The Book of Vile Darkness: a Brief Musing

A brief disclaimer: I'm from a religious household, and am a pretty religious guy. As I grew up in my community, I heard a lot of the nonsense regarding D&D that many others have also been exposed to. Neither I or my family ever bought into it: a fictional tabletop game doesn't have the power that extremists give it. In fact, in my experience, D&D promotes many strong moral ideals.The unjustified rumors of demon worship, satanism, etc make me pretty mad. It's stupid that people would put such stock in and be so afraid of a simple game.

Another disclaimer: I play a pretty straight-laced campaign much of the time. Through two tiers of play, I've ran a fairly standard good vs evil storyline. Only recently have the shades grown significantly grayer. But up until the last few months, I've always made a point of letting good triumph over evil. It makes the Players feel like they're making a difference, and I get to feel like I'm delivering a positive message.

A few weeks back I picked up the 4e version of The Book of Vile Darkness by Robert J. Schwalb. When I first heard about the release, I wasn't very interested: the morbid nature put me off. I've never had interest in playing an Evil character or running an "Evil Campaign," so I figured I would pass this one over. In addition, to be completely honest, some of the stuff I'd seen from the original Third Edition book made me a bit uncomfortable. Rules for torture? Cancer Mages? Ritual Sacrifice? I didn't see that sort of thing in my campaign: I didn't particularly want to assist in or justify the negative stigma facing D&D already.

Case in point.

When I read the back of the book however, I was drawn in by the promise of "evil villains...vile monsters, magic items, organizations, traps and hazards, terrain, diseases, and curses". I am in the infancy of epic tier in my campaign, and things are coming to a head. I was looking for any way to up the ante for the players, and am getting ready to unveil some pretty scary and merciless villains. So I figured the book was worth a shot.

I was very pleased to discover that there was a good deal of useful material in the Dungeon Master's Book for any campaign. The chapter of Curses held some incredible mechanics for time-honored story hooks, and the section on Villains was everything I was looking for. There were some very creative monsters and themes (though unfortunately very little Epic support: one monster), and some super cool traps. The Far Realm Anomaly was my favourite trap in the book: a d20 determines one of several possible mutations PCs undergo when exposed to the hazard. Some are positive (freakish legs that add a +1 to speed) and others negative (arms turn to tentacles with a -2 to all attacks).

The book also provided a lot of advice on how to run an Evil Campaign: one in which the characters in it are villains. It gave adventure hooks, plot arcs, even entire campaign outlines. While I myself am not likely to use this content, I know others will wish to try something like this and it will be very useful to them.

I still had a lot of mixed feelings about much of the content in the Player's Book. While I liked the options and mechanics of the options presented, much of the flavor was very contrary to my idea of the game. Blood-Crazed Berserkers, Slaves of Devils, and a theme that is basically a word for word description of the Reavers from Firefly (the theme is even called Reaver). As a Player, I would likely never want to use some of this content.

Call me old-fashioned, but I'm not super keen on my
character looking like this...

My biggest concern, however, was the effect that these options would have on a campaign. As a DM I was worried that they could only lead to huge Player conflicts: some of my group would be game for this stuff, but it definitely wouldn't fly with others. I've seen Players bring in very well-thought-out Evil characters into the campaign, who play nice when they have to and wait til the right opportunity to secretly seize more power for themselves. Our groups Warlock is a perfect example of this. I have seen more frequently, however, the characters who take Evil much too literally. They kill NPCs without provocation, engage in subversive behavior in secret, and stab the other Players in the back. It isn't fun for anyone, and I was distressed that this book might be enabling this kind of behavior.

My fears as a DM were assuaged, however, when I read through the whole book. There is huge emphasis in the opening pages on keeping the game fun for everyone. It identifies the delicacy required in playing an evil adventurer in a group that, in all likelihood, is mostly made up of good ones. All the selfish behavior I was afraid of is addressed here: wanton killing, stabbing allies in the back, playing uncooperatively with the rest of the group etc. The book highly discourages this kind of approach, and gives many alternatives for the average wolf in sheep's clothing (or company).

In my mind, this makes the content in the book a-ok for my campaign. The Book of Vile Darkness fills a niche that wasn't properly filled before in 4e, and in a way that makes sure it's done right. If a Player reads and stands by the advice in this book, I would be open to a Reaver at the table. Who knows? It might shake things up considerably.

Hopefully not too much...