An Evil Party

The party has been regularly concealing treasure from the guild, refusing to pay their dues. They looted a temple of Pelor, Neutral Good God of the Sun, and shed no tears after the fact. They brawl, duel, wrestle wild animals, lie to town guards, impersonate town guards, impose nonexistent taxes, betray pirates, spare cannibals, and try their very darndest to keep as much wealth, power, and magic as they can to themselves.

I have good news and bad news. Mostly bad news. In fact, let’s call it “evil” news.

An evil party is … interesting.

A fun challenge, certainly, but one most DM’s would prefer to not discover four sessions into a campaign. When you have a fallen paladin as your villain, serving a sorcerer king hell bent on world domination through the awakening of distant star gods you probably don’t want your party to feel neutral toward them. If they start trying to see things from the point of view of the star god you may need to completely rethink your campaign.

There are plenty of instances where playing with an evil party is what you intended. Playing the evil overlord and her minions has a certain appeal to many people (my players certainly included). Warlocks that dabble in dark magic and rogues and rakes who murder the innocent can be a nice escape from living life as a neutral good 5th level office worker with 1 level in gardener.

When your players surprise you with their morally dubious ways, many DM’s can be overwhelmed having to rethink their entire world, storylines, and villains. Suddenly the heroes, companions, and allies you had planned for your party would probably kill them on sight. This may have happened to me with a certain character named Zak. I’ve mentioned him before.

I mentioned good news, didn’t I?

• You get to play the good guys. Instead of leading the forces of evil and trying to end the world, you’re more likely to play the paladins and clerics trying to save it. The assassin you had planned to target the party may be a bounty hunter out to collect the sizable amount of gold on their heads. Heroes do not get a free pass to murder, steal, and loiter. Good people will come after them.

• You get to play the scoundrels. You know who likes having their loot stolen? NO ONE! Neutral characters, be they true or chaotic, love their treasure. Evil characters rolling up to their secret hideouts and treasure troves are the enemy and they cannot be allowed to continue their destructive, stealing ways. Thieves, assassins, crime lords, and pirates aren’t any friendlier with evil than they are with good.

• You still get to play the bad guys. Evil doesn’t like competition. The Emperor from Star Wars kept Vader around because he was a convenient tool, not because they were besties. Devils hate demons. Tyrants hate orc hordes. An evil party might be tolerated for a time before they become a nuisance. And of course, tyrannical overlords tend to have nice treasure stockpiles for the party to thirst after.

• You get to punish them. Tavern keepers may no longer deal with their kind, shunning them from their favorite time sink. That’s a punishment that will, I promise you, wake them up to the horrible things they have done. What’s the point of collecting all the world’s treasure if you can’t get drunk, laid, and brag about it?

• You get to reward them. Evil parties invariably acquire more loot. They aren’t caught by moral traps like helping orphans, preserving magical balance, and not manipulating others. They get more gold, more magic items, and more opportunities to start fights.

• They will constantly surprise you. Some people may see this as a bad aspect but I love it. I love being challenged by my party to come up with interesting dungeons and nemeses and factions. Everytime they surprise me by going shark-fishing with a bard, I feel the same pride a parent might when a child plans their first bank heist. Instead of me, the DM, being a passive force introducing that session to them, they force me to remain active and aware to come up with responses to their ridiculous, amoral, illegal shenanigans. It’s like Christmas to me.

What’s my one rule? An evil party is interesting.