History EvenEvilHasStandards / TabletopGames

* In the TabletopGame/{{Eberron}} D&D setting, evil is not dependant on one's personality or goals, but rather, on how much one is willing to compromise. The queen who wages a bloody war to conquer the kingdom is good while the king who tries to maintain peace and security is evil. Why? Because she has standards; she wouldn't stoop to underhanded assassination plots, for instance. The king? He'd throw puppies into a woodchipper to achieve his goals. Evil does not have standards in Eberron.

** Along the same vein as the above example, Kharn the Betrayer is so AxCrazy that other [[TheBerserker Khorne Berserkers]] refuse to associate with him. The thing about Kharn is that he's not just an unstoppable murder machine, he's an erratic, ''team-killing'' unstoppable murder machine. In the novels involving him he's actually surprisingly skilled at navigating Chaos's internal politics by playing up his PsychoForHire reputation; he'll then wait until the moment where it will maximize his bodycount to betray everyone. Note that his behavior is perfectly acceptable by Khorne's standards- "Khorne cares not from where the blood flows, only that it flows" is one of his faithful's many catchphrases. "The Betrayer" moniker actually comes from an incident where Kharn's Legion and their enemies stopped fighting in order to find shelter from Skalathrax's subzero temperatures. Horrified at such blatant cowardice, he grabbed a flamer and torched every single shelter he could find.

* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', even the least conventionally "good" Pentacle orders, such as the Guardians of the Veil and the Silver Ladder, will come down on you like a hammer for messing about with other people's souls without consent; and even the Seers of the Throne, power-hungry fascist assholes to a man, try and avoid dealing with the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in the Abyss; while the Seers want the Abyss to ''exist'', to limit Awakenings, [[EvilVersusOblivion they don't want it to destroy everything]]. Both Seers and the Pentacle also understand that Banishers are trouble.

** All ghosts feed on human emotions and usually manipulate them into feeling that emotion more often. However they are not willing to stomach the Creeping Reapers who [[ApeShallNotKillApe kill and eat other ghosts for more hold]].

** Along the same vein as the above example, Kharn the Betrayer is so AxCrazy that other [[TheBerserker Khorne Berserkers]] refuse to associate with him. The thing about Kharn is that he's not just an unstoppable murder machine, he's an erratic, ''team-killing'' unstoppable murder machine. In the novels involving him he's actually surprisingly skilled at navigating Chaos's internal politics by playing up his PsychoForHire reputation; he'll then wait until the moment where it will maximize his bodycount to betray everyone.

** Also in ''TabletopGame/{Warhammer}}'', goblins, a race of comically evil little sneaks who cheerfully backstab, rob, murder, betray, swindle and even ''eat'' each other with minimal provocation, think hobgoblins are treacherous bastards and will shoot them on sight.

** Almost ''none'' of the Hunter organisations, even the ones who are utter bastards, are particularly fond of Heroes from ''TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial'', who are more often than not glory-obsessed egomaniacs with no real concern for collateral damage.

* In the eponymous city of {{Mortasheen}}, while the inhabitants will willingly do [[AndIMustScream horrible,]] [[BodyHorror terrible,]] [[FateWorseThanDeath things]] to each other, even they find the Dolfury horrifying and evil.

** The Ventrue (in the OldWorldOfDarkness) are the BlueBlood rulers of the Kindred, and the highest enforcers of the standards expected within the Camarilla.

** The empire of Cheliax is ruled by the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, who sold their souls to Asmodeus in order to gain power. The current monarch, Queen Abrogail II, has a Pit Fiend for an advisor. This would be scary enough, but it's indicated that his primary job is to [[MoralityChain ''keep her from acting on her more evil impulses'']]. That's right, a literal servant of Hell, of the most feared race of devilkind, has to keep Abrogail from going too far.

** The Drow, the infamous EvilCounterpart of the Elves and Eladrin, are brutal, fascist conquerors whose society is based around lies, deceit and betrayal, is prone to brutal infighting, and lives by the unpredictable whims of their batshit insane goddess. And yet, even they are disgusted by the horrifyingly insane Derro, so much so that they're willing to put aside whatever evil plot they're currently concocting to put a stop to the Derros' own plots.

