2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Rocks fall, everyone dies

2019-02-18T01:24:03Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:CD3B:F81:C732:7E46:

[[Image:Rockfall.jpg|thumb|300px]]"'''Rocks fall, everyone dies'''" is a method of ending a campaign commonly used by angry [[DM]]s who have [[The Henderson Scale of Plot Derailment | gotten fed up with their players' bullshit]]. In this situation, the characters are arbitrarily killed by some unavoidable fate such as an avalanche or a cave-in (the eponymous rocks falling) and the DM declares this the end of the game.

This was used in the ending of the NWN2 original campaign. And at the ''beginning'' of the first [[Icewind Dale]] game, killing everyone that isn't the player party. In theory, this may have been inspired by [[Tomb of Horrors]], in which entering the wrong room CAN lead to "Rocks Fall" everyone dies... if you don't leave within 10 seconds.

[[Rock_of_Doom|Another variant on this]], used as a tactical strike against [[That Guy]], is the "Rocks fall, you die. Everyone else levels up." as in D&D players can earn XP from witnessing events that no one has ever seen before. So you bullshit the players with a story about how magic is created by meteorites of pure [[magic]] falling through the atmosphere and as they burn up the microscopic dust suffuses everything and creates magic.

So players are walking along, one player is being a cock, magical rocks scream out of the sky and flatten them and due to the beauty and amazement of seeing something like that everyone else in the party levels up.

[[File:5.jpg|thumb|250px|Another take on the meme.]]
Might also refer to the [[Ork|Orkish]] tradition of using hollowed-out asteroids, coated in guns and filled with orks, to be hurtled from SPACE and thrown onto a battlefield on the planet below. The resulting collision (if it hits anywhere near its intended target) will kill lots of enemies and cause the surviving orks to pour out and kill everyone in sight. ''TV Tropes'' also considers this an appropriate saying for any cheap bastard who's performing orbital bombardment with kinetic weaponry. Like rocks.

But most probably originated in previous versions of D&D, where there was no Save vs Rocks Fall.

Best known example was performed by [[Games Workshop]] during the [[rage|well received]] [[End Times]] event for Warhammer Fantasy.
==See Also==
*[[Rock of Doom]]
*[[FATAL]]: If you're feeling particularly cruel then you can force everyone to play FATAL as a substitute for making rocks fall.

==External Links==
[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml The original appearance of the "Rocks fall" phrase, according to Twenty Sided Blog.]

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RocksFallEveryoneDies TvTrope's page about the topic]

[[Image:Grumpy Cat.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Grumpiest DM.]]

[[Category:Roleplaying]] [[Category:meme]]

Grimaldus

2019-02-17T15:21:52Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:CD3B:F81:C732:7E46: By that token, you should know better than to project your opinion and try to pass it as general consensus.

[[File:Grimaldus by Igor Sid.jpg|thumb|right|350px|[[Noblebright|'''"They call me the Hero of Helsreach, as if there is only one"''']]]]

{{Topquote|Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light|Helen Keller, though obviously the puny mortal was referring to the Third War for Armageddon when it said this}}
{{Topquote|I will die on this world. I will die on Armageddon|Reclusiarch Grimaldus of the Black Templars}}

'''Merek Grimaldus''', the Hero of Helsreach (as if there was only one), is the [[Chaplain|Reclusiarch]] of the [[Black Templars]]. He is also the single most stone-cold badass chaplain in the galaxy and he absolutely refuses to die. He is often accompanied by a posse of [[Servitor]]s, and is really good at smashing Orks and slaying Tyranids. Grimaldus is so famously hardy and resilient that some (mostly guardsmen from Helsreach) have said he's immortal, though as it turns out he's just spectacularly good at not dying.

He's also apparently [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBVxcGxRv_I not a huge fan of Sanguinala].

==Summary==
Grimaldus appears in the novel Helsreach, by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], where Grimaldus not only survives getting an entire temple crumbled over him, but kills an [[Orkk]] Warlord with a single strike of his power mace; saves an [[Imperator Battle Titan]] Princeps from getting assimilated by her engine's spirit [[Mary Sue|by merely demanding her not to fall]]; steals an Ordinatus from the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and has his [[Techmarine]] hack it so it can kill what was probably the biggest Mega Gargant of the whole [[Third war for Armageddon]]; and gets his first human friend named Andrej (a Steel Legion Stormtrooper with even bigger balls than the average Imperial Guard).

And that's but the tip of the iceberg.

While Grimaldus is for a large portion of the novel whiny about the fact he's (as he sees it) been left behind to fight for a doomed hive city, he eventually realizes that, more than defending a physical objective it is to keep the spirits of the Imperial defenders up that he is there. Which is, after all, the job of a Chaplain. And if anything else, Grimaldus is pretty damn fucking good at his job!

Recently, however, he became best buds with Pride Leader (Sergeant) Ekene Dubaku of the [[Celestial Lions]] and set about in an attempt to save their doomed Chapter from the wrath of the Inquisition (Spess Mehrine style!). He even called them naive for messing with the Inquisition because who in their right mind would? (Besides the [[Space Wolves]], anyway.)

Regardless, they got a lot of Ork assess kicked and got shit done in true Space Marine style. Now there is some hope that the Celestial Lions might survive. Shows how choosing your allies plays a huge part in this mess.

Prior to the Black Templars being mashed into the Vanilla Marines codex, Grimy had a unique special rule similar to reanimation protocols. Upon losing his last wound Grimaldus would make a leadership test, if he passed he would fight on with one wound remaining. In the new Space Marines codex he was instead given It Will Not Die.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4jr-0_COg Grimaldus in animated glory...despite not looking right...]

==Speeches==
'''Note the the speech below is from the Black Library Novel 'Helsreach' by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], and as such belongs to all respective copyright holders. [http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/novels/helsreach-ebook.html The novel Helsreach can be found here]'''

Being a Chaplain obviously means that you must rouse your men to perform acts of heroism. Grimaldus goes above and beyond that. This speech is from the previously mentioned novel Helsreach. Grimaldus, his Templars, and the Steel Legion stand in Helsreach while the Ork Horde gathers outside. The Defenders are nervous and worried and Grimaldus decides to motivate them the only way a Chaplain knows how to. For maximum effect, read this with the voice of the Chaplain from Dawn of War.

<br clear=all>
<center>

"Do you see that?"

(The Defenders are silent)

"I said... DO YOU SEE THAT?!"

(Still silent)

"ANSWER ME!"

(A few in the crowd says Yes sir)

(Grimaldus starts laughing maniacally)

"Are you all as insulted as I am? THIS is what they send against us? This RABBLE?! We hold one of the mightiest cities on the face of this planet. The fury of its guns sends all skyborne enemies to the ground in flames. We stand united in our thousands, our weapons without number, our purity without question and our hearts beating courage through our blood. And THIS is how they attack us? Brothers and sisters... A legion of beggars and alien dregs wheezes its way across the plains. Forgive me when the moment comes when they whine and weep against our walls. Forgive that I must order you to waste ammunition upon their worthless bodies. I have heard many speak my name in whispers since I came to Helsreach. I ask you now: Do you know me?"

(A few yes's are heard in the combination of Marines and Steel Legionnaires)

'''"DO YOU KNOW ME?!"'''

(Yes's get louder)

'''"I. AM. GRIMALDUS. OF THE BLACK TEMPLARS! A BROTHER TO THE STEEL LEGIONS OF THIS DEFIANT WORLD!"'''

(loud cheers follow but they aren't really that into it)

(Grimaldus kicks it up a notch)

"Never again in life will your actions carry such consequences. Never again will you serve as you serve now. No duty will matter as much and no glory will taste as true! We are the defenders of Helsreach! On this day we carve our legend in the flesh of every alien we slay! '''WILL. YOU. STAND. WITH. ME?!'''"

(thunderous cheering)

'''"WILL YOU STAND WITH ME?!"'''

(more thunderous cheering)

"Sons and daughters of the Imperium! Our blood is the blood of heroes and martyrs! They DARE tread the sacred soil of our world?! We will throw their bodies from these walls when the final day dawns!"

(ravenous cheering)

'''"THIS IS OUR CITY! THIS IS OUR WORLD! SAY IT! SAY IT! CRY IT SO THAT THE BASTARDS IN ORBIT WILL HEAR OUR FURY! OUR CITY! OUR WORLD!"'''

'''"OUR CITY! OUR WORLD!"''' - the defenders reply

(Grimaldus turns to face the horde of orks. Laughing)

'''"RUN ALIEN DOGS! COME TO ME! COME TO US ALL! COME AND DIE IN BLOOD AND FIRE!"'''

'''"BLOOD AND FIRE!"''' - defenders

'''"FOR THE TEMPLARS! FOR THE STEEL LEGION! FOR HELSREACH!"'''

