"Oi, i heard ya folks like to make your life better with other chav’s belongings? If ya wish to continue live along with bandit lifestyle, then ya should follow such rules" He cleared his throat and went on:

"First and Most important rule, no matter if ya Raidin' or just being a bandit on roads, don’t stay at the same place for too long, you’re not an idle lazy bestard or a trainin’ dummy, don’t ya? Well, your enemies don’t think so, no matters if you let them go, or they just ran away, they will come back with sum' friends. Be mobile, ya got me?"

He scratched his head.

"Second... I dunnae if that really matters for ya, but if ya wanna keep your identity unknown, then don’t show your damn face. Just use some rags to cover your bugger face, ya know. Don’t forget to change clothes when ya go raidin’, 'cause the disguise and decent actor skills could make your life much easier. This can save your life as well, and might keep you from being recognised in your civill casual days, mate."

[!] You look at him with interest, not knowing why does he tells you such things.

"Third: Don’t be greedy, ya don’t need to take damn everythin’ from your victims, they are living persons, ya know. Nah, i’m joking, just in case that ya don’t have bottomless pockets. If ya wanna stay alive, be mobile. To be mobile ya shouldn’t carry a whole granny tea service on ya." He snorts pulling dagger our from desk.
 

"Be Mercy, if your victims are surrounded, without any fight thoughts, then don’t even think to hurt them, ya got me? It’s not like i’m telling ya to be a good guy, just a friendly hint: Don’t wanna cover your hands in blood and ruin yours and someone else’s life, then Do Not Harm. That is fourth."

"By tha way. If your victims attempt to run, or they already did, don’t even try to chase them. Trust me - The Hunter may become a Prey. Don’t forget, no matter how focused you’re looking at people ya rob, they may send bird to their friends, when you don’t expect that. Don’t let them fool ya. That is Fifth... Ey, information costs moneh, ya'know?"

He helded out his hand, holding a dagger in other...

 

How to be Evil [Vol. I]

An authentic book penned in the tone of Roleplay!

Villain RP is often associated with bad/powergame roleplaying. That is, because alot of people make many mistakes in it! This thread will be all about what some people do wrong, And how they can improve.

• Don't initiate Villain RP if you're gonna need to log off soon. Even thirty minutes will usually not be enough, so give yourself atleast an hour of free rp where you're assured no breaks will be occuring on your side. Having to suddenly log off in the middle of an intense fight is extremely awkward, And some people aren't too nice and would post a BR on you. You don't want that kind of trouble happening to you.

• Do your best to not powergame; Always remember that the main goal of villain RP, like all RP, is to enjoy- Not to earn pixels!

• Please, read all of the rules over again. Alot of villains I've met aren't aware of several rules, And I often face situations where villains draw & use weapons in one emote, Or even run away from RP.

• Keep calm and don't be salty; Alot of people might make mistakes that you won't be happy about, Or crash repeatedly, But salt and toxic behavior will not solve any problems, Only create more!

I'm sure there are alot more tips that could be given out, And if you look far enough, you'll find them. But I hope that this guide will help some people, And maybe create some good bad guys.

So, you've decided to join the long tradition of various people on LotC and become evil. Great! However, it is rather easy for every villain to be swept along the massive stream of cookie cutter cultists, sadists, and all around villains.

Say you've just made a character. What's their backstory?

Is he/she a master thief? Someone who craves blood and must cover themselves in it? Someone who will go into the middle of Felsen and cut down a helpless child before they can even reach for their mother and then cackle and proclaim yourself the king of evil?!

If so, stop, look at yourself, and realize you have done something very wrong. It's true, lots of villains are murderers. But just being someone who kills people just for the sake of killing people is about as original as Michael Bay's films. Quite simply, it's not.

If you intend on this character being someone the people know, recognize and fear, know that there is a MASSIVE amount of work that will be going into it.

How to start

There are no villains who start off from birth being evil (Depending on your point of view, of course). You don't come out of the womb swinging a butcher's knife at daddy and trying to carve up your sister. There should be a reason for your evilness. Did your father beat you? Were you raised around crime? Have to steal to survive? While these are not particularly unique areas in which to base your villain, they are the starting point. Very rarely is there one event in which sends you straight into the mind of a mad man. You must ease into it, not just say "My parents didn't love me, so now I have to cut your throat!". That's just not believable, original, or fun.

