Need some evil campaign quest hooks/ideas

[Aspenor]

So while I play the abomination that is Everquest tabletop, I am going to be writing up a D&D campaign to play when this is over (or preferably before it's over). I have a few ideas, but I like to have a ton of hooks in reserve so the PC's don't feel like their on the railroad tracks.

A few of my notes:
No monsters as PC's. This is both to keep things simple and to protect the PC's from making stupid choices (like trying to play a level adjusted spellcaster).
Some races can be chosen, but I doubt they will be (examples: drow, duergar, etc.). I personally homebrew these races to eliminate their level adjustment, so as to prevent PC's from being worse than they should be (like a drow wizard or cleric, ECL 3, with only one level of spell casting while fighting CR 3 monsters...pwned).
Random violence is punished in-game.
I heavily homebrew many, many classes and feats to make them stronger (fighters, rogues, barbarians, Weapon Specialization, etc.).

A few of my ideas include:
raiding a temple of a good-aligned religion
thieves guild type stuff (assassination, stealing, espionage, etc.)
sabotaging a country in their attempts to fight an invasion

higher level stuff is also appreciated, but my ideas include:
facilitating an evil deity's control over large areas of the world
dealing (or double dealing) with abyssal and hellish entities

So, really, just give me some more hooks. Like I said, I like to have a lot of them around so the PC's can make their own decisions rather than me put them on the tracks. It also allows them to fail, since there is always another plot hook right around the bend. These things come fairly intuitively for me in a good PC campaign.

[jwdaniels]

The trouble with an evil campaign is that inevitably there will be all sorts of backstabbing (not the sneak attack sort) going on. The most successful things I've found with this sort of campaign involve the mirror image of a typical one - i.e. let the PCs sack towns and kidnap damsels in distress and then throw parties of good adventurers at them to try and stop them.

[thwart]

I used to play evil characters back in my PnP days. My character might be the only evil character in the group and she might be looking for some sort of dark magic artifact or doing any number of things her group would not be happy with. The trick was for me to convince them we were doing something other than our true mission. For example, we might be exploring ancient ruins in the hopes of finding lost treasure. The real mission might be that my character was looking for a lost spell book from an old dead evil wizard.

I realize the premise of your thread was for an all evil group, but I always found missions such as described above always more interesting and always more challenging.

[Aspenor]

The trouble with an evil campaign is that inevitably there will be all sorts of backstabbing (not the sneak attack sort) going on. The most successful things I've found with this sort of campaign involve the mirror image of a typical one - i.e. let the PCs sack towns and kidnap damsels in distress and then throw parties of good adventurers at them to try and stop them.

Those are the kinds of ideas I'm looking for. I forgot to add that intra-party violence will also not be acceptable, and will be trumped by rule zero: "No, you do not attack him. Do something else."

[SquelchHU]

Those are the kinds of ideas I'm looking for. I forgot to add that intra-party violence will also not be acceptable, and will be trumped by rule zero: "No, you do not attack him. Do something else."

I'd just like to point out that in an all evil campaign, violence against other PCs is not necessarily bad.

Indiscriminate violence is.

If the players have a GOOD REASON for it, then they should be able to do it. I'm Evil, so I stab him is not a good reason. He looked at me funny is not a good reason. I believe he is a traitor because *insert many logical reasons to distrust his loyalty* and that an alternative solution, such as simply removing them from the party would only allow him to take that inside information straight to his superiors is potentially a good reason.

Hopefully it won't come up at all (I for one detest PvP combat, even though most encounters with classed humanoids are basically the same thing) but if it does a total ban simply is not appropriate for that sort of campaign.

Hopefully you don't have the sort of players who would PK someone even if it meant fabricating a detailed justification for it.

[Aspenor]

I'd just like to point out that in an all evil campaign, violence against other PCs is not necessarily bad.

Indiscriminate violence is.