'''"FOR HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

'''"LOUDER!"'''

'''"FOR HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

(the shouts have broken the glass of several nearby buildings)

'''"THEY CANNOT HEAR YOU BROTHERS!"'''

'''"HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

'''"HURL YOURSELVES AT THESE WALLS INHUMAN FILTH! DIE ON OUR BLADES! I. AM. GRIMALDUS. AND I WILL CAST YOUR CARCASSES FROM THESE HOLY WALLS!"'''

'''"GRIMALDUS! GRIMALDUS! GRIMALDUS!"''' - defenders
</center>

[[Awesome]]....

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8_MjeU8MLM And here is the audio version...]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msfRs-Yp80&t Another audio rendition]

==In Video and Animation==
From the creator Richard Boylan. He has uploaded 13 youtube videos of the book series covering Grimaldus and his team. They are fantastic pieces of art and it shows his passion for the characters. It begins here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4jr-0_COg

Get ready for manly tears and be proud of them.

==On the Tabletop==
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Reclusiarch Grimaldus:''' || 150 || 5 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 3 || 10 || 3+/4++
|-
| '''Servitors''' || 15 || 3 || 3 || 3 || 3 || 1 || 3 || 1 || 8 || 4+
|}

Grimaldus is a killy, durable, debatably overcosted Chaplain. He's an independent character with the ATSKNF and Chapter Tactics: Black Templars (Crusader and Adamantium Will, plus rage and counterattack if anyone dies in the shooting phase), plus he gets Zealot, Unmatched Zeal (gives his unit the Zealot USR) and IWND, which is a bit of a nerf. It used to be that whenever he died he'd roll a morale test at Ld 9. If he passed he'd keep on with one wound, though he could only do this once per battle and would need to take Morale tests for every turn afterwards, dying if he ever failed (at least if gave him Instant Death resistance in an edition when practically nobody had it). His servitors can give FNP to every friendly unit (unit, not model!) within 12". His warlord trait lets everyone in his detachment use his leadership of 10 for all morale rolls. For gear he comes to war with a [[Rosarius]] (apparently he had another one built), frag and krak grenades, a (surprisingly not relic) Crozius Arcanum he borrowed from his mentor Mordred (who is still annoyed with Grimaldus for this, despite being dead), a master crafted plasma pistol, and for some bizarre reason, power armor. The fuck? The guy is the Reclusiarch, keeper of the chapter's relics, yet he can't get a set of artificer armor?

Grimaldus is probably one the best chaplains in the game in terms of crunch and a godsend to people trying to play the fluffy "army of footslogging crusaders" Templars army, though he can still do anything a typical chaplain can. He's reasonably killy on his own, though no more than any other chaplain, but the real reason you take him is to stick him in a foot-slogging crusader squad. Stick Grimaldus and all his servitors in a full Crusader squad and you now have 30 T4 wounds on a unit that has FNP, Adamantium Will, Rage, Counterattack, Zealot, LD10, all for... just shy of 465 points. Okay, so it's not especially point efficient, but if you're trying to play oldschool footslogging Templars, Grimaldus is pretty helpful for that, and even for that many points, 30 wounds worth of Space Marines with that many special rules is nothing to sneeze at, and if you're fielding Helbrecht to call his WAAAAGH stand-in, you now have 64 attacks (10 marines, 10 neophytes, 1 attack base, 1 for 2 CCWs because of the chainswords you're taking, an extra for the charge plus the squad leader, plus the servitors), plus Grimaldus's attacks, coming out to a grand total of 54 attacks at S4, 10 at S3, plus 4 at S6 from Grimaldus, all of this re-rolling because of hatred, though as previously discussed this is more fluffy than point efficient.

=Gallery=
<Gallery>
File:Helsreach.jpg|This guy is just overflowing with badassery.
File:Merek Grimaldus.jpg|The man, The myth, The legend.
File:Black Library Armageddon by ukitakumuki.jpg|Grimaldus and Pride Leader Ekene Dubaku of the [[Celestial Lions]] kickin' Ork asses. Note how Grimaldus is too badass to look where he's shooting.
File:Grimaldus and Servitors.jpg|His servitors.
File:High Chaplain Grimaldus with a puppy by Lutherniel.jpg|In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only [[dawww]]!
</Gallery>

{{Marines-Characters}}

Grimaldus

2019-02-17T15:19:41Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:CD3B:F81:C732:7E46: If you can strike through text you believe to be wrong, than you can put in the effort required to remove the text - which is LESS.

[[File:Grimaldus by Igor Sid.jpg|thumb|right|350px|[[Noblebright|'''"They call me the Hero of Helsreach, as if there is only one"''']]]]

{{Topquote|Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light|Helen Keller, though obviously the puny mortal was referring to the Third War for Armageddon when it said this}}
{{Topquote|I will die on this world. I will die on Armageddon|Reclusiarch Grimaldus of the Black Templars}}

'''Merek Grimaldus''', the Hero of Helsreach (as if there was only one), is the [[Chaplain|Reclusiarch]] of the [[Black Templars]]. He is also the single most stone-cold badass chaplain in the galaxy and he absolutely refuses to die. He is often accompanied by a posse of [[Servitor]]s, and is really good at smashing Orks and slaying Tyranids. Grimaldus is so famously hardy and resilient that some (mostly guardsmen from Helsreach) have said he's immortal, though as it turns out he's just spectacularly good at not dying.

He's also apparently [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBVxcGxRv_I not a huge fan of Sanguinala].

==Summary==
Grimaldus appears in the novel Helsreach, by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], where Grimaldus not only survives getting an entire temple crumbled over him, but kills an [[Orkk]] Warlord with a single strike of his power mace; saves an [[Imperator Battle Titan]] Princeps from getting assimilated by her engine's spirit [[Mary Sue|by merely demanding her not to fall]]; steals an Ordinatus from the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and has his [[Techmarine]] hack it so it can kill what was probably the biggest Mega Gargant of the whole [[Third war for Armageddon]]; and gets his first human friend named Andrej (a Steel Legion Stormtrooper with even bigger balls than the average Imperial Guard).

And that's but the tip of the iceberg.

While Grimaldus is for a large portion of the novel whiny about the fact he's (as he sees it) been left behind to fight for a doomed hive city, he eventually realizes that, more than defending a physical objective it is to keep the spirits of the Imperial defenders up that he is there. Which is, after all, the job of a Chaplain. And if anything else, Grimaldus is pretty damn fucking good at his job!

Recently, however, he became best buds with Pride Leader (Sergeant) Ekene Dubaku of the [[Celestial Lions]] and set about in an attempt to save their doomed Chapter from the wrath of the Inquisition (spess mehrine style!). He even called them naive for messing with the Inquisition because who in their right mind would? (The [[Space Wolves]], that's who!) Which further proves the point because half the Chapter are bonkers and the other half are filthy furries, (which is completely true) but I digress; they got a lot of Ork assess kicked and got shit done in true Space Marine style. Now there is some hope that the Celestial Lions might survive. Shows how choosing your allies plays a huge part in this mess.

Prior to the Black Templars being mashed into the Vanilla Marines codex, Grimy had a unique special rule similar to reanimation protocols. Upon losing his last wound Grimaldus would make a leadership test, if he passed he would fight on with one wound remaining. In the new Space Marines codex he was instead given It Will Not Die.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4jr-0_COg Grimaldus in animated glory...despite not looking right...]

==Speeches==
'''Note the the speech below is from the Black Library Novel 'Helsreach' by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], and as such belongs to all respective copyright holders. [http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/novels/helsreach-ebook.html The novel Helsreach can be found here]'''

Being a Chaplain obviously means that you must rouse your men to perform acts of heroism. Grimaldus goes above and beyond that. This speech is from the previously mentioned novel Helsreach. Grimaldus, his Templars, and the Steel Legion stand in Helsreach while the Ork Horde gathers outside. The Defenders are nervous and worried and Grimaldus decides to motivate them the only way a Chaplain knows how to. For maximum effect, read this with the voice of the Chaplain from Dawn of War.

<br clear=all>
<center>

"Do you see that?"

(The Defenders are silent)

"I said... DO YOU SEE THAT?!"

(Still silent)

"ANSWER ME!"

(A few in the crowd says Yes sir)

(Grimaldus starts laughing maniacally)

"Are you all as insulted as I am? THIS is what they send against us? This RABBLE?! We hold one of the mightiest cities on the face of this planet. The fury of its guns sends all skyborne enemies to the ground in flames. We stand united in our thousands, our weapons without number, our purity without question and our hearts beating courage through our blood. And THIS is how they attack us? Brothers and sisters... A legion of beggars and alien dregs wheezes its way across the plains. Forgive me when the moment comes when they whine and weep against our walls. Forgive that I must order you to waste ammunition upon their worthless bodies. I have heard many speak my name in whispers since I came to Helsreach. I ask you now: Do you know me?"