Perhaps, start off simple. Your father beat you, so it made you have a negative outlook on life, perhaps you feel insignificant, worthless. Roleplay with that for a bit. Then, perhaps you get into a barfight, or a street brawl, and enjoy how much it feels hitting others. The point is to make progress somewhat slower, more natural, step by step heading towards your goal to be a villain. I guarantee it is far more interesting.

Roleplaying the Villain

Roleplaying a truly amazing villain can be very difficult. Do not be afraid to make mistakes and experiment. Get creative with the roleplay, whether it's with magic or just a regular old person. However, there are a few key things to truly make your villainy great and stand apart from the others.

1. Villainy roleplay is not solely about you, it is about the person you are committing.
2. Make sure people are comfortable with what is happening.
3. DO. NOT. KILL.

Villainy Roleplay isn't about you

Villainy roleplay isn't just about you, or even majorly about you. It's about your target. If they are not having fun, you have failed your job as a villain. Ensure that people involved are enjoying themselves. While it is mainly about your target, you also should try to have fun as well. Just make sure you don't make it about just you and ruin it for everyone else involved.

Make sure people are comfortable

Not everyone enjoys the very descriptive and gory RP. If things start turning to torture, meaning sawing off limbs, gouging out eyes, things like that, or even before hand, ask them if they are comfortable with torture RP. If at any point someone says they are not comfortable with the RP happening, stop. Again, don't ruin others RP so you can enjoy yourself and your RP.

DO NOT KILL

Know that rule that says once you die in RP or PVP, you lose all memory of your attacker and the events that took place during your death? Whelp, guess what happens to the RP experience of the player who is being tortured and then is killed? Yep, that all goes right out the window. If they wish to progress their character, and you wish to have them enjoy the experience, how can they if their character's memory just goes poof? There is nothing learned, nothing gained, and no fun. Besides, what's more terrifying? Some guy throwing a corpse with its throat cut at you or a living person crawling at you with no eyes or legs trying to beg for help but cannot because they have no tongue?

Now, obviously, you don't have to go THAT far. But who will tell the people of your horrors if no one can spread the message? Not to mention, if you leave them alive, that furthers their character's motivation.

One final note on being evil: Do not be flashy about it if you can avoid it. If you're being a villain, don't make it obvious. Don't say it, don't hint at it, don't leave bread crumbs (Unless you're using your villain as an event character). A true villain will keep his nature under wraps, able to decieve those around him, having others believe he is nothing more than a simple peasant. Of course, there may com a time in which your bloody past catches up with you. In which case, you may wish to lay low. Or go out in a blaze of bloody glory.

FAQ

None yet!

Have any comments? Questions? Suggestions? Post below! Hope you enjoyed this guide! Happy hunting!

Personally, I think terrifying or difficult circumstances are great ways to develop my characters and usually find them pretty fun. But with the evil flood gates open wide there’s going to be some who struggle with creating quality, enjoyable experiences. That’s understandable, and I’d like to offer some critiques and suggestions from the perspective of someone often on the receiving end of villainy.

For this post I’ll be using examples of villainous RP I’ve encountered in the last week, and showing how they can be improved, and also some things you should try to avoid. These aren’t rules, obviously, but they are things I think everyone would benefit from.

Killing - When It’s Unnecessary

Roleplay Scenario:

Bandit One distracts clueless and mostly defenseless woman.

Bandit Two sneaks up behind her with a bow, ready to shoot.

Bandit One draws his sword and demands that the woman give up her money or else!

Bandit Two creeps closer to the woman, making a sound.

Woman hears said sound and turns around to see Bandit Two.

Bandit Two shoots woman, Bandit One slits her throat to end her misery, and they make off with her purse.

What’s wrong with that? The bandits wanted money and they got money, why would they care if they killed a random woman? They were certainly acting within their characters, and that’s all that matters, right?

Indeed! Nothing is objectively wrong here, however it’s not very much fun for the victim. When you kill someone in roleplay that character dies and forgets all about the incident. All that’s left for the victim to do is go to the monks, then go about their business like nothing ever happened. There are no lasting impacts, the whole scenario may as well have been voided. As harsh as it may sound, it was a waste of the victim’s time.

Killing.. kills roleplay. If you leave your victim alive they have the chance to grow from their experience. The bandits could have given the woman a chance to react. To cooperate with them, or beg, or run, or even fight back. Or they could have simply wounded her and left her for dead. From there she could have rallied up the town to search for them, or given the local doctor some medical RP with her injuries.

The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to avoid killing your victims. If you take anything from this post, please take this.

Killing a character kills roleplay.

But certainly there are some situations where a character has to die, right? To that I say, but of course.

