This is a really interesting thread! Â I hope no one minds if I add my thoughts on the subject. Â 
I have to say that some of the best RP I've ever had has been with villainous characters. Â To this day, I still think back on a storyline I happened to get involved with (not intentionally!) that pitted my Dawnbringer of Lathander against a High Priest of Bane. Â It completely changed my character forever, and was some of the best RP I have ever had the good fortune and privilege to be a part of. Â Ever.
With that said, I rarely see evil done really well. Â One thing that can be especially troubling is that in a "Lawful Good" setting - that is, a setting where the default "alignment" is assumed to be good, and most people have "good intentions" - open evil won't work. Â Open evil will simply be united against and destroyed, no matter how cool the concept is. Â So for evil to work in an environment where most people are of a goodly (or at least not evil) bent, it has to be subtle.
But it's hard to do subtle evil. Â You have to work with people who are mature, and who completely understand the difference between In Character and Out of Character. Â What's more, the evil character has to be extremely vigilant about Metagaming (i.e. magically knowing things about another character that your character wouldn't have any way of knowing), and in moderated games, generally needs Moderator/Storyteller/Dungeonmaster assistance in tamping down both intentional cheating an unintentional slips.
As you can probably imagine, this is really freaking hard to do in a moderated setting. Â It's even more crazy sauce when you try to do it in an unmoderated setting where information can often spread like wildfire, and it can be impossible to track down the source of a rumor to verify whether the person who started it actually had the information to do so.
But it can work! Â It absolutely can! Â I've seen it done! Â It just requires two things that a lot of people are unwilling to to do.
The first is trust.
You have to trust your fellow players. Â You have to believe that they are as interested in you having fun as you are interested in them having fun. Â Roleplay is a mutual story between multiple people. Â It's not a win or lose game. Â When we roleplay, we're engaging in mutual storytelling with the goal of our own personal enjoyment, and the enjoyment of our fellow roleplayers. Â But it is so easy to begin to wonder about the motives of another person when they do something that you or your character don't like. Â It isn't necessarily a sign of immaturity when you balk at something out of worry. Â It's human nature. Â "Hey man, this dude is totally screwing my character over. Â This is so not fair! Â He must hate me!"
Yeah but...he doesn't. Â It's just a game. Â It's just a story. Â And you're both just trying to tell it.
Trust is hard, but it's possible if you keep the lines of communication open. Â I firmly believe if you have a serious problem with a situation, you should speak to the other people involved and try to resolve it to the happiness of all concerned. Â Maybe something about the situation really bothers you. Â Maybe you just didn't want your character to be changed in a particular way. Â Maybe you're confused about how to play it out. Â Etc. Â That's all fine, and completely normal. Â But this brings up the other big thing about engaging in RP with a villainous character.
You have to be willing to lose.
I know, I know - this isn't a competition, and you can't win at RP. Â But you can lose a lot during RP. Â Your freedom. Â Your livelihood. Â Your powers. Â Your appearance. Â Hell, you can lose your mind and a number of other things. And yes, that includes your life. Â If you are RPing with someone of an evil bent, there's a high likelihood that you're going to lose at something, because that's what generally happens when good meets evil - someone loses.
Now "losing" doesn't necessarily mean the end of your character. Â Because loss can spark further character growth, and every end is really just a new beginning. Â I would be the first to admit, however, that I have had characters so radically changed by a storyline that I ended up dropping them after a certain point because they were so far away from where they were intended to be that I lost interest. Â As a matter of fact, that's what ultimately happened to my Dawnbringer (though not because of the Banite). Â But that is a risk that you take when you deal with someone who is evil. Â And for that matter, that is the risk that every evil character takes every time they interact with someone else. Â The thing is, evil characters are usually the ones who lose, whether fairly or unfairly. Â So the losing aspect goes both ways.
In the end, though, a well-played evil character is amazing to RP with. Â I happen to really enjoy the byplay of light against dark, so this may be personal bias. Â But I have really found that as long as I keep those lines of communication, and keep remembering that we're just telling a story together, the RP normally ends up being fantastic.
Honestly, I'd like to see some well-played evils out there. Â The most dangerous, most terrifying evil is the one you never realize is evil because they're so good at doing all the right things. Â The second most terrifying evil? Â The one that's convinced he or she is doing the right thing.
Anyway, just my $0.02. Â Hope I didn't ramble too much!