(A few yes's are heard in the combination of Marines and Steel Legionnaires)

'''"DO YOU KNOW ME?!"'''

(Yes's get louder)

'''"I. AM. GRIMALDUS. OF THE BLACK TEMPLARS! A BROTHER TO THE STEEL LEGIONS OF THIS DEFIANT WORLD!"'''

(loud cheers follow but they aren't really that into it)

(Grimaldus kicks it up a notch)

"Never again in life will your actions carry such consequences. Never again will you serve as you serve now. No duty will matter as much and no glory will taste as true! We are the defenders of Helsreach! On this day we carve our legend in the flesh of every alien we slay! '''WILL. YOU. STAND. WITH. ME?!'''"

(thunderous cheering)

'''"WILL YOU STAND WITH ME?!"'''

(more thunderous cheering)

"Sons and daughters of the Imperium! Our blood is the blood of heroes and martyrs! They DARE tread the sacred soil of our world?! We will throw their bodies from these walls when the final day dawns!"

(ravenous cheering)

'''"THIS IS OUR CITY! THIS IS OUR WORLD! SAY IT! SAY IT! CRY IT SO THAT THE BASTARDS IN ORBIT WILL HEAR OUR FURY! OUR CITY! OUR WORLD!"'''

'''"OUR CITY! OUR WORLD!"''' - the defenders reply

(Grimaldus turns to face the horde of orks. Laughing)

'''"RUN ALIEN DOGS! COME TO ME! COME TO US ALL! COME AND DIE IN BLOOD AND FIRE!"'''

'''"BLOOD AND FIRE!"''' - defenders

'''"FOR THE TEMPLARS! FOR THE STEEL LEGION! FOR HELSREACH!"'''

'''"FOR HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

'''"LOUDER!"'''

'''"FOR HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

(the shouts have broken the glass of several nearby buildings)

'''"THEY CANNOT HEAR YOU BROTHERS!"'''

'''"HELSREACH!"''' - defenders

'''"HURL YOURSELVES AT THESE WALLS INHUMAN FILTH! DIE ON OUR BLADES! I. AM. GRIMALDUS. AND I WILL CAST YOUR CARCASSES FROM THESE HOLY WALLS!"'''

'''"GRIMALDUS! GRIMALDUS! GRIMALDUS!"''' - defenders
</center>

[[Awesome]]....

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8_MjeU8MLM And here is the audio version...]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msfRs-Yp80&t Another audio rendition]

==In Video and Animation==
From the creator Richard Boylan. He has uploaded 13 youtube videos of the book series covering Grimaldus and his team. They are fantastic pieces of art and it shows his passion for the characters. It begins here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4jr-0_COg

Get ready for manly tears and be proud of them.

==On the Tabletop==
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Reclusiarch Grimaldus:''' || 150 || 5 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 3 || 10 || 3+/4++
|-
| '''Servitors''' || 15 || 3 || 3 || 3 || 3 || 1 || 3 || 1 || 8 || 4+
|}

Grimaldus is a killy, durable, debatably overcosted Chaplain. He's an independent character with the ATSKNF and Chapter Tactics: Black Templars (Crusader and Adamantium Will, plus rage and counterattack if anyone dies in the shooting phase), plus he gets Zealot, Unmatched Zeal (gives his unit the Zealot USR) and IWND, which is a bit of a nerf. It used to be that whenever he died he'd roll a morale test at Ld 9. If he passed he'd keep on with one wound, though he could only do this once per battle and would need to take Morale tests for every turn afterwards, dying if he ever failed (at least if gave him Instant Death resistance in an edition when practically nobody had it). His servitors can give FNP to every friendly unit (unit, not model!) within 12". His warlord trait lets everyone in his detachment use his leadership of 10 for all morale rolls. For gear he comes to war with a [[Rosarius]] (apparently he had another one built), frag and krak grenades, a (surprisingly not relic) Crozius Arcanum he borrowed from his mentor Mordred (who is still annoyed with Grimaldus for this, despite being dead), a master crafted plasma pistol, and for some bizarre reason, power armor. The fuck? The guy is the Reclusiarch, keeper of the chapter's relics, yet he can't get a set of artificer armor?

Grimaldus is probably one the best chaplains in the game in terms of crunch and a godsend to people trying to play the fluffy "army of footslogging crusaders" Templars army, though he can still do anything a typical chaplain can. He's reasonably killy on his own, though no more than any other chaplain, but the real reason you take him is to stick him in a foot-slogging crusader squad. Stick Grimaldus and all his servitors in a full Crusader squad and you now have 30 T4 wounds on a unit that has FNP, Adamantium Will, Rage, Counterattack, Zealot, LD10, all for... just shy of 465 points. Okay, so it's not especially point efficient, but if you're trying to play oldschool footslogging Templars, Grimaldus is pretty helpful for that, and even for that many points, 30 wounds worth of Space Marines with that many special rules is nothing to sneeze at, and if you're fielding Helbrecht to call his WAAAAGH stand-in, you now have 64 attacks (10 marines, 10 neophytes, 1 attack base, 1 for 2 CCWs because of the chainswords you're taking, an extra for the charge plus the squad leader, plus the servitors), plus Grimaldus's attacks, coming out to a grand total of 54 attacks at S4, 10 at S3, plus 4 at S6 from Grimaldus, all of this re-rolling because of hatred, though as previously discussed this is more fluffy than point efficient.

=Gallery=
<Gallery>
File:Helsreach.jpg|This guy is just overflowing with badassery.
File:Merek Grimaldus.jpg|The man, The myth, The legend.
File:Black Library Armageddon by ukitakumuki.jpg|Grimaldus and Pride Leader Ekene Dubaku of the [[Celestial Lions]] kickin' Ork asses. Note how Grimaldus is too badass to look where he's shooting.
File:Grimaldus and Servitors.jpg|His servitors.
File:High Chaplain Grimaldus with a puppy by Lutherniel.jpg|In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only [[dawww]]!
</Gallery>

{{Marines-Characters}}

Stupid Evil

2019-02-17T14:01:31Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:CD3B:F81:C732:7E46: /* Examples of Stupid Evil */

{{Topquote|No Muttley, we can't win fairly. We are villains, ergo we have to cheat!|Dick Dastardly, while the finish line is right behind him.}}
{{Topquote|If you acquire a reputation as a mad dog, you'll be treated as a mad dog; taken out back and slaughtered for pig feed.|Roose Bolton to his son Ramsay, on why Stupid Evil is such a terrible idea.}}

Yes, [[Lawful Stupid]] has its Evil counterpart. A general trait of '''Stupid Evil''' is doing evil things for the sake of being evil (e.g. pettiness, self gratification, etc.), rather than because they are (morality aside) easy or viable paths towards wealth, power, revenge, or whatever the villain's goal is. This is especially true when a non-evil, or less evil way of doing things would work better.

A villain who is truly insane can get away with this sort of thing since what compels them to act in an evil manner is the fact that they have some screws loose, and likewise comedic villains can get away with it because their evil-ness is just a plot device to cause funny things to happen. However, "serious" nemeses and long-term, high-threat villains are usually expected to have a goal and some capacity for rational planning; a villain who takes time out of a busy day to kick a puppy or eat a kitten just to establish evil credibility will probably be treated with derision by players. By the same token, a villain who presents an otherwise seemingly insurmountable threat being undone by a massive fatal flaw - such as pride or hubris - can make for quite a compelling yarn.

[[TVTropes|Compare]] to [[Chaotic Stupid]]. They're not quite the same, but there's often a lot of overlap due the tendency of bad players and writers to mistake "chaotic" with "act like as big of an obnoxious asshole as physically possible".

==Examples of Stupid Evil==
===[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]===
The amount of retarded villains in this series is truly staggering. And yet despite all of the stupid evil committed by them, [[Grimdark|they are still winning]], even if only because the good guys are either more [[Lawful Stupid]] or [[Stupid Good]]. Joffrey and Gregor got offed painfully, as did the Boltons in the TV series, while Cersei got publicly shamed, but compared to what happened to the good guys in the story, it's a slap on the wrist.

Of course, A Song of Ice and Fire is known for its frequent grey morality, and most Stupid Evil characters have something of an explanation. Even then, you'd be inclined to wonder how far ahead some of them were really thinking, especially in the adaptations - though it's arguably intentional, possibly to demonstrate how [[Not As Planned|a lack of pragmatism fucks people over in the long-term]], especially in a realm so rapidly driven by [[Just as planned|ever-changing politics and schemes]] ([[Skub|or possibly because of bad writing, who knows]]).

