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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7274038" data-attributes="member: 4937">There is common joke or metaphor that "the DM is God".  That is to say, the DM is the creator of the campaign world, is omnipotent, and is relatively omniscient, and in so far as it relates to the game his word is law.But the idea that "no good deed should go unpunished" is not the idea of "the DM is God", but that the DM is the devil.  I find way too many GMs think their role in the game is to punish the players, and in particular to punish the players if they act in any way that is not completely selfless and ruthless.  Vicious murder is rewarded, but any charitable or merciful act is to be punished.  The world these DMs create is one were every NPC is irrationally vindictive, ruthless, greedy, and immoral - even when such things goes against their own interest.   No mook left alive does not suicidally try to avenge himself on merciful PCs.  No act of compassion is ever met with compassionate responses.   No one misses a chance to spit in the PCs eyes, even if it means falling on the PCs blades.  Enemies attack with suicidal frenzy, and left alive plot revenge with diabolical single purpose.  Every merchant is a cheat.  Every noble is a ruthless SOB.  No one gives or offers or takes quarter.  There is no practical difference between humans and orcs.I often wonder where this mentality comes from.  Is the goal to force everyone to be murder hoboes?As a second issue, to just show how absurd the thought is in this case, 1200 g.p. is in most campaign worlds only equivalent in buying power to $60,000.   That is to say, most campaign worlds price goods in terms of gold pieces (certainly if you use Player's Handbook prices, you do), and labors earn about a gold piece per day.   It certainly offers a bit of succor and relief to the hard pressed villagers, but it's only equivalent to worth of a well to do tradesman or the income of a hard working farm family.  Surely if 1200 g.p. worth of stuff was going to inspire murder amongst a close knit group of closely related villagers (everyone is probably everyone else's 4th cousin), that would have happened long before the PC's threw 1200 g.p. in the pot.   Why weren't these neighbors murdering each other over their flocks of cattle or sheep, or a team of horses and a good wagon?</blockquote>

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