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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bloodstone Press" data-source="post: 2777276" data-attributes="member: 12468">I really like challenging my players with morally ambiguous or difficult situations. Some that I've used in the past: 1. Saddle them with an innocent NPC who inadvertently causes them a lot of trouble, repeatedly. Every time he is in danger, and the PCs have to rescue him at risk to themselves, they will think more and more about passive aggressive behavior (not helping him, letting an innocent person die, so they can be free of his meddling)2. A vigilante is on the loose. He/she is killing only the most evil and vile people. The PCs investigate the murders. They find dozens of suspects for each murder, but eventually find the common thread-- the vigilante. By the time they catch up to him/her, they have realized that he/she is Chaotic Good and is killing evil people. But since these evil people are sheriffs, barons, princes and guild masters, and other important people, and the PCs are employed to find the killer, they will need to make a decision. Let the vigilante go or bring them to "justice." 3. Politics. The heroes are friends/agents of a politician in a Roman/American-style republic. Their patron is up for re-election. He is willing to do anything to win. His opponent is despicable and can NOT be allowed to win. The patron starts asking the heroes to do more and more illegal and evil things to help him win. 4. A mega-city on the verge of transition from Feudalism to mercantilism. The Guilds have private armies that rival the king's. The King has high tax rates and fears the guild masters. They squabble over control of trade and foreign relations. Organized crime is at the center of the plot (of course). Meanwhile, foreign forces work to destabilize the situation for their own gain. The PCs get separated and each get involved with the Current Events in their own way. The oppression from the king as he tries to control the guilds and the people gets overbearing, and a revolution breaks out in the bar while the characters are eating. Who do they side with? The king? The guilds? The crime lords? The foreigners? Someone else? 5. The characters find evidence that a loved one (father or mother) has a dark and evil past. Although the PCs have always known the parent to be benevolent and good, they have committed crimes in the past that they have not paid for. Perhaps they were evil and changed alignment, settled down, and raised a family. They should be brought to justice. But will the PCs do that to their parent? 6. The Body. This is one that another DM did to me. I was playing a 0th level teenager working for an old dwarf in a city, the boss flew into a rage and killed someone. "Hey boy," he said, "Get rid of this."  Not only a bit of a moral dilemma, but also a bit of a problem to solve.</blockquote>

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