Demographics 12: Villainy!

[Brovo]

@Staff: Keep in mind that (with Diana's permission and Astaroth overlooking it) I'm posting threads in GC first, leaving them there for a week, and then moving them to RP Help & Discussion after! This way, my demographics threads can have the widest breadth of community input without asking for unfair administration favouratism. Thanks.

Special Thanks: @Hana & @RedWillow who are helpers on the Demographics project.

Credit goes to @RedWillow for creating the banner.​

Demographics

Demographics threads are, essentially, an attempt to record the community's thoughts and feelings on RP-related subject matter via a series of votes. Iwaku's tastes, habits, et cetera. If you want further information on prior demographics threads, you can find the demographics hub thread here. (There are ten other Demographics Polls to check stats on & vote in so far!)

Demo threads are not an appropriate place for hardcore multipage debates. You can ask questions about each other's positions, but keep them professional in tone. Otherwise, the spirit of the demographics threads will be lost. They're meant to sample the community and put it into an easily digestible form of numbers that anybody can look at later when creating their own RP threads or when curious about Iwaku's general demographics. If you're really interested in discussing the subject matter, create your own discussion thread. I would be delighted if demographics threads started to spawn further topics of interest by the community itself.

Previous Community Choice Poll

• A. Pace: 1
• B. Politics: 0
• C. Mechanics: 1
• D. Power Levels: 1
• E. RP Completion: 1
• F. Character Depth: 3
• G. Romance: Pursuer vs Pursued: 2
• H. Villainy: 4 (Winner--most votes!)
• I. Surprise me: 0

Question: Which of these forms of evil is your favourite?
Clarity: Basically as the question posits. What kind of evil is your favourite to either play as, or encounter in a story? Keep in mind that what is considered good and evil is inherently subjective. Also, keep in mind that an antagonist doesn't necessarily have to be evil and vice versa. You can have evil protagonists, or good antagonists. If you need further clarity on the answers, you can find it here.

Additional Questions

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?
• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can choose multiple options. To vote, simply post in this thread which option(s) you want.) (Yes, this poll will shrink in size at some point. Some topics dead end after a while. )

• A. Pace. (How fast RP's go/how fast you and the rest of the community post on average.) (Single-choice poll.)
• B. Politics. (New topic expansion: Polling to see the community's general interest in how politics manifests in role playing.) (Single or Multiple choice poll.)
• C. Mechanics. (New topic expansion: Polling to see the community's general interest in how artificial mechanics like dice rolls and stats influence role playing.) (Single or Multiple choice poll.)
• D. Power Levels. (As a follow up to "Genres" and "Character Archetypes." Has to do with the average level of power player characters possess.) (Single choice poll.)
• E. RP Completion. (As a follow up to "Longevity." Has to do with how many have successfully completed role plays, and/or how many completed role plays they have.) (Single choice poll.)
• F. Character Depth. (New topic expansion: Polling to see the community's general interest in how facets of character creation and development function.) (Single or Multiple choice poll.)
• G. Romance: Pursuer vs Pursued. (Specific follow up to "Romance." Has to do with whether someone prefers to be pursued or do the pursuing in romantic arcs. Will be gender divided for further clarity and curiosity.) (Single choice poll.)
• H. Good vs Evil. (Specific follow up to "Villainy." Has to do with the proportion of characters created which players perceive to be good or evil, or who fall somewhere in between.) (Single choice poll.)
• I. Surprise me. (None of the above.)

 

[Dervish]

Additional Questions

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

Well-meaning Evil. The most compelling villains are the ones who don't believe what they're doing is evil and they believe the ends justify the means.

• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

Sadistic-evil. It's super cookie cutter and doesn't have much depth for the most part.

• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

I play a lot of characters with morally grey areas. Sometimes the only difference between my protagonists and villains is what side of the fence their standing on.

• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

Of course. I've been wanting a chance to explore exactly that.

• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

Opposites attract, and in some cases it ends up being super compelling. A great example of this was in Assassin's Creed III where you as the player play as Connor, an Assassin, and he ends up working with his father, Haytham a Templar, to try to work towards a common good despite their ideological differences and the perception that Templars are evil. The interplay between Connor and Haytham was the best part of the game.

• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

Totally! As a GM, my last RP (not current) had both GM characters secretly being villainous antagonists to the party without the players at large knowing. I've also played characters in groups who are openly sympathetic to the primary villain antagonist, and I'm a fan of when people are forced to work together out of necessity rather than any mutual respect and understanding. I even had an RP where I split the player characters in two groups, one group of villainous agents working for a powerful criminal organization hunting down a generally good-leaning group of mercenaries.


Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can choose multiple options. To vote, simply post in this thread which option(s) you want.) (Yes, this poll will shrink in size at some point. Some topics dead end after a while. )

• B. Politics. (New topic expansion: Polling to see the community's general interest in how politics manifests in role playing.) (Single or Multiple choice poll.)
• D. Power Levels. (As a follow up to "Genres" and "Character Archetypes." Has to do with the average level of power player characters possess.) (Single choice poll.)
• E. RP Completion. (As a follow up to "Longevity." Has to do with how many have successfully completed role plays, and/or how many completed role plays they have.) (Single choice poll.)
• F. Character Depth. (New topic expansion: Polling to see the community's general interest in how facets of character creation and development function.) (Single or Multiple choice poll.)
• G. Romance: Pursuer vs Pursued. (Specific follow up to "Romance." Has to do with whether someone prefers to be pursued or do the pursuing in romantic arcs. Will be gender divided for further clarity and curiosity.) (Single choice poll.)
• H. Good vs Evil. (Specific follow up to "Villainy." Has to do with the proportion of characters created which players perceive to be good or evil, or who fall somewhere in between.) (Single choice poll.)

 

[Greenie]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

I voted for necessary evil, though I do play sadistic evil as well. Funnily enough, they usually star in the same rp.

• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

Practical Evil and Anti-Villain.

• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

No way jose. I'm... actually pretty good at playing evil characters, but it's not something I savor. I'd rather be lame and play the good guys. ;)

• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

Sure thing, but depending on what kind of evil. Necessary evil and well meaning evil only. I am not fond of the others, at least for a hero.

• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

Oh I definitely would. In fact, I have. My friend played the evil kneevil, and she was bloody good at it too. It works very well, in my opinion. Actually, she played two evil fellows. One was psychopathic evil and the other was well meaning evil.

• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

I don't see why not. It would add drama and conflict if the non evil ones are caught unaware, and if it's a forced situation, then there's even more fun.

Hmm... for the next poll, I'll choose Completion.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

Well Meaning Evil was the closest I could find, but not exact to my preference.

Mainly because I love it when something can suddenly turn someone's moral perspective upside down and start looking at something from a new perspective. Recognise the vast area of grey, where both sides often are a mixture of good and bad intentions (some more good/bad than others). It's too easy (and common) for people to look at a situation may it be in real life or fantasy from a bias and subjective point of view, assume their own current stance or side is the default good and everything else must compete to prove otherwise or else is evil. It's rare when you find works and individuals insightful enough to take a step back from personal bias and look at the bigger picture.

Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

Psychopathic Evil.

I would have said Sadistic Evil, because it's the total opposite of what I was describing above. However, when it comes to Literature the Psychopathic Evil has something on top of it to add insult to injury. Not only is the character effectively a pure/stereotypical incarnate of evil. These characters don't even allow you to get a backstory of a breaking point like Sadistic is, they're just in there for the sole purpose of making an unpredictable and hate-able villain or side.

Then if we're looking beyond simple story telling devices it also does great damage to alienate people from Mental Illness and look at anyone who suffers with it as Murdering Maniacs rather than for the vast and diverse complexity that Mental Illness really is.

Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

Kind of? I have three characters right now that might constitute being in a "Villain" role.

Specifics

RvB: A Fandom personification of Red Vs Blue. Hypocritically enough, he would actually fit the bill of "Psychopathic Evil" rather well. Though I take efforts to make his rather destructive shenanigans comedic in nature, and not anything to take seriously or reflect into the read world. Though the extent of his 'evil' is more stealing a TARDIS and then crashing through a WWII museum and inventing the game "Fantasy Ball" involving throwing an object at another character before punching them in the face.

Bravado: This one is an odd case, I can't say any of the categories actually fit him that well. So far in development he just doesn't take too much seriously. But stuff has built up where the plan is to have him basically create a Civil War among his own comrades, and not only that but introduce a third "Fuck Mutants, we normal Humans will take over with technology!" side. The idea being that his friends have grown too soft from a lack of real conflict and not having their own position or power tested. So by creating this war he forces them to look at themselves and either adapt into better heroes or step aside for Humanity to take it in a whole new direction.

