Adventures for Villains

[Severus Snape]

Ok, so normally everybody plays the good guy, and all of the adventures I've seen out there (including the one I created for submission for the Rifter) centers on the players being the good guys. But what about adventures for the players to be the bad guys?

Normally, I would just write one up on my own. But I'm having a hard time doing so. I guess I've spent so much time devoted to the players being good guys that the villainous portion of my brain is on vacation. And I'm stuck. And I need help.

Does anybody know of a site that has adventures or hooks dedicated to the players being the bad guys? I saw the link RGG posted earlier, and this is great if the players are good guys. But I'm looking for some hooks for the players to be bad guys to get the old creative juices flowing again.

Anybody know of anything?

[Mr. Jays]

There is always the good, old fashioned caper. There have been plenty of movies made about them if you need ideas, heck there are three of the Ocean's movies. This can lead to a full-fledged campaign if you want.

Step One: Finding your team

This can mean getting your group together with various obstacles (prison break, finishing other jobs first, etc.) in the way, or finding specialized NPCs to complete the job.

Step Two: Setup

This means getting capital and equipment. You many have to get the money an honest way(for humor) because the risk is too high. Simple robberies, or breaking in to heavily fortified areas to obtain what you need.

You may also need to get someone on the inside be it through bribery, seduction, or other methods.

Step Three: The job

Actually pulling it of especially (GM this is where you come in) if something goes wrong.

Step Four: The Getaway

If things went well, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. (Or the PCs fall into a false sense of security)

If all doesn't go well, the PC may be on the run from the law, a powerful individual, ect. This may lead to many future plots.

Also, don't forget treachery in the group. (one share is better than four, ect.) Also maybe one of the NPCs could be working for the very person you just robbed.

[Mr. Jays]

If you don't want to do a caper, there is always the rise to power from the inside.

Hitler first tried to gain power through force; he failed and went to prison. While in prison he wrote Mien Kampf and realized that you have to defeat the system from the inside.

You're group may rally supporters, run for a low office (a stepping stone to a higher office), sabotage those who oppose you, or out and out kill them, but come to power by "legitimate" means.

Ironically, this may mean your players may need to do "good deeds" to create their false persona.

Let them work their way up the ladder. Today they rule this small town, tomorrow the world!

[Mr. Jays]

Hope these help!

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. Well, one thing to consider, you probably have a lot more experience coming up with a villain storyline than you may realize.

* Someone is trying to assassinate the king, and the heroes have to stop them.
* Bandits have been raiding the town, and the heroes have to stop them.
* A wizard and his allies are trying to summon [insert powerful entity here] to enslave and do their evil bidding, and the heroes have to stop them.

The main difference is you flip the scenario. Usually the villains are your NPC, and the heroes are your player characters. In this case, the villains will be the players and the heroes are your NPC. That's at least the most basic idea off the top of my head. Other concepts can include another rival villain group moving in on their territory, or otherwise causing problems. Though there is something else that needs to be considered.

* Will the villain player group be serving a more powerful being, or will they be independant?

Serving a more powerful being (such as the evil king, or the evil wizard trying to resurrect such and such) is probably easier. This will let the main villain pick the missions/objectives, and then send the player group to carry out his goals. Now, even in this case, the higher power shouldn't be ever present. The group should get to still have some freedom, finding their own ways to carry out objectives, take side jobs, etc. Mostly this force will help serve as a minor guiding structure and give the overall campaign some form and ultimate goal to work towards.

Having them as their own bosses of course gives greater freedom and options for the player group. However, they'll need to be deciding a lot more of what they want to do. To create good lead-ins you'll need to know what kind of evil they want to be. Are they simply thieves? Bandits? Killing for random fun? Ultimate evil trying to take over the world? Knowing what kind of evil they're going to be can be helpful in determining further storylines.