If the players have a GOOD REASON for it, then they should be able to do it. I'm Evil, so I stab him is not a good reason. He looked at me funny is not a good reason. I believe he is a traitor because *insert many logical reasons to distrust his loyalty* and that an alternative solution, such as simply removing them from the party would only allow him to take that inside information straight to his superiors is potentially a good reason.

Hopefully it won't come up at all (I for one detest PvP combat, even though most encounters with classed humanoids are basically the same thing) but if it does a total ban simply is not appropriate for that sort of campaign.

Hopefully you don't have the sort of players who would PK someone even if it meant fabricating a detailed justification for it.

They won't even really start it, I'm confident of that.

[Aerendil]

Any particular campaign setting in mind?

[jwdaniels]

I'd just like to point out that in an all evil campaign, violence against other PCs is not necessarily bad.

Indiscriminate violence is.

If the players have a GOOD REASON for it, then they should be able to do it. I'm Evil, so I stab him is not a good reason. He looked at me funny is not a good reason. I believe he is a traitor because *insert many logical reasons to distrust his loyalty* and that an alternative solution, such as simply removing them from the party would only allow him to take that inside information straight to his superiors is potentially a good reason.

Hopefully it won't come up at all (I for one detest PvP combat, even though most encounters with classed humanoids are basically the same thing) but if it does a total ban simply is not appropriate for that sort of campaign.

Hopefully you don't have the sort of players who would PK someone even if it meant fabricating a detailed justification for it.

What I've usually seen happen often is that one character becomes much stronger than the others and can enforce his will on the group or the entire groups is at roughly the same power level and has to cooperate. There isn't much in the way of inter-party violence at all unless the players decide that evil means kill everything that moves.

[Xionanx]

The problem with running an "evil" campaign is that its hard to really justify the acts in the greater scheme of things; evil is in your intentions, not the act itself.

For instance killing the lord of a castle - Were you simply ordered to by your deity? Lord? Commander? Did you do it because you wanted the lands for yourself? Did you do it because he was evil and over taxing his people? Or did you just accidentally stab him to death while running with scissors?

If your players really want to play an evil campaign, then they must understand that to be truly evil takes time and patients. Simply going on a murderous rampage through the countryside killing the peasants, burning their homes, raping their women and performing blasphemous acts in their temples "may" be evil.. but it gets old quickly and really isn't all that satisfying in the long run. I have seen many evil campaigns devolve into just that kind of ******** play, usually evil campaigns last at most 3-4 sessions before the players are bored with it.

No, your players need guidance in their evil, direction, organization. Slowly converting the local populace to your beliefs and having them worship you like a god. Befriending the local king only to marry his daughter then murder him for the throne; or seducing the queen for that matter. Tell me? Which is "more" evil? Killing a stranger in an alley? Or becoming someones trusted friend and then killing them in an alley? Betrayal of trust and taking advantage of the positions you have schemed your way into.

Also you have to keep in mind that "evil" is a culture. We perceive cannibalism as evil, yet there are tribes that still practice it to this day on earth. Do they perceive themselves as evil? No they don't, to them its just another day in their life. You must instill this into your players, you must make them a part of a greater culture where simple acts such as sacrificing your first born to your god are perfectly acceptable and routine. Its your job to make that happen otherwise it will be a short and uninspired romp through hamlets killing peasants for no reason.

Also keep that in mind.. when "evil" does something it usually has a good reason for doing so, even someone "Chaotic Evil" has purpose in their actions.

As such I have NEVER liked the alignment system in DDO as it attempts to classify peoples actions and not their intentions. It then proceeds to pigeon hole players into acting out in a certain way to conform to the "idea" of their alignment. I once got into a very heated argument with a DM who told me I wasn't playing my evil alignment properly. After an hour or so of trying to explain to him the concept of "taking advantage of the good nature of my fellow adventures" is "evil" I decided that I just couldn't play in his games anymore as he was too close minded as to what evil is.

General rule of thumb: You cant read minds. You don't know what someones intent is based on their actions.

