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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Urriak Uruk" data-source="post: 7960663" data-attributes="member: 7015558">There are several ways to approach this problem, but I'm going to use several examples to help illustrate ways of getting your PCs less interested. (I know the below examples aren't really 100% accurate to their worlds, their just examples)1. The Metropolis City GuardIn a city like Metropolis, heroes like the PC are expected to save the day. This has led to the city guard becoming more lazy, less alert, and more complacent. In that city, when the PCs come knocking for help, the guard mostly laughs them off. "You're the heroes that can do magic, solve it your own problems!" Or they'll just out-source crime to PCs directly, not wanting to get guardsmen killed by dangerous adversaries. Here, heroes are expected to do the dirty work.In the OP's city, it sounds like the City Guard are more proactive than this, but one can easily see a city guard descend into this kind of behavior, especially as the PCs level up.2. The Gotham City GuardIn Gotham City, the city guard is far more malicious than lazy. Here, crime goes unpunished, because the police are part of the criminal element; they've been bought off, their corrupt, and the few good cops are too scared to say anything. In a city like Gotham, the city guard is going to be more proactive against the PCs than against actual crime. After all, the PCs are the one's "stirring up trouble" by trying to change "how thing's have always been."The OP's city definitely doesn't sound like this either, but it only takes one change in leadership for the city guard's attitude to change. Switch out the captain of the guard with someone who is secretly taking bribes, and who pushes the guard to stop helping out the PC's. This also adds an interesting element to the party's adventures, when they realize their foe has infected not just crime but the authorities.3. Marvel's New York CityIn the New York City of Marvel, there is a lot of crime. Like so much crime. So much crime that not only are the police slammed, the heroes can barely keep up with it. In NYC, it's not a case of the city guard not wanting to help the PC's... it's that they literally don't have the resources to help. Crime is on the rise, and there are way too many problems for the city guard to bail out the PCs every time they need help.This solution may suit the OP the best, as it changes the city guard itself the least. It requires the external threats to go up, but this should happen anyway as the PCs level and their enemy's get smarter.Personally, I'm most fond of the Gotham route, but you can always do combinations of the above (no organization is this monolithic in POV). But there are plenty of ways for the City Guard to stop helping out heroes.</blockquote>

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