Now I'll note I've never actually run an evil campaign, so I'm not speaking from personal experience. This is mostly off the top of my head in the hopes it will help. I hope that it has. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[Mercdog]

Always keep in mind, sure the characters may be bad guys, but if their not careful about whose toes they step on, or mindful about whose territory they're in, they are likely to tick off somebody whose worse than them.

That convoy of weapons you jacked and planned on selling to the Black Market? Guess what? Thanks to a crooked CS supply officer, it was already being shipped to the Market. How likely is it that they are going to want to pay you for something that was already being sent to them? And those convoy guards you wasted to get the prize? One of them was a favored agent of the organization. The Boss's nephew in fact. I don't think your going to profit in this situation.

[The Dark Elf]

Bad guys as players can have good guys and evil guys for enemies. Love that aspect.

[Killer Cyborg]

It would depend on what kind of bad guys they were.
If they're burglars, that's one set of possible adventures.
If they're serial killers, that's another.
If they're drug dealers, that's another.
And so on.

Heck, you could run an Evil coalition campaign, and have all your plots revolve around slaughtering d-bees and psychics.

[burgler81]

I have played in several evil campaigns and GM'd a few. Some did not last vary long others lasted for a couple years, my best advice is to give the group more free will the normal in what they want to do, they may surprise you with what they come up with and how they plan to get away with it.

[Mr. Jays]

The other option for you do do is to have them run neutral adventures. Nobody, good or evil, likes being taken as prisoners by the Spugorth. If fact, this creates a great plot twist, because now the group may have to join forces with the heroes that were trying to hunt them down earlier.

[dragonfett]

There's also the old "Stop the destruction of the world" scenario. It's kind of hard to be the king of a mountain that no longer exists.

[Rallan]

Ok, so normally everybody plays the good guy, and all of the adventures I've seen out there (including the one I created for submission for the Rifter) centers on the players being the good guys. But what about adventures for the players to be the bad guys?

Normally, I would just write one up on my own. But I'm having a hard time doing so. I guess I've spent so much time devoted to the players being good guys that the villainous portion of my brain is on vacation. And I'm stuck. And I need help.

Does anybody know of a site that has adventures or hooks dedicated to the players being the bad guys? I saw the link RGG posted earlier, and this is great if the players are good guys. But I'm looking for some hooks for the players to be bad guys to get the old creative juices flowing again.

Anybody know of anything?

The real question is what sort of characters the players are likely to come up with. Because if they decide to play a bunch of card-carrying villains who are doing it for the evulz, then your chances of running a serious campaign that doesn't implode almost instantly are almost nil.

[Supergyro]

The real question is what sort of characters the players are likely to come up with. Because if they decide to play a bunch of card-carrying villains who are doing it for the evulz, then your chances of running a serious campaign that doesn't implode almost instantly are almost nil.

"Evil" does not mean "Incapable of working with others" or even "Disloyal". Take a Splugorth campaign for instance, it could be an entire campaign hinged around slave trading, with characters who work together and are loyal to their masters.

Or a Coalition 'DBee cleansing squad'. Genocidal intent, but from the perspective of those doing it, totally justified.

Seriously, if your party does not understand this and believes "non-good" means "backstabbing self-destructive psychopath", then I'd suggest not running the campaign.

[Rallan]

The real question is what sort of characters the players are likely to come up with. Because if they decide to play a bunch of card-carrying villains who are doing it for the evulz, then your chances of running a serious campaign that doesn't implode almost instantly are almost nil.

"Evil" does not mean "Incapable of working with others" or even "Disloyal". Take a Splugorth campaign for instance, it could be an entire campaign hinged around slave trading, with characters who work together and are loyal to their masters.

Or a Coalition 'DBee cleansing squad'. Genocidal intent, but from the perspective of those doing it, totally justified.

Seriously, if your party does not understand this and believes "non-good" means "backstabbing self-destructive psychopath", then I'd suggest not running the campaign.

Yeah thanks for repeating my point.