Do you want there to be things, creatures, and people in your world that are objectively black-and-white Evil? Not necessarily "stupid evil" but none of this "they're just misunderstood" crap?

Or are you one of those guys who likes to constantly wallow in "shades of grey", who loves anti-heroes and villains-who-can-be-redeemed?

RPGPundit

In general I like my evil to be evil and my good to be good.

That said it really depends on the game and setting.

I will say though that as a child of the 90's I absolutyl loathe the anti-hero in all it's forms.

While I want the vast majority of my gaming, either as a GM or Player, to play within the confines of the grey borders, I do want there to be both absolute good and evil that is hidden and layered with all the shades of grey.  I want there to be absolute good and evil in the framework of the world, but it would mostly reside in the construction layer of the work and out of sight of the players and setting itself.  On very rare instances, I would bring out absolute good or evil as a major campaign-changing event.

Yeah, I like Evil being Evil.  You know, bad.

Not good/bad, just bad.  And mean.

Anti-hero is a little worn out, if you ask me.

I definately love shades of grey.

Not fond of antiheroes at all, but I love redeemable villains.

Objective evil works well in fantasy and horror games. It's always nice to have the option, lending the group extra vigour in their endeavours, but that kind of evil needs to be at least in part otherworldly and hence mystical. You can sort of replace it with sheer animal ferocity, like the Aliens of Aliens fame, or bona fide psychopaths if you like. In other game types it strains the suspension of disbelief somewhat.

I actually like both. Sometimes I want nasty, mean and clear cut villains. Other times I want things a bit more complex. Generally I never approach evil as something that is simply "misunderstood" but I see nothing bad about giving villains good qualities or making their motives more deep than a desire to cause harm. Once in a while a sympathetic villain is okay, but people way overdid that in the 90s and I am frankly still recovering. One thing I dont want to do though is lose sight of the fact that an explanation for evil isnt an excuse. You can explain a villain's behavior without justifying it.

I'm very tired of redeemable villans.  Something that should be very rare and yet becomes cliche is a flashing neon sign pointing to uncreativetown.

For my own campaign worlds I don't like objective evil at all. I prefer that 'evil' be completely subjective. Player characters are completely free to decide who they think is evil and who isn't. Some NPCs might agree with them, others might not. The world itself is impartial.

If the cosmology of the world supports absolute good and absolute evil, then yes, there can be irredeemable evil in the setting, even intelligent, irredeemably evil races.

If you're talking about a game without a magical or supernaturally religious cosmology (like our modern world or similar) then not absolute Evil with a capital E, but certainly psychologically broken.  There is no turning Hannibal Lecter into something other then a monster, however, Lecter isn't an unthinking monster, and doesn't always act like one.

For me, it's just part and parcel of world emulation.  If the world allows it, yes, if it doesn't, no.

Quote from: CRKrueger;607547If the cosmology of the world supports absolute good and absolute evil, then yes, there can be irredeemable evil in the setting, even intelligent, irredeemably evil races.

If you're talking about a game without a magical or supernaturally religious cosmology (like our modern world or similar) then not absolute Evil with a capital E, but certainly psychologically broken.  There is no turning Hannibal Lecter into something other then a monster, however, Lecter isn't an unthinking monster, and doesn't always act like one.

For me, it's just part and parcel of world emulation.  If the world allows it, yes, if it doesn't, no.

Hannibal Lecter is a great example. He really isnt all that sympathetic, nor is he redeemable by any stretch but he isn't stupid evil or boring evil. And he is a heck of a lot scarier than a weepy misunderstood villain.

But genre is imprtant here. If I am running a mafia game, everybody is pretty much evil, but they are also often reedemable and filled with shades of gray.

I think "shades of grey" has too many possible meanings to be the right term here. I hate the things you explicitly mention: anti-heroes, villains who can be redeemed, and "they're just misunderstood". But I like "shades of grey" in the sense of no clear-cut answers. Ogres are evil, but a charmed ogre who is carefully managed might appear good and actually do good, might even remain good when the charm wears off, so is it right or wrong for players to kill ogres instead of charming them? That's up to the players.

In my setting, all the "humanoids" other than orcs are corrupted humans, elves, and dwarves. Goblins steal babies and twist them into more goblins. So, the goblin menace is more like a disease than a misunderstood culture... but that leaves the question open: should you just wipe out the disease to prevent its spread, or should you try to undo the harm done? Is it even possible? Don't know yet, don't care. It's not my job to define what ought to be done; I just set stuff up and let players mess around.

I like shades of grey because I find "Its evil...kill it!" to be very, very boring.

I detest 'Detect Evil'

Also known as "Paladin stab here"


So boring.

Guess I'm boring by many definitions.  I like my evil...evil.

I prefer playing in hostile worlds, where most everybody preys on everyone else. Like Lankhmar, the Dying Earth, or the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy. It's not a good idea to assume anyone else is 'on your side.' However, there is evil in those worlds - entities so malevolent that nothing good can come of dealing with them.

Also, evil is as evil does. If I want to show a monster or NPC as evil, it takes more than black armor and an evil laugh; it needs to actually commit evil deeds. The monster in my worlds are not mischievous cattle-thieves - they eat people. And the evil NPCs do much worse.