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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6931172" data-attributes="member: 12731">I think we need to adress the elephant in the room. Dungeon & Dragons is a light-hearted game about kicking in doors, killing monsters and taking their loot at heart.I'm not saying that is all it can do. I am not saying you have to play it that way. None of that is my point.The point is that other games have fundamentally different values at heart. A common root issue for players to treat NPCs badly is if the game (subtly or overtly) conditions you to treat them as inferior.So the simplest advice is: have your group try out other games. Games with more mature morality. Games where the player characters aren't inherently superior to other persons in the world. Games with far less monstrous foes (its much easier to kill an Orc than a human, which is a core reason for having so many Orcs in D&D!). Games without levels. In these games, you can't run rough-shod over the wills or even lives of others, or there will be consequences. Since this is a game ("no animals were harmed during this production") such consequences really help you act humane. This includes me, by the way. And probably you too, if you're being honest.Yes, what I am saying is: controversial actions that probably would brand you a sociopath if acted out in real life, is completely normal and understandable behavior in a game, since sometimes all you want is to win; and if all you need to win is to kill or hurt some imaginary foes, then it's completely expectable that you will do just that. In order to have players act with compassion you can really do with a few "soft"* boundaries in your game of the kind only sociopaths would need IRL. And D&D simply doesn't have those. But other games do.*) By soft I mean not encased in rules. You're talking and I'm talking about how ethics make players voluntarily restrict their behavior. D&D has made attempts at keeping this in check, but always in immature clumsy ways (such as encouraging DMs to change the PC's alignment when their character acts in ways contrary to the DM's wishes. This only creates friction between DM and player while not at all addressing or resolving the real issues) The discussion about Inspiration is, unfortunately, just another way of not having to confront the real issues (even if it is much less blunt than alignment changes) and it is my strong opinion it is not the right way to approach the problem. Again, the real issue is how to introduce ethics that make players voluntarily restrict their behavior. So go play a game where the players can't get away with the things they get away with in D&D.Then, if you find that solves your problem (by your players acting more in line with how you want them to), but you still like D&D's accessibility and overall playability you can import those ethics back into D&D. How? By having played those other games, and then remembering how you acted in them.TL;DR: You really are needlessly restricting yourself if you try to solve this issue entirely from within D&D's paradigm.</blockquote>

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