How to Fix a Slavery situation without murder? (Solved!)

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Why would they believe that there is only one action on the table?

Well, when they're praying, and asking their gods what to do, and Asking half the NPCs they know, I get the idea they're looking to make sure they're doing the right thing.

As it is, as the GM doesn't have a whole lot of ideas, the NPCs aren't going to either.

Colin "Can /I/ ask the NPCs?" Davis

 

[Mark]

Well, when they're praying, and asking their gods what to do, and Asking half the NPCs they know, I get the idea they're looking to make sure they're doing the right thing.

As it is, as the GM doesn't have a whole lot of ideas, the NPCs aren't going to either.

Colin "Can /I/ ask the NPCs?" Davis

I see. I find you can get the PCs to think a lot more for themselves if you have NPCs ask the questions that make the PCs supply the answers.

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

That's what I've been doing.
The PCs have to make the decision. But I'd like to at least offer them an alternative or three. That's all

 

[Andor]

Given that I'm going to be one of the murders, I figure my 2 cents might help the discussion.

If my character was left to her own morality, she'd kill them all in her sleep and feel bad that she might have killed someone who was relitively innocent. However, given that her spouce is half angel and firmly Chaotic Good, this isn't a viable solution. It sucks when your conscience is your love.

- Melissa Corinth, Chaotic Neutral Half-Demon.

It sounds like your best bet is to rid in behind the local mob boss, mop up whoever he leaves alive, try to shift the blame to him then take the slaves and run like hell. If you can get them over the border to the good nation and make it appear that they made it out on their own after the slavers were killed by mobsters then all is beer and skittles. It does not sound like the slaver nation (itself recovering from a war) will be willing to invade to reclaim escaped slaves without the added prompting of a known abolitionist assault.

-Andor

 

[roversaurus]

1> If slavery is legal can the party capture some of the slavers and sell them into
slavery? Perhaps into another community?

2> Are some of the slaves "deserving" of punishment? Perhaps they themselves were
criminals.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Well - the characters have to ask "who will win the war".

If it's clear cut and against them, then provoking the war is a bad idea. They should wipe out the slavers and leave evidence that it was the mob bosses guys that did it.

If it's clear cut and for them, wipe out the slavers and leave evidence that it was the armed forces of the "slavery is illegal" country. Provoke the war, and have slavery eventually outlawed, serving the greater good by a huge magnitude.

If it's not clear cut... probably safer to stick with blaming the mob boss.

My final possibility is: They buy the whole lot and just walk back to the non-slave nation. Mind you - they should probably be ready for them to all end up as shiftless beggars once they do...

 

[reanjr]

Whenever I've seen a group of PCs is a situation involved with slavery, the PCs have been wealthy enough to purchase all the slaves and free them. If they are not willing to sell some equipment to do so, then, well, they aren't justified in killing people over it, now are they?

I've had PCs purchase slaves before, use them for a while, then set them free, as well. At least then they get something out of their money.

 

[Afrodyte]

I'm going to weigh in with a previous poster about being aware of the consequences of the PCs' actions. If slavery in your campaign setting is a lot like antebellum slavery, then the PCs killing the slavers may not be a good idea. Let's be real here. Chances are the slavers and slave-owrners would believe the slaves responsible. They (I think) have the numerical advantage. They also (I think) know their way around the area, so sneaking in and out of a building could be very easy for them. And even simple farm tools can be used as weapons if the need arises. Sickles, picks, and pitchforks can work pretty well if everybody is asleep or otherwise not paying attention. Given how slave revolts can and do happen, the slavers would not be remiss in assuming (at first) that the slaves are responsible. Unless they have zone of truth and similar spells, they'd have no way of being absolutely certain that the slaves did not commit mutiny. So, even if the PCs do succeed in killing the slavers and freeing some of the slaves, I doubt the slave-holders would believe Diamondback responsible, especially considering that suspecting another slave-holder would make sense only if the slaves turn up on somebody else's land. Even if they did believe Diamondback did it, they may assume that the slaves cooperated for some reason or another. In any case, regardless of what is believed, it is very likely that violent action against slave-holders would result in the slaves being blamed and harmed for it.

As a previous poster said, slavery is messy.

 

[Mark]

That's what I've been doing.
The PCs have to make the decision. But I'd like to at least offer them an alternative or three. That's all

That's where you lose me. How far do you think you have to go toward spelling out their option to feel as if you are "offering" them those alternatives? Normally I would have the NPCs ask enough questions to get them to understand their situation more fully, and allow them to come up with the alternatives. Questions like-

NPC #1: Well, what alternatives do we have?

and

NPC #2: What if your first plan doesn't work?

and

NPC #3: Your plan sounds dangerous and ultimately unfruitful. Don't you have any better ideas?

and

NPC #4: If you aren't powerful enough to change the system in place in this land, and since killing them would be just as evil as owning slaves,can't you at least think of some way to get them to treat slaves more humanely?

etc.

 

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

Mark-
Sure. The thing is, they didn't come up with much. The best ideas they had were defeated by other members of the party.
So after doing that, they "ask the gods" for help, or whatnot. While I can punt, and throw it back to them, as you suggest, I was hoping to see other people's reactions to the scenerio, and see what other ideas people have.

I undertand your position, and it's not a bad one. I personally feel that they could use an option, to allow it to be a moral choice, rather than a "forced choice", but I certainly see where you are coming from.

-C