The Bad, The Worse, and the Vile: The Art of Being Evil
The cliché of the evil corporation has been with us since the 1700’s where imperialism and expansion into the new world allowed for money grabbing douche lords to form companies that have created hostility and problems that extend into even the modern day. Popular fiction in the 80’s grasped onto this concept and has yet to let go. The cliché has even gone as far as changing established and popular characters into men in suits and ties with titles like president of the company or chairman of the board. Their company is a tool and a means to an end, their flunkies are all 9 to 5 warriors with id tags, pension plans and a modest salary in exchange for standing between a colorfully caped madman and their boss.
I for one believe that the cliché of the evil corporation should be put away. We have enough problems with evil corporations in our real life setting to have to deal with it from a fictional perspective. However I understand that from a writer's, and thus GM’s point of view they’re a good engine for explaining where the villain gets his seemingly massive amount of resources. His henchmen? Corporate recruiting programs. His money? A large expense account and great salary. His technology? He’s hired the best R&D department for the money. All of this goes without being said and saves a lot of unnecessary writing for the actual story. So instead of doing away with the cliché entirely let’s take a look at a number of different approaches and handle it with a fresh perspective.
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There's nothing wrong with role reversal. After all a corporation that has a great capacity for evil also has a great capacity for good. Think of the modern example of Bill Gates. In the corporate world Microsoft is a bloodthirsty nut kicking maniac without mercy or remorse. However its founder and primary drive behind its mercilessness is also the world’s biggest philanthropist. Who is to say a corporation in a fictional world can’t act like some massive angelic organization giving help where needed? Putting down supernatural threats as they arise without the bureaucracy or policies of the government standing in the way. It’s not a political or religious organization but a purely benevolent one with little motivation beyond making the world a bearable place to live. The pc’s of the group can easily be employees or even freelancers that work for the organization.
Keep in mind however such an organization still needs to make money and you can have some interesting interactions between the moneymaking portions of the business and the philanthropy. Perhaps the characters have to go into a promotional mode in order to generate money for their cause. The character may become conflicted as they have to start advertising campaigns in order to keep the flow of cash coming. Perhaps the business of the company itself is actually morally reprehensible, a franchise of abortion clinics, cigarettes, smut, weapons manufacture, or maybe they’re the number one distributor of suicide booths (now selling the patented self terminator 2000! Guaranteed results in the palm of your hand!). In these cases perhaps it’s one or two elements in the corporation who feel that the company needs to do well but changing just what the company is would never be allowed. The other elements tolerate this difference because it puts a good face to the company. Perhaps even inter-company conflict can arise and give you a number of plot hooks to use.
Remember a corporation is out to make money.
Before you make a company whose only goal is world conquest or destruction understand what the purpose of a corporation is; to make money. That’s it, for all the board meetings, office comedy, factories, and seemingly massive projects that corporations get into purely for show or promotion they all have the same and simple purpose that a 7 year old girl does when she opens her first little lemonade stand on the corner of the street. Keep this goal in mind before you have a company run out on a bid to destroy the world. Ask yourself how this profits the company as a company.
From this perspective a CEO who suddenly starts having the corporate security dress in cobra outfits and outlines plans to increase the R&D budget particularly in the areas of genetic research in giant snakes and genetically altered spitting cobras for use as firearms might find himself being ousted from his job. Keep your eyes on this goal at all times and if it looks like this goal is leaving your sights perhaps it’s time to consider a different direction.
Also who is to say a corporation is necessarily evil for hiring out its services? If an evil genius has the money to pay the company for fusion reactors for his in his robotic army than they sell them, the PC’s can of course buy the same reactors at the same price.
In a way this makes corporations a neutral element that cares little for the fight between good and evil. In the end they still get paid and if they profit from the conflict all the better. This makes them a potential ally or implacable enemy to any side.
Our dental plan is flawless which is good since you’ll be getting punched in the face a lot.
Above all else a corporation is an organization. It has ranks, benefits, goals and plans that the organization works towards. So, one function a corporation can serve for the GM is one of benefactor and organization to the PC’s. Perhaps they’re corporate flunkies given special status by training or circumstance. Suddenly the corporation becomes their go to guy for equipment, missions, and information. It’s their home and companion and they can’t imagine trying to adventure without it.
