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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hastur_nz" data-source="post: 7145721" data-attributes="member: 40592">I dunno what you guys are on, but in my games Cities are pretty much always pretty civilised, even the LE ones don't have PC's or NPC's just going around killing people because they exist, in fact violence in general isn't something you do in public view.  I guess it starts with the DM, and ends with the Players, i.e. be sure to show the players that they are in Civilisation, which is full of humanoids not monsters and has expectations and (where necessary) laws, and if your players don't get the hints try more obvious hints and suggestions, leaving the 'big stick' for if and when the players deliberately break the law (i.e. after you've reminded them that their stated action is probably illegal).Basically:  Don't force the players into a fight, then complain that you get murder as an outcome.For example, the PC's enter the city gates, where they are stopped, questioned, maybe searched, write their names etc in the journal, and any other stuff taken care if e.g. a city might even require weapons to be 'peace bonded'.  They see town guards at the gates, on the streets, etc.  Say they come across someone robbing a business - a good chance for them to intervene... do they make a 'citizen's arrest', if so how?  They don't have to beat the assailant unconscious, they just have to apprehend the criminal, which may or may not involve weapons, grappling, a sleep spell, etc.  Does someone (e.g. NPC) summon the guard?  Does the guard see the PC's using violence, and then who do they arrest?  Do the players really want to attack the town guard?  A simple example, that I've personally used a few times now in some form.  Luckily my players are not idiots, and easily respect the norms of civilised society in play.  Start simple, and after a while you can have your evil NPC interacting with the PC's, maybe even baiting them, working against them in the background, etc, and the players will seek some form of non-violent resolution, because that's the done thing.Obviously, there will be times and places where the PC's can revert to their murderous instincts if they want, e.g. chasing monsters in the sewers, investigating the local theives guild in the abandoned warehouse, etc.  But in public parts of your city, it's not hard to encourage civilised behaviour from your players, you just have to think about how you frame your background, NPC's, conflicts etc.</blockquote>

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