Are you friends with the LG Fighter because you believe in him and his cause? Or is it because he's useful and wont leave you to die in the gutter? Do you "help" the LG cleric by watching his back in a dungeon because your a good guy? Or is it because you know he can heal you when you need it? When the big payday comes and your group manages to slay a dragon do you share the loot because your kind and generous? or because you made a quick mental calculation of "I'll need their help carrying it and staving off bandits who discover we have all this loot!".

Almost ANY "good" deed can be an "evil" deed if the true intentions of the act are brought to light.

What I'm really driving at here is this: Any "hook" that would work in a "good" campaign can also be used in an evil campaign. Evil characters stumble into a village, the mayors daughter has been kidnapped and being held for ransom. Why wouldn't they help? They can kill or subjugate the ones who kidnapped her, collect the "reward" and then prey on the good will they created in the town by taking advantage of the locals. More the fools the kidnappers and townsfolk.

[Aerendil]

Almost ANY "good" deed can be an "evil" deed if the true intentions of the act are brought to light.

You might have a point here, but here's a counter-argument for an "evil" campaign:
- the PCs are simply selfish, and have broken laws to suit their own needs. Or maybe they're simply chaotic by nature. You can be chaotic good, having no use for laws, and run afoul of certain "authorities".

- you could be moreso of a neutral alignment, yet get tied in with the wrong people and essentially framed for an act. The campaign could then consist of them running from the powers that be, trying to catch the real culprit, yet feeling the full weight of being outlawed by a particular area and having everyone hunting you (as they would a marauding band of hill giants).

[jwdaniels]

In D&D, good and evil aren't quite as fuzzy as they are in real life. That said, I would also suggest that you familiarize yourself with the Book of Vile Darkness. If your players aren't using children's hearts as material components they're not really evil, merely misguided.

[Xionanx]

You might have a point here, but here's a counter-argument for an "evil" campaign:
- the PCs are simply selfish, and have broken laws to suit their own needs. Or maybe they're simply chaotic by nature. You can be chaotic good, having no use for laws, and run afoul of certain "authorities".

- you could be moreso of a neutral alignment, yet get tied in with the wrong people and essentially framed for an act. The campaign could then consist of them running from the powers that be, trying to catch the real culprit, yet feeling the full weight of being outlawed by a particular area and having everyone hunting you (as they would a marauding band of hill giants).

Hardly makes it an "evil" campaign then. I once played under a DM who created his own world where all mages were considered evil abominations and were hunted once discovered.

I played a NG Wizard of course who's goal in life was to prove that magic can be used for good. I spent a lot of time skulking about and pretending not be a wizard but on more then one occasion I was forced to make with the magic to save a village, only to later be exiled from said village. I carried around a "holy symbol" and pretended to be a priest of AO who has granted me access to different miracles then normal priests.. It was a good campaign and I had a lot of fun playing it.

[Muldamai]

Depends on the type of evil too. Lawful easy, we can do a lot with that. Chaotic Evil = we can't have everyone be Jack the Ripper.

One of my favorites: Choose a wild frontier land, and it is their job to clear it, keep it safe, and send back resources to their Liege Lord. They are all Marshalls, and will own territory they settle. Makes it easy if they worship some deity, and remember evil is in the eye of the beholder. They can dispense justice as they see fit, and can rule through fear. Weakness is unacceptable. Lots of ways to add henchmen to the group too.

Eventually you can neighbor up another kingdom and have the other side invade 1st. (unless they are far sighted and scout things out ahead of time).
The Liege lord can become displeased and demand more resources or he sends his army, causing internal conflict where they can restore balance or declare war on their former homland.

Remember, evil doesn't mean killing everyone, you need people to work that land to make your life easier, and you can pay them, begrudingly, of course. Once a power base it established, then you can work on those "fun" things. Until then though, a lot of group cooperation is required.

[Aerendil]

Hardly makes it an "evil" campaign then. I once played under a DM who created his own world where all mages were considered evil abominations and were hunted once discovered.

