What do you do when a teenager wants to play Evil?

So I managed another quick round of Play the World in YouMedia today. While, according to the others present, quite a few had expressed interest, most of them had just gone across the street for a meal and to study. Bad timing. So I hung out with a few boys recording a food-related podcast and built a few beginner/NPC characters while I waited. With around 45 minutes to go before I had to be elsewhere, the Tiefling-rogue player showed up and wanted to play.

He found himself in the Royal Guard breakroom again getting lectured by the commander. He was instructed to take another guardsman and go see if he could track the escaped golem from last session.

The other guardsman was one of the NPCs I'd just made, a gruff spear-dwarf named Gurka. They headed back to the Temple Quarter of town, where Rylie (the player-character) seemed a little at a loss as to where to start. She went into the temple of Fharlangn (AKA a very busy bar complete with piano player in the background), where the patrons and bartend were reluctant to assist because she and the dwarf were basically cops. Then she approached the Temple of Thor, but the dwarf, a follower of Thor, had to take the reins here. They spoke with an aged, squeaky, forgetful High Priestess, got permission to explore the cemetery, where the melted lock had been given a fine replacement, and found evil-smelling footprints of their quarry.

A few hints and finally an outright Knowledge check helped Rylie realize the darkness spell the golem had used to escape last time was akin to her own natural Tiefling magic. Her quarry was another tiefling.

At this point, Rylie decided to climb to the highest point around to see where the golem might have run to. Gurka dissuaded her from physically using her claws to climb the temple, and instead she climbed the steps to the top of its belfry. Then her player asked if there were trees anywhere about.

?

...

"Um... there's what looks like a sacred grove within walking distance."

"We go there."

So, yeah, this is how I GM. What do the kids want to see? OK, it's in the game.

Off they went, got a little ways in, and encountered a bunch of unhappy tree sprites. Rylie climbed a tree, but rolled badly, fell off, and got to be Gulliver-with-the-Lilliputians for a bit. I think the player just wanted to climb tonight?

Then the Druidic priestess of the grove turned up. She, too, was a Tiefling! With fiery eyes and a desire for vengeance against all that lived, for yet undetermined reasons.

Why does her evil plot involve an iron golem, normally something no druid would touch?

No idea.

A few rolls later, she had used her darkness spell to ensnare Rylie and draw her deeper into the grove and away from her companion. In the center was the golem. The druid explained that she was trying to take over the city and offered Rylie (already a Boxed Crook) a place at her side as an evil henchman.

... The player accepted.

For those who don't play RPGs, this is generally NOT DONE. 

But at the time, since this was a one-on-one game, I allowed it. Rylie murdered the dwarf NPC to seal her pact with the druid, at which point I announced that she had become evil and was now an NPC under my control. The player will be warned not to tell the other players what happened when he turns up with a new character next week and the party is asked to investigate what happened to two of the Royal Guard. I explained afterwards that, when part of a party of other players (which he wasn't at the time), Evil alignment is generally disallowed simply for the sake of cooperation. This will be key in summer, in fact, when the Summer Reading theme is Togetherness.

I pointed out that if he wants to play evil, there are other games to do it in. Warhammer and 40K is a fine choice. He expressed eagerness to try, and was surprised and curious to learn that, hey, libraries can get free Warhammer stuff now. So if he's the only taker next week again, I know what to do.

What do you do when a teenager wants to play evil?

You introduce him to gamer crack.

I am going to Recon 2023 in Kissimmee tomorrow. Next time, a convention-and-loot report!