I'm the Bad Guy (Duh): Playing Evil Characters

I’m a Bad Guy (Duh): Evil Characters in Roleplaying Games

Everyone loves a good villain. Whether they’re the character you love to hate or an antihero protagonist you find yourself rooting for, villains are an integral part of fiction, including, of course, our role-playing games. Having recently finished The Sopranos, I found myself intrigued by the sociopathic and violent character Tony Soprano. While he was rarely sympathetic, it was always interesting to see what he would do next to maintain control of his criminal empire, with just about every other character in the show (including his own mother!) against him. A good villain has just enough humanity or positive qualities that you can’t help but understand why they act the way they do, which is why they are often my favorite characters in fiction. After all, who would Sherlock Holmes be without Moriarty?

Dungeons & Dragons itself has many iconic villains, from the sorcerous archlich Acererak, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, and the dragon queen Tiamat. All of these iconic characters and more provide your adventurers with forces of evil to fight against and (hopefully!) triumph over in an epic adventure.

But can you play as an Evil character in a tabletop game? Sure! I just haven’t gotten it to work in my games, especially if there are good-aligned characters in the party, but people do. I'll share advice and guidelines on best practices to keep your game fun and ensure there aren’t hurt feelings outside the game.

Alignment in D&D

Note in the previous paragraph, I capitalized the word “Evil”. This represents the concept of an evil alignment in Dungeons & Dragons, or a player character morally aligned to commit evil acts. Although many role-playing games do not have alignment, for those unaware of the concept, Dungeons & Dragons famously has an “alignment chart” that represents your character’s overall attitude towards society, good, and evil as a general guideline.

When making a character in D&D, you choose two options from your character’s opinions of society and its rules (law, neutral, or chaos) and overall morality (good, neutral, and evil). So a thief who steals for their own gain would likely be chaotic neutral, as they disobey society’s rules and are primarily motivated by selfish means. On the other hand, a cleric of a benevolent deity dedicated to helping others may be lawful good, as they are committed to helping others and upholding society’s laws.

While I don’t play my character’s every action as a strict interpretation of alignment, I do find it to be a good jumping-off point to understanding a character. But what happens when a player wants to be evil?

Best Practices for Evildoers

When playing an evil character or pitching the concept of one to a group, the best way to start is by communicating your intentions. Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games are inherently social activities, and some players might not want to have a character who may be working against the best interests of the party.

Starting with an open conversation with all the players and your DM is a good way to figure out whether this will work with your group or cause too much friction. Be prepared to get vetoed! I don’t allow Evil (or Evil-aligned) characters in my campaigns for this reason, especially if there are good characters within the party. Having this conversation as an above-the-table discussion (i.e., not in-character) about something that may cause tension both in-character and out-of-character is a good place to start. The worst thing you could do is surprise your fellow players (or DM!) by revealing your true nature with an evil act.

Keep in mind that if your Evil character, meaning you, decides to derail another player’s actions or do something evil in-character, it may cause hurt feelings outside the table. Talking about the boundaries of your character and their motivations, such as “he is a mercenary solely motivated by gold, but would never hurt his friends or those he works with” or “she greedily seeks to gain arcane power but never works alone, and manipulates others to get what she wants,” is a good touchstone for this conversation. A manipulative character can be a good role-playing hook, as charismatic characters such as bards tend to be good at persuading and tricking others. Still, anything like that done against other players requires an open conversation with the group.

Be Prepared for No

If your DM sets guidelines ahead of the game, be prepared for them to say no. Frankly, in my experience, it is much easier to maintain group harmony and cohesion if everyone is at least relatively on the same moral wavelength. There’s room in any group, both in and out of character, for differences in opinion. A Lawful Good cleric will view the world differently from a Chaotic Good thief, and lively debate in-character is a fun way to play out those differences, but for your group, Evil alignments may be a step too far.

However, as an example of how I’ve gotten an Evil character to work in a game, I played in a fantastic one-shot of Shooting Iron, a Wild West role-playing game. My character was a bounty hunter heavily inspired by the cruel Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I explained to the DM and the other players that I wanted to play a cruel character solely motivated by greed, with no remorse or guilt about what he does to complete his bounties, a job at which he excels and enjoys. I also added in the out-of-character discussion that he is happy to work with and cooperate with others as long as they are useful to him.

By all accounts, he was an evil character (though operating within the law, which would make him technically Lawful Evil), but because he was keyed to the Wild West setting and I explained the boundaries to maintain harmony at the table, he was accepted as a character, and we had a great time!

Evil is Kinda Fun

Although I’ve never had much success with having a mixed party of Good and Evil characters, I know there are groups out there that do! The thing to keep in mind if you want to include Evil characters is to communicate, communicate, communicate. Talk to your fellow players, talk to your DM, and set boundaries. Just because your character goes around stabbing others in the back (literally and figuratively!) doesn’t mean it needs to happen to your fellow player characters.

At the end of the day, players are as responsible for everyone’s fun as DMs, and if your character’s actions are making someone uncomfortable, then it needs to stop. It’s just a game, and we’re all here to have fun, even if you’re playing an Evil character. It can be fun! I’ve had successful one-shots where everyone played as fantasy villains or supervillains, and it was an absolute blast.

Because, let’s face it: bad guys are cool.

But don’t get me started on the Chaotic Neutral alignment.

- Tanner Adams