D&D 5E What does "murderhobo" mean to you?

[Lanefan]

Now, obviously there can be cases of honest mistake - you see a Drow with weapons drawn and kill him, and it turns out to be a Drizzt-type Good Drow ...

Killing Drizzt isn't an honest mistake, it'a an act of the greatest heroism imaginable! May your name and fame ring down through the ages for what you have done here today!

 

[guachi]

I told my players that they can't be evil and they have to want to be heroes. It's the kind of game I wanted to run and I'd be a bad DM for evil PCs, anyway.

Even so they fit the murderhobo definition #2. Lots of death and mayhem even for PCs trying to be on the right side of things. And they most definitely hobos as they wander all over the place with their wagon and four mules slaying evil.

EDIT: I should add that the campaign is story-focused and role-play heavy. D&D is just full of lots and lots of killing and taking stuff.

 

[guachi]

Heck, if you convert most of the old BECMI/1e modules published prior to 1983 to 5e, you'll have a very good idea of exactly what hobomurder play entails.

Current campaign I'm running is entirely built on old adventures. So far we've run (in order):
The Adventure from the Red Box Basic DMG (1983)
U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (1981)
N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God (1982)
B10 - Night's Dark Terror (1984)
B7 - Rahasia (1983)
UK2 - The Sentinel (1983)
UK3 - The Gauntlet (1983)
X2 - Castle Amber (1981)

Even the adventures where the players are supposed to do heroic things are filled with murderhobo material. Cracking good fun but lots of killing and looting.

 

[CleverNickName]

Lots of killing and looting probably doesn't make a murderhobo, if you ask me. That's just the life and times of an adventurer.

Doing nothing but killing and looting might make a murderhobo...but the story might require it from time to time, so maybe not?

Doing so much killing and looting that you literally forget where you live (or no longer care)? Yeah, that definitely makes you a murderhobo.

All snark aside, this isn't a problem. If this is the kind of game you want to play, and everyone else at the table is cool with it, then take that "murderhobo" banner and run with it. Be your murderhoboey best! If nobody else is trying to tell a cool story with lots of characters and deep role-playing, they won't mind at all.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Every character I have had starts out with no property, and kills things for coin.

So they all start out a little murderhobo. But, I never go full murderhobo.

Never go full murderhobo.

 

[epithet]

I'm a bit surprised to see that the term doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. I thought it was unambiguous. Murder meaning that the party moved from combat to combat, killing and looting and preparing for the next combat encounter. Hobo meaning that the group never really connected with the fantasy world in any meaningful way, didn't have a home base they cared about, didn't form meaningful connections with NPCs beyond "the equipment vendor" and maybe "the quest giver."

 

[FieserMoep]

Murder implies the killing of someone that goes against the law. Thus rightfully slaying orks or general opposition for a law full reason, even if in excessive amounts is not murder. It is just killing.

The hobo part is also IMHO not about the housing situation for this is pretty much the status quo for most parties anyway. It is more about pestering and annoying people to give you something.

So ultimately beggars that kill you if you don't comply.

Maybe call the other option "killer gipsys"

 

[Sunseeker]

Murder implies the killing of someone that goes against the law. Thus rightfully slaying orks or general opposition for a law full reason, even if in excessive amounts is not murder. It is just killing.

The hobo part is also IMHO not about the housing situation for this is pretty much the status quo for most parties anyway. It is more about pestering and annoying people to give you something.

So ultimately beggars that kill you if you don't comply.

Maybe call the other option "killer gipsys"

This, very much. It's one thing to have a mercenary party, who may have no place to stay aside from the local tavern, or even a small camp outside of whatever town they happen to be in, and be willing to kill anyone and anything for money. These aren't murderhobos. These are mercenaries. (that's not to say the Orcish legends do not speak of the dreaded Murderus-Hobous, because ya know, perspective can be a thing in games).

Mercenaries can become murder hobos...but generally don't, because a reputation for killing people who aren't on a hit-list and aren't preventing the completion of said hit-list generally does not sit well with prospective clients.

The comparison to the derogatory term of "gypsies" is accurate, "murderhobos" unlike "adventurers", "mercenaries", "travelers", "nomads", "wanderers" or similar terms are people who move into an area, often without the welcome of the locals, generally make a mess of the place, abuse, steal from and kill the locals for very little rhyme or reason and then move on.

"Murderhobos" are more comparable to locusts, moving from place to place, wrecking stuff up and then moving on to a new place to do the same.

And it only gets worse as they go up in levels as they eventually become these guys:

 

[jmucchiello]

Not enough talk about the other half of the joke. Hobos. It's supposed to mean they have no homes, no roots to a community, wanderers. But hobo usually implies being poor, and yet these types of characters are usually walking around with as much gold, magic, and jewelry to buy a major city or two.

 

[Hussar]

I also don’t consider murderhobo the default mode of dnd.

To me, the default mode is adventurers trying to help people, explore lost ruins, and gain fame and fortune, but has nothing to do with lazily using violence as the default response to any situation.

Really?

I've got a stack of D&D modules from pretty much every edition that would disagree with you.