* Joffrey Baratheon is overall far too impulsive and sadistic for his own good, which is an already disastrous pairing of personality traits to combine with the fact that he's 12 or 13 years old in the books. On the note of not-even-really-excuses, there's also possible mental instability resulting from the fact that he's inbred and his mother is Cersei (more on her in a moment).
** He sends an assassin armed with a Valyrian Blade (one of only a few hundred such weapons in all of Westeros, and an unusual weapon for a common hitman when a common dirk would have sufficed) to kill Bran Stark, and when that fails, it causes the Starks to suspect the Lannisters. He also kills Eddard Stark to make an example of him, therefore sparking an unnecessary and very costly civil war that went against what his family had planned. Despite that, they still came out on top since they are still standing while the Starks are scattered, due mainly to Tywin and Tyrion being [[Creed|tactical genii]] and strategic masterminds.
** He also chooses to ignore his duties and the welfare of his people in favor of satiating his sadistic behavior, even abusing his people when they're seeking his help. He regularly abuses Sansa in particular, and threatens to have her killed despite the fact it will reduce her value as a political hostage and (in their eyes) could cause the Starks to kill their political hostage, Jamie Lannister.
** He shows no regard for the peasants and working class under his charge in the capital city. THis is already a bad idea, but especially when there's an impending seige and tensions are already high. This leads to a riot that causes several deaths, which started because he ordered the execution of a man who threw a ball of dung at him.
** Even his family isn't safe from his viciousness, occasionally to the point of team-killing fuckery: he has one of his Kingsguard try to murder his uncle Tyrion in the middle of the Battle of Blackwater instead of just simply poisoning him (as Tyrion pointed out). He even calls Tywin a coward. ''Out loud. In front of other people. '''To his face.''''' Luckily for Joffrey they were related, or he would have been struck down. And as what turns out to be a final hurrah at his wedding, he insults his in-laws and his bride at their wedding reception and subjects Tyrion to petty tortures in front of everyone.

* Cersei Lannister, while not as dumb as her son Joffrey (hardly something to be proud of) is egotistic and paranoid as fuck; if she, for any reason, thinks you might threaten her or her children, even for something as minor as telling her her latest idea is a bad one, you're in trouble. At best, she will view you as an enemy and will be a passive-aggressive bitch to you, and at worst she'll have you brutally tortured to death, even if you're one of House Lannister's allies to whom good relations are vital. On top of all that she's a contender for Worst Mother in Westeros, and her cruelty drove away even her incestuous lover, Jamie Lannister (which happened much earlier into the books than in the TV show).
** She invited Gregor Clegane (see below) to King's Landing at the same time Oberyn Martell is visiting, despite the fact that Gregor is the reason there's bad blood between house Lannister and House Martell, and the Martells know it.
** After Joffrey died, she went out of her way to rig the trial for his death against Tyrion, despite the circumstances ''already'' being against him - this made him more determined than ever to survive and tips off Oberyn that Tyrion is innocent of the crime. This led to the duel between Oberyn and Gregor that ruined the Lannister/Martell alliance and cost the Lannisters their pet beast.
** She also responded to a satirical puppet show about House Lannister being evil tyrants by having anyone who saw it either sharply fined (up to half of all their money if they're rich) or mutilated (an eye cut out if they're too poor to pay) and ordering the puppeteers executed. She didn't even mind the play at first; she only took offence because the ending had the Lannisters getting their comeuppance at the hands of a Targaryen. Then, instead of the headsman, she did something worse and handed the puppeteers over to her resident mad scientist for deadly experiments at his request.
** Cersei encouraged the worst aspects of her kids; in the case of Joffrey, this is like attempting to put out a forest fire with napalm. Her atrocious parenting, combined with conceiving Joffrey with her brother Jamie AND Robert's own negligence, is the reason Joffrey's such a repulsive asshole. She ignores the numerous acts of cruelty and stupidity of her eldest son and brushes off any criticism of him as being a personal attack.
** She was an overbearing mother to Tommen - her actually half-decent person of a second son - to the point of [[What|trying to make him more like Joffrey]], and when that inevitably failed, she inadvertently made him a gullible yes-man of a momma's boy in trying to stop him disagreeing with her. This in turn left them vulnerable to the ambitions of Margaery Tyrell, who tries to drive a wedge between them and threatens her plans to rule as queen regent until Tommen was of age.
** She killed a high septon because he was a cat's paw Tyrion put into power to keep the faith in House Lannister's pocket, being a decent but easily manipulated man, because Cersei's paranoia meant she feared that Tyrion was out to get her and that guy was in on it. This leads to a more competent and devout high septon getting into power with ambitions of his own. She then let him raise his own army, creating another player to threaten House Lannister's precarious position and one unbeholden to politics, which leads to her arrest (though he was smart in the books and played Cersei like a fiddle, not to mention Cersei's undoing is a good thing - especially for everyone not allied with House Lannister).
** In the TV show, as revenge for the High Sparrow imprisoning her and Margaery taking her place as Queen (which is partly her fault in the first place, she makes the perfectly rational decision to blow them all the fuck up using magical napalm while they were at church for a trial. The end result: Pissing off nearly every person in the Seven Kingdoms who followed the Faith; driving Tommen (who was friends with the High Sparrow and loved Margaery dearly) to commit suicide via jumping out a window; and pushing a pissed Olenna Tyrell to withdraw all the house's support from King's Landing and declare for the resurgent House Targaryen alongside Dorne. Cersei and House Lannister now literally have no major allies left in Westeros sans the Freys, who aren't at all reliable and in the process of being destroyed by Arya. Unfortunately, she was still one step ahead and easily took out Houses Tyrell and Dorne, despite their efforts in backing the Targaryen, by using the Iron Bank to buy herself a mercenary force and recruiting Euron at the cost of losing Casterly Rock to her rivals (though this was helped by some internal team-killing from Oberyn's widow, you'd swear it's a bloody epidemic in that show).
** Also in the TV show, when Daenerys and her supports come to parley with Cersei's forces for help against the White Walkers and their zombie armies (bringing a captured zombie to Cersei's court as proof and cutting it up with all the pieces still attacking), Cersei did the stupidest possible thing and refused to support them, deciding she'd rather "let the dead eat them all". She ignored the fact that this would leave her on the receiving end of a curb-stomp battle from either the aforementioned Walkers (who would be bolstered by the dead from Daenerys' forces) or Daenerys' forces AND everyone still living in King's Landing who's had enough of her tyranny.

* Arguably Tywin Lannister, while known for his image of being a deviously competent politician and general, his actions don't hold up to the hype under further scrutiny. His neurotic obsession with not having his house's reputation damaged leads him to condone and engage in acts of excessive cruelty and brutality that have long term negative consequences.
** Spurned Tyrion out of spite for his unintentional role in his wife's death - she died in childbirth. He did this for Tyrion's entire life, including annulling Tyrion's marriage to a peasant girl by having her gang-raped. All this leaves the only one of his children who was both competent and legally available to inherit Casterly Rock with a burning hatred for Tywin.
** Sent Gregor Clegane after Elia Martell and her kids, planning for the children's death but not for Elia's death(he'd hoped to use her as leverage against the Dornish), resulting in House Martell despising House Lannister and his possible(though ultimately ineffectual) poisoning by Oberyn Martell with Widow's Blood (it stops up the bowels until the victim dies of sepsis, which may have been why he was on the shitter when Tyrion killed him).
** Ordered Gregor Clegane and the Brave Companions/Bloody Mummers mercenary company to run wild in the Riverlands, causing a major agricultural zone for the continent to drop in productivity during the onset of a winter that could last years. Those effected by the rampages of Gregor and the Bloody Mummers also started to join the Sparrows religious movement which from a story perspective creates more opponents of House Lannisters that have deep personal grievances with them (such as a peasant inkeeper whose son the Mummers murdered and whose daughter Gregor raped).
** Orchestrated the Red Wedding, shredding House Lannister's political image and credit throughout Westeros(nobody wants to negotiate with someone who doesn't follow the same rules of war as them, like say, obey a hospitality right that the entire continent respects).
** He was a major hypocrite to Tyrion. He berated Tyrion for whoremongering while using prostitutes himself. This last hurrah also got him killed, as he mouthed off at Tyrion when the latter had a loaded crossbow pointed at him while he was stuck on the toilet and had learnt of his ultimate betrayal.

