Who likes evil, raise their hand... *most people raise their hand*... *goodie-two-shoes look nervous*. Most people have a want to play an evil character in an RPG. Why is this? Because RPGs are an escape from reality! They're not real! People can pretend for a moment without the fear of actually doing 15 to life.
My beef is with the 90% of these people that don't seem to understand what evil is. Let them play an evil character and what happens? Psychotic random murderous rampage of blood orgies while laughing the entire time (maniacally)! This is even the result no matter the evil alignment choice. I can almost understand this action if they're Chaotic Evil. Evil = bad, Chaos = random. But back the truck up suckah! Chaotic Evil means in a nutshell that you do not like laws or being constrained by them, you believe in yourself first and foremost, and you don't have an accurate (according to those previously mentioned "goodie-two-shoes"... and hey, why do bad guys have to have only one shoe anyways???) moral compass. This does not mean you are a psychopathic fucking nut-ball murderous fiend from Hell!
Let's flip the evil-coin here for a minute. Lawful Evil. This is often misunderstood (especially by the new comer). The "Lawful" in Lawful Evil does not mean you have to obey the laws while having a devil on your shoulder talking to you. It means you believe that there should be a set of rules, laws, or a code that people should have to follow (although in this case they're usually of the evil variety). You usually desire to be on the top of this hierarchy so you can reap the full benefits of this order. You aspire to world domination; and all other manner of this kind of wonderful stuff. On a further Lawful note (and digressing slightly from Evil for a second), you can play a Lawful Good character that does not follow society's laws. "What???" you say? Think of Batman for example. He does not follow society's laws in the slightest; but he has his own set of very strict values and codes that he imposes on everyone around him.
OK, time to act evil! Get out there and stomp on some lesser folk to get ahead!... wait... *pushes the reverse button*... You don't have to act outwardly evil! You can even act good! I know I'm blowing some people's minds, but read ahead please. If you yourself are Chaotic Evil, and you are at work, working close with a group of people that are of the Lawful Good variety; would you constantly be pissing in their coffee, putting tacks on their chairs, or all out physically attacking them? No, you wouldn't. You'd be trying to at least somewhat emulate their Lawful Good behavior so that your Evil nature goes unnoticed. Especially if you have the penalty of being fired looming over your head. Let's apply this situation to D&D for a second. Say you're playing a Chaotic Evil Rogue. You are in a group with a Lawful Good Cleric, a Neutral Good Fighter, and a Chaotic Good Barbarian. You are traveling through a land where there are many local watchmen patrolling around, a strong grasp of power secured by the local Lawful Neutral King, and a penalty for theft of chopping off the offending hand. Would you given the chance, try to pick the pockets of the local merchant, rape and murder a helpless damsel left alone with you for you to protect, try to save a group of goblins that are attacked by your party? No, you wouldn't. You would be grinning showing your pearly-whites, acting all nice and proper but hating every minute of it and just waiting for your time to release some pent up evil energy.
Let's turn our attention to the DM/GM for a second. Yes, I'm looking at you! Why is it SO hard for some DMs or GMs to run a campaign with one or two (or even an entire party) Evil characters in it? If your players are playing their evil characters properly (see above), then there should be no problems; in fact, it should add to the campaign, making it more rich in flavor and making your job easier by adding awesome twists and turns and plot hooks! If they are playing them like the psychopathic killer on acid filled with rabies, then guess what... they'll soon die or be in jail. Problem solved. And to all you people who legitimately want to play the crazy shit brained murderous psycho and role play it properly: cool! Just know this, unless the campaign is designed to entertain such characters, one of two results will be the case. 1) You will die or spend the rest of your days rotting in the depths of the King's dungeon. 2) Your DM or GM can't handle characters like yours (DMs/GMs, see my previous rant about killing off problem characters as a solution) and you will take over their campaign. Bonus for you!
