaries, but if you insist on doing things the group doesn’t like, if you can’t accept me giving it 10 seconds of a narration and if the group as a whole is like hell no then you should either play another character or go in peace. Playing a good evil campaign needs fairly mature players if it’s to endure

Even if you are not running a evil campaign this is pretty good advice for players who are playing as a evil character or for DM's who are running a game where there is a evil character in there campaign

Best evil campaign I played, one Lawful Evil Conquest Paladin more or less rose to "the boss" quickly. I played a Chaotic Evil Warlock. Was there tension? Yes, in that we frequently debated the best course of action, with the paladin coming up with complex schemes my warlock favoring "let's just throw a barlgura in there and play it by ear". But we agreed on a plan -- and sometimes it was barlgura -- and carried it out, because my warlock knew the list of powerful people who would tolerate his eccentricities and keep him from the hangman's noose was dangerously short, and he didn't want to make it shorter.

Me and my group are currently playing an evil campaign, and so far it's a blast. It's set in an homebrew world where basically good prevails after a crusade against evil, and so we kinda have to act in an clandestine manner to not get wiped by hordes of paladins. Thus, necessity arise for us to work together, because only by our own we cannot hope to survive in this world. We are doing a sort of base/kingdom building kind of campaign in order to, in the future, wage war against the good aligned empire, but doing so requires a lot of money and minions that we slowly acquire by going on adventures. Interracting with minions, giving them orders and ocasionnaly remind them who is the boss is a really good adition compared to a good aligned campaign, and since me and my mates need to work together, we naturally came to what you describe in the video: no backstabing and no pvp. I'd say evil campaigns are a thing to do when you already have a bit of experience in rolepaly, and you want to try something else. It requires more discipline and a lot of communication in order for it to not backfire, but the difference in storytelling, character developpement and goals you try to achieve makes it really worth it.

Waterdeep Dragon Heist has quests for Zhent characters. Without spoilers, those quests felt fantastic as the goals were evil, like murdering a snitch. Using those as guidelines is a great start.

My last evil campaign worked out amazingly. It came about by 3 of the 5 players wanting to be a rogue. Basically it was different thieves guilds competing. It was a D&D Diplomacy game. I was amazed it worked out so well. The players made it work. I definitely don’t recommend an evil campaign for everyone, but it was fun.

Great advice on the table expectations and limits. I ran an evil campaign that was tons of fun. I explained to all the players that EVIL doesn't mean any character has to be down with murder. Just like real life there are plenty of criminals that could be called evil that never kill anybody. Also evil in the game sense just means that someone might resort to an evil act to achieve their goals. For instance, one of the characters in the game was seeking justice for a dark past that was thrust upon them. While this character would never go out of their way to do anything EVIL they were perfectly willing to torture someone if they needed to. This only applied specifically to gaining information or other things directly related to bringing those involved in their past to justice.

I once ran an Evil campaign that ran fairly well, it was set in the Dragonlance setting just after the War of The Lance, with an alternate timeline there on. All the PC's had to have the goal of aspiring Dragon Highlord, having a reason to why that was, and one other goal specific to their character during creation, with the first "quest" having them set off to restore Takhisis influence back in the world (In the campaign after her defeat she was unable to influence the world, and one of the PC's a priestess of Takhisis had a relic [A ruby which was actually formed from Takhisis's blood from when Huma Dragonbane struck her during the Third Dragon War] which allowed the priestess to maintain her cleric powers and communicate with the goddess for some direction).

I have run evil campaigns before and honestly it did not start out that way because very few evil people start out evil. Through a series of questionable and selfish choices the players started to become less and less concerned with authority and used their power and influence to manipulate others for their own selfish reasons. The rogue created an arms dealing empire and sold weapons to both sides of a war. The fighter acted as a mercenary for the rogue’s criminal cartel only to build his own blackwater esque band of sell swords. The wizard got deeply into necromancy and became a vampire turning the princess who was responsible for a series of massacres into his undead queen. The druid reduced a series of villages and an entire town of 3000 people into a forest to “save the planet.” Lastly the paladin became a death knight thanks to the murder if his younger sister and went on a quest to exact revenge on the prince of a neighboring country. He slew the prince and took over as overlord of the realm. They went this way because they thought it would be interesting and it was. The region is now under strict totalitarian law and they have ambitions to expand southward toward the Holy Empire of Keldor. A land ruled by a silver dragon who worships the sun god. They have sense made minion characters to do their bidding but the primary characters are still involved in many of the larger issues.

