DMs opinion wanted

[bret]

I think the first question you have to ask yourselves is "What would the penalty have been if an NPC had done that?"

Once you've established the normal penalty, only then can you move on.

You never said what the other members of the group did during the fight. Just sitting back and watching someone slaughter the town guard isn't likely to sit well with the local law.

As for the stabilization checks, if I were a guard I would definately learn just enough first aid to handle such a situation. I think it is quite reasonable for guards and anyone who might not have access to a healer to learn a little first aid. Give them a first aid check with minimal training. They will probably get it right before the person dies.

Frontier justice tends to be a lot more flexible, especially since there is always some sort of problem that the towns just don't have time to deal with. You need to punish both Flail boy and Mr. Lippy. A clever judge may just penalize the whole group and allow the other members of the group to punish Mr. Lippy. He is the one who got the rest of them into the mess. Maybe next time they will interfere before another character gets the whole group into a mess.

I do like the idea of a hanging and giving the bodies back to the companions. This is especially interesting if the group might not decide to have their friend raised because it is too expensive. Branding is also a good idea, and allows for any number of adventure hooks. Any time someone has a dodgy proposition, they are going to look for an outlaw to carry it out.

What does the town need? Is there anything that the group can offer that the town can't or doesn't want to do?


If there is no reason to let the characters off, go with the double hanging, marking them as outlaws, and allow the companions to pick up the bodies.

 

[Scarab]

They're damn lucky the place wasn't Hollowfaust. Hollowfaust doesn't use prisons. Either fines and/or a lashing, or... final forfeiture.

Let's see. That would be 100gp and 10 lashes for assaulting a guardsman. If it is murder -- final forfeiture.

That means you no longer have the right to your own body and will be given to one of the necromancers in Hollowfaust to do with as he/she wills.

They only want the body, though. Once they're done with it they'll make sure your ghost passes on into oblivion.

 

[Duncan Haldane]

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[dr_nukem]

You never said what the other members of the group did during the fight. Just sitting back and watching someone slaughter the town guard isn't likely to sit well with the local law.

...

If there is no reason to let the characters off, go with the double hanging, marking them as outlaws, and allow the companions to pick up the bodies.

The other 3 PCs went through the gate just before the guard ordered it closed. They then continued into the town. Approximately 2 rounds later the "combat" ensued. They heard a rucuss, kept moving, and saw a mounted patrol (knights) speed past towards the gate. That's all they know.

I've informed the 2 characters that they've been charged with Treason against the King, (attacking the king's men) and that baring a roleplaying miracle, one or both of them will probably hang. I've also recommended that they bring a backup character...just in case... :->

 

[ced1106]

I've been GMing since 1981. Some players stay, some players go. I learned the hard way that if you let the players bully the setting you don't get a story line.

I've been DMing since 1980. I've slapped PCs a thousand ways (too many involving horses travelling in four different directions). But now, I don't think a public lynching is necessarily in order -- especially since PCs **are** immortal, simply by rolling up new characters. Furthermore, if the players are in the middle of an adventure, "removing a PC from play" (prison or death) tends to complicate things: Do you have a 1st level character travel with higher level adventurers? Or do you have the player play a new higher level adventurer who joins the party -- and is that really a penalty?

Again, I'll recommend taking away the PCs favorite toys and/or a Quest / Geas for the party. I mean, half the time, adventures are of the "volunteer for this adventure or there's nothing to do tonight except play Nintendo", anyway.

Must say that I haven't run a session of someone serving prison time, but I figure that's for the Book of Vile Darkness. (;


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Larry Fitz]

Players who try to deliberately break the game by thinking they can bully their way through a town and still function there need to be treated in a believable manner... hang em. Then let someone else play their characters....

Seriously, I think you have the right approach, kill the characters and let the PC's roll anew. Do NOT let the other PC's have their stuff or their bodies, those things were forfeit when they attacked the guards.

Larry Fitzgerald
Instigator/Mendicant
Living Imagination, Inc.

"How tough can the guard in this little town be?" Robbie Wallace's last words before attacking three guardsmen in Bella Trista.

 

[SurgicalSteel]

So the quesiton is, how would you handle moving forward

You are asking the wrong question.
The right question is: what would the townsfolk do?

To answer that, look at the nature of the town.
It is a frontier town, should be pretty rough and tumble.....

OTOH, it could also be home to drifters and ne'er-do-wells.
Such might use the PCs, or maybe try to frame the PCs for their actions, etc.

Don't look at it as what would you do.
Look at it as how a collection of different individuals gathered in this place would behave.

It is quite reasonable to suppose that a cleric or mage would be in a gaurdhouse.

Rough and Tumble doesn't mean bad.
Break up the combat.
Stabilize the individuals involved and use both a carrot and a stick.
If the players don't co-operate they are ejected from the town and do not have the benefit of sanctuary there, or the ability to take advantages of services offered, "as commanded by the Lord-mayor", or "group of elders", or whatever.

 

[dr_nukem]

So, a little background on the town might be in order then?

Essentially this is a fairly large town (5000ish pop) on the very boarders of the kingdom. The area outside the this small city is considered frontier and untamed.

Recently one of the princes of the kingdom has come here to set up this town as a defensible position from which to expand the kingdom. Since arriving he has learned of a potential threat from a growing cult among the area's goblinoids.

I'd say the general inclination of the town is LN, especially since the prince has arrived. He's got the populace thinking about their future and what type of place they want to live. There has been a very large influx of mercenary types (offered jobs by the kingdom) and therefore the laws are being fairly strictly enforced to maintain peace/etc.

This town, particularly the relationship the PCs will/might develop with the prince plays a very large part in where I see the campaign going. Having said that, I'm not the type of DM to push the characters along. If they decided they didn't want anything to do with this town, I'd adapt and press on.

Again, I appreciate the good discussion around this topic. Cheers all.

 

[Cedric]

You guys are nicer then me...

I would have shot both pc's from the walls with arrows until they were dead...then rushed out and healed the guard.

Would have shown the other 3 pc's the door and told them to get lost.

You don't mess with town guards. If they let a few loud mouthed adventurers get away with crap...who knows what others might think they can get away with.

Cedric

 

[Redleg06]

Well, without reading all the threads I would say, if this is a regular problem with the player, let him die. Then tell him, flat out, that if he is gonna waste time throwing down with every crooked guard, how is he gonna get to the meat of the adventure you took time to make up?

If it's a rare occurance, heal him up, and let him get away with a little side note to cut it out!