Killing - When It’s Unavoidable

Roleplay Scenario:

Halfling Lady is casually gardening.

Troll with Club encounters said Halfling lady and tries to squash her with his club.

Halfling Lady dodges the club, then screams for help and tries to run away. No one hears, or responds.

Troll with Club knocks Halfling over, then grabs her and runs off into the woods.

Halfling Lady screams and flails and acts indignant.

Troll with Club promptly sits down and bites her in half.

Well. You can say the same thing about the troll as you could about the bandits, that it was acting in character. It wanted a snack, that’s what it got. There’s a little less possibility of letting the halfling survive, since it wouldn’t make much sense for the hungry troll to just not eat her. I suppose he could bite off an arm or leg and decide he doesn’t like how she tastes. or accidentally let her slip away.

Regardless, my point is that there are going to be some cases where death is inevitable. Maybe your character doesn’t want to eat anyone (maybe they do…), maybe they’re an evil monster and someone has stumbled into their lair. Maybe they’re an assassin targeting a person of import. Maybe they’re just a serial killer. Doesn’t really matter, your character’s victim’s fate is sealed. Then what?

Simple. Give them a good death. Make it interesting, fun, unique. The troll could’ve taken the halfling back to his cooking pot and made a stew. That would’ve been more amusing than being bitten in half on the spot. Presumably this person is at your mercy by now, this is a chance to really show off your evil rp. My suggestion for you, when you’re about to kill someone’s character, is that you ask yourself:

Is this death worthy of being a perma-kill? If this person killed off their character and wrote up a death post on the forums complete with pictures and dramatic music, would the comments be, “Awesome! Did this actually happen in RP!?” When the RP is concluded, will your victim thank you for the cool RP? Aim for that. Do your best to have fun, and give your victim a fun time too.

If you must kill, make it count.

This kind of unavoidable murder RP is actually pretty rare from what I’ve seen. Now let’s move on to my favorite! The type of villainy that has probably increased the most! (At least for me.)

Kidnapping and Slavery

Roleplay Scenarios 1:

Slaver hits clueless and sort of defenseless woman over the head.

Woman is unconscious.

Slaver locks woman up in a cell.

Woman wakes up.

Slaver goes about other business.

Woman is locked in a cell alone for two IRL hours.

It’s pretty obvious what’s wrong here, and it can easily be avoided by being attentive and giving your victim something to do. I’ve had fun experiences with both random kidnappings and actual slavery, and all you have to do is interact with the captive. Just like in the killing example, this is your chance to show off your RP ability. Throwing someone in a cell or knocking their character over the head repeatedly so that they have nothing to do besides emote how much brain damage they’re going to suffer from isn’t really stimulating RP for your victim. This one is hopefully pretty easy to do, just RP with your captive.

Side Note! Unconsciousness!

It is actually a lot harder to knock someone out than the movies portray. In order to hit someone over the head hard enough to render them unconscious you would also be causing some pretty serious brain trauma, and are just as likely to kill them instead. Even if you do knock them out, they’ll only be out for a few moments. Most people go along with the movie cliche because it’s simply easier for everyone involved (I’d rather not RP permanent brain injury just yet), but it is something to keep in mind.

And as mentioned previously, your victim’s RP is pretty limited when they’re out cold.

Torture

I haven’t actually had many recent experiences with torture and from what I have seen so far, those dedicated enough to evil-ness to become torturers have a pretty good idea on how to do it well. The same basic suggestions remain, be attentive and give your victim quality RP. They didn’t ask to be tortured, so it’s up to you to keep things going. In addition, be careful about other people’s sensibilities. If you think someone might not be as comfortable with gore, tone it down. Other people might want a lot of gore, or perhaps they’d prefer more psychological torture instead of blood. There also comes a point where there's nothing more your victim can do besides emote screaming, so try to keep a conversation going if you can.

Respect The Other Player

As I said, your victim didn’t ask to be your victim, you have most likely set your RP upon them. So be considerate in how you use their time. And don’t assume I’m, well, vilifying villains. Respect and consideration goes both ways. There are probably just as many bad victims as there are bad villains. Every player needs to do their part in creating roleplay and being considerate to others.

Bonus roleplay scenario of both slavery AND killing done well:

Druid woman is snooping around the old white rose ruins.

Encounters a band of slavers that have taken up residence.

Druid is knocked over the head and placed in a dungeon.

Slavers continue to RP, including branding the druid’s arm.

Slavers take woman back upstairs, they just happen to be near a tree, and proceed trying to ‘break’ her.