Surprisingly we played once "four individual campaigns" and it was awesome! We played some old vtm, and after initiation everyone goes and do their own business. One illegally lived with Nosferatu woman under the bridge, coz prince was mad at him. Another opened night dental clinic, but apprentice find out she was a vampire and kidnapped her to find out secret of eternal life. One dude swear loyalty to prince, but fell in love with sabbath spy and constantly was teared apart between this two feelings. Last was malkavian who saw how world would be in 2000 and try to prophesies it in his own mad words in 1584. Everyone desperately wanted to know other stories and was invested in each individual part. Never I was able to recreate that experience unfortunately...

An alternative to making the players have a proactive goal is to flip the usual script and make the good guys proactive. The king has mobilized his army to eradicate the thieves guild and the seedy underground is in shambles, church inquisitors are seeking a powerful relic to kill your party’s evil god, a nationwide zone of truth is interfering with various nefarious deeds, etc.

Great content! PVP= bad, no common goals= bad (5 games at once is HARD) The GM can still influence character actions and goals. How the players do it will still be up to them and failure to meet goals can be more harsh for the bad guys. Below are ideas your great video made me think about. 1. Consequences consequences consequences 2. BBEG is the "Godfather" mafia/cartel power structure a. what is the power/money making scheme 3. Who is the Big Good Good Guy and how do they maintain their power and control? 4. Defend against City Guard raids- defend the dungeon 5. Corrupting the good guys to further the business goals 6. Evil may not be evil they could just have different views from the current power structure 7. The evil characters could be rich aristocrats imposing control over the weak minded good guys a. bad guys don't always have to live in the sewer b. the religious power wants to take over the government c. lawyers corrupting the laws to serve their goals (RP combat using a pen) some home brew may be needed 1. create 5 goals for the party to complete each successful completion gives a bonus to a roll for a congressional vote which is the deadline of the 5 goals a. goals = different types of skill challenges

not really an evil campaign per se, but i started exploring the concept of "the heroes don't win and maybe some of them switch sides" and turned that into a 15k word start to a fantasy novel

12:05 fantastic guidance on getting players to take agency

For pre-written adventures, take a look at the "Way of the Wicked" adventure path for Pathfinder 1e. It's a pretty good example of an evil campaign and ways to keep the PCs on track (they're part of an evil organization). Book 2 has a major dungeon-defense focus as well

I do want to try and make an evil campigne where the players are playing as a grunt for what would normally be the BBEG, but as they achived more they start to rise up the ranks, and maybe some of the higher-ups start noticing it and become rivals to them and try to make them mess up or outright try and kill them. That or a group of a small amount of "monstrous" species that want to pillage the locals to make their own lair

The tip about not having individual RP with separate goals comes up alllllllll the times in my group. For whatever reason my fellow players really have a thing for making little clandestine trips for things that aren't particularly secret.

"Flaming, burning flames...and stuff" is my new favorite phrase! As for evil campaigns, I'm in one now of a sort. We're all Warforged (no connection to living races) mercenaries (only loyal to each other...and money) who have gone 'off-book' (we nearly died in an early mission and haven't been back to let the commanders know that we're still alive) for our own benefit. It's been wonderful fun so far and while we didn't arrange ahead of time to be so self-centered but it's worked out well organically. We have more rules than many other 'evil' groups (we don't support slavery and we have a fondness for animals and children) but outside of those, we're all about 'kill them all and take their stuff.'

Been running a naughty adventure with my group. Sent this to them. Hope they take a bit of control. This is the type of thing I had in mind for them

One suggesting I remember reading a while back is to start the game with the PCs working for some sort of crime lord, or other big bad. Provide a little structure at the beginning while everyone settles into the idea of baddies, but run the game with the assumption that the players will eventually turn on their boss once they feel they are strong enough to do so.

