The Campaign Builder's Guild

Ok, this got me thinking about my last evil campaign. It didn't start out evil, but one player, an extremally resourceful fighter/wizard multi-class {this was back in 3.5} and was an amazing thinker. The PCs were facing tribes of goblins and barbarians united under one banner. They were being led by a drow wizard. This drow wizard had really high charisma and had easily bent the minds of the Goblin Cheifs and Barbarian leaders to his will, and the four pcs tried to face him openly. All they knew is that there was a conspirator behind all this and he had a base in the center of a forest. So the PCs teleported into the center of the forest. In the middle of an army of goblins and barbarians. They put up a suprisingly good fight, and after mowing through many dozens of goblins {since this was 3.5 and there were no minions this took a long, long time} and the wizard/fighter using many if his tricks {illusion, mind control} to turn the stronger barbarians against eachother, they were finally captured and drug underground to the drow's lair.

  There in his lair, the drow started trying to persuade them all to join him. He promised plenty of riches and half of the land, as the drow planned to take over the surrounding countryside and turn it into his own land. It was a cool roleplaying encounter I came up with, as the drow did not seem evil. He even said he did not wish to hurt anyone, but would be forced to attack anybody who stood in his way. The only one that seemed intruiged by this was the fighter/wizard. Two of the other players had been through a campaign before, and had been trapped by drow hunters and sold on a black market in the Underdark. Needless to say, those two were not very fond of drow. The fighter/wizard agreed with the drow's terms and joined him. The drow said he would release him if he killed his allies. Another of the Pcs, not wanting to die, joined the drow also. So the fighter/wizard, a very creative one, designed a maze filled with deadly traps and creatures using the drow's resources and space. Not wanting the other two to die, but wanting the money the drow was offering him, he made a deal that if the two still good PCs made it out of the obstacle course alive they would be aloud to live.

  So the two good PCs started through the maze. One of them was a rogue and found a pitfall trap filled with spikes and fire at the bottom, and avoided it. After avoiding the pitfall trap they turned a corner, and saw an ancient red dragon standing right there. It wasn't really a dragon, of course. The fighter/wizard had created an illusion. But the two good PCs got so scared they ran backwards into the pitfall trap and died.

  Then the drow forced the fighter/wizard to kill his last companion, the one that had also turned evil. So he did. Then the drow used a sleep spell on the fighter/wizard. When the fighter/wizard awoke, he was tied to a stick above a fire surrounded by an army of hungry goblins. My reply to his complaints: NEVER TRUST A DROW.

   So the morale of this story is NEVER TRUST A DROW. Although I found it funny my players didn't.

 Other then boredom my reason for posting all of this is to give you an example of a failed evil campaign. Start off with goals in mind for each character, and make sure they are precise and don't conflict. The goal become all powerful and destroy everything in my way is evil, but doesn't work, because you're gonna end up killing your buddies.

  So far your campaign sounds really good. You could have them hiding in the wilderness while being pursued by paladins, bounty hunters and whatever else you want. Its also important to give your players absolute freedom. Just give them oppurtunities. For example, lets say your players are hiding in a forest from the hunters looking for them. They set up camp one night and are suddenly surprised by a group of shadowy people walking close to their camp. They call out to them, and after some talking it turns out they are also followers of Bane. You could make them be heading to go to try and assassinate the emperor. This gives your players the oppurtunities to group up with other followers of Bane, and opens up lots of other oppurtunities. Get what I'm saying?

I like the idea of the newly appointed emperors wife being the true power-player behind the whole conspiracy. I definitly think I'll be using that one (Thanks).. As for what classes the characters will be playing, I believe one will be playing a MC Sorceror/Warlock, another will be playing a Warden, another always plays a barbarian so I'm fairly certain thats what she'll be playing, another has usually played a sneaky rogue or rangerish type character, the other two will probably be a figher or paladin type character and another caster type character.

Quote from: cdeyss26I like the idea of the newly appointed emperors wife being the true power-player behind the whole conspiracy. I definitly think I'll be using that one (Thanks).. As for what classes the characters will be playing, I believe one will be playing a MC Sorceror/Warlock, another will be playing a Warden, another always plays a barbarian so I'm fairly certain thats what she'll be playing, another has usually played a sneaky rogue or rangerish type character, the other two will probably be a figher or paladin type character and another caster type character.

The reason I asked is you could tie one of them to the "General" NPC.  They may have been involved in the first stage of the plot, unwittingly.  I was looking at ways to infuse the characters into the pre-story.  By the way, it's an evil campaign, don't you mean anti-paladin?

I'd say the best way to stave off "evil failure" is to have the group be tied very closely together (which someone mentioned via use of backstory). The characters may be ruthless mercenaries who wouldn't think twice before killing an innocent over a few coins, but who are aware that their survival depends on them remaining as part of the group. If ejection from the band means certain death on their own, they would die before betraying a comrade.

Quote from: GaranthI'd say the best way to stave off "evil failure" is to have the group be tied very closely together (which someone mentioned via use of backstory). The characters may be ruthless mercenaries who wouldn't think twice before killing an innocent over a few coins, but who are aware that their survival depends on them remaining as part of the group. If ejection from the band means certain death on their own, they would die before betraying a comrade.

Similarly, Evil isn't dumb.  Also, your definition of Evil has a great effect.

If evil is randomly killing people, a group situation would allow the PCs to more efficiently randomly kill everyone before turning on each other.  If evil is just acting immorally, they could form a CEO, VP of Operations, VP of Accounting, and VP of Finances for a multiplanar conglomorate that is doing whatever is necessary to make as much profit as possible at the expense of local populations and workforces.  They could even be really nice people in person, but they do really evil things anyway.  Personally, I suspect Satan is a pretty cool dude, on a one-to-one basis.

The one thing to remember when running an evil campaign... is that the evil people WILL NOT think of themselves as evil. Even "evil" people, except the utterly psychotic, will follow some sort of code or laws; otherwise it's just not gonna work. There will be a command structure and treason - which would include backstabbing within the group - would likely have social consequences.

ok... an update on what I've currently got planned
(this is a rough outline of the campaign as a whole)

Claudus Invicta (the new emperor) married the previous emperors daughter
It was an arranged marriage (which she didnt want)
Invicta frames the church of Bane for the murders of some of his advisors after he learns of thier planned coup
(the advisors were in on the coup so he had them assassinated... his bride was in on it as well but he was unaware)
The Clergy and servants of the church of Bane are charged with treason & sentenced to death by be-heading
During thier executions the PC's escape with a small group of Banes faithful and fight their way out of the prison
(collecting their equipment on the way out)
From there they hide in the countryside, building their forces & creating their base (at the behest of the higher clergy)
After building their base the clergy sends them on an assassination mission to kill invicta
Now is when the PC's learn of the Empress's involvement in the coup (she is the contact who leads them into the castle)
The empress is unfortunately caught aiding the PC's and they are forced to flee the castle again.
Invicta now knows of his wifes involvement but uses her to his advantage (claims the PC's have kidnapped the empress)
The kingdom is now split & in civil war (one half Banes church .. the other half those loyal to the emperor)

Ok... any comments or suggestions on what I've got so far (remember its just a rough outline)