Druid makes an attempt to use her powers on the tree. Chaos and tree-burning ensues.

Slavers accuse her of being a witch, and decide she must be killed.

After several detailed emotes, the druid is executed and her body burned.

What makes this work? The slavers were attentive, they RPed in detail, and even though they chose to kill the druid, their IC reasoning was solid and the death was done well and thoroughly. All around an enjoyable RP session.

All you need to do is remember…

1. Killing kills roleplay.

2. If death is necessary, make it good.

3. Interact with your captive with detail and attentiveness.

4. Be considerate to other players.

Really, if you just keep number four in mind, you'll be golden. Go forth and be evil!

I've decided to write this guide to better help the player who likes to be the criminal, whether petty or large. Many notice that sometimes a thug from a gang or a bandit can be more trouble to RP with than its worth, but I firmly believe it can be done well so both parties can enjoy a bit of the crime RP. I hope also to help with the current view on crime RP where it is seen as almost sinful by many players OOC'ly. I intend to cover many roles in the crime game, from tips to the Crime Bosses of tomorrow on how to structure an organized syndicate and how to RP the roles from thug to boss to the affiliates of a gang. So allow me to begin.

The Structure of a gang (For those wishing to start a gang)

With all gangs it goes without saying you have one Chief and then the Indians, it goes without saying you need to structure your organization that way. Keep it small and simple to start off with, have basic soldier ranks then maybe one lieutenant depending on how the gang grows. You will not get very far with more higher ups than soldiers so be sure to keep that in check. My favoured structure of a gang usually is as follows

 

Boss

 

Underboss

Lieutenant 

 

Soldier

 

This is probably the best way to start depending on how you wish to conduct your business, if you want to have some sort of legitimate front to keep your organization hidden it may be best to change the Underboss or Lieutenant position to that of an administrator and not a commander.

The Roles

The Soldier/Enforcer

As you'd imagine if you'd follow a structure as shown above you have the lowest in the pecking order. If you want to be the lowly thug here's a few basic tips. You be respectful to your betters, being mouthy will not pay off in the underworld. A thug joining a gang is likely to be young from late teens to early twenties. When the Soldier first joins up he'll likely be poor and underfed and not exactly in peak physical condition. 

 

Although the low status they make up the backbone of any gang, thus are shown a degree of respect once the gang has established itself to be successful in a region. The Soldiers have the majority share in the risk of being a criminal, having to do the jobs such as collecting the rackets and intimidation they can find themselves in the firing line of the Guard force of the respective region though with luck they can keep their activities quiet enough to avoid attention.

 

As the common soldier in a gang spends more time in the gang, the more money he will earn and the more status he'll gain in the gang even without advancement through the ranks. Some Organizations may wish to make the Soldier an affiliate rank of a gang rather than a full member but its up the the organizations boss at the end of the day in how he wants to structure his gang.

The Lieutenant

The Lieutenant is a commander type position in a gang, often leading his own gang within a larger organization. He would normally be a man or woman the boss trusts greatly and has likely being a professional criminal for some years. Its his job to direct his soldiers to make money for him and the gang.

 

It is a risky position to be in, having to do some jobs himself he will have to make friends within the local government to keep his gangs activities quiet. Lieutenants can either be loud criminals who aren't afraid of people knowing what he does for a living or subtle keeping an image of legitimacy about himself.

 

The Lieutenant will likely keep his base of operations in some sort of legitimate front business that can range from shops to taverns.

The Underboss

The Underboss is the natural second in command, being both an administrator and commander he leads the lieutenants and collects the organizations cut of what each lieutenant in the organization makes. Often the Underboss will be good friends with the boss, likely having started the original organization with him or her.

 

The same with the Lieutenant the Underboss has to make friends but won't have to do any dirty work nor will have his own subsect gang of soldiers within the organization but will have command of all the soldiers under each lieutenant. The Underboss cannot be very loud, he or she must keep the operations quiet to avoid large bribe payouts to officials, he or she would likely make out to be a very clean and legitimate businessman/woman.

The Boss

Oh boy, the Boss. The Boss can be the founder of the gang/organization or may have usurped the position from the previous leader. He will have his own gang at his command along with the lieutenants and their men if the organization has proven successful. The Boss will likely have his own base of operations disguised as a legitimate business. He takes cuts from the earnings of each lieutenant in the gang and will likely be respected by the local community the organization has set itself up in.

