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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shadzar" data-source="post: 5454184" data-attributes="member: 6667746">Play a game that doesn't involve killing?Sometimes players just get tired of the same old thing and go on killing sprees with their characters.I would not use positive reinforcement nor would i use negative reinforcement. That is for dogs and other pets that do not understand spoken words to train them, not for humans.When you start telling your players "No you can't kill the last goblin cowering in the corner" after  long fought battle with adrenaline levels at a high, then what else might they expect you to tell them, maybe "No you can't check to see if the door is trpped, you have to open it and find out"?What you do is also not to try to get the players PCs to sympathize with the enemy as kiling all your opponents is a pretty good tactic to make sure they dont come back for revenge later.There are other tactics, but the players have to want to use them. Don't trick them by having a living enemy always have some information or something, but place it in the right places so that when they find one that would have information they might take the chance to spare the life in exchange for it. If goblin X is the only one with the information about where the BBEG was headed, then dead the PCs are pretty much SOL.The players must be allowed to make their own choices, because that is where the game is for them. Depriving them of a valid choice can turn them away form playing.I would say just ask them simply outside of the game either before or after a session: "Why do you kill everything?" No matter what their answer, you are likely to be unable to change their minds, as it might just be the game they want right now is to kill everything. But at least you would know why they are doing it. Maybe knowing why could help you tailor later combats that don't end in total body count.Do you often play where an enemy would escape and later bring a stronger force down on the player party in past games? If so, this could be why killing everything has become the tactic to prevent you from being able to do so, so the players can exercise something they may have been wanting to try but was always thwarted due to the escapee.Let the PC opponents start TPKing the party if you want to try the reinforcement of some sort of behavior and need to do that. This will show that the PCs aren't the only ones that might employ that strategy in combat.I don't know the book in question, so what is the problem with them killing every enemy?</blockquote>

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