^{Originally published on Sidekickcast.com February 9, 2016}

Running an RPG with evil characters tends to be difficult. While it’s perfectly possible for players to create complex evil characters (and I’ve seen it done at my table before), they just as frequently interpret the “E” in their alignment block as a reason to maim and kill every NPC they come across.

Personally, the next time I run a game with evil PCs, I’ll probably hit my comics collection for inspiration. Specifically, the John Ostrander-written Suicide Squad title that launched in 1987 is one of the best examples of a story that made the audience cheer for the bad guys.

The concept behind Suicide Squad wasn’t all that groundbreaking – the government selects a group of super criminals to take on jobs that heroes can’t – but the execution was brilliant. Taking it into an RPG requires players who really like the concept, but I think it could work quite well in the right circumstances.

Keeping the PCs in Line

The adventurers in a Suicide Squad-style game could be bad guys trying to do good, but they can also be irredeemable. The squad had plenty of utter villains, from craven jerks like Captain Boomerang…

…to complete psychopaths like Deadshot.

What kept them in line? Their desire for self-preservation. Director Amanda Waller fitted those she didn’t trust with explosive devices that left them without a limb if they stepped out of line.

The downside to an external device is that sessions run the risk of PCs spending hours trying to remove their explosive shackles – or, if you’re running a game with cybernetics, just letting their arms get blown off so they can buy a new one. The easiest replacement option in a sci-fi game is something that can’t get removed, like nanites. In a fantasy game, a spell like geas or mark of justice can get the job done.

Choosing the Missions

One of the things that made Suicide Squad work is that the team took on missions that heroes didn’t normally touch. They overthrew dictators, killed drug dealers, and once stopped a person from assassinating a politician by…well…assassinating the politician.

Okay, that last bit didn’t go exactly as planned, but the point is that the squad engaged in the type of stuff that arguably made the world a better place but which did so in very shady ways. And if the point of running a game in this vein is to let PCs try out evil characters, their missions should let them flex their villainous muscles a bit. If a paladin can do the job, the squad needn’t be dispatched.

Political assassinations work pretty well in this regard, since they usually require shady deeds that the good guys wouldn’t endorse. In games where true evil is a tag in a stat block, the PCs might be called upon to handle negotiations with demons, devils, and other malevolent forces that wouldn’t give the time of day to somebody bearing the stink of good. Of course, dealing with such forces can also open up chances for the PCs to gain their freedom earlier than expected.

Redemption…or Revenge

One of the subtler aspects of the Ostrander Squad – and something I think most of the Suicide Squad titles since have missed – is that Amanda Waller had noble goals in mind for her band of villains. Sure, many of the people she dealt with were irredeemable, but she rarely treated them completely like disposable pawns. Beneath her hard, businesslike exterior was a woman who cared enough about the people she worked with that she thought they could do good, even if they couldn’t truly be fixed themselves.

A lot of the direction of a Suicide Squad style game depends on who is employing the PCs. The PCs will probably want that person dead at first, since forcing them to do the job under threat of pain and/or death is the worst kind of plot railroading. However, as the game develops, you have a chance to show multiple sides of their employer. Maybe their motivations start to shine through. Maybe they even manage to redeem the PCs, turning them into people who legitimately believe justice.

Or maybe they just suffer in the most exquisitely painful ways.

In an RPG, the main point of the PCs’ shackles isn’t to keep them following the plot but rather to make sure they don’t turn against each other. This way, even if your players are taking on the roles of the most violent psychopaths out there, the game won’t devolve into the PCs attacking one another. Their employer, on the other hand, might be fair game.

After the PCs have had a chance to bond and work together, a good endgame for the campaign could be removing the plot device that has forced them to work against their will. Something burns out the nanites, disables the bombs, or removes the mark of justice. And then the real fun begins.

How does the employer react? Do they try to talk themselves out of a precarious situation or do they hunker down and get ready for a fight? A good ending to the campaign could be the villainous PCs reaping their revenge and leaving the good guys’ base a smoking hole in the ground.

After that, the PCs have the choice between staying together, thus opening opportunities up for continued adventures, or turning against each other, thus ending the game in the probable slaughter of multiple PCs with one emerging victorious and earning bragging rights.

There are a million different possibilities for a good game with evil PCs. Considering how darned good the 1980s Suicide Squad book was, I think that’s a prime starting point for inspiration.

_{Images: DC Comics}