The Bad, The Worse, and the Vile: The Art of Being Evil
However, I’m willing to admit that these situations often come up with perfectly normal people (even more horrible than slightly crazy people) just trying to instill a sense of shock and dread into characters. Inevitably this also fills players with shock and dread. What typically follows is a slow but sure migration away from the game, a lot of references to “that time” and hundreds of anonymous internet posters looking over your work and quietly vomiting just out of sight. But fear not, there is a dark doorway at the end of the brightly lit fluorescent hallway there are ways to get your point across without the need of professional psychologists.
Really it all comes down to knowing your limits, knowing the limits of your players, and working around those limits to let the players imagination take over where your narrative leaves off. This is a lesson that videogames are learning, comics never learned, novels have known for years and movies have apparently forgot.
You see, the human mind is a sick disgusting creature that thinks only of food, sex, and war. Often times this horrific little creature likes to mix those things up. The only mercy is that the debauchery that occurs in the dark corners of the human mind stays there so long as the human mouth and hands leave them in place. Unfortunately game masters and players alike tend to mistakenly let those thoughts loose instead of using the creature subtly in order to get the horror across not only artfully but without going so over the top that you violate certain social taboos. Truth be told I ran an Exalted game where I was rather guilty of this. So let’s discuss the things you need to know and the things you really, absolutely should not do.
It’s not funny.
I think the biggest mistake a lot of tabletop gamers make is thinking they’re funny. The second mistake is thinking that there black humor is also funny. I’m sorry but black humor only belongs in certain tabletops and only in games where things aren’t meant to be taken very seriously. In Paranoia, for example, black humor is the point and object of the game. Whereas in Call of Cthulu black humor mostly serves only to distract and remove the sense of immersion and dread the players are supposed to be feeling. Sure, anyone can find humor in a miscarriage and the results can be found all over the bleakest corners of the internet, but try making that joke around the gaming table. I guess you didn’t realize the GM was expecting in six months? Whoops. That brings me to the next point.
Know your audience.
To be fair you can’t predict everything especially when game mastering for a new group. How were you to know that one of the players in the group was sexually abused as a child? What clue were you given that one of the new players parents were killed in a car accident so having their characters parents ran over by an out of control villain mobile might be considered a bit much? It pays to know just what sets your players off and whether or not those things will help them get more immersed in the game or drive them away. If you do decide to use those specific events in your game, don’t do it. It’s a thin line and not something I would ever suggest to a beginning GM. My best advice I can give in this is never try to do this with newer groups and never ever make it personal to the character because that always just runs directly into the player. Oh, and I really wish I didn’t have to say this but, never with anyone under aged.
The hard part is making those things work for you. The easiest part, and sadly the least utilized, is finding out. All you have to do is let the players know that there are themes and situations that might offend them and if there’s anything specific they want to stay away from then let you know in one of the many many forms of modern communication we have in this era of never having a private life. It’s not difficult, and will save such a massive headache later on.
Nothing has a greater impact than the aftermath.
A lot of the problem with gory or nasty descriptions is that they often involve the actual process of said offensiveness going on. There is a solution to this, and it involves a piece of storytelling that we can pull from the Half Life videogames. That is, there is no exposition of a scene of grisly murder or carnage, only a description of the aftermath. In fact, this tends to have a greater impact than witnessing the event itself. Now, videogames have already started mastering this in titles like Half Life and Silent Hill. Tabletop modules have yet to really embrace this method of storytelling. Essentially it’s always more fun and typically more satisfying to describe the aftermath of a grisly rape and murder and let the characters imaginations run around on what exactly happened.
If an event needs to be witnessed than don’t use sight and avoid adjectives that describe how a character feels. Instead, use other senses and off screen effects to give an idea of what’s going on and just how bad it is. Blood splattering on a window, horrible screams, the smells of blood and fire, and then the discovery of a gibbering monster with the warm entrails still hanging out of it’s mouth (okay, too much I’m sorry) you see it’s the implication of the event rather than the witnessing that can leave a greater impression on your players. You have to learn that the description of a room can tell a story all by itself.
