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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sol.Dragonheart" data-source="post: 4142012" data-attributes="member: 54316">I must concur with Hong.  The alignment side of this issue is merely ornamentation decorating the core of the situation, which is how the characters interact with the world, and how that world interacts with them.  The DM must reach a decision as to whether or not he wishes the world to react to the PCs actions in a proactive manner, or simply allow the PCs to do as they choose without repricussion.  As others have mentioned, in a few games it is simply, kick in the door, take the treasure, and party at the tavern afterwards.  It really sounds like this is the type of game your players are engaging in from what you have said so far.  Those loutish NPCs are starting a brawl with us after we played pranks on them, and beating us?  Screw that, we pull weapons and kick their ass!That creepy Vincent is demanding his kid, without giving us a reason?  Let's kill that arrogant/weird bastard, and make sure he never comes back as some Undead monstrosity to bother us again.  Now that we've done that, let's go find a dungeon to raid!And hey, those games can be great fun.  The question is whether or not this style is meshing with the DMs preferences as well.  So, as DM, what I would do is make a decision to either go along with the hack'n'slash, or create a more story centric, character driven campaign.Now, if you choose to go with the latter, make certain to explain that you are going to be moving the campaign in this direction with your players beforehand.  That way, when the world starts reacting in a logical method to the players actions, where it has not before (if that's the case), the players are not surprised or upset.Now, your idea of having the peasant depart to turn the PCs in to the law could be the trigger point for this new campaign style regardless of its outcome.  The PCs could choose to butcher the peasant, thus committing themselves to the dark path that will forever dominate their destiny, and leading to the intrigue with Hades that you are preparing.Or, the PCs could choose to allow the peasant to live, and begin the road towards redemption.  If the PCs have performed heroic deeds in the past that benefitted the kingdom, the King of the land could simply bind them to his service for the remainder of years that Vincent was supposed to serve.  The king could request they make up for the loss of such a valuable agent of the King by protecting the country and performing the duties that Vincent was once responsible for.And the third possibility, is they decide on a method for detaining or capturing the peasant.  Depending on the level of your PCs, perhaps they Imprison him, or send him to another plane of existence, or perhaps they transport him far off to another country.  Perhaps they even attempt to enslave him with a Geas or other spell, or they blackmail/strong arm him with their diplomatic skills/force of arms into keeping quiet.At this point, you could have other parties be aware of the fate of the peasant, and begin attempting to blackmail the PCs with this information.  Give this blackmailer a back up power source, a group, a secret BBEG behind his actions, or some other such thing, as given the PCs nature, they may simply kill anyone who attempts to blackmail them.  As such, to keep the story driven nature of the campaign up, again if that is what you want, have gears that will be set into motion by the PCs murder of the blackmailer.  Perhaps the real enemy knew the PCs would kill the blackmailer all along, and set it up so that by doing so, they're exposed as violent and dangerous criminals.This causes the focus of the countries law abiding forces to shift to the PCs, allowing the BBEG or what have you behind this whole scenario to move forth with his wicked plans for world domination unfettered.  The PCs, while fending off the hounds set loose against them, realize this evil plot and must set forth to stop it before it can happen, with no options other than their own wits and resources.  They are now wanted criminals throughout the land, while their enemy is a respected noble/shadowy figure none know of, and no one will believe these ne'er do wells and known villains mad warnings, doubtlessly contrived as a last ditch effort to save themselves from justice.Or, depending on the players temprament, the shadowy figure/respected noble could now come to them after having exposed them and ruined their reputation, and claim that while everyone else now despises them, he/she realizes their true worth, and offers to enlist the PCs to their cause and the eventual destruction of all of their mutual enemies.  Just figure out based on the peasant scenario what type of game your players seem most interested in, and roll on out from there.  From what you described, your group is a good one, and so you should have fun with any of the possible scenarios.</blockquote>

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