Oct 16, 2009
Oct 13, 2009
Pirates of the Darkest Future
Rules System Used: d20 Modern
Books and Materials Needed: d20 Modern Roleplaying Game (book), d20 Apocalypse (book), d20 Future (book), dice set (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20), pencil, paper, a game master’s screen
Suggested Extras: d20 Future Tech (book), miniatures
Timeline: Future Sci-Fi
Location: Surrounding the Great Lakes
Number of Players Suggested: 4 - 8 (You want at least 4 people for this campaign and it can handle more.)
Rules Modifications: No modifications on the rules. Radiation and mutation rules from the d20 Apocalypse book are in full effect though.
Limitations on Characters: All player characters start in whatever class they see fit. Use all rules for character creation that are appropriate in the d20 Apocalypse book. Characters cannot select any high tech items from d20 Future or d20 Future Tech in character creation. The characters are free to select from the d20 Modern rule book or the d20 Apocalypse book though. High tech and advanced sci-fi weapons, armour and gear are treated as a form of "magic items" in this campaign. The characters are playing members of a pirate gang that are trying to survive and get one up on the competition. The players should be urged to take survival type skills and abilities where possible as it would be hard to get by without these. The players could either play good pirates with a Robin Hood style, neutral pirates like Jack Sparrow, or evil pirates who love to rape and pillage to excess.
Monsters and Magic: There aren't many monsters in this campaign, and there's no magic; well, technology is almost looked at as a form of magic because of it's rarity, thus making a prestige class like "Techie" looked at like a wizard of sorts. The only monsters should be things like mutants, plague ridden people (or plague zombies), and creatures created from radiation.
Style of Campaign: This campaign is all about the struggle to survive. There will also most likely be a large element of close combat just due to the fact that ranged weapons can either be hard to find, hard to maintain, or hard to get ammo for. The entire known world has been subject to a multitude of nuclear and biological attacks; resulting in radiation over most of the world, gigantic craters, biological hazards, toxic waste lakes, mutation running rampant, and whole new ecosystems being discovered or created. The bartering rules from the d20 Apocalypse book should be used. The world that the PCs are in (future Earth) previously had an extremely high tech rating. But thanks to massive International war, almost all of the advanced technology is in a derelict state or completely destroyed. To make matters worse, almost everyone that could repair or manufacture said technologies were either assassinated, or killed from the blasts or disease. This has resulted in high tech (like laser rifles, power armour, high frequency swords, etc.) being rewarded to the PCs much like magic items in D&D. There are even cults in the world that have been created recently that worship advanced technology much like a deity. These cults are extremely fanatical. I would run this campaign as the PCs playing the crew serving under a more powerful Captain (which explains why they have a water borne vessel); however, one of the PCs could be Captain if you wish, or they could run some sort of equal pirate commune if desired. In case of the latter; the PCs should be gifted a ship or boat, but it'll be much harder for them to get by as they will have to repair it and what not (all of that could be handled out of game by the Captain doing that as the PCs are out away from him searching for booty or fighting with rival gangs).
Introduction: You are on Earth. A world that is struggling with the aftermath of nuclear bombs, biological warfare, mutation, spreading disease, and starvation. This is a situation of International magnitude. New ecosystems are constantly being discovered; either a result of toxic waste, biological mutation, or discovered from the gigantic craters now pocking the surface from the multitude of nuclear warheads that assaulted the known world. Earth once had a vast supply of advanced technology. Mankind was even going to colonize other planets that were in entirely different galaxies. That is what started the war. The war known as the WWPD. World Wide Planetary Destruction. Now not much remains of our advanced technology. Nor the people who can maintain, never mind create such marvels. Earth is in a sort of dark age. This dark age has many threats. There are hostile mutants, starvation, radiation sickness, toxic sludge pools the size of lakes, bandits, disease-ridden people spreading plagues, and fanatical cults that have risen around the rarity of advanced technology. These cults revere the various technologies as deities. They hoard advanced technologies and are very aggressive in acquiring said technologies.
What do you think is the best way to survive? Try to help the diseased multitude? Find a far off land and barricade yourself in? Join a tech-cult?
Arrrr!!! It's a pirate's life for all you scurvy dogs! Sail the Great Lakes, pillage what you need, and fight off your competition!