* Gregor Clegane is a serial killer with severe anger control issues, having gone through three wives who died under suspicious circumstances. At his keep there's a high turnover rate among the servants, and even animals avoid his chambers. Before this, he maimed his brother Sandor - and would've killed him if three other people didn't intervene - and he's heavily implied to have murdered his sister and father, despite the father doting on him even when his evil started to become apparent.
** The circumstances surrounding him and his brother are as such: Gregor once caught his brother playing with one of Gregor's discarded toy soldiers when they were children. He took the logical next step of holding his brother's face over the fire, permanently disfiguring half his face and mentally scarring him, and from that point he's arguably stagnated into a phase of prolonged "adult childhood", based on this and his other actions.
** Before the story starts it's an open secret that he raped and murdered Rheagar's wife Elia Martell, even though he hadn't been ordered to do so. He also killed a baby, and though he'd been ordered to do so, the fact remains that [[Grimdark|he had no qualms about the deed and went so far as smashing its head against a wall]]. This bites him and the Lannisters in the ass BIG TIME later on, though he deserved it.
** After losing a jousting match, Gregor decapitates his own horse, then tries to kill his opponent, Loras Tyrell, and his own brother when the latter intervenes. Had Gregor succeeded, it's likely the Lannisters would've kissed any hope of an alliance with the Tyrells goodbye.
** The men who Gregor recruits as his hand-picked warriors aren't chosen for their intelligence or resourcefulness, just their fighting skills and sadism (not even loyalty, as they serve Gregor out of fear and desire plunder); the group essentially rape and torture random peasants to death for the lulz. This includes the prisoners from the taking of Harrenhal, many of whom were nobility and could be used as leverage in the war.
** Arguably when, before killing Oberyn, Gregor shouts a confession to his crime of murdering and raping Elia in front of all of the nobles in King's Landing. This would've put House Martell and House Lannister at open war if the Martells hadn't been already secretly plotting to destroy them, though this ''does'' push their schedule forward.
** For all that, there is at least some "justification" as to why this guy is kept around by House Lannister. He's a brutal warrior in every sense of the word who has an aura of fear, and for all his butchery, rapine, rage and blunt cruelty he's never threatened House Lannister directly and is (for want of a better word) content to be their pet beast.
** The logical conclusion of this and the damage from fighting Oberyn makes it painfully literal: he is now kept permanently addled by powerful cocktails of painkillers and other drugs, likely on purpose, to keep him useful as a warrior, albeit an effective husk of one. It is mentioned that milk of the poppy (opium in all but name) has basically no effect on him any more due to consuming it so much.

* Ramsay Bolton is the son of Roose, a cunning general who manipulated and back-stabbed his way into rulership of the North; unlike Roose, Ramsey lacks any strategic foresight and critical thinking, and is totally fearless and reckless with his actions, which Roose correctly points out will be his downfall if they are not curbed. This ends up coming across as more of an informed attribute due to the TV show's writing, but the result is ultimately the same.
** He killed his half-brother, despite the fact that this also deprived his father of another heir, which in medieval-esque societies is important; the more offspring they have, the more like the noble family is to survive.
** His savage exploits are known across Westeros, and he continuously pisses off the other Northern lords by hunting down their subjects for fun. This is part of the reason why half of the Northern Houses rebel against Bolton overlordship. He chooses to flay Ironborn captives alive despite promising them clemency if they surrendered, along with turning Theon Greyjoy into his personal eunuch slave. This has ensured that the Ironborn will now fight to the death rather than sue for peace, and contemplate a full invasion of the North instead of merely raiding its settlements.
** In the books, after marrying the fake-Arya Stark (who everyone else thinks is the real one) he tortures her, threatens her and [[FATAL|tries to make her do certain things to his hunting dogs]]. This sets off the Northerners' [[Powder Keg of Justice]], causing an uprising against the Boltons that will likely end with Ramsay's and Roose's heads on spikes.
** The TV version actually murdered his father in the middle of the war, fed his step-mother and infant half-brother to his dogs, and he'd also raped Sansa Stark beforehand after manipulating an arranged marriage between them. Yet he [[Mary Sue|somehow manages more (often downright insane) successes than his book counterpart]] in spite of acting like little more than a rabid dog raised in nobility (the infamous "twenty good men" scene where trained killers' armor and expertise suddenly become useless against a half-naked Ramsay comes to mind). **Unfortunately (for him), his fortune doesn't last, as being a team-killing fucktard ultimately got his own army wiped out before he was beaten to near-death by Jon Snow, culminatint in Sansa feeding him to his own dogs -- who were only hungry enough to turn on him because he'd starved them for a week beforehand in anticipation of feeding them the Starks.

* Slaver's Bay (aka ''Stupid Evil: The Civilization'')
** The neo-ghiscari civilization of slaver's bay is run by a bunch of decadent slave dealers who do nothing besides wax on about how great the 5 millennia dead old Ghiscari Empire was and leave their society in the bronze age in a world one step removed from [[Medieval Stasis]]
** Of the four cities of Slaver's Bay, two of them (Meereen and Yunkai) believe that a bunch of slaves with spears and shields led by fops on horseback or in chariots wearing linen vests and helmets made to accommodate their stupid hairdos constitute a proper army. After Yunkai gets its butt kicked by Dany when she brings a half decent army to the field which does not run at the first excuse, they decide that it would be a good idea to raise new slave armies that are [[What|chained together and fight on stilts]].
** One of them (Astapor) trains Unsullied elite spear slaves who obey any order given to them without question, which they sell and use for defense. The Masters of Astapor [[Derp|agree to sell all the Unsullied they've got to Dany]], who proceeds to have them sack their city and kill them.
***Admittedly, the prospect of owning a dragon, especially after they’re thought to be extinct for centuries and being the equivalent of a self-replenishing WMD, is an awfully tempting one given how new Unsullied are made each year. Despite that, it’s at extremely stupid that they neither questioned how they can control said dragon (leading to one Master burning to death seconds after grabbing the dragon’s chain) or if selling every Unsullied warrior-slave to the same person and leaving none to defend themselves is a good idea. They also never considered that the Unsullied, though trained to be obedient, might resent the brutality involved in their training ([[Grimdark|which included castrating them at a young age, sending aspirants into the city tasked with killing babies in front of their mothers to prove they'll follow even the vilest orders, giving them a puppy to care for in their first year then making them strangle it to death as a test of loyalty - killing those who fail this test, and making them take new names each day on pain of death - demeaning names like "black rat", "blue toad" or "red flea" - so they can't develop a sense of individual identity]]) and would seize a chance for vengeance (which Dany gave them).
** For no particular tactical reason, the leadership of Meereen decided to taunt an oncoming army by having child slaves nailed to mileposts to die along the road - a decision which backfires on them rather spectacularly.

===Other general examples===
* Strawman Villains in poorly written fiction across the board.
* Villains in Saturday morning cartoons and similar fare (e.g. Wacky Races, Captain Planet).
* [[Grimderp|Grimdark as a whole often suffers]] from characters who make things crappy just for the sake of making things crappy.
* [[Edgy|Edgelord]] characters by preteens/actual teens (or users with a similar enough mentality) on DeviantArt.
* The 'villains' of fringe-conspiracy theories would be stupid evil if they existed since their plans undermine their own power bases, have little to no tangible gain or draw attention by plastering their logo on everything. It's also weird that despite how cartoonishly evil they are thought of, they don't bother to kill anyone exposing the conspiracies while making it look like an accident. This is probably because there is some overlap with the Strawman characters.

