So I been tasked with running a game for a newbie (I won't lie, we are playing DnD 5E since those are the only books I have).

She wants to be a dragonborn so I'm going to run a dragonborn noble campaign, with full fledged dragons being the heads of houses and the dragonborn being the nobles under them. SHe wants an evil campaign so since its just her and no one to back stab her.

I was wondering if you guys had any ideas that could help or maybe plot hooks.

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If the GM doesn't want to give me hooks then I'll make some but generally I prefer to let the GM lead it.

Lottttaaa ways to go.

One idea is that it could have been a land that was mostly ruled by dragons but then the dragons all kind of disappeared (reasons left to you, maybe heroes slayed them, maybe they all ascended to a higher plane, maybe some epic level spell wiped them out, maybe they are all just hibernating to wait out some upcoming apocalypse...)

Anyway, all the dragons poof gone leaving a biiiig power vacuum that the dragonborn decide they should try and fill. Basically the idea would be to run around to the different empires of men/elves/dwarves/orcs and pressuring them into swearing fealty to your noble house while countering enemy houses.


Another idea is to do a corruption of Cheliax from Pathfinder but replace "Devils" with "Dragons". Basically a powerful nation empire has conquered a big patch of the land because they are "allied" with some Lawful Evil dragons (insert type however you want). Truth be told they're really slaves to the dragons but propaganda means that everyone thinks they are just allies. Anyway over the centuries dragonborn rise up to replace humans or whatever as the "nobles" and favored ones. THEN you could run modifications of Pathfinder games like Council of Thieves just replacing all the demon/devil stuff with dragon stuff. It'd be a bit of work but not too hard to do, even on the fly

I should also mention that she is a Sorcerer. So that opens up the magic avenue as well.

I do like the Dragons taking over that could explain the history of the people and give her a resistance to fight against in the form of humans that want control back. She isn't going to be a straight up combat character because she's a sorcerer so at first it will be more of a political/noble game.

You could give her a bodyguard GM-NPC to help handle the heavy lifting and tank for her if it does go to combat...

Hang on...


Here is a game I ran that was styled after the Count of Monte Cristo. I'd appreciate you not lifting everything point for point but it might hopefully spark some ideas on how to run an evil political game

link to another game

Unfortunately I hit a rough spot IRL and didn't realize i hadn't posted for awhile in this game and the player went AWOL...

Thanks for letting me look at that. I was wondering are there any dnd or pathfinder adventure modules that focus on nobility or evil characters I could take a look at to help?

The Dragon noble houses could oppose one another? Game of Dragons, hooo! :)

There are no official Pathfinder games that are purely "evil". Some games like Kingmaker or Skull & Shackles are tolerant towards those with evil inclination but it is always something the GM is going to have to be observant about because the default mindset behind Pathfinder modules and adventure paths are that the PCs are "heroes".

Hence why they always have a selection of default Good/Neutral characters at the back of every adventure. Pathfinder does not, to my knowledge, have default "evil" characters.

On a side note a buddy of mine runs a GIGANTIC podcast around an evil campaign. They're up to something like 188 weekly episodes give or take. He has also done panels at GenCon about running an evil campaign.

http://geekspective.com/catego...s-evil-does/page/21/

This might be of interest, though I've never experienced it (it always fills up fast when I see one).
http://www.firemountaingames.c...y_of_the_wicked.html

It's far from perfect, but I got through the first book and a half of Way of the Wicked in an evil party and it was great.

Well I look at it like this, there's no real evil. The bad guys think they're doing the right thing. So I can turn any module around for an evil group. I was more so looking for an adventure for a noble that I could draw from.

I think the biggest issue is people don't realize what the definition of 'Evil' is in most cases - and sadly it wouldn't be considered a 'valid' definition by most.

Merriam-Webster online definition:

1
a :  morally reprehensible :  sinful, wicked <an evil impulse>
b :  arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct <a person of evil reputation>
2
a archaic :  inferior
b :  causing discomfort or repulsion :  offensive <an evil odor>
c :  disagreeable <woke late and in an evil temper>
3
a :  causing harm :  pernicious <the evil institution of slavery>
b :  marked by misfortune :  unlucky


Direct/gaming or general life definition:  To be totally driven by selfish/self-centered motivations such as to be unconcerned with harming others or deliberately seek to cause harm to others.  Where harm could be financial, social, physical, mental, emotional or any other form of misfortune or injury.  Essentially Evil is "always looking out for number one".

There really isn't a definition in practical terms. It's entirely subjective; citing the dictionary definition just boils down to "something people don't like." The issue is that many people don't share a subjective frame of reference with suitable overlap, not that they don't understand the definition.

In reply to bashful_batrean (msg # 62):

Yep, I actually agree. Evil is selfishness to the detrement of others. The thing is, this can be expressed in an infinite number of ways. Not all are obvious or even directly disruptive. It also means that in the real world, people of evil alignment are quite common.

I would disagree and say that evil is in the eye of the beholder. There are many examples in history of what we would call 'evil men' who thought they were working for the greater good, that they were sacrificing themselves for the cause.

A not-so-historical example would be the Operative from the movie Serenity. In his mind, he was doing all the bad things that needed to be done to keep justice and democracy alive. He would (and did) murder innocents and do reprehensible acts to preserve the greater good of the world.