* This is how some people view the LawfulEvil [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. He may kill babies, assassinate kings, and plot to take over the world, but many an LawfulEvil villain will never engage in wanton slaughter to no purpose and will never break his word. That being said, there is nothing to prevent a LawfulEvil from engaging in PragmaticVillainy and finding minimal pretense to do the above ("I won't slaughter these villagers ForTheEvulz, I need living space for my more important countrymen"). Furthermore there is nothing to prevent the NeutralEvil and ChaoticEvil characters from having standards themselves. And the biggest flaw of the LawfulEvil EvenEvilHasStandards view is that Devils, the literal embodiments of LawfulEvil pre- and post-4th Edition, do all these things without the need for standards.

** Along the same vein as the above example, Kharn the Betrayer is so AxCrazy that other [[TheBerserker Khorne Berserkers]] refuse to associate with him. The thing about Kharn is that he's not just an unstoppable murder machine, he's an erratic, ''team-killing'' unstoppable murder machine.

* This is how some people view the LawfulEvil [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. He may kill babies, assassinate kings, and plot to take over the world, but many an LawfulEvil villain will never engage in wanton slaughter to no purpose and will never break his word. That being said, there is nothing to prevent a LawfulEvil from engaging in PragmaticVillainy and finding minimal pretense to do the above ("I won't slaughter these villagers ForTheEvulz, I need living space for my more important countrymen"). Furthermore there is nothing to prevent the NeutralEvil and ChaoticEvil characters from having standards themselves. And the biggest flaw of the LawfulEvil EvenEvilHasStandards view is that Devils, the literal embodiments of LawfulEvil pre-4th Edition, do all these things without the need for standards.

** In the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' tie-ins, even the Iron Warriors-- who committed genocide on their home world to suppress a rebellion, and who are among the most ruthless and bitter siege troops in the setting-- think the Emperor's Children have become badly fucked-up and a disgrace, and they are ''appalled'' by MadDoctor Fabius Bile's... ''[[WasOnceAMan experiments]]'' on other Space Marines.

** All vampires are bloodsucking undead nightmares (except {Wendigo} who are cannibalizing undead nightmares), but even they can't stand the nightlords, who are essentially a one man mafia of rape, cannibalism, enslavement, and random slaughter ForTheEvulz. Furthermore, most of them hold themselves in a higher moral ground than [[ObviouslyEvil Primal Vampires]].

** All vampires are bloodsucking undead nightmares (except {Wendigo} who are cannibalizing undead nightmares), but even they can't stand the nightlords, who are essentially a one man mafia of rape, cannibalism, enslavement, and random slaughter ForTheEvuls. Furthermore, most of them hold themselves in a higher moral ground than [[ObviouslyEvil Primal Vampires]].

* The New Belt Pirates of ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' are, as might be expected, opportunistic raiders, amoral scavengers, and general scumbags, but even they didn't want to have anything to do with the [[ChurchMilitant Word of Blake]].

*** In some ways, the Virtues of Compassion and Self-Control mimic this. Low Compassion [[spoiler: or worse, its opposite, Conviction]] means you can do horrific things without even suffering the slightest pang of guilt, but high Self-Control keeps the Evil in check - if you had low Self-Control you'd be AxCrazy, leaning towards BloodKnight .
** Many of the more inhuman moralities have this trope in full effect. Two examples would be the path of Lilith and the path of the night. Those on the path of Lilith believe that pain is a good thing, they will happily kidnap and torture people for no better reason than a passing kindness of making them more jaded and realistic. Murder to a lilin is seen in exactly the same light as to a follower of Humanity; "dead mortals feel no dread". The path of the Night views vampires as agents of hell. They choose a victim, investigate them until they find a sin, however minor, then torment and traumatize their victim with the aim of making their life a living hell. Emphasis on living once again, killing is still wrong.

** Draugrs in 1e are vampires who have totally given up every remaining scrap of humanity. They come in two varieties: utterly evil, insane monsters who can at least think, and mindless beasts driven entirely by their [[SevenDeadlySins dominant Vice]]. Vampires hate Draugrs in general, but the mindless type of the worst. ''Especially'' bestial Draugrs driven by Lust, who are noted as A: sparking city-wide death-hunts when their presence is revealed, and B: being one of the few times vampires can actually feel heroic.

* This is how some people view the LawfulEvil [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. He may kill babies, assassinate kings, and plot to take over the world, but many an LawfulEvil villain will never engage in wanton slaughter to no purpose and will never break his word. That being said, there is nothing to prevent a LawfulEvil from engaging in PragmaticVillainy and finding minimal pretense to do the above ("I won't slaughter these villagers ForTheEvulz