Thanks for this video. Currently running an Eberron-esq campaign for the last 2yrs, with all evil or neutral PCs. We’ve all played together for about 8 years, so all very aware of each others boundaries and play styles. Definitely important when characters still need some cohesion. I can’t imagine trying to run an evil game with people I haven’t known for quite some time, but with some strict use of boundary tools this could probably also be mitigated. This experience definitely fits into your points first point. On Part 2: I’ve definitely found it a bit more challenging than anticipated as a DM to pivot hooks to appeal to evil characters. My game started with a mixed alignment party, and gradually formed into an exclusively evil/neutral party with two characters peeling off and two new ones joining. You’re very right that the planning has changed to session to session based, other than maybe the overall BBEG’s moves and lore stuff. Evil vs evil so far is still the bread and butter, but great points about mixing in more creature types of good and evil. As a DM, I’ve found enjoyment in making the world feel like something that should be wrecked in the PCs own special way.

I'm currently running an evil campaign that's more satirical and comical in nature (think like month python or Overlord 2). We still have the same codes of conduct and social Contract, but it's basically an opportunity for my players to run a little wild and cause shenanigans and destruction to very over the top and kinda moronic "good guys." They do play villains but I don't know if counts as a true "evil" campaign since it is just meant to be more comical and free form? Anyway we are all having a ton of fun with it

Finding out what everyone's limits are and not allowing them is good for any game. I think it's an essential part of any session zero. I'd advise DMs to also allow players to send their list of limits to them privately as well because not everyone is comfortable telling their limits to the whole group. The DM does not need to say who's limits are whose, just "these things are not in this game".

A great idea for an evil campaign is conquest, and it would play out something like the anime Overlord. Your party is a group that, for one reason or another, wants to conquer the land. But while they are strong, they'd need to build armies. So they have to go out and find ways to either recruit or subjugate (usually the latter) their minions. That cave of goblins? Kill the Hobgoblin or bring the Hobgoblin under your control by mundane or magical means. Need a powerful dragon? Find ways to capitulate with a chromatic, or find a means to magically enslave them. Need some demonic power? Find what you need to forge a pact and try to outwit the devil so the pact they agree to benefits you far more than them and puts them into a trap with loopholes or vague wording. And all the while, the more power you grow, the more the nations will start noticing what's going on and try to stop you.

Idea: Evil Campaign where the players know they will be making the bad guys for the future good guys they'll ultimately use to take down

I don't remember much our evil campaign except that I played a rogue cultist who was told by his cult leader that his job was to support the other players with succeeding in their goals, as each goal accomplished brought my god closer to succeeding in manifesting and taking control. So if the other PC'S succeeded then I was succeeding

I worked my dm for my evil character that we worked into a break I had to take. Essentially the character was possessed by the bbeg (an eldritch entity called the eye if I remember correctly) and the character stayed with the party as it wanted to keep an eye on potential threats

That cliffhanger, nice. Okay you got me… on to the next one. Good DM’s always leave us wanting more.

The novel Villains by Necessity by Eve Foreward, is a perfect example of an EVIL campaign! (Living after the victory of Good and Light has transformed the world into a utopia, a bored band of villains--a thief, an assassin, a black knight, a druid, a man-eating sorceress and a centaur that is a spy for good--conspire to restore evil to the planet that is on its way to destruction)

Hi there first time commenting, just wanted to say your videos have given me the confidence to run a game of my own thanks for your great work!

The evil campaign I'm working on is in my world there is an archdevil who is very powerful but alone in his attempt to overtake Asmodeus and rule the hells. The players become his minions and they accomplish tasks by killing opposing devils and politicking all while their master works his way to the top of the food chain. Allows me to still use the monster manual and gives the players a direction and reason to stick together. They of course can still have their own personal goals that can be worked towards along the way.

As interesting as an evil campaign would be, I don't think I could do it. I cannot even play evil on video games with an "evil" option 😅 . The most I think I could do is have misunderstood characters blamed for evil acts and have to fight against whatever power labeled them as evil.

FINALLY! Thank you for uploading this! I'm so excited to see potential ideas for an evil campaign!

21:00 Soon I'm going to run a modern villain campaign, and the way I found to use the creatures is simple: The bad guys, the players, gained power through some voodoo and dark magic shit. this obviously makes them much more powerful than normal people, so the way the good guys found to face the villains is also to use magic, summoning and controlling creatures and using their powers, so all creatures can be humanoid but still use the creature stats. This can also generate some cool enemies, like a guy with tentacles coming out of his arms and that uses mental attacks

Mafia or yakuza families are a good analogue for Evil alignments. If the party has difficulty making up their own "evil" ambitions, being members of--or even freelance contractors for--a crime family or syndicate can provide a steady stream of adventure hooks. The only key difference between such a campaign and a heroic one is that the characters are less interested in some "greater good." They MIGHT even save the world or aid the "Good Guys," but only because there is some commensurate gain in it. Also, by D&D alignment standards, mercenaries are technically "evil." Their motivation is primarily personal gain rather than making the world a better place. A roving party of adventurers in search of the DM's next adventure hook for fun and profit won't be terribly different from a stock heroic campaign adventure party except for the degree of profit focus.