While I'm not saying such beliefs are common, I think you will find fanatics and exteremists who commit evil acts who aren't doing it for purely selfish reasons, in fact it is the extreme selflessness of their motivations that allows them to be the conduit for evil.

They are doing evil so other people don't have to.

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So on a different tact I would say is that concepts of good/evil are highly subjective to culture and society. I might view non-violence as 'good' and violence as 'evil' (i.e. murder bad, peace good) but if you look at it from the mindset of say the Orks then it becomes the opposite. Violence and death are the purest expressions of your god and you are doing your god and your people a disservice when you lay down arms or don't exert yourself physically. In that society, violence is good, non-violence is evil.

D&D alignments are all based upon the mindset of Lawful Good as the starting point (hence why it is Law versus Chaos and not Order vs. Freedom or something 'nicer' then Chaos).

HOWEVER if you built up an NE or CE society like the orcs or the undead and skewed things to their perspective you would get different definitions of 'good' and 'evil'

But that view of Orcs, Goblins, etc falls under the "Might Makes Right" mindset, where if the weaker can't fend for themselves, then they die.  Good vs Evil is subjective, but it's subjective with a slant of Society vs the Individual.  Who will benefit more by the actions - the greater whole, or a select few?  And truly benefit, not gain some minor token while the 'inner circle' gains all the choicest rewards because they're part of the 'driving force' and thus 'entitled'.

Good in this sense would be served when the sacrifices of the individual or few actually provides noticeable gains for those outside their immediate influence with little or no gain or direct reward to those performing the actions.

Orcs wouldn't re-define the concept of 'good' and 'evil', but they would have a different morality between what is accepted as 'right' or 'wrong' from their societal viewpoint.  (As long as it doesn't hurt me or my tribe, then I'm ok with that... if it brings us wealth at the destruction of 'lesser' beings, that's to be encouraged.

Evil is a concept invented by humans to solidify their world view.  If they can justify getting rid of, destroying, treating like dirt, etc that which they define as evil they are vindicating their actions.  WWII is a perfect example, Hitler said the Jews, homosexuals, and Gypsies were evil, thus the general public was ok with the way they were treated.

Might makes right is the concept of evolution and happens in nature all the time.  Only humans disdain such a thing as being unnatural.  In your example the Orcs do redefine what is good and evil.  Good is good for them, then their family, then their tribe.  Evil tries to hurt the same people.

But you're referring to Real-world concepts (in which there is only one sentient species roaming the planet), versus a 'conceptualized' concept of behavioral 'norms' constrained by 'alignments' in an RPG for purposes of conceptualization and mutual recognition in the imagination.  As such, this isn't a 'philosophical' interpretation of Good, Evil, and 'shades of grey', it is a 'given' behavioral classification based on the being's relationship with the world around him.  Where exceptions would exist, you'd be hard-pressed to convince the general population that this is the case.

In the Original D&D, the idea was to give a 'foe' which you could fight without having to ponder the 'moral' implications of your decisions.... after all, it's a FANTASY GAME, you're there fir fun and to semi-constructively blow off steam and frustrations by beating the crap out of the imaginary representation of your difficult day at work, school, what have you.

By far the best Alignment system I've seen is Palladium, where they list the 6(?) alignments with 7-10 bulletpoints following tat describe the behavior of someone with that alignment.

In reply to praguepride (msg # 65):

If I take your life to enforce my political ideals, that's selfish (and evil).

The human concept of being is itself flawed (see Robert Anton Wilson's E-Prime) but this is undeniably an evil act.

In reply to PCO.Spvnky (msg # 68):

Mutual Aid is a much stronger factor in evolution than might makes right.

How about a different tactic?

Evil is in the eyes of the DM :P

They're all evil, sir.

As far as I can tell, good and evil in RL are 100% subjective, and cultures started wars over whose interpretation of these is the 'correct' one.

If I understood it correctly, in D&D (and Pathfinder) Good = Altruistic, Evil = Cruel. (By the way, in my opinion the Pathfinder Society and its members are, by the above definition, Evil).
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

Perhaps in human society but in every other group in nature the strongest/wittiest/manipulative are the ones that get to mate and ensure that their genetic code gets passed on.

One could even disagree that it works in human society.  it could be argued that the protection of the sick and weak in human society has cause us as a species to stop evolving.

Edited the following quote for directness:


Are we taking this to vote?
Because I agree with it!
Played a Society game, which I've not done in a while, was floored by how many 'evil' characters are the table...
For example:
I was the token pre-made Cleric; nothing uber-killer.
Going through the adventure and suddenly, I have to heal people!
Great, getting ready to do the 'wash' cycle of healing - that channel healing aura.  In this party, we have 6 players; they all group around me for warmth not knowing I could fill the room up-to 30 feet, whatever...
So, they're all around me: Blast the wave...roll the dice - rather high - and...
Everyone's eyes light-up, they're thinking: We're almost back to full health till...
The DM asked me: What alignment I was and which Deity I asked for assistant.
I said: The goody-goody one and I am goody-goody alignment.
THUD
THUD
THUD
There it was, I took down three Evil characters. Left standing:  Me (ofcourse), a Fighter and a Rogue.  Which I asked the Rogue: How are you still standing?  They smiled and said: I have one hit-point left...

The DM, the Fighter, the Rogue and I are old college roommates; and the DM has played with the group - minus me - before; so he kinda knew what would happened.  I on the other-hand got reminded the 'joys' of playing at Stores...

Talk about three very pissed-off High-schools!