Learn when to cut people off.
There’s a certain amount of responsibility that comes from being a game master. I’m not talking about driving the story forward, organizing games, and giving characters something to do. I’m talking about corralling characters and players that simply go completely out of line. You have to draw the line and you have to know when to cut people off before it gets out of hand. It’s up to you to know what that point is but suffice to say that if you feel uncomfortable than chances are so is the rest of the group.
This leads back to my previous point of knowing your players. You can stop a lot of problems just by knowing a person’s gaming history. If a person tends to be a bit over the top and crazy in their characters playing morally decent people than it’s a safe bet they’re going to go absolutely reservoir dogs when you remove the morality requirement. Keep an eye on character descriptions and back stories. If it sounds like trouble then say no, or ask politely for some changes. If a player starts going into gruesome detail on what they do then leave it to dice rolls, fade to black, or go, “Right we get the idea let’s move on.”
Just remember that the responsibility of keeping the nastiness in line starts with the players. Failing that, you need to step in. If that seems like too much for you to deal with then you should seriously consider leaving game mastering to someone else or until you’re more comfortable saying no to bad ideas.
Warning: This game contains graphic scenes of violence and gore.
One very simple and tragically under used tool in the arsenal of the game master is that of simply warning players before thins get out of hand. Let them know that it’s a game where characters are expected and encouraged to be evil and destructive. Inform them that this means they essentially have free reign to be bad guys whenever and however they wish to be. Tell them that there is such a thing as going too far regardless of this freedom. If they don’t think they’ll offend someone then they’re going to push as far as their comfort level takes them, which can be pretty far indeed.
With a simple warning, a discussion on what pushes people’s buttons, and an agreement that playing bad guys does not mean being bad people you can avoid a lot of problems before they rear their demonic heads.
Thicken your hide and harden your spine
People are disgusting. We’re racist, violent, perverted, twisted, morbid, sacks of gluttonous lustful hatred and spite wrapped in a thin veil of civility and law. The sooner you realize this the better prepared you are when the guy you’ve been gaming with for years suddenly describes in agonizing detail how he flays the skin off of a screaming newborn child. By playing evil characters you open a doorway to pathways in a person’s mind that we have spent centuries locking down as tightly as we can. That’s the point, that’s part of the fun.
Keep in mind it’s just a game. Saying something in character is not the same as announcing ones intention in real life. Sometimes people want to describe a horrific nightmare that quite frankly terrifies them just because they want to get it out and want to do it through the medium of their play. Other times they want to let out all those repressed emotions they keep inside all day. Let’s not forget to mention that what they’re doing just might be what they’re character, a paragon of brooding hate and malice, will do.
So relax, you started this, you’re ultimately in control. If you’re offended, ask yourself whether it’s worth potentially ruining everyone’s fun to correct the cause. If someone else is offended, talk to both parties and work something out. An evil game is one ran with the expectation that people are mature enough to handle dark themes. Players are assumed to be adults, or failing that at least mature enough to deal with it.
Close your eyes. It will end soon.
Part of the appeal of evil games is that it allows us as players to explore regions of role-playing and storytelling that are normally off limits in the majority of games. Most games either encourage a heroic play style or are toned with such a grey atmosphere it’s impossible to tell the heroes from the villains. It allows us to journey into parts of our psyche we might never have otherwise known existed and express our findings to those around us. What we have to keep in mind is that we’re making discoveries in what is essentially the single worst place on earth. We have to learn to herd our thoughts and corral our words so that we express ourselves without violating the social taboos set out by our respective communities. If you feel that you have to be shocking, be repugnant, in order to get the spotlight you so crave than I suggest finding a different outlet for that desire. By default role-playing can be a very close-up and personal hobby. Without restraint you will offend the wrong people and you will lose friends. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.
Next Month: The conclusion to our tragic ballad.
