^{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.

Continue reading “Getting Villainous: Suicide Squad as an RPG Campaign” →