RP resources: evil characters (work in progress)

[Darkclouded]

This is the first in what I hope will be a string of helpful and usable resources for starting RP. in this I will be discussing the different types, groups, and ways evil characters RP in the game. This is not to be confused with a "ready made story" thread, no mention of deathknights being possessed or warlocks being hungry for power. just the different types of evil RPers and how they work.nnPersonalities:nnIt's hard to go a few minutes into actual RP without seeing everyone has a personality for their character. some are slightly random some stick to the way they act constantly. here are the personalities I have observed in evil characters the most.nnpsychopathic: a tried and true staple of the evil storyline, rarely is a hero seen in a book or movie without their most likely crazed nemesis. A psychopathic character can be defined in any number of ways. some tend to just behave randomly. some have a strange point in the way they act, like an obsession with something or someone. then there are the very notable "it can't really be evil if I'M doing it" types. no matter what they go with the typical psychopathic character usually feels justified in some way or is unable to prevent the way they act.nnMastermind: this is the type of character you would expect from a james bond movie. the person who takes the time to actually make the plan, rent the volcano lair, and place the deathtraps. quite often noted for being the main personality to have "minions" loved by warlocks and hunters and anyone with a few people willing to play henchmen. this is however (at least in my opinion) the hardest type to play. those with a mastermind personality rarely deviate from the big plan and as such take alot of thought to actually fit into an RP story or event. but if you have the time and people patient enough to help then this is the one that most often gets away with whatever they are doing.nnHenchmen: Every famous bad guy has them, even in world of warcraft. the henchman is the multipurpose personality, everything from a nameless guard to a lieutenant of some other evil character, the henchman is by far the most varied and impossible to get wrong. although if you play one with a little power hungry scheming then you may not get invited back if your plan doesn't work out and your "boss" still wins.nnnn Organizations (groups, parties, evil book club. whatever you want to call it):nnorganizations are an important part of the evil character RP. some players new to a evil character may want to start on something with other people, some may want to go it alone, but no matter what an evil players usually has a clear sense of who they are with.nnlone wolf players: the most common and successful type of organization. mostly because there's no chance for infighting or power struggles in a one person group. the upside to a single person going out and being evil is you don't split the reward, you get all the fame and fear, and of course you get to go off into speeches whenever you are winning (yay). nthe downsides however make this tough for starting evil characters. 1:you have to do all your work on your own, be it fighting or manipulation, you don't get to call in help for this unless it's tricking someone. 2:you have everyone know it's you who did it, when you have to stay with a bunch of people this makes it hard to interact, you will generally have someone after you unless you are a REALLY stealthy bad guy. 3:.....when you get all the blame you tend to find it harder to fit into other RP without being accused of killing off this or that character and stealing this or that item.nnChain of command: the second and easiest of the 3 organizations for evil players. a very definite leader followed by lower and lower tiers of minions. the upside is you have plenty of help. the downsides are you don't get all the loot to yourself, you see quite a few power hungry players messing with the chain of command, and not many people really like the idea of sitting around taking orders.nnPartnership (also known as "why did we do this again?"):nA partnership is THE most difficult to maintain organization of evil players. it is ideally a balanced group of equals all working toward a goal. usually it's more of traveling show of "who can backstab who first". upside: you hopefully have people you trust and there's no chain of command. downside: the partnership will most likely go down in flames as soon as someone wonders why they aren't the only leader.nnn Plots! (the fun part!): nnplots are the point after you have set up your personality, who you travel with (if anyone) and who is willing to have you be evil in their RP story (or hopefully your own). This is the point where everything comes together and cements into the actual story.nnThe simple: everyone starts somewhere. even the really evil players. you can easily try to jump into a full on story focused on you taking on the world but that often winds up with a lot of running back to your corpse while the goodguys sit there cheering over an easy win. in my experience it is best to work your way up if you are new to evil RP. start with something simple like having your character steal an item from your "victim". some people find it just as good to jump into an evil reputation by taking out another character. many successful villains get their start from taking out someone who doesn't like their character anymore but is too stuck in RP to just delete them. and quite often the people the enemy was close to tend to stick around and you get an instant arch enemy.nnThe complicated: not recommended for someone just starting out the real complicated plans aren't having your character take something barely guarded or take out a low level player who is in RP they usually involve longer waits, a bit more drama, and a very fun reputation at the end as being a truly evil character. nothing really beats the scope and scale of taking out entire groups or taking something key to the story and making it clear you aren't an easy fight. nnnn The point some people hit a wall: nnMany really good stories end up actually alienating the person playing "bad guy" for them because as has been stated earlier here, RP wise you are still taking the blame for whatever you did. there are a few ways to deal with that...nnn Stealthy (stabbity stab stab): a stealthy bad guy will actively be able to avoid suspicion, quite often using scape goats, disguises, distractions, and anything they can think of to keep people from know it's them. now OOC people will know it's you and it's the job of the event leader to make sure people understand they can't just accuse someone from the start if they happen to find out. if all works well no one will do so much as point a finger at you in RP, and you get the joy of being known for playing a good villain.nn "Unable to stop yourself": many people get away from most suspicion in stories by having their character only be evil because of mind control or possession, as long as you can make it clear when people find out it's you then the ending should be more "oh yay we freed them" than "quick get them while they're low health". sometimes this doesn't work completely and your character will always be seen with a bit of suspicion in RP, this however opens up for your character having more "out of your control" style stories.nnDangerous: if someone has ever had the little fantasy of being too threatening to actually go against this one is for them. a truly dangerous character can sometimes intimidate the people who learn that they did something evil into not telling their friends and starting the angry mob. however this is also kind of flashy and tends to only slow down people realizing you did something. but like the excuse above it opens up a chance for you to get one or two more good stories in before your character goes on the run.nnnThis is all I have right now and I hope it helps. if all goes as planned there will be more like this for "hero" style players, the rare "true neutral" RPers, and hopefully the actual set up for helping you to start making your own events. if I get more on this topic I will update this,nsincerelyn Dark (your local evil cheshire cat)

