[A guy gets thrown out of a rowdy bar and lands on the street next to Kermit]
GUY: That's toughest, meanest, *filthiest* pest hole on the face of the earth!
KERMIT: Why not complain to the owner?
GUY: I *am* the owner.
—The Muppet Movie
Basic Information
The Bad Guy Bar is both a trope and a location. It is a dingy bar with shadowy booths, the perfect place for bad guys and minor villains to hang out, plot crimes, and network. It can also - and very often will - be a "Biker Bar" for a specific hostile subculture.
See also:
Bikini Bar
Fighting Pub
Wretched Hive
Sources
Game and Story Use
- In some settings, the Bad Guy Bar may have a neutrality policy, making it a place where the bad guys and good guys can intermingle and check up on each other without a war breaking out.
- Of course, this may be just because the bar owner is the Big Bad Evil Guy and is hoping to seduce the PCs over to The Dark Side.
- For the subversive setting creator, this may be because this is the one bar that doesn't discriminate on race/species - meaning that foreigners, minorities and even non-humans can be served there. Grey-on-grey morality abounds.
- Likely hangout for Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.
- If the leads dry up or clues peter out, the investigators can seek a jump start by asking questions over drinks at the Bad Guy Bar.
- The sort of place where the PCs can hire some mercenary mooks.
- A Wizard walks in to the bar… and thus the quest begins.
- In The Western, the Bad Guy Bar might be a Dance-Hall or Brothel.
- Or it might be the place where they organize the quick draw contest.