I have to say that some of the best RP I've ever had has been with villainous characters. Â To this day, I still think back on a storyline I happened to get involved with (not intentionally!) that pitted my Dawnbringer of Lathander against a High Priest of Bane. Â It completely changed my character forever, and was some of the best RP I have ever had the good fortune and privilege to be a part of. Â Ever.
With that said, I rarely see evil done really well. Â One thing that can be especially troubling is that in a "Lawful Good" setting - that is, a setting where the default "alignment" is assumed to be good, and most people have "good intentions" - open evil won't work. Â Open evil will simply be united against and destroyed, no matter how cool the concept is. Â So for evil to work in an environment where most people are of a goodly (or at least not evil) bent, it has to be subtle.
But it's hard to do subtle evil. Â You have to work with people who are mature, and who completely understand the difference between In Character and Out of Character. Â What's more, the evil character has to be extremely vigilant about Metagaming (i.e. magically knowing things about another character that your character wouldn't have any way of knowing), and in moderated games, generally needs Moderator/Storyteller/Dungeonmaster assistance in tamping down both intentional cheating an unintentional slips.
As you can probably imagine, this is really freaking hard to do in a moderated setting. Â It's even more crazy sauce when you try to do it in an unmoderated setting where information can often spread like wildfire, and it can be impossible to track down the source of a rumor to verify whether the person who started it actually had the information to do so.
But it can work! Â It absolutely can! Â I've seen it done! Â It just requires two things that a lot of people are unwilling to to do.
The first is trust.
You have to trust your fellow players. Â You have to believe that they are as interested in you having fun as you are interested in them having fun. Â Roleplay is a mutual story between multiple people. Â It's not a win or lose game. Â When we roleplay, we're engaging in mutual storytelling with the goal of our own personal enjoyment, and the enjoyment of our fellow roleplayers. Â But it is so easy to begin to wonder about the motives of another person when they do something that you or your character don't like. Â It isn't necessarily a sign of immaturity when you balk at something out of worry. Â It's human nature. Â "Hey man, this dude is totally screwing my character over. Â This is so not fair! Â He must hate me!"
Yeah but...he doesn't. Â It's just a game. Â It's just a story. Â And you're both just trying to tell it.
Trust is hard, but it's possible if you keep the lines of communication open. Â I firmly believe if you have a serious problem with a situation, you should speak to the other people involved and try to resolve it to the happiness of all concerned. Â Maybe something about the situation really bothers you. Â Maybe you just didn't want your character to be changed in a particular way. Â Maybe you're confused about how to play it out. Â Etc. Â That's all fine, and completely normal. Â But this brings up the other big thing about engaging in RP with a villainous character.
You have to be willing to lose.
I know, I know - this isn't a competition, and you can't win at RP. Â But you can lose a lot during RP. Â Your freedom. Â Your livelihood. Â Your powers. Â Your appearance. Â Hell, you can lose your mind and a number of other things. And yes, that includes your life. Â If you are RPing with someone of an evil bent, there's a high likelihood that you're going to lose at something, because that's what generally happens when good meets evil - someone loses.
Now "losing" doesn't necessarily mean the end of your character. Â Because loss can spark further character growth, and every end is really just a new beginning. Â I would be the first to admit, however, that I have had characters so radically changed by a storyline that I ended up dropping them after a certain point because they were so far away from where they were intended to be that I lost interest. Â As a matter of fact, that's what ultimately happened to my Dawnbringer (though not because of the Banite). Â But that is a risk that you take when you deal with someone who is evil. Â And for that matter, that is the risk that every evil character takes every time they interact with someone else. Â The thing is, evil characters are usually the ones who lose, whether fairly or unfairly. Â So the losing aspect goes both ways.
In the end, though, a well-played evil character is amazing to RP with. Â I happen to really enjoy the byplay of light against dark, so this may be personal bias. Â But I have really found that as long as I keep those lines of communication, and keep remembering that we're just telling a story together, the RP normally ends up being fantastic.
Honestly, I'd like to see some well-played evils out there. Â The most dangerous, most terrifying evil is the one you never realize is evil because they're so good at doing all the right things. Â The second most terrifying evil? Â The one that's convinced he or she is doing the right thing.
Anyway, just my $0.02. Â Hope I didn't ramble too much!
![[Image: hFalP38.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/hFalP38.jpg)