I played a NG Wizard of course who's goal in life was to prove that magic can be used for good. I spent a lot of time skulking about and pretending not be a wizard but on more then one occasion I was forced to make with the magic to save a village, only to later be exiled from said village. I carried around a "holy symbol" and pretended to be a priest of AO who has granted me access to different miracles then normal priests.. It was a good campaign and I had a lot of fun playing it.

/shrug. All depends on how you visualize it.
As noted above, good and evil when you really get into are fuzzy concepts, in D&D as they are in real life.

I've run a campaign where the PCs had to question the morality of magic. When you think about it, some of the magical spells created are *horrific* ways to die.
At what point can you justify using Horrid Wilting, for example, even if you are LG alignment?

Maybe your spellcaster simply believes that the ends justify the means, and is prepared to use un-sanctioned spells, possibly even necromancy, to ensure that you win a battle. And yet doing so may get you branded a renegade, possibly even hunted down.

Like I said, you don't necessarily need to be a truly "evil" character or campaign to experience the other side of things, and have all those pretty level 20 lawful good NPCs in the sourcebooks as your enemy.

Then again, if you really want to play a mercenary, highwayman, or even petty thief, there's always that campaign too. I once ran a campaign where 2 of the standard 3 or 4 gamers we had in our group played Rogues of questionable morality. At one point they attempted to mug an elderly lady, both rolled natural 1s bungling the attempt, giving the lady time to shout for the guards, and an entire unscripted (and unprepared) night of gaming ensued merely from that mishap as they tried to escape the city without getting caught.

That's the beauty of D&D, I guess, where you can have such random results and where you're only limited by your imagination :)

[Aspenor]

LoL I didn't really expect this to turn into a philosophical discussion about the definitions of good and evil in D&D terms.

Trust me, I can give them proper motivations, reasons for doing things, et cetera et cetera ad nauseum. Just gimme the hooks ******. :D

[Krag]

Few adventure hooks.

1. Harassing the borders
One country makes plans to invade the other. Adventurers are to provoke the invaded by plundering and burning small towns and villages.

2. Witch-hunt
Silver Flame adepts have to stop heresy at all cost.

[Aspenor]

2. Witch-hunt
Silver Flame adepts have to stop heresy at all cost.

She turned me into a newt!

[Kahuna68]

LoL I didn't really expect this to turn into a philosophical discussion about the definitions of good and evil in D&D terms.

Trust me, I can give them proper motivations, reasons for doing things, et cetera et cetera ad nauseum. Just gimme the hooks ******. :D

A bounty has been placed on the party, for the whole group or individuals. The party has to find a means to evade, but preferably, remove the bounty.

When they've gotten high enough in level & infamy, throw a good deity's avatar/chosen one at them.

[BobbieBealz]

pending on party makeup, we once ran an evil campaign that sprung up on the premise of looting the mage's former masters tower. Master took off to diefy himself or whatnot, little weasel apprentice has the keys to the kingdom.

The draw of power / magic / money was like honey to the PC's. It started out with a clear path of least resistence that involved selfish disregard for anything remotely praiseworthy. That decision set the mood for the campaign. Some beasties in the tower became recurring villans, but the master never did remake an appearance.

Party never made it past 5th level though. The local good guys simply sowed the seeds of discord, and the PC's pretty much tore themselves apart over the course of 4 adventures after. Fun while it lasted though.

-Bobbie

[KKDragonLord]

Assist a mining conglomerate to dethrone a ruler and put a corrupt religious leader in power to share the profits while the people suffer and starve.

Later on some extremist religious sect would stage their own coup with all the popular support of the vulnerable suffering people by making the riot with demonizing speeches blaming the PC's kingdom for their suffering.

On a neighboring kingdom make the PCs support yet another coup for a corrupt ruler and allow said ruler to attack that extremist kingdom with all sorts of evil magics, supporting him with magic weapons and large amounts of gold pieces (or platinum these days). Allow the PCs to ignore the use of evil magics against a sect of lower class peasants. And let them rejoice in their superiority as that ruler gets more and more desperate for being largely indebted to the PCs as he fights their war and destroys both kingdoms which guarantee that the PCs own kingdom will only profit from the costs of rebuilding that area.

