Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gallameed 08-13-04, 04:37 PM	Ok, ive just finished a campaign and im about to start another: (The Shackled City adventure path series from dungeon magazine). Like most dm's im not happy with just the one campaign to brood and muse over so ive got another planned already (another 100 really but im trying to focus :) ) I can tell my players are edge'ing over towards ''dark'' and even evil characters, a couple have even been sniffing around the book of vile darkness, so my question is: Where to, and how to set an evil campaign in the Realms?? Here are some relevant bits of info: 1. My players dont like Drow (as player options) so that means the Drow campaign's out of the question, shame because i love them... 2. One of my players tends to dislike magick and will never play clerics or wizards, but thats not really all that important, just thought i'd tell you :D Maybe we can wind him up? 3. I wanna go for a street level, backalley stabbings starting point, for a while my players have been mentioning the word ''Westgate'' so maybe a dirty port city? maybe Luskan? Pirates of the Carribien meets a Faerunian Plup Fiction! 4. Assassins guild? This would give my players a great oportunity to play something they've always loved! 5. How do I tie the ''evil'' party together into a unit and have them still keep their threatening edge? I dont want a player v player bloodbath because one wont backdown and at the same time they dont wont to love each other... Maybe I should have two or more characters be related or ''friends'' or something? 6. Perhaps the party could be a detachment of Red Wiz's or a little Zhent cell? Not too sure, I think they would be happier with noone pulling their strings from afar... Help! :D
Dielzen 08-13-04, 06:42 PM	I've run a couple evil-based campaigns, and I tend to go the "organizational" route Cell of Cult of the Dragon members of Bregan De`Arthe (sp) underlings of a Red Wizard members of the Waterdeep Thieving Guild It's easier to build in the "anti-PvP" aspects this way, although it's not guaranteed. PvP is ok, one of my player's best times was a massive party vs. party PvP that killed all but one player. Just make sure in the evil campaign that EVERY player has at least one back-up that's a couple levels below the main PCs.
BrianCritchley 08-13-04, 07:08 PM	myabe the Zhents?
Tarus 08-13-04, 09:18 PM	Pffft. Set it in Westgate or Ravens Bluff and have them be corrupt city guardsmen. Raid some drug houses or illegal businesses, get the local black market under your thumb and skim, blackmail nobles with secrets they don't want anyone knowing, run a protection racket, bust up the local thieves guild, get involved in gang/guild wars, worry about uncorrupted guardsmen/Harpers/adventuring parties, etc.
The_Declaration 08-13-04, 09:53 PM	4. assassins guild? sweet! i've just started a campaign like that this week (Baldur's gate so far), it's good stuff, with an appropriate music and enough diversity in the group. we got: - paladin of slaughter with a vampire bloodline. - drow, priestress from Lolth - Pixie sorcerer - Psychic warrior Gnome, with slaad bloodline - Fey'ri rogue - svirfnebelin rogue 5. danger: if the campaign is really challenging, and your assassins are chased by strong enemies, they won't have time for internal struggles. Common goals may also be enough to assure stability.