I did an evil campaign once, pretty early in my DM career. It was fairly basic at the core with a long-term goal being tied to one of the PCs (who ended up being sort of a driving force behind the overall campaign as many of the PCs were mostly psychos who didn't had much in terms of actual goals ^^'). The story started in a prison when one of the PCs allowed themselves to be caught to spring another PC and the rest kinda "tagged along". Once they escaped, they were roped into assisting the "important PC" to retrieve his criminal empire; first they needed to smuggle themselves out of the area, had a few encounters with evil-aligned enemies along the way, raided a tomb and then played "cat and mouse" with the "main PC" competitors... at the end of which the party betrayed the "main PC" to take over themselves (this was actually a cool way to close that, particular story arc as the player playing said "main PC" wouldn't be available for games anymore so it was a fitting outro for him). Everyone liked the campaign, but after every story arc or so we took a break from it, because both myself and players found it VERY difficult to have a a-hole centered story where the "protagonists" - most of them anyway - had no reservation about killing innocents, burning houses and overall be as unpleasant as possible ^^' I'm so glad I had a different party of PC (played by the same players) eventually hunt the evil-aligned party to end that story ^^'

I am currently running an evil campaign, so this video is perfect for giving me ideas on how to proceed.

I’ve been want to see a all Drow party live campaign set in start in the Underdark in Forgotten Realms in modern day DR. The idea is the the Drow party are from a Drow City like Menzoberranzan or say Ched Nassad or even Sshamath. Giving the Drow characters a Dark background but opening the possibilities to be come say a guardians of the galaxy, like adventuring party in the future, as things come together🕷️🕸️💯

I've been thinking of running a "Suicide Squad" scenario against a backdrop of the Planescape setting. A Lawful Evil organization (most likely the Mercykillers) have imprisoned the PCs, who are not necessarily evil but certainly could be, and can even be fiends and other monstrous creature types. The Mercykillers send the PCs on missions against the forces of chaos and/or good, to further their goals. The PCs can have individual goals, and also a shared goal of eventually breaking free of the magical geas that binds them to the service of the Mecykillers, and probably exacting revenge on them if they do break free (that would presumably be the campaign end point).

My first evil campaign had my players start as forest bandits with their own cool little cave, now this game had zero overall story at the start and i heavily emphasized player rp (they're good at it for the most part) and i shaped the story around that. This campaign went on to be one of there favorites and lasted for a little over 6 or so months playing weekly and just last week they begged me to restart that world in a new timeline. Also long story short the old campaign started with them as bandits ans ended with them exterminating the Aarokocrins in a war with the dwarfs and destroying Waterdeep with a Mythallar powered nuclear bomb and offered it to Eldritch gods in return for power. Now they just started as a small band of 40k themed Orks and the adventure begins anew

I've not run an evil campaign but have run quite a few evil one-shots of drow cultists working to revive Lolth after Vhaeraun came into power and took over the drow civilization. It's been a lot of fun and has even inspired adventures for the main campaign I run.

11:00 Bribery is a thing in 5E... It can give a modifier to persuasion. Many will be tempted by the bribe and be more inclined to do something that they are being overpaid for. Some will be insulted. I make a note on NPC cards as to how bribery might influence the NPC.

In my experience, a better approach for an evil campaign is to have all the characters in the service of an organization or overlord. The evil overlord then sends the characters on missions with no guidance but a clear objective. Get it done, I don’t care how! And do not let anyone know who is responsible. That give plenty of agency and accountability in any the manage framework.