 

Along with the Lieutenant and Underboss its paramount that the Boss keeps close relations with the local government, only through corruption and intimidation can his or hers Crime Syndicate succeed. With this there has to be a level of respect from the Boss to the local ruler or Guard Captain, along with shady agreements that allow the Gangs to operate in the region. At the same time he will keep an image of the legitimate businessman/woman. Often working to maintain that image to avoid clashes with hotshot guardsmen.

There you have it my first attempt at a Guide, please provide criticism if you find any to be given!

To fully understand why I am writing this, you need to understand the events of today. This may come as a bit of shock to the Lumi'drim, and the Delvers, and a good few of the people in Malinor. To the rest of you, bear with me, I make my point.

My character, Kristian von Craw, was a spy. He was feeding information from the Lumi'drim to a high elf named Zaniil Tinuvriel for about 6 ingame years. Rosters, known criminals, activity that they were doing. He gave it all away for a good while. Later, he signed on known cultists to the guard force, knowing full well of their position, attempting to destabilize the Malinorian guard (and hey, it worked a good bit, didn't it? ;P). Heck, even up in Herendul, a company that he helped run was protected by the Antag! Now, Kristian is regretting his actions and is working to repair his country, but today, these events led me to a massive epiphany. 

The best kind of villain is one who remains secret.

I never told you guys anything (besides you VA folks, who had to know). IC, OOC, nothing. I doubt many of you knew about this until today. I was keeping this a secret to keep people from accidentally meta-gaming and excluding Kris for no apparent reason, but I feel like this actually adds to the severity of what he did. A lot of stuffs was leaked and a few infiltration missions were planned (they never really got off the ground), and no one had a clue.

You see, villains shouldn't be blatantly obvious. In the real world, villains are people like you or me. When you walk down a crowded street, I would bet any amount of money that there was at least one person in there who was a thief. Or a fighter. Or a vandal. Or a conman. But you can't tell. They look like us. They work like us, act like us, have lives like us.

The best kind of villain is normal.

For goodness sake, people can tell you're evil if you have red eyes (for no real reason), or if you reveal it to us through L-OOC. It ruins the fun of the villainy. A real villain is working behind the scenes, and you wouldn't normally be able to spot him out of a crowd. (Now, Antags and monsters and the like... that's a bit different. You guys are corrupted). It's incredible to finally realize who the thief was, or who was terrorizing the town. It adds fun to the RP when you realize someone who you regarded as a best friend was actually a murderer, or a torturer, etc., etc.

We have so many obvious psychos on the server, but you know what? Psychos are people too. When you hear reports about those serial killers, no one ever saw it coming. "Oh, Timmy was such a nice boy. A bit secluded, but always sooo... polite." Little did that person know that Timmy was kidnapping little girls and feeding them bit by bit to the squirrels in the oak tree outside. You don't see it coming, even if your person is crazy. Having cultist robes, tons of weapons, and freaky (not just shy, really creepy) is just not feasible... at least not on a daily basis.

The best kind of villain is a unique villain.

We've all seen the person going into town and just attacking someone for the fun of it. Or the cultist sacrificing someone to a dark power. Heck, it's regarded as a common thing nowadays! When I see unique villain RP, I just feel all happy inside, as I know the person put time and effort into making their character and making the villain events that they create special. 

In LoTC, the best kind of villain is one who does villainy for the benefit of others.

There is so much potential RP that can stem from a person turning to villainy. So much. And if it is interesting, and afterwards people go "Wow... that was pretty neat..." then the villains have done their job. I feel that in LoTC that we want that certain sense of fame gotten from being that well-known villain who is on every wanted poster. We want to get out there, I know. I'll give an example here.

I had a blast figuring out who maskman2303, casanova9, and GurenRycerz's antags were, because they made the RP incredibly interesting without screaming to the world that they were a villain (off-duty, of course~). They created RP for everyone. They did their job.

The best kind of villain is a character, too.

The great thing about LoTC is that we're all characters. Unlike a movie, where you have one main character and the rest get little to no development, everyone here has gone through something. That one guy in the background? Yeah, he's got a story. That street rat stealing apples from the market stall? Of course there's a reason he's like that! And finding out these reasons and knowing that there was development towards this is just the reason why villains are so... cool. And when a villain became a villain because of OUR influence? That just makes it that little bit cooler.

tl;dr: In short, I don't mind villainy... but as villains, let's do our job and be /real/ evil. Let's play behind the scenes. We don't have a need to make a forum post, we don't need to scream it out on the skype chats and teamspeak. Let's be truly evil and pull strings, steal food, and maybe kill when necessary. Make villain RP special.

Alrighty, that's it. Thank ya for reading!

-Crayfishchris