Role-Playing Games typically mean the players get to be the heroes. Over the many years I have played in several evil games, rarely do they go well. I have played in games with all evil characters and often it devolves into some PVP and a non-completion of the story that we are working on. I have played in games where one or two characters are evil and with some trust from all the players we completed the story, sometimes with the evil characters being hauled off to prison or killed or sometimes the evil character wins.
Recently we started a game where we are playing in a post-apocalyptic world with the group being motorcycle riders. We are kind of a gang and settle a lot of our problems with combat, as happens in D&D. While I almost always play the hero, at times I play closer to the line of evil and chaos, greed and personal interest. In this latest session, Dave pushed our greedy impulses and put us in a situation where our group was attacking a cabin in the woods. As we cleared the guardians, a woman stepped out the door, begging us not to kill her baby. Through the open doorway, we could see the pile of treasure.
Ted as a player very much wanted the treasure knowing it is a game. But it became a turning moment for the character to really think about the actions we had done. When we had time, I called the group to have a conversation and it has changed the way the party has acted. It has changed to an almost hilarious level.
Our character’s morals when we play should be put to the test. In order for characters to have growth. If we are only ever presented with situations that we know the right thing to do, then we never fail, mourn and grow to new heights. Conflict needs to be more than just a physical fight or battle. We should be challenged in every way we can. Maybe not in every D&D campaign, but over our long games and over our careers of playing this wonderful game.
Morals are also something that can change. If we see the cop who does everything by the books for so long and things still go poorly and begins to take the law into his own hands. You have the criminal who turns their skill for the betterment of society. You should always be prepared to see how your character is going to grow over the course of a story or game.
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