I ran a one shot that was meant to be a full evil campaign but I was very proud of my one player for burning 3 houses down and framing one of the locals

Honestly backstabbing and betrayal happens all the time in evil groups irl. Betraying and backstabbing other people for personal gain is kind of a defining aspect for being evil, which is also a major reason why evil groups often are not very sustainable. On the flipside, things like bribing, brown-nosing and the expectation of absolute loyalty to each other are what often holds up evil groups. It's important to remember: Very often, genuine teamwork as also in the best interest from an entirely selfish point of view. The difference for evil people is that the primary reason for these things is the express expectation the others will pay back their deed, with the threat of the cooperation rapidly being replaced with sabotage. Honestly the party dynamics of a campagin where everyone is evil probably looks pretty much the same as what would be expected from a good campagin, but everything is framed in a selfish and, well, evil way.

my players don't usually get super hurt about dnd pvp. I'm very glad they're mature enough to be able to handle it. That said, it has only worked for narrative reasons that i specifically called on that didn't have lethal stakes.

I ran two different games for two different groups, The first groups was evil, they built multiple breweries all over the sword coast, once their empire was established they started poisoning the alcohol, at first one or two barrels every other brewery, then slowly over the course of a few month's poisoned more and more, causing thousands of fatalities, The second group were heroes, investigating the sudden rise in death's and managed to trace it all the way to the first group, eventually leading to a great battle where both groups faced off against each other, the heroes succeeding in stopping the evil group, but with quite a few casualties, the final battle was great fun to run, but was quite the task to set up and get all 10 players around the same table.

I just got the shirt you are wearing for Christmas 😂 Oh yeah, also a great video 😊

The secret to an evil game, keep the player's pathologies aimed outside the group.

Haven't done that yet, but I plan to run a very short campaign (around 3 sessions) where the players will retrieve a book with cursed knowledge to their Master - this book was even a MacGuffin in a previous campaign. Then, I'll do our next big campaign and use the characters they created for this evil campaign as a party of BBEGs for them to fight against

I've only really played in one evil campaign. We played as a sort of "found family" that was like a crime family in a major city. So we agreed that we were all on the same side, but the gloves were off for any competition. Honestly, just because of who we are, we didn't do that much that was "evil" so much as "criminal" so it really didn't feel that different from our other campaigns. It worked out pretty well for a while. I don't remember why we quit playing that game, but it didn't implode (the word is implode btw, not emplode).

i don't allow people to split into more than 2 groups and it's only to investigate, gather info, or shop [which will be shorten to buy what you want and if they want to try to lower cost a cha check]

In my campaign my party is currently morally questionable (fighting an evil government but using explosives somewhat carelessly) and they are about to move to essentially evil because my party necromancer wants to raise an army and invade the kingdom the players are from. However, one of the players is still loyal to his king and will most likely betray them. This sort of stuff will probably turn out fun for my group but it could cause problems in a lot of other groups. This is basically pvp on a more grand scale and I think you should be careful with it the same way, but it can be super fun when done right.

Likes for the RU-vid God, Comments for the Algorithm Throne One idea for an evil campaign I had was the PCs serve your typical evil overlord (for various backstory reasons) who leads a standard dark army, and each adventure involves them going to a location in the army's path and prepping it to be taken. Theyd have a great degree of freedom here, and it would culminate each time in the battle for the city, fort, etc., with the player's implementing their plans and preparations. Basically evil secret agents.

I have a campaign with 7 players. I have 1 player who has a problem with detailed gore and talk of suicide. So, even though I am a DM that enjoys gruesome graphic detail, I avoid it. I want my table to be welcoming to all of my players. Last year I ran Evil v Good campaign. 2 groups of good and 2 groups of evil. I was player in one of the one good-aligned ones and one of the players from my good campaign ran the the other campaign. The point of it was to have new players play and learn how the game goes before eventually a PvP takes off. Since I was running the majority of the campaigns, I decided to make it simple for myself: the campaigns would take place in Neverwinter (since I had a map of the city). Each group consists of 4-5 players each. The good side's BBEG was a halfling baker (Ms Potts will using the dead for food ingredients). The evil side's main villain was the leader of the Holy Faction residing in town that was looking into the recent missing of citizens. Eventually, both sides learning of each other and race to a magical artifact that raise the dead at the city's festival where half of the citizens were poisoned to death. Unfortunately, we were able to finish it because it ended evenly. One of the evil groups and one of the good groups died/lost. But everyone had a lot of fun and two of the people involved (1 from the good and 1 from the evil) joined my personal D&D Discord server. Years before, I was playing in a Red Wizard campaign (3.5). The players played a red wizard (except for one player who wanted to play a thrall instead). We were traveling and came upon an inn and decided to stay for the night. Only that there were no available rooms for the night, so I opened a upper level window, levitated up and into the window. We enslaved any patron that we didn't outright kill. Any non-evil character immediately turned evil after that decision. It was a proud player moment for me, since it was my idea to enslave and retaliate to being turned away.

