My idea of a great GM is the one whose name makes you cringe when you see it in your email. The good kind of cringe, mind you, where you shiver in delighted anticipation. Is my character still alive? What horrors will she face today? Nothing excites me more in a new game than hearing we have an 'Evil GM'.

There are Evil GMs and there are bad GMs. A bad GM is one who spends little time preparing, writes badly, or kills your character just out of spite. An evil GM creates thrilling adventures that surprise you at every turn and keep you on your toes. Complacency is not an option with the evil GM. So how do you get to be an Evil GM? Hard work, of course! Here are a few things I've observed my favorite GMs doing:

1. Kill someone!
This isn't the movies. Good guys don't always win. When you have a group of people wandering around looking for trouble, sometime, somewhere, they are going to come up against something bigger, stronger and meaner. If the dice dictate, let the character die!

2. Shake it up!
At the inn, the PCs either meet someone with a quest or get woken up by adversaries. On a deserted road, they are attacked. In the dungeon, they kill monsters and find treasure. Boring! Seduce a PC in the inn, sprinkle annoying talking flowers along the road, flood the dungeon with butterflies.

3. Meet new people!
Don't let your NPCs become predictable. The man decked out in black chainmail carrying a wicked looking sword could be a garrulous paladin, while the young girl in pigtails with a winning smile could be cursed or possessed. An interesting way to do this is to create totally stereotypical NPCs - and then switch their characteristics.

If you can't think of anything new and interesting to do to your PCs, check out Roleplaying Tips.coms 150 Benign Urban Encounters. Jot ideas that come to you down on an index card, and when things get stale in your campaign, pull one out. Before you know it, you too will have a reputation as an evil GM.

~~~~~
Eisel Write with Flair!
Senior Editor, The RPG Nexxus
Co-Editor, Roleplaying Tips.com