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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 4164631" data-attributes="member: 6957">This was back around twenty five years ago, I was a much Younger Grump then... the campaign continued for a good number of years afterward from the above mentioned mass hanging. Not mentioned in the above is that I had been fairly blatant in my use of the Clue Club (tm) in regards to the situation with the orcs. In part it was about the culture of the orcs being changed by non-violent contact with non-orcish beings. (And, in the long run, this was just as destructive of the orc culture as the war had been.)  Also, and this may or may not be viewed as important, the orcs were the original inhabitants of the area - humans, dwarfs, elves, etc. were the invaders. (And the players had been informed of such.) Some (not all) of the Paladins and Clerics of the primary monotheistic religion were openly criticizing both the Church and the secular authorities for their treatment of the orcs. (Based loosely on the Society of Jesus during the Spanish invasion of the New World, with similar consequences for the Clerics and Paladins involved....)Once the players figured out what their characters should have realized the game went much more smoothly, and that was, I think, the only TPK in the campaign. The players were caught up in the Kill things, Grab their treasure, Rinse and Repeat school of thought. There was a great deal of adventure to be had, and adventurers were not only generally allowed, they were most often welcome. Sometimes they had to argue with orcs, or deal harshly with orcs (and humans) from neighboring areas that were still at war, and on more than one ocassion protecting the local orcs from either neighboring humans or orcs.Murdering an unarmed, unarmored orc, who's only crime was walking openly on a public road - not hiding, not planning an ambush, but simply traveling from Point A to Point B, having grown accustomed to the relative peace that had broken out in the local area was not the act of a thoughtful or Good character. I even recall the moment when one of the players realized that it was murder, and that the orcs were not the bad guys in this area of the world. The next time the game went much more smoothly as a result.One of the other, openly stated, conceits of the campaign was that I like to see the good guys win. If the players insist on playing the bad guys then the good guys will still win... I do not want to run a game about villains, murdering folks because they disagree with the characters.And yes, I was exaggerating about playing out the hanging and torturing the ex-Paladin in Hell for all eternity - but not about his trial and execution, nor of his being an ex-paladin - he has committed murder. I have never been a big fan of the 'we can get away with it because we are the PCs' mode of thought. I might go so far as to tell the ex-paladin that he is sent to a warmer place than he expected....What does this all mean? <s>That I was running a good game, and you are having bad wrong fun.</s>Not all play styles are the same, but the DM has just as much a right as the players to having a good time with the game. Maybe a tad more - in general a DM puts a lot more work into the game - but not much more. The game has to be fun for everyone.It also means that I posted the above with not anywhere near enough sleep, and as a result was more Cranky than Grumpy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />The Auld Grump</blockquote>

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