KnightCDL 08-13-04, 11:23 PM	Mmm... evil campains. I avoided one for 13 long years but my core players fianlly convinced me to try it and I have made quite a few observations. Good news: Running an evil campain is alot like running a good one. Heck, motivation is even similar. A good party is hard pressed to find a reason to do battle with a paladin. But Evils dont bat an eye at fighting a black gaurd. The evil campain I am running is focused around one of my players. An evil Black Gaurd bent on the unification of Evil. To this end he wishes to conquer the world, destroy the clerigy of evil gods and eventualy ascend to godhood himself, as the God of Evil. Their adventures began as backally survival in Skullport, escaping the Flaming Fist, ambushing Banite caravans, all the way to now where the PCs "freed" a small town from an evil vampire lord, put on a peaceful front so their neighbors (the ones who have not been sacked already under a diffrent banner) dont even know they are evil. Now they are plundering ancient Netherese sites seeking magic to aide in the Black Gaurds ascention. Still plenty of dungeon crawling, political manuvers, social interactions with NPCs of all alignments. Basically what I found that helps with an evil campain is to ask the players what they want. Build around that. Bad news. Evil people are evil. Good roleplaying on the part of players means that even among a Lawful Evil party there will always be someone behind you that wants to be where you are. My players turned on themselves at one point, only a well worded wish salvaged the campain. For you, Assasins might very well be the way to go. Guild bonds tend to make it less likely for the players to kill eachother. And among assasins they can even have a ninja like honor system so no one gets left behind, which promotes unity. Not because they care for the others, but because if someone else gets caught (even post death) they can rat on you. And another good starting point is Skullport, beneath Waterdeep. That area can support PCs from low to Mid levels and beyond. After all, even an evil character can find something useful in Mt. Waterdeep.
warlockco 08-14-04, 03:40 AM	I have a Drow campaign that is going well so far. The party are all minor nobles of the same House. I have made so that they have to rely on each other to survive. Party now consists of 1 Ranger, 1 Fighter, 1 Rogue, 1 Cleric, 1 Ranger/Cleric (NPC), all female. Had a 2nd Fighter and Rogue for a short while, also female. I have made Wands of Cure Light Wounds and Cure Moderate Wounds a magic item that anyone can use. The party has survived some fights only by that alone. Had two other people that left the group, another Fighter and Rogue, the 2nd fighter left after her 1st session, she was a new player to D&D and unfortunately she arrived just after the start of the new campaign, I don't think an evil game is what she was looking for (shrugs). As to the other rogue that player showed up at the same time as the newbie, but he had all kinds of misconceptions about drow, like the belief that drow were grown adults by the age of 3. That player left after a about 4 sessions, which was prob a good thing, the original Fighter caught him stealing from the group, and has constantly said if "she" caught anyone stealing from her, she would kill them. So that character would have been dead the next session he would have shown up anyhow. The party has managed to survive a few fights only because the 3 melee fighters (Fighter, Ranger, NPC) were taking the brunt of the damage, and the rogue and other cleric were in the rank behind them constantly curing them. One fighte it was liking watching a bunch of yoyos. One would go down, and be brought back up, and so on down the line. One would get healed to positive HPs, attack, then get hit to negatives, repeat. Foes had low init, "healers" had the high init, and the combatants had the middle init.
Arthedain 08-14-04, 06:16 AM	Not to derail the thread, but it has to be said : Tarus, I checked out the website in your profile, and I must say : WOW. Probably the coolest FR/D&D site I've ever seen. My compliments to the designer(s).
Gallameed 08-14-04, 10:57 AM	You know, I just checked out the site myself.... WOW! that really is the best Forgotten Realms site Ive seen! It must have taken a lot of work, congradulations on such a cool site, Im sure me and others like me will be able to find a wealth of inspiration within the pages of your tome, hats off to you Tarus! ;)
Gallameed 08-14-04, 11:18 AM	Ok, here are my latest thought's on my ''evil'' campaign. Taking what you guys have said on board Ive decided to set the campaign (most likely) on the Dragon Coast, its gritty and backstabbing enough to hold what I have in mind and will also allow players to use Gnoll, Orc or Hobgoblin characters without being killed for it... I will only allow two players out of my four to use a monstrous character however as I want to keep the campiagn down to earth at first and street level. Starmantle seems like a good choice for a starting point, just a boat journey from Westgate... I also was wondering about Westgates pitfighting/games arena... Perhaps I could make it so that my players are a team of ''talent spotters'' for Westgates arena and/or maybe in on the slave trade, monster capturing, and drug smuggling.... They would have to compete and sabbatage other talent spotting groups and bring bigger and better creatures/warriors to the games? Hmmm so many choises, so little time :D your thoughts?