Dark Side Characters

[adamlumina93]

I have a player that wants to bring a character into a game but he wants to be already on the darkside. I have both pros and cons of letting this character into the game. Does anyone out there have thoughts on this.

[masque]

I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, but I'd like to see how he'll fit it in. It could make for some good gaming if done right. What type of campaign are you running? Certain eras and situations would obviously work better with that type of character.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[adamlumina93]

I am getting ready to run a pirate campaign taking place after EP4

[masque]

Yeah, that would probably work. It'll probably make for a darker campaign, but I certainly wouldn't have a problem with it. The biggest challenge I see would be having the player be on the Dark side and still dependable to the party. Of course, if those trust issues are acted out, it'll make for great roleplaying.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[garhkal]

I would ask him
A- how his character came to be fully to the dark side
B- how he reacts to certain actions/situations
C- why he would be working with the pc group...
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[Tejma_Muhog]

It can work very well if the player is relatively mature and serious about it. If the player is not, then it can get boring at best and possibly obstructive.
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[Jedi Skyler]

garkhal has raised very good questions. A true dark sider is out for power for themselves and themselves ONLY. If they're working with a party, it's only because they believe that by doing so, they'll end up with more power.

Unless, of course, this is to be a party of ALL dark siders, which has its own obstacles and connotations...

[Neo-Paladin]

So, if you think you can (or you want to) tell the story with a dark side character, then I'd say proceed.

That said I'd demand a major background story from the player. What motivates the character to deviate from social norms (i.e. good)? The good or right thing can be a motivation all its own, but evil isn't a motivation its self. The background should have lots of details about the character so you have an idea of what to expect from him, and possible things you can bring in to grab the character’s attention later.

I'd also decide for myself if I could rein things in if the situation gets out of hand. That's bitten me before. I've let a character get away with too much because I wanted things to be 'fun'. I'm much more selective about who I play with now, and I don't run games for dark characters because I don't want the headache and I don't want to tell that sort story...

That's just my experience. If you've got a good feeling there is a lot of opportunity there.
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-Kant

[Volar the Healer]

Limit him to three adventures before he must be redeemed or go out of play.
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No Jesus, No Peace

[Firehawk0220]

I'll let players come in like that if I want to have that sort of thing in the game. If I have one Dark Jedi for example, and he wants to go up against the rest of the group, then so be it. Makes things easy on you. All you have to do is setup an adversarial situation, and they'll play it out themselves. You just mediate.

I also enjoy watching dark Jedi characters work. Use the force to do bad things to people. Beyond just simple force choking to. One of my players really had a flare for the dramatic. He'd do things like explode their eyes and stuff like that.

[DoubtBreak]

I fear we may be flogging a dead bantha, but if the issue hasn't resolved itself already, I have a few thoughts:

In the D6 rules, the dark Force powers are extremely powerful. Characters that can use them without restrictions or consequences are going to severely outmatch their fellow party members (which may or may not be a problem- that's up to you). That's why the rulebook said that dark characters don't get CPs for adventuring, but only giving out CPs for being evil isn't a lot of incentive for redemption (in my experience at least). If you need another way to balance it, I can think of 3 other options:

1. Restrict the dark powers that the character is able to use, or the situations in which he/she can use them. (For example, fatigue penalties - such as those from failing Stamina rolls - are one of my favorite GM tools right now.)

2. Specify that the character must be on a path to redemption (i.e. the character wants to be good but doesn't know how to).

3. Rewrite the dark side rules so that the character receives penalties for remaining evil. (This is what I've been developing, and it's become a horribly complicated issue.)

Of course, once you've found a way to balance out the rules, your players can also start taking their Force-sensitive characters to the dark side and back. This adds a whole new area for dramatic stories to unfold, as long as you and your players can handle it.

Personally, one of my favorite campaigns involves a Force-user who started on the dark side, redeemed herself, fell to the dark side again in a desperate situation, and is now trying to feel worthy of a second chance at redemption. So the headaches of modifying the rules a bit can be worth every moment of it, if you have a player who really gets into the spirit of things.

[Firehawk0220]

[DoubtBreak]

Why make them be on a path to redemption? Well, redemption is one of the central themes to Star Wars. Plus, a mixed group of good and bad Force-users can degenerate into a player-vs-player killfest (depends on the players, of course).

Of course, those 3 options were suggestions for things to use instead of WEG's "Force users who have fallen to the dark side no longer receive CPs for adventuring" rule, which has never really appealed to me. As with everything else, it's a matter of preference I suppose. Players seem to either avoid turning at all costs, or instantly become evil incarnate in an effort to keep getting CPs. As far as in-game consequences go, there aren't a lot of problems that can't be overcome with liberal use of Battle Meditation, Electronic Manipulation, Control Mind, and Telekinetic Kill. At least, not if you want to avoid the GM-vs-Players type of situation. Again, matter of preference.

Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have thrown in these suggestions at all, except I mis-interpreted the initial message as a player wanting to add a dark Force-user into an already-running campaign.

Oh, and Firehawk0220: you said that in your games, extremely evil Force users "start having issues resisting their dark urges" - can you elaborate on this? It sounds interesting.

[Firehawk0220]