This is something of a twist to the average thought of a modern game. Suddenly it’s the players wearing ID tags and protecting the company with corporate logos embroidered on their uniforms. Now, they’re henchman. It’s a fun little twist that when done subtly can be fun and flavorful with the proper execution.
The best part about this is the corporate ladder. Corporations in theory are a merit based system that give its members increased rank and privileges the more and better work they do. Who is to stop the characters from using that system to become the owners of the corporation? Or alternatively, splitting off into their own rival company and bringing their former (and possibly evil and corrupt) predecessor down with a hostile takeover. Firearms in this case are optional.
Merger of Ultimate Darkness
Black conspiracies have always been a favorite tool of mine whenever I run games. Plots and villains are like an onion, every time you peel away a layer you find a fresh and tearful new threat underneath. Companies even in the real world are ultimately commodities that are bought and sold every day on markets that are ineffable to all but a select few individuals with the training to understand this process and the cunning to profit from it. What if there was an elite of the elite? A group of individuals with the power, money, and intelligence to manipulate entire corporations the same way people manipulate chess pieces? There are already plenty of established secret societies both real and imagined with their own mythologies to choose from such as the Illuminati, the Masons, and the Skull and Bones club. Though in any setting you can easily model your own secret society based on separate ideas.
Each society has something in common. Members are typically chosen at a young age from a wealthy and influential family. They tend to be very secret, though the level of secrecy is entirely up to the GM. Most members go on from their initial studies and training to positions of power, foreign ambassadors, corporate leaders, presidents, governors, or in some cases lead the society itself from behind a black veil of lies and misinformation. Exceptions to such rules do exist, people can fall from grace in the eyes of the society, others may choose to leave voluntarily, and some people may be chosen as part of the society based on their incredible capability and power outside of the normal rigors of the society’s typical recruiting regimens.
These last few can be your player’s best contacts or most dangerous enemies. They have become disillusioned or jaded by the society and its internal politics and may want to remove the society entirely or simply create a power vacuum they can readily fill with their own considerable girth. This is a case where it’s the players being played by the npc’s. Care should be taken in these cases since players can be upset at having been played. Still, if they didn’t catch that the manipulative smooth talking bastard who happily fed them all this info without bloodying his hands was going to take over in the end than in all likelihood they deserve to be played. Of course, they also deserve a proper chance at revenge as well.
There’s something fishy about a training video that includes proper procedures in case of zombie apocalypse.
Some gm’s like to run their games from the perspective that it’s ordinary people, not extraordinary heroes that have to beat the bad guys and save the day. So, work with that. Instead of having your Shadow Run characters come from the realms of a Phillip K. Dick novel have them come from the cast of the Office. Instead of the threat of werewolf security guards they have to deal with the terror of putting covers on tps reports and coming in to work on Saturdays, yeah.
However, as is the case in all such games sooner or later the darkness starts to creep in. Employees start taking leaves under mysterious circumstances, grisly accidents might begin happening at an alarming rate. Sooner or later the players will have to rise and take up weapons against their corporate masters in some faux Marxist revolt. Only with zombies, and possibly clockwork Nazi ninjas.
The corporate office can be a great place for a horror game. A crowded, brightly lit realm of lies and secrets where one person or another is intentionally trying to ruin another’s chances at a better life. The crowded cubicles and open door offices underlay an environment of subtle hatred and bleak corrosive humanity ruled over by a black tyrant who sees the white shirt and colorfully tied herd as little more than flunkies and victims. Woe to the poor well educated cattle.
The key to making such a campaign work is a ramping sense of danger and horror that requires a certain kind of system to work. I prefer Dread for this kind of game as it lends itself easily to a building sense of panic and terror.
Weekday villainy
The cliché of villainy that is the evil corporation is not likely to go away any time soon. Chances are it’ll grow more and more prevalent as corporations gain more power over the world as a whole. It’s not going away until we either devolve back into an imperialistic or medieval society or evolve into a utopian society where humanity is driven by the need to improve itself and advance the species rather than garner wealth and possessions. Oh well, at least as a cliché it works well as a narrative tool.