===Other /tg/-relevant examples===
* Humans in science and fantasy fiction often end up being Stupid Evil when the writer wants to make a statement about discrimination. According to these tales, humans are apparently overly-panicky and violent psychopaths itching for an excuse to murder the shit out of other species. For instance, in [[Avatar]] the human army is portrayed as a bunch of jingoist lunatics who want to slaughter the peaceful Na'vi for the resources they need rather than trying to reap long-term benefits by making peaceful contact. The advent of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] is in part a reaction to this phenomenon.
* Some followers of Chaos such as [[Firaeveus Carron]] can prove to be this most of the time.
* [[Lolth]] actually enforces Stupid Evil in her worshipers. Because of her the Drow spend 3 quarters of their energy fighting each other instead of defending themselves, which is a really bad idea since they live in an underground city under constant threat of being [[Rape|raped]] by [[Illithid]]s and [[Beholder|Beholders.]] In fact, when things get really bad she literally has to tell them to stop for a short period of time.
* The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], whose rival clans always plan on backstabbing each other even if they're all fighting a mutual (and far worse) enemy. A perfect plan for them involves getting their own enemies and allies to kill each other, until they are the only one left to face the next enemy (keep in mind that "they" doesn't just mean rival clans either, in an apocalyptic scenario even their personal secretary is only barely less of an enemy than the hordes of the undead). As above, it takes the [[Horned Rat]], their god, as well as the invention of instant communication via the [[Farsqueaker]] to get their fuzzy little asses united.
* The Joker. Once merely a criminal mastermind with a chaotic, unpredictable bent, he's devolved as time goes on into a murder-happy rabid dog who kills for the jollies and because [[Gay|he gets off on being punched in the face by Batman]].
* Starscream from [[Transformers]]. He's too ambitious and egotistical to realize how good his position as Megatron's second-in-command is, and so spends much of his time trying to usurp his leader with predictable failure. He also tends to do things on the spur of the moment to satisfy his own ego, as demonstrated in ''Prime'' where he angrily takes credit for killing Arcee's best friend Cliffjumper ''while in handcuffs in front of Arcee'', simply because he doesn't want Airachnid stealing the credit for things he did.
* The Sith in the Star Wars universe suffer from this greatly, and it's a major reason they keep losing to the Jedi and failed to keep any of their empires intact long-term. In fact, one could argue that they're a perfect case study on why Stupid Evil is a bad idea:
** Firstly, whereas the Jedi code encourages understanding yet controlling your emotions (that way you take them into account, but they don't prevent you from doing what is necessary), the Sith code encourages embracing your emotions and indeed, many of the most powerful Sith like Darth Vader are incredibly emotionally damaged. Thus Sith tend to do things in the heat of the moment and often lack the patience needed to be truly effective. Darth Malak can't find Revan and the Ebon Hawk crew on a planet he has control of? Oh well better just ''level his own planet'' with Star Destroyers, costing himself thousands of workers and soldiers in his psychotic and desperate rush to off his old master.
** Secondly, the Sith code is built on a hyper-Darwinist, "survival-of-the-fittest" structure. While this sounds decent enough on paper, in practice it meant that the Sith ''constantly'' backstabbed each other in idiotic power plays, often leading to Sith killing each other more often than they killed Jedi. Crossing with the "overly emotional" thing above, their lack of patience often led to them betraying each other way before it was beneficial to do so. Darth Bane was the first major Sith Lord to realize how stupid and unsustainable this lifestyle was and did something about it. His "rule of two" may have led to the Sith population being lower than ever before or after, but at least it kept the Sith order alive and prevented most of them from slaughtering each other in pathetic attempts to gobble up more power.
*** It should be noted that even the Sith themselves violate or weasel their way around the Rule of Two every now and then. Darth Maul was alive at the same time as Dooku & Palpatine. They also have characters like Ventress who aren’t officially Sith Lords yet are trained just like one. So while it decreases their numbers by a lot, they find ways around even when they actually obey said rule. This again is an aversion of idiocy, as a spare is a good a idea when only two people are allowed.
*** Also don't get the idea that Darth Bane's plan was sensible or not-backstabby. He wiped out almost all of the sith in exchange for merely most of the Jedi in an epic backstab, and part of the reason he did so wasn't because he was sure they'd fall into infighting- rather, Lord Kaan had most of them under his thumb thanks to psychic influence and strength- but because the Sith were acting in very un-sithy ways relying purely on strength of arms and unified armies rather than mastery of the dark side. Even when there was a very real chance the Sith could've won via these methods, he couldn't have that or slink off and make his rule of two on his own- he had to backstab everyone else first.
** Thirdly and finally, Sith who engage in too much evil and envelope themselves too deeply in the Dark Side often suffer from an inability to properly sense the Light Side. This alienation of the Light is what lead to the otherwise brilliant Palpatine's death. He alienated altruism and good so utterly that he was not only unable to sense Luke Skywalker's presence during a critical moment, but he was also unable to sense that his apprentice Darth Vader still had some morality in him. Thus he attempts to tortuously kill Luke and is killed himself when he fails to expect Vader to attack him out of paternal feelings.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]]

Nazi

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{{Topquote|I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[J.R.R. Tolkien]], being a boss}}
{{Topquote|1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFtbSZ3KRE YOU UTTER FOOL! GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE FINEST IN ZE WORLD!!!]|2=Stroheim, an over the top Nazi and the first Guile}}

Important note: although the armed forces of Germany during World War II are commonly referred to as such, "'''Nazi'''" only refers to the political party. The regular German armed forces were the ''Wehrmacht'', who were not necessarily Nazis (many were "paper Nazis," citizens who took party membership solely for the benefits like "not being purged as a dissident"). After the war they were not considered Nazis, unlike the ''Waffen-Schutzstaffel'', or Waffen-SS, which were the actual military arm of the Nazi party and declared an inherently criminal organization, although [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_of_the_Wehrmacht they were not complete saints either.]

== Historical ==
[[Image:Nazi uniforms.gif|thumb|right|150px|Nazis: Evil, but stylish]]
'''Nazi''' is the commonly used shorthand version of ''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (National Socialist German Workers' Party), a political party which took over Germany <s>for 1,000 years</s> from 1933 to 1945. It also refers to people who belong to said party, their ideology, and their regime in Germany during said period of time. Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party emerged from the uncertainty and political upheaval due to the Red Scare, the end of the German Empire after the Great War, resentment at unfair conditions imposed by Treaty of Versailles, economic uncertainties due to the Stock Market crash of 1929, German ethnic nationalism, a desire to blame things on scapegoats, and a belief in militarism popular among many returning veterans. They were also aided by their invention of modern campaigning and propaganda, wide-spread dissatisfaction with the status quo, the strategic seizure of the political positions that controlled the police force, and more dumb luck than anyone has any right to have, let alone a bunch of [[Imperium of Man|evil, racist]] [[Racial Holy War|loons]].

[[Image:Germania.jpg|thumb|left|150px|What the Nazis wanted]]
The Nazi's initial success can be attributed to the image of glorious economic recovery, part of which they accomplished by keeping Germany's economy running during The Great Depression. They presented this to the rest of the world, making many people believe the little mustachioed guy couldn't be that crazy since he'd made his country recover brilliantly in very little time. And while Germany did indeed recover, the whole thing was helped and held upright by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefo_bills MEFO bills]: basically a Ponzi scheme that allowed the government to loan money on the sly through a front company about metallurgy research(the ''Metallurgische Forschungsgesellschaft'', or MEFO in short). This allowed them to work at a much higher level of debt flotation than allowed by international regulation, and the idea was to pay back the loans with seized gold and valuables from Jews at first, and then directly from conquered nations after the war went on, since even [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_bond state created debt bonds] are exactly that: debt, credit, which is trust. Eventually the creditor will want something in exchange (or at the very least get his investment back) or the debtor's credibility will be shattered, stopping the money flow.

To give you a clearer idea of what happened: imagine spending money from a credit card, raising the debt until being near broke to make the rest of the world believe you are rich. But still, your neighbors don't lend you a dime for making guns. So what you do? You make up a credit card called Mefocard, borrow even more wildly to create weapons promising you'll pay the debt back... Then attempt to kill the lenders and subjugate their families to share the debt you have. It was simply a continent wide, all-or-nothing robbery attempt even wilder than WW1's trench-fighting Imperial duel.

Needless to say, it was the reason why the scenario of not waging war (like in Hearts of Iron or some alternate reality stories) simply wasn't a realistic option. Despite their multiple annexations of territory, the Nazis couldn't sustain their charade without the influx of riches and materiel from other conquered territories. So they soon mobilized their armies and launched a war of expansion on the rest of the world, starting with Poland. (The question is still open amongst historians as whether they annexed enough reserves with Czechoslovakia to keep the charade up "peacefully" long enough to let their Red "ally" make the opening move instead, but that's a discussion for another place and time.)

Their goal (next to getting gold and industrial materials to pay the enormous gambling debt of an empire) was to impose their militaristic Social Darwinistic ideology across Europe, outlaw any dissenting school of thought, enslave all the "sub-human" Slavs (after starving to death more than half of them in accordance to Generalplan Ost) and exterminate any "undesirables" (Jews, Roma, homosexuals, etc) on which they blamed all their problems because they felt that they were superhumans without any flaws; any problem which they suffered had to be the fault of some subversive "other" from outside who tried to cause the Master Race misery for no other reason than "teh Evulz". But due to some severe strategic fuckups from Hitler, who often overruled his military leadership, Germany ended up in a three-way war with the Soviet Union (who provided blood), Great Britain (overseas bases) & the United States (more armaments than you can possibly dream of with an extra helping on top), while their major allies such as Romania & Italy capitulated during the middle years of the war.

In the end, while Germany may have had some areas of technological advantage (at least initially and this is often overstated; the Wehrmacht for example could not field properly motorized divisions unlike its opponents and both sides used thousands of horses until the end); by the end of the war they struggled with the lack of many strategic resources and dislocation of production lines and reverted to some crude solutions) along with a chronic shortage of secure OIL there was no hope of repulsing both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union at the same time and thus the Nazi regime finally met its end when the Red Army marched into Berlin and Hitler *BLAM*med himself along with his mad-as-a-hatter common-law (and actual for 24 hour!) wife. Indeed, while their hate-wagon managed to go far and overrun Europe it simply had too much war to fight on multiple fronts, a lack of effective strategic planning in the form of Hitler and his cronies (the corpulent cross-dressing Goering for example who viewed it as his sacred duty to squander one of the world's only first-rate Air Forces) and as most powerful nations of the time opposed them either because they cherished their political freedoms (or what passed for it back then; the threat of communism made many countries lean heavily toward the right in-between the wars), saw their economies fail (all nations arrayed against the Nazis saw this, except the United States who did splendidly) or simply were in the Nazi "to-exterminate" list (a very broad and long list all by itself).

