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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ppaladin123" data-source="post: 4761956" data-attributes="member: 60923">Moral dilemmas can be campaign breaking moments when the party turns on itself.In one game I played the party had the choice to either 1. return the pieces of a magic artifact to the tribe that rightfully owned it or 2. destroy the artifact.The artifact in question allowed the user to open semi-permanent gates to the plane of his choice. It had previously been broken into pieces out of fear that it would be used unwisely and would result in connections to some unsavory places (the abyss, the nine hells, the far realm, etc.). It could also be used as a tool for great good to tap into the positive plane for healing, find answers to difficult problems, irrigate parched earth, call forth angelic protectors and so forth.Half the party argued that the artifact should be returned to the tribe so that they could reassemble it and use it to help their people (who had been suffering drought, famine, pestilence, etc.). They trusted in the competence and good will of the tribal elders and noted that the artifact was the rightful property of the tribe (they had created it long ago and it had been stolen). The other half argued that the artifact was too dangerous for anyone to wield and that it would likely lead to mass destruction and great danger for the entire world. They claimed that the greater good required us to destroy the staff and ignore the property rights in this case.In the end we came to blows. A few party members were killed, one piece of the artifact was destroyed and the other pieces were whisked away to the tribe. Those who favored the tribe became exiles from the main city-state in the region since that state (and its associated church) favored the destruction of the artifact.Incidentally, the guy who ran that campaign will soon run a follow-up. It takes place 100 years in the future. The tribe managed to replace the missing piece of the artifact and reassemble it. For about 25 years they used it to better their people. Then they accidentally created a persistent dimensional rift connecting the material plane to the far realm. Now the landscape is twisted and corrupt and aberrant creatures stalk the land. The world is dying.</blockquote>

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