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Idea for evil Pathfinder game

   
Idea for evil Pathfinder game

So a few months back, I acquired the Book of the Damned, and have been trying to incorporate it. Recently, an idea for a campaign has occurred to me, and I'd be curious for others feedback/ideas on the game.

Essentially, since most of the book focuses on evil demi-gods such as demon lords and the archdevils, my basic idea would be the group is an assembly of ne'er do wells who are interested in essentially starting a cult to one of the evil lords detailed in the book. Players would be able to pick who they would want to worship and do their evil deeds in service of, so that people have a greater degree of say in what the basic idea of the game would be. The game would start with some mysterious benefactor assembling the group to start them off in their path to appeasing their evil god, and the players would do their best to build their gods power and generally do evil things as well as they pleased.

Beyond this, I don't have too many details in mind, mainly as knowing what demon lord, horseman of the apocalypse, archdevil, etc the group would be worshiping would inform a lot of the details about where and what the game would actually encompass. So would this seem like a worthwhile idea to continue to try and implement, does anyone have any ideas to make it more engaging/more likely to work in the long run?

It should work fine but I mean...way of the wicked is exactly this and it's the best evil campaign ever made.

But well assuming you don't want to run Way of the Wicked:

1) For evil to work, you need some kind of a conflict and agenda. While the Book of the Damned is a nice set piece, without an opposition you will most likely just have murderhobos on your hands. But of course, there is technically nothing invalid about the Murderhobo playstyle...just depends on your expectations. Try to look for something that they have to gain by working together...such as becoming Kings, controlling a region, taking a revenge on a holy paladin, etc...

2) Lawful Evil is usually the best alignment for party cohesion. Chaotic Evil is technically the worst for party cohesion or even do any kind of a story. Even worst if you allow Antipaladin(reminder they are chaotic evil), according to their codes...they can't even show any sign of kindness or acting good...or there is the infamous "lose your powers" bit. But well you could potentially have a short campaign of Chaotic Evil murderhobos...just don't expect GTA to go for the long run.

3) You need to decide what kind of Evil you are playing in the first place. Saturday Morning cartoons evil twirling mustaches or going dark fantasy and various sadistic urges...essentially establish limits with your group to decide what is okay and what isn't, so you avoid making some people uncomfortable at your table.

4) What drove them to become evil? Evil usually don't see themselves as evil. Good Evil characters believe that they are heroes of their own stories.

5) Also be clear from the Get go if you will allow PVP or not, like how much cooperation do you want for the party? If you allow PVP and backstabbing, prepare for a short campaign.


Little note as well: Show the consequences of them doing Evil. If there's no consequences for their evil acts...it basically doesn't matter.

Some people have trouble telling the difference between Evil and Insane. Try not to get any of those in your game.

As someone who ran Way of the Wicked, I have to agree: just run that and save yourself the trouble.

It echo the others; Evil games fall flat as most Evil Parties lack depth and are not nuanced. Try to have each player set an end game goal. Something for each one to strive for; evil is proactive. Work with them to develop that goal into a 'masterplan' of some sort.

I think the problem is people approaching it as an "evil game". People don't say "I really want to run a good-aligned game where all the players have to be good!" they say e.g. "I want to run Kingmaker" or "I want to run a game about robots". If the game is a regular game but the characters all happen to have "evil" written on their sheet, so what?

It's probably better just to give the premise - you're planning to summon a demon lord, or something - and never mention alignment at all. That probably means people are going to be evil, or at least very morally grey (a dark grey) but the focus should be on the characters fitting the game and the plot, not fitting a word that's put in a box on their sheet but which means different things to different people anyway. Something like a cult of villains summoning a demon lord is likely to be one of those few plots where the players really will be unabashedly out-and-out evil, but for the vast majority of games being evil shouldn't stop them from being pretty "normal" people.

Specifically for evil characters is tha Adventure arc Way of the Wicked... but seriously, the problem with evil characters is players thinking it means the character is insane... and it all depends why they summon the demon lord... if they intend to do this to boost their own power/enslave the demon, yeah, that's likely evil (not to mention they had better be lvl 15+ powerful in thne first place, or else).. but maybe the demon is just an unpalatable means to an essentially good end... evil and good have been endlessly debated for44 years... what exactly are you looking for? not just the crusader ordering his troops to slaughter ALL the enemies, including the hapless noncombatants?





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