How to deal with players that lean "evil"?

[Glorelendil]

Thinking more about this, I'd make room for a couple of exceptions:

1) Boromir. If somebody is accumulating permanent shadow points, I'd be ok with them role-playing their Weakness...that is, being "evil" within the boundaries of that weakness...in between bouts of madness, as long as they continued to be Heroic otherwise. A Treasure Hunter with 3 PSP could justify (in a role-playing sense) rifling through Orc bodies, for example.

2) I could also see the Loremaster working secretly with one of the players to make them an agent of the Shadow, unbeknownst to the other players. Figuring it out would be part of the fun of the campaign. Of course, it would mean that character can't do explicitly evil things or it would give him away. (It would almost have to be a PbP game, where the LM and that player would have lots of time to conspire privately without arousing suspicion.)

[aramis]

It's worth noting that there's no reduction in shadow gains for having high shadow or permanent shadow... in fact, once you have a shadow flaw negative trait, the rolling twice keeping the worse result process increases the likelihood of gaining more because it can make it harder to resist...

So, if you have "evil" players, and you enforce the shadow rules as written, they're going to lose their character soon enough, or a chunk of their fellowship phase actions fighting their shadow gains.

[Otaku-sempai]

It might be interesting to allow them to attempt to open their brothel. It might not be in the spirit of Tolkien, but it would also not be completely inappropriate in certain settings (Lake-town, for instance). What you have to decide as Loremaster is whether the city government would allow a brothel to operate openly or if the players are going to have to operate under a certain amount of secrecy. If the place is run well, the girls are treated fairly, and it is in-character for the players then I don't necessarily see them accumulating shadow points.

[Rue]

I think the original description mentioned slaves, so I don't think that would qualify for "fair treatment"...

[farinal]

I'll 3rd that.

If I'm playing Monopoly and somebody insists on massing his hotels from Park Place and Boardwalk in order to attack the Jail, I'll suggest we play Risk instead.

Heh nice analogy

[Beran]

Well, I do have to say that, in a way, TOR has set precedent for something like this. In Tolkien the accumulation of wealth is not important to most of the characters...though it can be a by product of doing the right thing. However, there is a mechanic in the game that makes gathering wealth almost a necessity. Many of the examples of Holdings in the game are business opportunities and a brothel would certainly be one of those.

However, I do echo what has been said before. Perhaps, you are playing in the wrong setting for your players. It sounds like they would have more fun in a Lankmar, Freeport, Jalizar type setting instead of Middle Earth.

[poosticks7]

They could maybe set one up in Mt Gundabad or Goblin Town

[Rich H]

... I prefer Marmite to Bovril, anyway.

[Otaku-sempai]

I think the original description mentioned slaves, so I don't think that would qualify for "fair treatment"...

Well, nix the "slaves" idea for certain. It isn't as though the Players are operating in Umbar or Easterling lands as spies for the North. And I do admit that it would be quite a challenge to run a brothel without accruing shadow points. Some Loremasters might deem it impossible. However, if allowed, the business should be run as a Holding, with regular upkeep and the option of applying the Years' End Fellowship undertaking of "Tend to Holding." I'm not quite sure of what the matching Specialty should be. Trading?

[Glorelendil]

What if the player is freeing the workers from slave-like conditions and setting them up as equity partners in the business? Think "courtesans" (and spies!) rather than whores.

This could be a whole new category of Holding. "For my improvement, I want to add a mermaid grotto fed by natural hot springs."