My PCs are horrible people!

[Style]

S'mon recommends use of the first person singular.

Style does not actually type these posts himself. He has his minions do it while he lounges on a bed of finest french fancies (Mr Kipling's originals, not the Tesco homebrand versions, mind you.) However, he holds you in high esteem and so will consider your suggestion anon.

 

[Tallifer]

My group is really losing points for empathy. I'm fascinated by this, and wonder how far they'll spiral morally, however I don't want it to get too out of hand.

1) utter murder of prisoners taken in battle (bandits they captured)
2) Use of rescued slaves as bait to see if dragons are hiding outside
3) plans to buy slaves in the market (yes, the society does it, but it's suggested to be a bad thing).
4) Slapped one of the freed slaves when they said "but where will we go? our homes were destroyed by bandits?" (slaps her) "That's not my problem, now get out of this Inn!" (leaves and is eaten by a dragon)


I don't like alignment systems as I think they're a bit artificial, like labels that inhibit honest character development. HOWEVER, I'm wondering... well, do some humans just plain need to have specific moral structures imposed so they don't "kill all humans"?

Very Hobbes/nihilist group I'm playing with. There may have been some hangover issues from the previous evening. And yes, they're my wife and her two girl friends.

Any suggestions? Is it me? Should I pander?

I mean, maybe random strangers don't hit their moral nerves, but someone in danger who's part of their "tribe" would?

Make their lives a living hell. I mean their characters' lives. <grins>

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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[Barnabas]

Are they supposed to be the heroes? Because it sounds like they're becoming villains, or at least anti-heroes. You could try sending some NPC strictly moral heroes to fight them, bringing up the fact that they're becoming terrible people. That could either make them realize what they're doing or, if they don't care, at least cement their fall from grace.

 

[Lwaxy]

Can't see much wrong in killing off bandits, but the issue with the slaves is a bit of a problem.

I'd ask them if they are aware they are about to turn evil, and if that is what they really want to do, and then adapt accordingly.

 

[Troll Lord]

I would probably do one of two things:

If the game is going off course from where you would like it to, I tend to bring in an utterly random and very brutal encounter. Some huge monster wanders on to the scene and falls upon the party. When I want to bring character to their senses I do lots of damage...not necessarily hit point, but destroying armor, crushing helms, breaking weapons and the like. It really tends to refocus the players.

Or

I think this might be a perfect time to use the NPC angle. Flesh out a few of the slaves, names, personalities, descriptions. Have one or two attempt to ingratiate themselves or at least throw themselves on the mercy of one of the players; the goal being to get the party to either stop the behavior or at least turn on each other.

This of course can be destructive to the overall game...as its meant to be a game of fun of course...but if it starts getting out of hand as in the party starts to whole slaughter the slaves or each other, then I would refer to the above wandering monster.

Steve

 

[fireinthedust]

Currently I'm going to go along with them, see if it was just a bit of hangover stupidity.

HOWEVER: the game is going to go through a period of robberies (it's a sword and sorcery setting) before the PCs find themselves in a Zombie apocalypse. They're going to be fighting some rather brutal zombies I've designed, and the game has starvation rules I'm imposing. They're already counting rations by the number of meals needed to stave off penalties and disease.

If they don't make allies, there will be other survivor groups out to rob them. They also won't have the heads up for resources they need to find so they can fortify themselves (lumber, etc.), or new spells (which aren't really sold for money).

also: I've started counting bad guys they slay, and keeping track of misdeeds. if it goes on too long I'm going to have them face a Christmas Carol scenario where the grim reaper comes to collect. They may have to fight every foe they've ever fought!


The setting is a bit Conan, though, and slavery is very much ancient roman style. I don't know that they're being too bad, either. It could just be that one moment, but I'll have to keep watching.

I prefer good guys, but I'm a social worker IRL, so social justice is kinda just how I think (so the world looks like Conan imho ). I want to watch this as it develops, see how the other side thinks.

I also need to be careful, as these are my wife and friends. It's trickier than smackdowns with high school kids you'll eventually leave and never see again.

 

[anest1s]

1) You call this evil? That's hardly evil-ish.

2) I think you aren't doing the evil-DM laugh.

 

[Arkham]

Discuss with the players your expectations and desires regarding game play.
If you feel using innocent humans as shields is not what you want players in your game to do, then you must be clear and communicate your issue with this.

 

[imurphy943]

I'm speaking here as someone who once had much the same problem, and a Christian who recently had a renewal of faith via The Screwtape Letters.

I was once frustrated by the amorality of the characters my players portrayed (this was before my 'renewal of faith'). I got so frustrated that I actually considered quitting DMing for good. No more, though; I actually played in somebody else's campaign. Most of the players there were similarly amoral, only concerned with their own survival. When, due to one nasty encounter, fibers started sprouting from my body in the middle of the night, the cleric and fighter on watch decided that I was a danger to the party and killed me in my sleep. Then burned the body. The mage helped when he woke up.

And you know what? It was fun. I realized, once I had rolled up a new character, that this style of play is really fun. The NPCs aren't real at all, and unless the players get a tangible benefit from helping them they are likely not to. Odds are the players are actually pretty okay people. I got really freaked out when I got so concerned about the characters' behavior that I started grilling the players on their own morality, and they didn't take me seriously. If I were them, I wouldn't have taken me seriously either.

If you want to give hooks to the players, try setting out a few rumors. That DM I mentioned would just drop us a line about what was going on, like 'Okay, there's this dungeon out in the middle of the desert and this pharoah dude is sending men into it, there's a pirate raiding along the coast, one local lord wants another one assassinated, there's been a strange metal man seen walking in the highlands, and there's a new band of highwaymen in the south.'

If you've spent a lot of time mapping out a magic forest or a dungeon or something and have no idea what's going on elsewhere, there's also nothing wrong with saying "Okay, this dungeon is the adventure for tonight. This is where the fun is, okay?". As long as there are still meaningful choices to be made within the location, it isn't railroading any more than it would be railroading to say, "No, you can't sail to the west hoping to discover a new continent, there isn't anything over there and it would just waste everybody's time".