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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 414875" data-attributes="member: 3146">There's a big difference between setting up fun and interesting dilemmas and intentionally screwing good players. Some of the suggestions so far, if not carefully done are simply intentionally screwing players of good (or lawful) characters.Playing D&D isn't fun if the world suddenly turns arbitrary and capricious so that the DM can say "Hahaha, you're not good anymore or you're sentenced to death." For instanceWhy? Are orcs generally or occasionally peaceful in this world? Does the hunting party attack the PCs? Are they armed for war and pursuing a young girl?If the campaign has so far been set up in a B&W comic book style so that orcs are inherently chaotic and evil, it doesn't make sense for them to suddenly become law abiding citizens. It's also worth noting that the "innocent" orcs should react differently to the PCs than marauding bandits. To just assume that the last band of marauding villainous orcs the PCs killed are suddenly law abiding citizens of a little hamlet whose sheriff asks the PCs to track down their murderers seems rather arbitrary.This also has problems. Nobody just happens to worship anything. The character of a people is always affected by what they worship and how they worship it. There are also different ways and different reasons to worship. People may worship out of fear because if they don't the god will destroy the village or destroy their fishing boats as they gather food (the most likely reason in this case). They may also offer sacrifices as bribes to manipulate or appease a god. They may also offer sacrifices as an indication of gratitude or love. All of these will have different consequences for the people who do so and their character. Since you've already established that these people are "good" that will have a definite impact on how they view the eel.This specific situation sounds like the classical Perseus and Andromeda or Theseus and the minotaur situation where the people don't want to make the sacrifice but do so because they fear total destruction if they don't. In that case, they would be grateful to the PCs for destroying their oppressor (although they might attempt to discourage the PCs from attempting to kill it or might feebly assist the eel against the PCs because they think the eel will prevail and fear that it will destroy them if they are seen to aid the PCs).In any event, any account like this needs to take the nature of good and evil into account and not simply treat them as if they were the names of opposing teams.Since my contribution should be at least partially positive here's one more:#11 Is the enemy of my enemy my friend The PCs have been fighting two allied evil forces for a while. Both forces are truly vile, inflicting suffering and torture upon their people and their enemies alike. However, recently Evil Force N betrayed Evil Force C and is attacking it mercilessly. Evil force N is winning at the moment but is stretched quite thin. Evil force C asks the PCs for help.If the PCs help evil force C, they will enable it to survive and may make it much easier to defeat evil force N. If the PCs and Evil force C defeat evil force N together, will the PCs then turn on and attack their erstwhile ally?If the PCs refuse to help evil foce C, it will be destroyed but evil force N will be more powerful and more difficult to destroy--if it is possible at all.</blockquote>

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