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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Moto Jojo" data-source="post: 47999" data-attributes="member: 562">I had a really weird session tonight, and I made a mistake as a DM that I'd like to correct. Maybe you guys can give me some advice.The situation is like so: The players are a group of three level 7 characters, but only two were on this particular trip. They were passing through a hamlet when they were stopped short by a crowd of anxious and excited people out in front of the local tavern. Various members of the crowd filled the players in, and explained that a small group of ruffians had killed a local militia-man, and had taken the tavern keeper, his wife, and several other women hostage. No one was quite sure how many bad guys there were, or exactly how many hostages, or what they wanted, or anything.Without a second thought, the players just walked right in the door. I guess that's reasonable - they were just being bold and wanted to know what was up, and no one outside really knew. They are confronted by the lead thug, standing behind the bar and holding a knife to a woman's throat, and two of his buddies, armed and standing in other parts of the common room. The lead thug immediately starts shouting for them to get out. Player A is in a wierd mood - she says something along the lines of just wanting to get a beer. Lead Thug keeps screaming at her to get out, with increasing urgency, and Player A keeps saying nonsensical things back. It becomes clear to me as a DM that the player either doesn't realize, or is ignoring the fact, that this guy is taking this pretty seriously, even if the players are not, and is quite possibly going to kill this girl. It's clear that Player A has not even considered stepping back and seeing if there's a more cautious way to approach this situation. I try a few more times as Lead Thug to get her to back off, she keeps pushing his buttons, and Lead Thug snaps and cuts the girl's throat, lunging around the bar to attack the players, calling his buddies into action.Player A dashes across the room, taking attacks of opportunity, in an attempt to lay a healing spell on the girl. Now here's were I screwed up: I wussed out and let the quick heal save the girl. The players quickly dispatch the remaining thugs, and all ends smoothly and happily. I'm really annoyed at myself for this, because I've totally blown an opportunity to teach the players that thoughtless action on their part can have a negative impact on the world around them, and I have in fact reinforced the opposite notion, that they can do whatever random things they please, and they can probably fix it whenever they screw up.So I've got several problems. I haven't been intending to run the kind of game where Player A's actions should be met with no consequence, so clearly there's been some miscommunication between us about the tone and basic world assumptions of our game. I need to figure out what I've been doing that's laid the groundwork for the player's attitude, and I need to figure out how to correct it. I would love ideas from you guys about scenarios I can use to teach them a few hard lessons about the consequences of their actions.Thanks very much for any thoughtful advice.</blockquote>

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