Pyramid Review
Evil (for d20)
Published by AEG
Writing by A.A. Acevedo, J.D. Douglass, Noah Dudley, Peter Flanagan, Chris Hussey, Mike Leader, Mike Mearls, Jim Pinto and Ree Soesbee
128 pages; $19.95
Prepare for a walk on the Dark Side.
Fantasy RPGs nearly all promote the idea that PCs will enter a world where Evil reigns supreme, and are to incarnate the only heroes strong enough and Good enough to bring peace and light back to the world. Of course, every experienced GM knows it's hard to find good heroes. Even when the players don't openly declare they're just playing cold-blooded mercenary killers, they're playing Paladins who act more like cold-blooded mercenary killers. A GM might look at them and wonder why they don't just roll up a party of bad guys.
Well, now, with AEG's Evil, they can.
Evil attempts to be a comprehensive guide to Villainous Roleplaying in the d20 system, for both players and GMs, with new feats, new prestige classes, new spells, new monsters, and a lot of tips for running Evil campaigns. It even includes a disclaimer, warning not to perform any of the evil acts described within the book itself. The book is divided into two major sections: "The Evil that Men Do," which centers around Evil characters, and "Mercy is for the Weak," which focuses on Evil campaigns. Consider these parts like the Player's Handbook and GM's Handbook for Evil, respectively.
"The Evil that Men Do" starts out with some philosophical attempts at defining exactly what is Evil; here, some . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 28, 2001
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