Do you allow murder within the party?

[Henry]

Always. The players are adults and I play a 'consequences' campaign with mature themes. I don't overrule anything the players have their characters attempt (including PC killing) but I will (and have) hammered characters with consequences for said actions.

In my case, the "consequences" have with only one exception always led to the campaign ending and the group having to start another campaign, which wastes my time, my effort in crafting a campaign, and the efforts of players putting a lot of work into their characters. If the players are in on it, that's one thing, but in cases where the victim player has not initiated it, it leads to hurt feelings, or tension between players. I always state it up front when I play, to as much as possible prevent it from being an issue.

From my perspective, if players want to engage in a player vs. player game, we pull out Magic the Gathering, or arrange for an arena one-shot D&D game, or set up a LAN party for a 3D shooter game; that way, we waste no time gettin' to the killin', and everyone has the same expectations.

 

[Ealli]

I voted 'Rarely' which, coincidentally, is how often I run Paranoia. In D&D there are certain expectations I have for all the players and one of the prime ones is that they will all find a way to work together. A subexpectation of that is that all players will find a way not to kill each other. Intraparty conflict is far too easy to descend into hurt feelings and other problems which are no fun and I just plain don't want to deal with it. This kind of problem will be headed off and the players will be told to figure out another resolution out of character.

 

[dungeondweller]

That's the one thing as DM that I will deny a player from attempting with his character. Your character can sell slaves, smoke dope, curse, engage in evil acts with NPC's, steal, lie, cheat, and commit suicide -- but you're not trying to kill another PC (unless the player wants to play along). I'll give them all the NPCs they want to try and screw over, but the other players are there for their own fun.

I'm all for Player free will on their PCs, but their free will ends where it impinges on another player's fun. You can trigger every alarm in the evil guy's lair, and leave the whole party to deal with consequences, but you aren't using my and others' entertainment time to screw with us.

Exactly my sentiments and better than I would have said it. Bravo.

 

[sirwmholder]

This has happened very rarely in games I've run... but come to think of it... it happens quite regularly when I'm a player. If it ever comes up it's usually one PC who is turning against the party so the entire party takes part in the murder. It really depends on party composition. Paladins and power hungery wizards tend to be at odds more than any other combinations... though I have seen a Frenzied Berserker get out of control once or twice.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

You cannot kill your party members in WoW. You cannot kill people on your same side of the war in WoW. EverQuest I, though, allowed you to do this, sometimes by accident (say, with certain area-effect spells -- oops!).

Got it. That's what I get for PUI (posting under ignorance) and using South Park as my knowledge base.

 

[Majesty]

If you have a player how is stealing from the party and missleading them. I would look at the backgrounds for each of the chrs and if it follows there history of the chr then Yes the players may kill each other on a very rare case. Did the DM try to make the player pay for what he did.

 

[Black_Swan]

The scenario provided would immediately kill the game for me. Espescially when trying to run a horror game, where suspense and pacing are so important. They hadn't even started to investigate the crime scene yet...

It seems obvious to me that the player of the midget character wasn't there to play the game, he/she was there to have fun at the expense of the other players.

 

[delericho]

"Allow"? As a dm, it is NOT my job to tell the players how to play their characters.

That's pretty much my take on the matter as well. If the players want to informally ban PvP amongst themselves, that's their business, but I don't enforce it.

 

[takasi]

The scenario provided would immediately kill the game for me. Espescially when trying to run a horror game, where suspense and pacing are so important. They hadn't even started to investigate the crime scene yet...

It seems obvious to me that the player of the midget character wasn't there to play the game, he/she was there to have fun at the expense of the other players.

To be fair, three of us (my white-collar worker, the magician and a psychiatrist) had played a session the night before. We've already seen some pretty crazy stuff (although deep down my character still thinks this is some elaborate ruse on behalf of the magician; the carnie midget and Indian entering the fray only reinforced that theory).

After a crazy night, my character retired to his hotel room, left his girlfriend nursing a hangover and did a little sight seeing. He ran into the dwarf several times on the street, and then found the Navajo in a jewelry shop. Later when he returned he found a horrific scene in his room and was soon after detained by police officers. Or at least he thought they were police officers, for they left him in the lobby for several hours rather than take him downtown. My character called up the magician at the other hotel and reluctantly invited him and the psychiatrist to help him. They arrived with a priest (another player) who had heard about them from a taxi driver (another long story from the previous night).

I think we were having a little trouble getting the carnie and native characters into the story. When they got a chance to have the spotlight after getting kicked out of the hotel, having not known each other for more than a few minutes in game the player with the dwarf (IMO) acted believably.

Much more so than the previously posted shotgun incident...

 

[Clueless]

I've only allowed something along those lines when it had built up to a nearly justifiable point, and it was clear to the player that his character was just Not Working. After the player was cleared on that and ready to start up a new one... my SR team let loose.