The War of the Spider Queen books showcases what an evil campaign could look like.

True about the code of conduct. In real life the most evil people are those who convince others that they are moral and just and right and get others to do their evil deeds for them; they aren't openly villainous and stabbing each other in the back, literally or figuratively, at every opportunity -- that kind of movie villain behavior isn't evil, it's stupid. The person who goes out looking to make enemies is an idiot.

I am currently running a yam structured game in Thay where in session 0 we agree that the 3 PCs are ultimately good heroes who have both benefited from and suffer from the Evil that is Thay. We certainly play with evil concepts but are using this a middle ground for RP. We all also agreed on what our lines and veils would be in session zero related to things like slavery, abuse, etc. My goal as DM is to have them ID with the evil of the culture they belong to but to give them opportunities for redeeming chr arcs, like thwarting Sazz Tam. I also have a West Marches game set in Chult where the Red Wizards of Thay are the consistent foil (PCs actions here influence my Thay game too). It is neat to have the juxtaposition since some of these are the same players in both games.

I have an idea for an evil campaign where the players start out as mercenaries for the rising big evil. As they advance in level, they get more attention, responsibility, power from the big evil, by the end basically becoming generals who could supplant them.

i had an idea for an evil but misunderstood character: a dragonborn druid in the town he was born at, the people hated dragons (and dragonborn) resulting in him being on the run for most of his life and well, by opposing the 'good' town guards and people, and fighting back in self-defence based on stereotypes he is seen as evil (despite being neutral at best) if he sees any sort of guards, always goes into fight or flight mode (which is seen as evil/hostility) so its not *actually* evil, but due to stereotypes and behaviour is often mistaken to be evil (which slowly corrupts him in actually becoming more evil and following said stereotypes over time if i can roleplay it well enough lol)

18:07 man, the inspiration is Real

Awesome!!

That evil campaign idea you gave sounds fantastic. I think I'll run it as a side one-two shot for my players to establish some powerful bad guys for our existing campaign unknowingly. We have almost nothing to do with Waterdeep right now, so they won't even know.

The best evil campaign that I ever ran was the campaign where everybody started out as good and through the course of the campaign their actions and decisions and the development of their characters they all at the end of the campaign realized the meme, Hanz? Are we the baddies?

I do the Borderlands style PVP: both parties must agree to the duel, understanding that the duel may end fatally.

Best game I ever played was an evil one for several months. Best part is I was the only openly evil person. It wasn't until the final climax that everyone's true colors came out. It was such a blast. On a side note, I was so careful making the character 'playable' that I wrote the most in depth character I've ever done

Crit role's Call of the Netherdeep makes a great evil campaign for people wanting to try it out. 'Heroes' are stated out to vs the PCs. There's an evil organization for the paety to join. Alternatively the players can join 1 of the 2 good factions and just secretly be evil. The module has a 'bad' ending that the party could purposely go for as the 'evil' ending.

. 8:43 Well besides the "let's do that" and "let's not do that" there is also the option of "let's do that just a little bit". i.e. "every character CAN touch that subject one per sesion";"can" because you don't need to,"once" so there is a limit, and "per character" so that is no reason/incentive for that person to try to do it in the first 5 so he is net one who does it this sesion.

Best example. Arkhan. Run the WHOLE module. Then do your evil thing AFTER like stealing the Hand of Vecna.

I believe there are only two ways to do that, the evil campaign. Either you go over the top and play evil as an exaggeration. That can be enormous fun but it propably will not be a very lengthy campaign. Or, on the other hand, you replace the normal ethical behaviour by a set of ethics that is normally considered evil. A good example is a posse of vampires, for them things are perfectly normal and acceptable acts that most other groups find horryfying. But the coherence of the group is still maintained because everybody in the group can agree that these acts need to be done, there is no other way to do things. It is better to play a single kind of monster group. That includes a gaggle of Zhentarim with a priest of Bane as the focus. This even works good for drow groups. If the mix is too wild there will be lengthy discussions among the players as to what is acceptable behaviour, and this often kills the campaign.