It is actually a known fact that through their actions, the Nazis did manage to kill more white people (since some concepts of white supremacy make no distinction between a white English, German, Russian or French other than their funny accents, and naturally this leads many other non-whites to view them similarly) in recorded history than any "anti-Aryan" enemy they could blame at, in fact, the war they started is one of the main reasons that none of the European countries (with the possible exception of Russia now, but the definite exception of the Soviet Union in the immediate aftermath) is the dominant power of the world after ruling much of it for almost a century. The first wave of hilariousness of the war (in hindsight) is that Stalin was already enacting antisemitic measures and similar state control over economy as Hitler and mostly lorded over millions of family conscious, conservative white people whom Hitler wanted exterminated because... reasons. In reality, life in USSR and in Nazi Germany were mostly the same, which can even be attested by Cuban migrant workers in East Germany being forbidden to breed with white German Women. Now isn't that racist, Genosse?

Then the current situation in Europe becomes doubly hilarious now that the old continent has had a massive immigration problem after the Nazi regime, a considerable Muslim and African minority to fill the gap in labor specifically because of the clusterfuck known as the Second World War; said Muslim and African minority would never have taken root in Europe if Hitler's [[edgy]] autistic rage did not finally break the mold of xenophobia around the planet. Though some folks may not like people of black skin and different features, to put it mildly, said bigots eventually realized that Nazi murder camps and monstrous treatment worse than insects ''might have gone a bit too far'', eventually breaking racism from an iceberg into smaller, less harmful chunks. Because humanity needed to push [[Slaanesh|any excess to its' breaking point]] [[Derp|to HOPEFULLY learn restraint]], preferably not destroying the planet in the process.

[[Image:Reichstag flag.jpg|thumb|right|150px|What the Nazis got]]

==Nazi Portrayal==
Nazis are portrayed as people who used vile actions towards an overtly vile end (or occasionally a "covert" one; Hitler did envision for Germany to be the greatest nation ever, but his plan to attain this was the moral equivalent of driving a bus through a busy sidewalk filled with women and children). But - and this is important - rather than just being an alien other, they represented the worst qualities of industrial Western civilization: racism, militarism, hyper-nationalism, expansionism, manifest destiny, enforced conformity, social darwinism, eugenics and so forth, all inflated and turned inward against bits of Western civilization. To modern western civilization, the Nazis have the role of the great foe; they became the mold for the magnificently horrifying evil that wrought death and misery on Europe, which needed to be stopped by all means possible. Their known track record of starting WW2, carving a bloody swath through Europe, and their infamous ethnic genocide and enslavement campaigns against undesirables have painted them as the most evil villain that the world has ever seen.

This is the common opinion that is widely accepted and well backed by historical documents. Even so you will hear plenty of other viewpoints of the Nazis from other groups. Some will say their portrayal is riddled with the allied propaganda excessively demonizing them. Some will say that while the Nazis did give Europe a good stomping, the other participants were just as, if not more evil than the Nazis, and that they're just being used as the poster boy (these people often say the [[Communism|Soviets]] had a worse track record than the Nazis in terms of people murdered by the state, or the Americans who nuked not one, but two Japanese cities. This of course, is without taking account of the Japanese Empire whose ''official'' death toll outstrips the ''estimates'' of the Holocaust 4-to-1 combined with horrific medical experiments on innocents a-la [[World of Warcraft|Forsaken/Sylvanas]]), and some people on the /pol/ side of the spectrum will say that [[Edgy|Germany did the right thing and their enemies was actually the evil ones]] (remember, this is /pol/ we're talking). All in all, discussions that relate to the portrayal of Nazi Germany are bound to [[skub|generate heated debates]] due to numerous factors.

In relation to fantasy, however, varying opinions on the perceived Nazi character allows them to be looked at from varying points of view, developing their character all the more. Take the [[Imperium of Man]], for example. Some will say that the Imperium's a nuthouse since they're willing to allow an Inquisitor to turn an entire hive spire into a towering inferno if he so happens to find a single heretic in a spire where millions of people reside in, on the grounds of "Hey, this guy is worshiping [[Chaos]]. Those people might as well be worshiping Chaos too and this might lead to the entire world rebelling. BURN EVERYONE". Some will say that the Imperium's just being pragmatic and such an action is justifiable as the Imperium is constantly beset by merciless foes who will not think twice to bring them down, as such their method for survival is cruel, but necessary. Which, given the fact that daemons really do exist and can corrupt entire planets in a short amount of time, is pretty justifiable. Even the Imperium's xenophobia is justifiable given how nearly [[Orks|all]] the [[Necrons|major]] [[Tyranids|races]] pretty much want to wipe everyone else out, [[Dark Eldar|or else]] enslave them. But that doesn't change the fact that these reasons are often just used as an excuse to torture and kill anyone who's even slightly unorthodox, either out of paranoia or because it amuses them.

==Impact on fantasy==
In terms of military logistics, the Germans had hands down one of the best armies of the time, well disciplined and well trained with experienced mid-level officers; this combined with borderline insane levels of morale at the start of the war due to years of giving the middle finger to the war wary western nations which capitulated to their demands, and turned the German into an unholy Juggernaut. The Germans were known to have some of the best armored tanks in the war, their small arms far outstripped the guns Europe had at the time, and were pioneers to many advanced technologies during their time that have become well known today, like jet engines, cruise missile systems, fully automatic rifles(even with battery-run night scopes around '44), stealth craft, and many others.

This, combined with their infamous cruelty, have spawned the Nazi-esque villain template where the villains are both powerful and [[Eldrad|gigantic dicks]] to everyone else, making them completely despicable. This is because if the villain is significantly weaker than the protagonist of the setting, most people will still feel a few grains of sympathy towards the former or make them a laughing stock. But, when you make the villain both an enormous asshole and just as or more powerful than the protagonist, all bets are off and he's fair game.

Of course, the weaknesses of Nazism also need to be taken into account, in that a lot of their supposedly superior technology turned out to be highly unstable and would frequently be outclassed and definitely outnumbered by Allied designs once the latter got their shit together. This was even true at the start of the war; British Matilda II's were all but immune to German tank fire, and a column of them almost stopped Rommel at the Battle of Arras. Add poorly managed industry and the fact that supplies at times were delivered by horse (which was not actually that atypical, since only America and early war Britain were that ridiculously mechanized), and you have a faction that is the epitome of [[Chaos Space Marines|style over substance]]. This really bit them in the ass later when the Allies, [[Imperial Guard|focusing on production and strategy over science fiction and tactics]], managed to leg up the Third Reich and battle-hardened Allied soldiers became the top dogs without question. In fiction, expect the Nazi villains to have eventually have their technology outclassed or at least made irrelevant and the hardened heroes turn Nazi soldiers into cannon fodder.

On the political side of things, the batshit insane racial policies of the Nazis will be explored in fiction as being founded as junk science, or at least hypocritical, when the fantasy faction's leaders turn out to not even come close to their own idea of racial purity (seriously, Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and etc. are the antithesis to any common definition of "ubermensch", with Hitler in particular being a meth-addicted flatulent junkie with several damaged organs who was told to avoid meat). Not to mention Nazi poltics have a tendency to make enemies of everyone, preventing even an 'enemy of my enemy' situation working out in their favor.

Nazis are also the progenitors of all acceptable targets where human bad guys are concerned. Be it in vidya games or movies, nobody has a problem with Nazis getting gunned down by the hundreds by the heroes (well, the Nazis might, but screw those guys), and they don't even have to resort to the dehumanizing full helmets that most other villain goons have to wear to make slaughtering them okay.

A more comedic take on Nazis in fiction owes to wartime cartoons, where the soldiers and Nazi command are all bumbling idiots, because only an idiot would seriously consider becoming one. Hitler today has essentially been turned into a punchline with all the gags centered around him, which is kinda awesome when you think about it, as dictators that wish to be feared would never want to be remembered as a joke.

