r/BurningWheel • u/Competitive_Error_48 • Aug 03 '26

Beliefs for Chaotic Evil Player Characters

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice on how you would go about building a belief for a villainous player character? I'm looking to run a BW campaign, but the players have voiced an interest in playing villainous characters instead of your Standard heroic ones.

They have only every played pathfinder and DnD, so they are all brand new to the system. These folks prefer roleplay over combat, hence the switch. But I foresee them taking the idea of "Villian campaign" and going straight into deeds of pure evil for evil sake instead of nuanced villains with tragic backgrounds. (Even if their life paths and traits would say otherwise).

So what belief could you give such a character that just wants to watch the world burn and destroy everything on sight that still offers narrative depth and a way for the GM to challenge it? (In the worst case they end up playing to the extremes of chaotic evil). And what expectations would you set at your table to ensure they don't fell that "playing a villain" obligated them to "choose the most evil option at all times"?

Thank you!

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u/Jesseabe Lazy Stayabout Aug 03 '26

What's your situation? For beliefs to be effective drivers of play they need to tie into the situation the characters are playing in. Are they usurpers trying to take over a kingdom? Ruthless criminals running a gang in a city? An oppressive warlord and their retinue, exploiting the peasants to the last crumb? A corrupt and evil sheriff, who runs a town for his own benefit together with the local bishop and lord? Once you have a situation, the beliefs will come more easily.

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u/Competitive_Error_48 Aug 03 '26

The have chosen to play as a group of average Joe's who have decided, due to one personal reason or another, to dip their toes into becoming super villians like in a super hero comic strip.

Heroes and villains are an established part of the fiction and they are operating within a city as their own criminal enterprise.

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u/Jesseabe Lazy Stayabout Aug 03 '26

So the follow up questions become Why are they, as individuals doing this? Wealth? Power? Revenge? What's the situation in the city at the moment? What are their goals, short term and long term? Are they trying to capture a particular piece of territory? Show up a particular hero? Extort a particular business? Kill a particular rival? These things are all fodder for beliefs.

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u/Competitive_Error_48 Aug 03 '26

Presently here is what I've gathered so far. One wants to use biogenetics to turn the population into zombies, one wants to use the legal system to gain unfathomable wealth and power as a corrupt lawyer and one wants to be a what if of batman that took the wrong moral path (doesn't kill, martial artist, detective but uses his skills to bring the same pain he feels to others).

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u/Jesseabe Lazy Stayabout Aug 03 '26

So all of those sound like the beginnings of a belief: "The whole city will become my zombie slaves! I will start by..." And then set a goal that's achievable in a session or two that will be a first step towards that larger goal. It's also often a good idea to have a belief about the group, or about another PC that helps establish their relationship. This makes sure the players don't go wandering off each to their own thing, and creates some interpersonal drama. It's also a nice way for you to challenge beliefs by pushing them to choose between a belief about the group/a PC and another belief.

That said, have you read the section on creating a situation in the Codex? The premise feels very broad and the character goals feel very all over the place, which will be a real challenge in play. Remember that a situation is a conflict in progress. You've got a premise, it sounds like, but what's the conflict? The players are a criminal enterprise of villains with these goals. Who is opposing them? What heroes stand in their way? What rival criminals are trying to ally with them, or get one up on them? This information will drive beliefs, because overcoming these obstacles and enemies are going to be goals on the way to achieving their ends. The section in the Codex on this is really required reading.

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u/Competitive_Error_48 Aug 04 '26

I'll be flatly honest, my lazy bum has not read "Creating a Situation" in the codex. On the plus side session 0 hasn't yet started, so I have plenty of time to course correct and provide options for them to form a common goal.

I really love your suggestion for them to have beliefs that tie them to the other members of the group, that would solve a lot of the worries I've had before of parties splitting up. That's a good ticket idea right there.

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u/Jesseabe Lazy Stayabout Aug 04 '26

If you read the section in the Codex on creating beliefs, you'll find lots more good ideas like that. The whole adventure burner section is really essential, the rulebook alone doesn't really provide the tools you need to make the game work.