The Wicked One: This the newest, and most cliche villain I have at the moment. From what's been decided so far I'd place him under "Practical Evil", though other than a plot to gain more minions and artifacts there isn't too much for him, yet. At the moment he's more around to fill in both a build up to Bravado's Civil War, and to give another character of mine both an Antagonist and more backstory.

Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

Oh yea, definitely. In fact the Wicked One's counter-part Protagonist, Kyrios was originally set up to have that as a possible route. Being a Knight from over 1000 years ago, what side he joined was largely reliant on what he found the future to be like, and if these people had either improved or ruined the world. He ultimately ended up deciding it was flawed but worth saving, but I'd be fully up for making another character who could also go down that path.

Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

Not if it was a cliche Good VS Evil, for reasons mentioned above.

I'd be completely up for a Protagonist VS Antagonist set up deal where it's painted to look like Good VS Evil but then turns out to be more complex than that. And/or it's just a comedic tease/mockery of the often cliche and stereotypical morality assignments.

Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

Yes and No. To clarify this I'm going to dip into D&D Alignments for a moment.

WARNING: If you are the type of D&D player to follow Alignment to the letter. And loves to divide/generalise acts and characters according to it, best you skip this part. I call out and criticise this mentality rather hard.

The rundown for those reading other peoples answers who don't know

So, D&D Alignments runs along a Grid-like system, such as so:

Chaotic Good	Neutral Good	Lawful Good
Chaotic Neutral	True Neutral	Lawful Neutral
Chaotic Evil	Neutral Evil	Lawful Evil

This Grid runs along two different spectrum's that meet with one another, these spectrum's being Good<->Evil and Chaotic<->Lawful.

To start with the easy one, Good & Evil.
This judges people usual morale code according to more stereotypical and narrative standards. Things are rather painted and one dimensional (by the system. Some DM's make it complex, but mechanically speaking that comes with house ruling) as a result of the world this is used in involving Gods, Demons and Angels. All Demons are bad, all Angels are good, Gods are of set alignments etc. What constitutes as good and bad is rather simplistic and straight forward. So someone who donates a lot of money? Good. Someone who likes burning an Orphanage? Evil. Someone who keeps to themselves? Neutral.

This get's complicated though by what Spoony refers to as the Prisoner Dillema.

As a by-product of the "Demons and Angels" thing above, ALL creatures are pre-assigned alignments. So Orcs? All Evil. Killing an Orc is practically always a good act, damn the situation, damn the circumstances. It works rather well for people who want to pat themselves on the back as the "Good guys" without thinking too hard. It works well for your typical dungeon raiding crew... Not so well when trying to make a complex, dynamic and interesting world however.

This leads me to Lawful & Chaotic.
Chaotic is rather straight forward, you are independent, free willed. You don't listen much to the rules, to what other people tell you, you are your own guide. You might work with others, but it's due to a common goal and not due to any form of allegiance or loyalty (usually).

And then there's Lawful, this is an Alignment I always find is better off being divided into two when explaining it:

Monk Lawful: You are self disciplined. You have given yourself your own code to follow. You stick to this code and you rarely waver, despite the circumstances. You may be independent, but you are consistent about it, rarely wavering and often serving a cause or ideology bigger than yourself.
Paladin Lawful: You Obey the Law. That is the way the world works, a world requires order and everyone listening to the rules set, without Order people have nothing. These Lawfuls often find themselves obeying higher powers, having a strong respect for the chain of command.

So with that quick explanation out of the way, I'm going to assign a popular character to each of the nine alignments to give people a more visual idea.

Lawful Good: Superman
Neutral Good: Luke Skywalker
Chaotic Good: Robin Hood

Lawful Neutral: Judge Dredd
True Neutral: Professor Snape
Chaotic Neutral: Captain Jack (Both of them), Deadpool

Lawful Evil: Darth Vader
True Neutral: Scar
Chaotic Evil: The Joker, Ramsay Snow

So, why do I bring up Alignments? Because players impressions of mixing Good and Evil is often rather mixed. For some groups the distinction is simply taking the actions at the most basic of face value of what do they say? How many of X do they kill opposed to Y? How Honest are some characters compared to others? While for others the line gets more blurry, some characters might have a very different moral compass. Sometimes a character has done a truly horrible act, but for good reasons and with great regret.

