Obsession makes a good evil character for me. When a goal becomes so possessing that you will do anything to make it happen, you get into that dark/evil path. I like to take something like a goal of immortality or death of some race as my characters obsession.

When I make an evil NPC, I like him/her to be driven, but be smug about it, so the pc's want him dead in a bad way.

I was just exploring evil as a concept in my webcomic, and used this psychology professor's definition of evil (this is his intersting lecture). He posits that the clearest example of evil is taking enjoyment from the suffering of others. That's one that's hard to argue with. That would suggest that Adam's bard character was actually evil, even in a mundane way like those who love creating drama/play head games. Just because he was laughing doesn't mean it's not evil. I mean, aren't evil characters known for their laughter? Moo hoo hahaha!

I am solidly on the Dan and Wayne train of having a hard time playing evil characters in video games. No Sith Lords for me.

I like morally grey characters. Like Chad-o said, I don't think there are good people and bad people. For me, there are good and evil results or understandings but no one is the villain of their own story (at least at the time they are making decisions, regret and guilt are important tools that should also be used to make more lifelike characters.) I hold to the philosophy that most evil can be framed in the context of a Good used disproportionately. A vigilante murders out of an inflated sense of justice, a deserter breaks an oath because of a lack of bravery and/or an inflation of self preservation, etc.

I wanted to explore that idea in my current Pathfinder campaign I'm running, so right around a third of the way through the campaign I made the players come up with five acts of evil and five acts of virtue that their character's committed before the campaign started. This gave them some time to think about what they're character would do and gave me something to pull allies and nemeses from. It was interesting how certain virtues seem to naturally pair off with certain vices. Bravery and wrath (the Punisher mentality), charity and avarice (the Robin Hood mentality), community and racism (the Hitler mentality).

In regards to my own characters, I tend to play them as morally weak, rather than evil per se. They are often susceptible to bribes, coercion, etc. But rarely are the instigator of evil acts. I should say that I do not often play leader-type characters so it may be a cop-out to say that my henchman characters are merely less evil then their BBEG counterparts. For those familiar with Firefly/Serenity, I tend to look at Jayne as a morally weak grey character, and Mal as a morally strong grey character.

I agree it's interesting, but that archetype tends to frustrate me when given too much spotlight in media.

Also, I'm wondering if we have any potential psychopaths in our midst, other than Wayne and me.

I'm sure we have plenty of company.

This is an interesting point and one in which I have come full circle on.

When I was much younger, I created sort of Syndley Whiplash sorts of characters who twirled their mustaches and "did evil things" for the sake of evil.

As I got older, I adopted your viewpoint, which was that no one was the villain in their own story.

Now, as I have gotten even older, as I have seen and experienced things in the workplace, as I have seen both wonderful and terrible things in humanity, I have come full circle in my viewpoint. For the most part, "bad guys" certainly don't see themselves as bad. However, there are those rare individuals who actually see themselves as the villain in their own story.

A lot of victims of abuse allow themselves to be abused because they have adopted an internal label which frames their worldview. They may believe that they deserve to be abused or believe that basically it's their lot in life - it's how the world works and it's what their role is in the world.

In the same way, there are people who have internally adopted a criminal or anti-social label. These people believe that they are "bad guys" or "villains" or what-have you, because they fully believe that that is their role in society. They fully expect to die or come to a bad end, but this viewpoint is so powerful that it defines them. When these people are ever interviewed they say as much. "Do you think you are a bad person?" "Oh yeah, I know I'm a bad person. I'm a very bad person. And you better be careful around me."

Then, there are sociopaths who basically don't see the world in the same way that most people do. They clearly know what's right or wrong, because they don't openly or actively break the law. But they have no qualms or guilt about doing wrong. There are some sociopaths who are the heroes of their own story, but then there are others who totally understand that they engage in "wrong" types of behavior...they just don't care.

[quote="Tabloid Believer"Then, there are sociopaths who basically don't see the world in the same way that most people do. They clearly know what's right or wrong, because they don't openly or actively break the law. But they have no qualms or guilt about doing wrong. There are some sociopaths who are the heroes of their own story, but then there are others who totally understand that they engage in "wrong" types of behavior...they just don't care.[/quote]
There are a lot of people who will tell you that "right" is the same thing as "not getting caught." I remember being a kid and having friends who would engage in minor acts of vandalism because they were looking for some kicks and figured no one would catch them. I stopped hanging out with them eventually because I could never get my jollies doing something that hurt someone else.

Those are the only type of "evil" characters I'll play. Sociopaths fascinate me. They really do have no sense of right and wrong on an emotional level. They can process intellectually what is believed to be right and wrong, but there is no feeling behind it. It's purely a thought exercise. As a moral relativist, that way of thinking has a very strong appeal.

They also have a reduced capacity to fear. They simply don't worry about the consequences of they're own actions, even in regards to their own safety. Again, they may process it intellectually, but they have no emotional reaction of fear of getting caught, fear of pain, no real sense of terror for anything.

I think it's really the way to go if you want to play evil, because it's the only way to play something that is still human, but completely alien to the normal human experience.