Personally, Forced Sexual incidents are off the table at my table. That said, I usually allow things like slavery and child murder, if no one vetos it of course. Before you break out the torches and pitchforks though, there's a reason I do so. To put it bluntly, actions have consequences, and if my players want to include this kinda thing, I lean into those consequences hard. It usually dissuade them from doing those kinda things again. And in the mean time, it provides a ton of extra storyline material.

This is my world to conquer, I won't let you destroy it!

I'd like to play an evil campaign. Tieflings flavored as devils and the others souls of the damned, all working through a Descent to Avernus campaign. Or a drow house war in the Underdark

I would think, for a 'defend the dungeon' style of game, the players would have a certain amount of money (either decided for them if it's the first game, or made up of the treasures they've earned through previous games) and they would then spend this money to buy traps, weapons and creatures to defend their dungeon with. Of course, you would have to decide how much someone costs. There might be a good chart for that, but I think it should go along with the creature's CR just to keep it consistent and easy to follow. A good way to do an evil campaign without the players dictating where it goes is to give them what you might give them for a good campaign. A quest giver. You simply place one higher-ranking evil person as their boss who gives them objectives to carry out, promising to help them achieve their own goals along the way. Of course, at some point when the players are higher level, they'll probably want to kill that quest giver, so it's a win-win, in a way.

Turn your “defend your dungeon” game into a “tower defense” game. You need to go out and find better monsters to “upgrade” your lair. You also need to find better type of defensive wards and offensive artillery. This way you can add some exploration and social to your campaign.

I want to run SKT but evil. Dat mean all player r part of the zentharym. Probably some change on "side misión" like u say. Taking a city for the zentharym, having informtion for kiddinaping or spy people, etc. Fighting "good" groups, like gauntlet's order or emerald concleave. (Sorry for my Bad English)

i enjoy letting pvp in games in a controlled way gladiator fights where if you get into death saving throws the doctor takes you away so they can get it out their system safely

Viking raiders' code: Pillage THEN burn.

I don't mind exploring rape, even the committing of such acts - when it's in a very intimate setting with my husband only. Topics like these have a time and place, and it's important to be able to trust the players around you 100%, and know for sure why these topics are coming up, without suspecting that someone is just getting off on it. I do occasionally have the topic come up in games that I run, but only as something that happened at some point. It's never on-screen, and often very much insinuated more than explicit. As a woman, it's just a topic that is part of life, and it's the reality of violence in many ways. But it's also a gruesome topic, and I would never want to go into the details of it even with friends that I'm not intimately familiar with, let alone strangers. I operate on a similar principle with things like torture. It happens. I make it clear that it happens in the world. But it's not something I will show, or allow my players to do.

It's best to have them a part of a LE Organization, such as The Zhentarim or worshippers of a LE Deity such as The Church of Bane. NE & CE PC's may be a problem. Maybe one NE PC, but for it to work as intended, LE works best

I made a ce necromancer in a good campaign with a cleric of pelor. The agreement betweem the two was no PERMAMENT undead. My goal of course is a undead apolcalypse and was suppose to replace the bbeg at the end. Campaign never made it that far. Sad sad serenity never made a quiet serene world.

My take on bribery isn't that it should be it's own. Skill, but it is an act that can influence a persuasion attempt. Offering something desirable to the target might lower the difficulty or grant advantage, while offering something repugnant would have the opposite affect.

I ran an evil campaign once, but while most of the players were running the adventure, one killed an entire tavern and joined the main bad guys to fight the party.

Ok evil/good campaign idea - ps this could fall flat in its ass but it's just an idea in a Farley new dm so just a thought Ok here we go it's 2 campaigns in one you make two tables of 3 or 4 players one table is good the other is evil as the evil team cose chaos and the good party try to clean up after them witch ends in one big pvp evil vs good

Don't go so easy on them, Luke. It's not stealing anyone's agency to set rules about what's acceptable behaviour/content! That's like saying that it's stealing player agency to not let them create a Pathfinder character for a game of 5e; it's just establishing what set of rules everyone is going to use to ensure an enjoyable game for all.

A good starting point to think about an evil campaign is Team Rocket from Pokémon.

The only type of backstabbing and such that should happen between players should be at key moments. An evil character is likely inherently selfish. They can work together but ultimately they're doing things for their own benefit. I could see a reasonable event being the party trying to escape and at a pivotal moment somebody betrays another player to let everybody else and themselves get away