For some circles this could easily lead to a Lawful Good and Lawful Evil in the same group. One being the essentially ideal citizen, and the other being more complex than that. But simply for being complex and having a more divided history one character has been deemed Evil and then left out of a number of "No Evil!" groups, regardless of how the history could have easily been used as a reason for why they travel. One tries to help the other out of a dark place, or maybe the one with the troubled history joins out of a desire to get something better.

Now, even among very literal/one dimensional alignment players though you may get the crowd of "No Evil! Usually, but Lawful Evil is ok!". So let me provide another example. You have a character who for the most part is rather self conceited. He cares mostly about himself, and is generally rather selfish in the way he acts and behaves. If we follow D&D alignments this would count as Evil. You might argue "Ok, he's a dick. But a lot of people are selfish", which is true. But we insist on categorising entire characters in good and bad he certainly isn't good. And if we look at morality in a "You may be good X amount of the time. But your bad Y amount, and because Y is bigger than X you will be evil if you don't do more X", then once again he counts as Evil.

Now let's say this 'Evil' character also is rather independent. In line with being self conceited he mostly obeys himself, and acts according to what he feels on a whim. That would make him Chaotic, certainly not Lawful.
So now we have a Chaotic Evil character, who likely didn't do anything that bad in his life other than being rather obnoxious. He could easily add a new dynamic to a group that is a bit more selfless, but simply because he is 'evil' a number of people would cast him out.

So to return to the earlier question of " Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa" I would have to say, no. Because if we make our gauge simply "Good or Evil" or "Hero or Villain" who simplify way too much of what makes a character an individual, and too many potentially great combinations get ruined because of assumptions and generalisations.

That being said though, clearly though not all characters would work together. For example, you could hardly expect the Joker and Batman to work together. So instead what I propose is that it's not what weather a character is a 'hero' or a 'villain' that should determine if they join the party. But rather careful examination of the characters already in place, and deciding as a group if these characters are likely to get along, or likely to break out into a fight? If it's the former than go right ahead, if it's the latter than some characters will need to get dropped.

 

[Kagayours]

RvB: A Fandom personification of Red Vs Blue. Hypocritically enough, he would actually fit the bill of "Psychopathic Evil" rather well. Though I take efforts to make his rather destructive shenanigans comedic in nature, and not anything to take seriously or reflect into the read world. Though the extent of his 'evil' is more stealing a TARDIS and then crashing through a WWII museum and inventing the game "Fantasy Ball" involving throwing an object at another character before punching them in the face.

Ahem. I think you're forgetting the part where RvB held someone hostage and threatened to kill him if he didn't fly the TARDIS for him. >:C

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Ahem. I think you're forgetting the part where RvB held someone hostage and threatened to kill him if he didn't fly the TARDIS for him. >:C

Which was a Bluff.

 

[Kagayours]

Which was a Bluff.

He didn't know that.

I didn't even know that -- not at the time, anyway. Not for sure.

There was no telling how far RvB was willing to go, precisely because he's a "psychopathic evil". :P

Also, you still petrified the poor guy and made him spend just about every post of that scene fearing for his life. I'd say that counts for something. >:C

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Also, you still petrified the poor guy and made him spend just about every post of that scene fearing for his life. I'd say that counts for something. >:C

You write all your characters that way regardless of what I do. :P

 

[The Mood is Write]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?
  
  Necessary Evil. Something about it speaks to me.
  
• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
  
  Psychopathic evil. For some reason, it just doesn't compel me to enjoy it.
  
• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
  
  Good and evil are sometimes hard to define. From one standpoint, I play mostly evil. From another, I play mostly good. I like to think I play a bunch of good guys, but some of them do horrible, horrible things.
  
  So I suppose the evil I play is necessary evil. ;)
  
• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
  
  Oh, absolutely, and vice-versa, too!
  
• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
  
  I used to have a few plots about that, but they fell through. Anyway, it works best when both people are willing to play additional characters, so there aren't vast periods of non-interaction.
  
• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?
  
  Sure, why not! As long as it doesn't lead to game-breaking stuff, go nuts! <3

 

[Kagayours]

You write all your characters that way regardless of what I do. :P

Write them like what? Fearing for their lives? O_o

Only when they have something to fear. Which you provide. Often. O_O

*cough* And now we're probably de-railing things.

 

[Killjoy]

Q. What did you vote for on the poll?
Anti-villain. I like to read and write about characters who appear normal/"good" to others at first but end up being insidiously cruel.

Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
Probably sadistic. There's a fine line between chaotic evil and chaotic stupid, as they say.

Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
Not many of my characters have black-and-white morals. Whether they're interpreted as good or evil mostly depends on who or what motivates them.

Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
Sure! Sounds fun.

Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
I'm in a couple of those right now. It seems that ultimately, due to a chain of events, one character will "switch" to the other side. Another possible ending is that one kills or defeats the other, or that as a result of one switching sides they ultimately bring about the demise of both characters.

Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?
When I'm GMing, I'm a little leery of this unless I know my players well. I consider it to be an important role with a lot of potential to drive the plot, so I don't want to hand it out arbitrarily and end up stuck with a villain who slows the plot by creating too much conflict.

Community choice poll: anything except G.

 

[☆Luna☆]

What did you vote for on the poll?
Well-meaning evil. I like this one mostly because this one plays friendly with exploring motives, a common theme of my RPs. I want a villain that has traits which are relatable and understandable. Ultimately I'd like for people to feel loss when the villain goes down.

Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
Psychopathic Evil. This one doesn't play friendly to exploring motives because the motives aren't sane nor relatable. Therefore it is a really bad match for my style of RP.

Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
I only tend to play them for the sake of creating conflict. Also, I just tend to enjoy playing characters who don't really fit into the good or evil category. Everyone has a motive, and everyone seeks out the logical conclusion of having that motive. It is quite rare that I define a character as good or evil.

Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
I think I have without really formalizing it... One of my characters had a chance to destroy a powerful artifact that had the power to deny people it slain an afterlife. Instead, she kept it for herself. She did it to keep a criminal organization at bay, but in the end, I really couldn't see that as a just decision. The character did it because she was motivated by fear, and there was a distinct lack of empathy in the consideration. I could view this as a fall into darkness since she became worse than the problem she was trying to solve.

(1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
I think I prefer putting characters whose motivations are in conflict is far more interesting than deciding on a good guy and a bad guy. It can be done, but I just don't think it ever ends up quite as good when you simplify the roles. Interesting stories are built, in part, from interesting characters.

(Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?
Depends. In an RP, you need to keep in mind what sort of experience you want to deliver. Every choice which a GM makes should build upon this experience. It is never going to be a clear cut decision.

 

[Icystorm]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

Psychopathic evil, so long as it is done right. Not all psychopaths are going to become murderers, and it might be the ones that don't that ruin the most lives that are the scariest. To quote Jon Ronson's The Psychopath test: "Serial killers ruin families,' shrugged Bob. 'Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies."

My avatar is my psychopath character, and the people that have role played with him tend to like him. He is fairly harmless actually. It can be difficult to play a character that lacks in certain emotions, but that character can also use learn to use those emotions as a tool of manipulation. I should go onto the next question..I just enjoy talking about anything related to psychopathy.

• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

Practical evil I guess. Doing something because it is easy doesn't sound fun, but it could be interesting if done right.

• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

Yes and no. A character may do something that would be considered evil, but that does not mean that they are. They are just..human.

• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

Yeah. That sound fun..actually now that I think about it, I have a character like that for one of my stories. I just never role play with him.

• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

Yeah, so long as my partner continued to talk ooc with me and at least one us played additional character(s).

Skipped the last question since I don't really do group RPs.

For the community choice poll I will go with F or A

 

[Turtle of Doom]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?
  • Psychopathic evil.
• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
  • 
    Sadistic Evil
• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
  • Sometimes. It depends on the situation. Evil can be quite enjoyable.
• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
  • Yes
• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
  • I have an RP in the works that something like this. Though not quite. I think that it would be fun.
• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?
  • Depends on the RP

 

[FluffleButter]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

Anti-Villain. Not Deadpool or Darth Vader. Someone consumed with self interest, but is still capable of doing acts of nobility from time to time. The best example I can think of atm is Weed from LMS.

• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

Well Meaning Evil. It just seems stained with hypocrisy. "Look, we can save the kingdom if I just stab my best friend in the back. Let's do it!" I've yet to see a well meaning evil person not seem like a twat.

• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

Love them. You aren't constrained with morality or justice, but can choose to follow those things. Good "Good" characters or heroes leave a bad taste in my mouth.

• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

I dislike the picturesque noble hero types to begin with, but if done right it could be interesting. An example of this being done is Logan falling to depravity and eating human flesh in the night angel trilogy. Although the circumstances are slightly different, the concept is the sam and can be very enjoyable.

• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

Hopefully, it's an antagonistic relationship. If it turns out to be some romantic drama, I might end up hurling.

• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

Why not? Add some variety to that party play! It's the spice of life.

 

[Kitti]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?
  • I chose practical evil. I think it's one that really fits for me in believable characters, since "the easiest path" is something I think a lot of people can usually relate to. But most of them have a good time and place.
• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?
  • Psychopathic evil can be fun done well but I think it's often the hardest to relate to and find motivation for, simply because it is "incomprehensible".
• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?
  • There's not usually a real call for it, unfortunately! Playing the mildly evil manipulative type when the case arises is enjoyable, though. Doing a villain well is something of an aspiration but lends itself more to solo work, in my opinion.
• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?
  • Yes. It sounds like great fun. Sign me up.
• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?
  • I have had a one on one or two where this dynamic came lightly into play, primarily as a "bad boy romance" type of thing. It gives a lot of easy fodder in such scenarios, as there is sort of a baked-in conflict for the story from the start.
• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?
  • I think that, as a concept, it sounds fun. And in a roleplay big enough to support both sides adequately, I think it's marvelous. Sadly, I think that most roleplays would be derailed as a result or just end up with unbalanced character chemistry for interactions, etc. There are surely some ideas where this is not the case and I think that having a mix of both would make things more lively but I think it becomes harder to GM such a thing.

Bonus selection: D or F

 

[Astaroth]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll?

It was a really tough call, but I went with Well-Meaning Evil. Anti-Villain was a close second.

• Q. Which form of evil do you dislike the most?

If I had to pick, psychopathic evil, purely because it's overdone and usually not executed well. It's also kind of boring, frankly.

• Q. Would you say you regularly play evil characters?

Actually, yes. I love playing villains and anti-villains. Usually mine are a blend of several different types of evil, going by the list here. Villains can be incredibly fascinating and complex characters.

• Q. Would you ever play a hero who falls to evil?

Oh, absolutely. I have in the past and I'm sure I will again. Moral quandaries are fun.

• Q. (1x1 RP's): Would you consider an RP where one person plays a good character, and the other an evil character? How do you think it would work?

I've done this! It absolutely works. Ask @Diana how well it works. >:]

• Q. (Group RP's): Do you think players should be allowed to play as villains in a party of good characters and vice versa, or no? Why, or why not?

Usually? No. As a GM, I would only allow this under very specific circumstances. They would have to 1. be someone I trusted to execute their villain subplot well, 2. it would have to make sense in the context of the plot, and 3. it would inevitably necessitate a party split, so the player would have to be okay with that and willing to have both less "screen time" and face either some kind of redemption or death, because in most cases it's more likely for a villain player to concede to this than to get the entire party to be cool with their characters getting wiped out by a backstabber.

 

[Kagayours]

Well Meaning Evil. It just seems stained with hypocrisy. "Look, we can save the kingdom if I just stab my best friend in the back. Let's do it!" I've yet to see a well meaning evil person not seem like a twat.

Have you ever watched/read Death Note? Light Yagami is always the first character that comes to mind when I think of "well-meaning evil". I think it's worth a look if you haven't already seen it.

 

[FluffleButter]

Have you ever watched/read Death Note? Light Yagami is always the first character that comes to mind when I think of "well-meaning evil". I think it's worth a look if you haven't already seen it.

I have. The whole premise of the story seems really dumb. Killing people in prisons or in trial to deter crime? Not to mention killing anyone in his way as well? Even if we ignore the fact that in the real world, crime would'nt stop and people would just take extra pains not to get caught, the whole story seems based on the MC's megalomania. All of the "villains" killed in the story were either already caught or rowdy assholes that were swinging their schlongs around in public. I know Death Note is really popular and all that, but it frustrates me to no end

 

[Kagayours]

I have. The whole premise of the story seems really dumb. Killing people in prisons or in trial to deter crime? Not to mention killing anyone in his way as well? Even if we ignore the fact that in the real world, crime would'nt stop and people would just take extra pains not to get caught, the whole story seems based on the MC's megalomania. All of the "villains" killed in the story were either already caught or rowdy assholes that were swinging their schlongs around in public. I know Death Note is really popular and all that, but it frustrates me to no end

Eh. Figured I'd toss it out there.