===Examples===
*Many soldiers in [[Warhammer 40,000|the Imperium of Mankind]], such as the Thunder warriors and Steel legion, bear Lightning imagery. While not Nazi, the symbology shows great resemblance that of the British Union of Fascists. This is also interesting as their Leader, [[British Empire|Oswald Mosley]], was still politically active around the time of the formation of Games Workshop. Note also the symbol of the Schutzstaffel, which is a pair of twin lighting bolts.
** Furthermore, the Imperium will often draw from Nazi Germany either indirectly (hatred, bigotry, willingness to use torture, repression, and terror to their ends) to overt (The Death Korps of Krieg). Though given their love for trench warfare, the Death Korps are closer to the Germans of the First World War rather than the second. That said, he Imperium also draws from Stalinist Russia, North Korea, and even Jihadism with the Imperium's martyrdom obsession: basically, it's a grab bag of the worst of humanity's civilizations...[[Grimdark|Against entities even '''more evil''' than them]]...
*The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and later [[Age of Sigmar]] borrow many Nazi-esque elements, which in turn makes them the most vile and evil race in the World That Was... Only it's taken to its logical extreme, as with many things Warhammer. For example, Nazis had a hatred for what they believed was ündermenschen and believed the "Aryan" race was most pure, while the Skaven hate all other living things, including their own race, only believing themselves to be worth anything. Pack in some advanced Wunderwaffen and chemical weapons as well and you have a solid, if over-the-top Nazi fantasy faction for you.
*In [[Star Wars]], the forces of the Galactic Empire have many design elements (like Darth Vader's ''Stahlhelm''-like helmet) cribbed from the Nazi military, so that the audience knows it's okay to shoot them. Also, many of the weapons used (as they were all older real-world guns with window dressing) were German in origin, namely the StG44 (A295, DLT-20A), C96 (DL-44), and MG34 (DLT-19, DC-15A). They are also noticeably all human (with notable exceptions like Thrawn) in a series with a diverse list of aliens. Also the title "Moff" is equivalent to Gauleiter in Nazi Germany.
** In the Sequel Trilogy comes a "new" faction- the First Order, which COULD be described as modern day Neo-Nazis, but in actuality are based on the actual Nazis like Adolph Eichmann who fled Germany for various Latin American nations who sympathized with the fallen Third Reich, such as Argentina. The concept was that these fanatics would gather and form the nucleus of a new, Fourth Reich that would retake the Fatherland and eventually all of Europe for the Aryan race. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, most of them were hunted down by various intelligence agencies from the US, Soviet Union, and Israel.
*In [[Doctor Who]], the Daleks are defined for their fanatical hatred of anything that is not a Dalek (this was intentional and for fun the creator of the daleks had their original enemy look just like the nazis wanted to look like).
*In anime, there is the Principality of Zeon from ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', which also has elements borrowed from the WWII Empire of Japan.
*The most extensive take on the theme of Space Nazis would be the Helghast from ''Killzone'', where the people of Helgan see the ISA as Imperialist gits who forced them out of their planet for refusing their rule. Although by Shadow Fall, they become akin to Communist East Germans, being filled with political radicals and separated by a wall and all.
*The aptly named "Fourth Reich" from the Metro series, who, ironically being Russian and therefore the only race the Nazis hated more than Jews (this is made substantially more odd by the fact that they're based both on the original Nazis and a large number of real-life Russian Neo-Nazi groups), still hold fast to their National Socialist ideology, however they speak little German outside of common movie lines. At constant war with the Red Line, a post-apocalyptic Communist revival. Thinks that Slavs are the superior race and all others must be destroyed. Their racial policies also extended to "mutant" humans infected with radiation.
* The Norsefire from V for Vendetta count.
*If you have a fantasy/sci-fi world, it will almost certainly have some sort of Nazi analogue floating around. At the same time, Nazis also figure into a lot of alternate history fiction; Nazis invading England, Nazis invading America, Nazis successfully conquering the USSR, Nazis getting the Bomb first, Nazis creating an army of mutant uber-troopers, Nazis on the Moon, Nazis using occult powers to summon demons to aid them, all of these have been done. The Nazi obsession in alternate history is largely due to the fact that we consider them (for right reasons) evil and our modern world is the result of an Allied victory. A Nazi victory to us is just unthinkable. Hell, this page itself is pretty long.
* [[Wolfenstein]] is a perfect example of just how cemented the Nazis have become into pop culture as the closest thing to [[zombie]]s in terms of guilt-free punching bags.
*Nazi ideologues may even show up in children's shows if one pays close attention (not counting war time cartoons).
**The Fire Nation from ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' considers the element of fire to be superior to the other three (water, earth, and air) and wages a war of expansion and genocide against the other three nations, succeeding with a genocide against the air nomads. The Fire Nation's broader culture and technology also has many connections to the Nazi's allies of Imperial Japan.
**The Gem Empire in Steven Universe hates organic life and constantly exploit planet resources to create more gems (Lebensraum). They also have a strict hierarchy and devotion to their fascist leaders, the Great Diamond Authority, and have a weird salute.
** Marvel's X-Men frequently encounter fanatical (and often fundamentalist-expy factions) that want to wipe out all mutants, even if these exterminators may be mutants themselves. Oh, and Magneto in most incarnations goes "Nazi" in the opposite direction by wanting to [[Heresy|kill all the humans]], this being the result of [[Grimdark|his own experience with the Holocaust and losing the lives of his family to the unmatched cruelty of humankind.]]

== Trademarks ==
[[TSR]] had the ™ and © symbols next to the word 'Nazi' where it appeared in their Indiana Jones RPG. This was probably for the sake of the artwork reproduced from the movie, but it's been a source of teasing and flames about TSR trying to claim exclusive ownership of the term 'Nazi.' Same shit happened with Marvel and their WW2 villains, and probably with Fawcett Comics since 'Captain Nazi' was a villain fighting Captain "Shazam" Marvel.

==Nazis and [[/tg/]]==
Long ago, /tg/ realized something that most competent people have: Nazis represent a great liberating force for any GM, for they represent a force that any player need not feel any remorse over resorting to violence against, because Nazis are the textbook template for villains in most settings. They desire world domination, see themselves as the apex species and view most others with utter contempt, wanton disregard for common life, have an industry primarily geared towards war, are the most powerful warmongers, and they have that evil-yet-sublime aesthetic to their armies. Nazis are a modern setting variant of using [[slavery|slavers]] as your enemy in a fantasy game: they have little to no redeeming values, so they're great enemy fodder.

The association gives the players a motivation and to understand that these people are evil, allowing the GM to focus on other aspects of the story. Indeed, one can get similar results by simply providing details that lead us to conclude that any group you are facing off against are this universe's version of Nazis. That said, that same context makes using Nazis a double-edged sword and a lazy GM (or author, script writer, or whatever; this is hardly unique to roleplaying) can royally screw up if one uses them incorrectly. Used incorrectly, Nazis become a kitten-eating one-dimensional caricature of villains descended into self parody, which ''can'' work if the world is built for it. Kitten-eating Nazis work best in "goofy" settings where it's fully possible, and indeed expected for the final boss to be Hitler himself riding a cyborg dinosaur, but in a setting trying to take itself seriously, such flat villains do just that, fall flat and fail to incite the proper emotional reaction. Remember that the '''key''' to successful Nazi use is that emotional reaction. That exportation of real world baggage is the point, perhaps the sole point to use Nazis over some other villain. Nazis have the additional problem of not even needing to be exaggerated that much to make the worst of them into something like this. So care must be taken when one plays the Nazi card, or it will come off as trite.

Entire stretches of [[d20 Modern|d20 Past]] are shown various ways to implement, ''Indiana Jones'' style, Nazis into any campaign during the early 1900s, and [[Savage Worlds]] has an entire supplement devoted to thwarting Nazi super-soldier plans during WWII. More clever GMs can do even more interesting things with it, such as backing up the savagery of the Nazis with [[Fist of the North Star|a humanizing element to make them more understandable, even if antagonists]], whilst another interesting setting, proposed for [[GURPS]], starts the players off ''as'' Nazis and has them turn against their former comrades as the movement becomes harder and harder to justify. It's also worth remembering that Nazis can be used for comedy as well; any one here heard of ''Hogan's Heroes''? All of these lead to some pretty great storytelling, just so long as the GM is aware of the real world baggage Nazis will bring to the game and is able to use that to deepen the experience, otherwise he'll have just created Orks in fancy uniforms.

...And then you have [[Racial Holy War|this bullshit]], which misses the point entirely and renders us all stupider for the knowledge of its existence.

Unfortunately, since [[/pol/]] rose to prominence, neo-Nazism is actually considered "hip and cool" on 4chan, and as such any mention of Nazis as villains will cause that cesspit to spill onto the thread, turning it to shit.

==Nazi Gear, Weapons, and Vehicles==
For reasons given above, if you decide want to use Nazis as your bad guys at tonight's game (or protagonists if you roll that way. Just don't use [[Racial Holy War|RaHoWa]] as a basis unless you want to end up with a trainwreck of a game), [[Nazi Equipment|here]] is a brief run down of basic information on Nazi equipment.

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