[Loilaton]

Hmmm. That's good dark, but I think you need to add something about the "fallen from grace character." I'm not sure how to put it in words though D:

[Darkclouded]

if by any chance you mean a fallen (insert class name here) then that can generaly be understood and explained as bad, good, and neutral. essentialy a fallen version of a class is someone who either rejects the beliefs, training, or methods of their own class and tends to be a bit more aggressive towards those who share their class. like for instance dark being against most non feral druids or some deathknights having the "we shouldn't even be alive still" complex and a need to kill off other ebon blade members

[Shixin]

And then there are characters that are both psychotic AND masterminds. The Joker being the most famous example of having a "plan" that was ingeniously thought out, but was so psychotic that even HE didn't think he could do it.nnIn the Warcraft universe, there is only one character I can think of that foots that bill. And we're about to face him head on in the upcoming expansion.

[Horrere]

Been doing a bit of thought and Dark was wondering if you could answer this question?nnIs it easier being evil and falling to dark thoughts then being good and taking the higher path? nnAnd do you know of any good stories of this type of action or divide?nnThanks,nHorrere

[Darkclouded]

Been doing a bit of thought and Dark was wondering if you could answer this question?nnIs it easier being evil and falling to dark thoughts then being good and taking the higher path? nnAnd do you know of any good stories of this type of action or divide?nnThanks,nHorrere

nThe difference in moral choices is arguably all a matter of perspective, different people think differently and as such it is easier for each one to do something else. one character may give money to someone who needs it thinking of helping that person and being better for it. the other may keep their money thinking that they may need it to avoid being in the same situation as the person who needs it now. As such with the moral divide it is impossible to truly say "evil is easier" or "good is simple" and a truly gifted RPer would hopefully be able to do both well.nnas for an example there is an RP story from another game I used to play about two brothers. one enjoyed playing the evil characters and as such chose evil RP. the other, deciding that it may reflect badly on them otherwise, played a character with "good" RP. each one found their way of doing things easy and would quite often come into a debate over it, eventually when factions were added to the game they went to whichever best reflected their moral choice and, as is probably obvious, fought each other. the fact of the matter is each chose what they found easy to do and what they liked to do and there is very rarely a better choice for RPers than to do what they like as long as it doesn't step on others' choices.nnSincerely,n Dark

[Horrere]

Danka again!

[Aitana]

I'm not sure that a rebel is necessarily evil, but often times evil characters have a similar problem. There is a point when playing a rebel that is tricky. Your character might like to cut the tusks off trolls or have no respect for authority. In real life defying authority or antisocial behavior has consequences like being sent to jail or being rejected from society. In game is no different although we don't have a jail. What we do have are demotions, fines, prescribed community service, and /gkicks. In society most of the truly evil people and rebels that avoid jail have facades that make them 'presentable' to society that allow them to function in society and continue in their rebellious or evil behavior. nnRickrack is a good example of this in his continued dealing in felweed while pretending to carry out Aitana's demands that he stop. On the other hand, open defiance of Lady Nyx or RP-ing that you are cutting off Warburn's tusks or trying to turn Aitana into firewood or talking back to Asarelah could potentially get you kicked from the guild.

[Darkclouded]

trying to turn Aitana into firewood could potentially get you kicked from the guild.

n....huh...there goes campfire stories. :P (kidding Ai :P)

[Fendolf]

Haha....looks like Saha falls right into psychopathic x'D in the worst way *remembers creeping self out rubbing ravenhul's arm while he lay unconscious and chained to dissection table* Cobri to the rescue! But...time now for Saha's next character evolution! ^_^ No more simple lure and foiled for'im...the story must go on! By the way....lol...it's high-time Sojourn of Sahaluusalal got caught up to what I have written on paper...I'll get on that.nnMy own 2 copper bits for evil character-playing: Before RPing with someone...always let'em know what's up with your character, and if they're cool with superdark rp. ^_^ although I guess it doesn't always have to be superdark, but, at least let'em know ooc that you're trying to lure their character in so you can find out what makes'em tick for good.