Later on as the puppet evil ruler becomes more and more of a nuisance he decides to create a cartel to increase the value of the minerals that region exports and when a third kingdom refuses to join he attacks them with all that army that was builded up with the help of the PCs kingdom. At that point make the PCs strike him at full force to get the control of the minerals back with justifications of trying to stabilize the region...

well... i could keep using euphemisms but i think you get the point.

[sainy_matthew]

So while I play the abomination that is Everquest tabletop, I am going to be writing up a D&D campaign to play when this is over (or preferably before it's over). I have a few ideas, but I like to have a ton of hooks in reserve so the PC's don't feel like their on the railroad tracks.

A few of my notes:
No monsters as PC's. This is both to keep things simple and to protect the PC's from making stupid choices (like trying to play a level adjusted spellcaster).
Some races can be chosen, but I doubt they will be (examples: drow, duergar, etc.). I personally homebrew these races to eliminate their level adjustment, so as to prevent PC's from being worse than they should be (like a drow wizard or cleric, ECL 3, with only one level of spell casting while fighting CR 3 monsters...pwned).
Random violence is punished in-game.
I heavily homebrew many, many classes and feats to make them stronger (fighters, rogues, barbarians, Weapon Specialization, etc.).Ok, evil games can be hard, but they can be harder if you expect the PC's to just run around committing acts of evil just for crits and giggles. Here are a couple of ideas/campaign styles that i've seen people get to work over the years.

- Country of Evil: Some countries are considered evil, even though the average man in the fields is not going to be evil. You play agents of your country, working in secret as trouble-shooting agents. You are sent to demoralize your countries enemies, destroy his resources & slaughter their countrymen. The country need not be evil, but is instead desperate. For example Karnath during the last war in Eberron used undead to bolster there forces as they ran out of real people to fight for them. Necromancy is considered evil, but it became part of there culture for a good long time, even in the civilian sector... Is the county evil then? Nope. They were just desperate not to be wiped from the map.

- There are no Heroes: Also called the "Crime Syndicate" or "Necessary Evil" paradigm. Maybe there are no heroes in your area, maybe they've all been killed off by something bigger and badder, or maybe the disaster is something of your own making. But however it happened something really bad is coming & the only way its going to be stopped is by the bad guys playing hero... even if they do do it in there own bloody, merciless way.

For example: "The Far Realm" is a place of insanity & nightmares, impossible beasts & controlling, all consuming evil. Somehow, someone has opened up a long forgotten portal within a lost dungeon & the forces of good tried to close it. But the Far Realm is a warping thing & its taint has twisted or killed all the heroes who have tried. No ones left to protect the people... no one is left to stop the insane Far Realm creatures from flooding your home & destroying all your own criminal plots. Looks like its time for the bad guys to do there bit, lest this wave of insanity take away there own little criminal empires.

- Our Lord Demands it: Something big, bad, godlike demands you do things in his name (the alternative being a eternity of torture)... In return you will be ollwed to live in his new world (though you will wish you had died early on). This one can go one of two ways. The first is that you want to work for this BBEG because you're all insane nihilists, or alternatively you are secretly going along with it, being sent to places to destroy knowledge the forces of good do not know they have, that may stop the plan of the evil bad guy, only until you can put all the piece together to stop him. Your evil, but you're not stupid.

I hope these help you out a little. You need not go with the "eating babies, in kitten suace" version of evil, is all i'm saying.

-M

[Mr_Ed7]

Evil still needs to clear the countryside of competitors.

Evil still needs to fund their operations with gold and other loot.

Much of the same motivation for good characters can be applied to evil characters.


Other fun things:

Yes a Raid on a Village is fun.

Capturing Slaves alive can be a challenge.

Assassinating a lord...


Also there will be ample opportunities for role-playing and diplomacy checks and the like.

[Mr_Ed7]

I stab him... He looked at me funny is not a good reason.

Perhaps you don't know evil.

[Krag]

She turned me into a newt!

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8046/heresybyas3k.jpg