Books and Materials Needed: d20 Modern Roleplaying Game (book), d20 Apocalypse (book), d20 Future (book), dice set (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20), pencil, paper, a game master’s screen
Suggested Extras: d20 Future Tech (book), miniatures
Timeline: Future Sci-Fi
Location: Surrounding the Great Lakes
Number of Players Suggested: 4 - 8 (You want at least 4 people for this campaign and it can handle more.)
Rules Modifications: No modifications on the rules. Radiation and mutation rules from the d20 Apocalypse book are in full effect though.
Limitations on Characters: All player characters start in whatever class they see fit. Use all rules for character creation that are appropriate in the d20 Apocalypse book. Characters cannot select any high tech items from d20 Future or d20 Future Tech in character creation. The characters are free to select from the d20 Modern rule book or the d20 Apocalypse book though. High tech and advanced sci-fi weapons, armour and gear are treated as a form of "magic items" in this campaign. The characters are playing members of a pirate gang that are trying to survive and get one up on the competition. The players should be urged to take survival type skills and abilities where possible as it would be hard to get by without these. The players could either play good pirates with a Robin Hood style, neutral pirates like Jack Sparrow, or evil pirates who love to rape and pillage to excess.
Monsters and Magic: There aren't many monsters in this campaign, and there's no magic; well, technology is almost looked at as a form of magic because of it's rarity, thus making a prestige class like "Techie" looked at like a wizard of sorts. The only monsters should be things like mutants, plague ridden people (or plague zombies), and creatures created from radiation.
Style of Campaign: This campaign is all about the struggle to survive. There will also most likely be a large element of close combat just due to the fact that ranged weapons can either be hard to find, hard to maintain, or hard to get ammo for. The entire known world has been subject to a multitude of nuclear and biological attacks; resulting in radiation over most of the world, gigantic craters, biological hazards, toxic waste lakes, mutation running rampant, and whole new ecosystems being discovered or created. The bartering rules from the d20 Apocalypse book should be used. The world that the PCs are in (future Earth) previously had an extremely high tech rating. But thanks to massive International war, almost all of the advanced technology is in a derelict state or completely destroyed. To make matters worse, almost everyone that could repair or manufacture said technologies were either assassinated, or killed from the blasts or disease. This has resulted in high tech (like laser rifles, power armour, high frequency swords, etc.) being rewarded to the PCs much like magic items in D&D. There are even cults in the world that have been created recently that worship advanced technology much like a deity. These cults are extremely fanatical. I would run this campaign as the PCs playing the crew serving under a more powerful Captain (which explains why they have a water borne vessel); however, one of the PCs could be Captain if you wish, or they could run some sort of equal pirate commune if desired. In case of the latter; the PCs should be gifted a ship or boat, but it'll be much harder for them to get by as they will have to repair it and what not (all of that could be handled out of game by the Captain doing that as the PCs are out away from him searching for booty or fighting with rival gangs).
Introduction: You are on Earth. A world that is struggling with the aftermath of nuclear bombs, biological warfare, mutation, spreading disease, and starvation. This is a situation of International magnitude. New ecosystems are constantly being discovered; either a result of toxic waste, biological mutation, or discovered from the gigantic craters now pocking the surface from the multitude of nuclear warheads that assaulted the known world. Earth once had a vast supply of advanced technology. Mankind was even going to colonize other planets that were in entirely different galaxies. That is what started the war. The war known as the WWPD. World Wide Planetary Destruction. Now not much remains of our advanced technology. Nor the people who can maintain, never mind create such marvels. Earth is in a sort of dark age. This dark age has many threats. There are hostile mutants, starvation, radiation sickness, toxic sludge pools the size of lakes, bandits, disease-ridden people spreading plagues, and fanatical cults that have risen around the rarity of advanced technology. These cults revere the various technologies as deities. They hoard advanced technologies and are very aggressive in acquiring said technologies.
What do you think is the best way to survive? Try to help the diseased multitude? Find a far off land and barricade yourself in? Join a tech-cult?
Arrrr!!! It's a pirate's life for all you scurvy dogs! Sail the Great Lakes, pillage what you need, and fight off your competition!
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