PCs vs. The Law -- my players stay out!!

[Evilhalfling]

I actually had two types of death sentances - death, with the body to be returned to friends and family, and death, body to be burned and ashes mixed with the remains of others.

Heavy Fines (for lesser crimes) and poverty + banishment are also and reasonable in a fantasy world. Jail time and slavery are really ineffective punishments, considering the amount of things that can be done to free someone so trapped. Cutting off limbs is fine, as regenerates are rare , and it would be unlawful to cure this. Branding depends on your view of healing magic.

 

[Wombat]

First- throw them in the stocks so that the townsfolk can see them being made a proper example of. Second, flog them and finally exile them with a warning never to return on pain of death. If you want to be especially sure that they don't, then brand their hands or forehead. It goes without saying that everything they had on them is to be confiscated...

The only reason for not executing them is that a prominent local can vouch for them...

I can agree with this pretty easily.

Two characters of mine recently caused a massive trade disruption (and almost a war) between their home city and a major trading partner. Due to this, the characters were flogged, branded, and exiled, with people from the other city looking on to see that all of this was actually carried out. And the only reason they were not exectured was that they were able to bribe the officials of their hometown ahead of the arrival of the delegation from the second town.

Repurcussions are important. Law doesn't just apply to NPCs.

 

[Dingleberry]

I'd have them quickly tried and actually put to death, then raised by the friendly NPC who, in exchange, requires their services in secretly investigating, stopping and revealing the cultists' evil plot. Only when they do that will their names will be cleared and they can rejoin "live" society.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Kill Them.

That's Right KILL THEM.

Have them publicly beheaded.

Have them dead & buried.

(Flash Forward Hundred years or so).

Party is Ressurrected by a high priest. They're naked.

Priest tell them the history they have missed out on while they were dead.

Evil guy they attacked has achieved Lichdom & is threatening to conquer most of the peaceful regions in the world.

Scholor found in the records a party of adventurers that attacked him (claiming he was evil), then were executed.

Scholar tracked down the burial place, exhumed the bodies & a high priest of a threatened kingdom Ressurects them to take on their old foe.

Make sure they are naked (as punishment for their stupidity).

It's a simple play on the Time Travel Plot Device, often used in Sci-fi, but much less in Fantasy.

 

[atom crash]

Kill Them.

That's Right KILL THEM.

Have them publicly beheaded.

Have them dead & buried.

(Flash Forward Hundred years or so).

Party is Ressurrected by a high priest. They're naked.

Priest tell them the history they have missed out on while they were dead.

Evil guy they attacked has achieved Lichdom & is threatening to conquer most of the peaceful regions in the world.

Scholor found in the records a party of adventurers that attacked him (claiming he was evil), then were executed.

Scholar tracked down the burial place, exhumed the bodies & a high priest of a threatened kingdom Ressurects them to take on their old foe.

Make sure they are naked (as punishment for their stupidity).

It's a simple play on the Time Travel Plot Device, often used in Sci-fi, but much less in Fantasy.

This is a cool idea. Yet it won't work, for the simple reason that if the BBEG isn't stopped before the next full moon (2 weeks away), he will enact his vile plan to summon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, driving everyone insane and destroying the world in the process.

All the NPCs in the city are content to scramble for political leverage against the city lord. they think he is a corrupt politician. They do not know he is an evil cultist of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. No one is actively opposing the city lord or his secret plans, except for the PCs. They just don't know how to do anything more subtle than kicking in a door and shooting the bad guy in the face.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

This is a cool idea. Yet it won't work, for the simple reason that if the BBEG isn't stopped before the next full moon (2 weeks away), he will enact his vile plan to summon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, driving everyone insane and destroying the world in the process.

1. H.G. Well's 'The Time Machine'.

2. Planet of the Apes.

If you don't mind blowing up your world, You can still use this idea. The world as they know it is destroyed. After the world was driven insane & everything burned, the survivors had to pick up the pieces & go on.

World has gone back to the stone age, most of the learning that once existed has been lost or twisted.

Some witch doctor is 'attempting' a ritual to appease the 'defeated ones' who tried to stop the 'dark lord' from casting the world into chaos. He's using some 'relic' from the 'time before', a Staff of Life or some such item. Low and behold, he rolls a Nat 20 on his Use Magic Device Skill, and brings the party back to life.

Now the PC's (still naked again), have to begin adventuring in a world where all the items they considered 'normal' (magic items) are long lost and can only be recovered by venturing into the ruins of the old cities & fighting the horrors that lurk there.

Just like normal D&D, but MUCH lower treasure haul. Like cut the items you give out by 50-75%.

If your players lack subtlet, put them someplace that lacks subtlety.

 

[RuminDange]

This is a cool idea. Yet it won't work, for the simple reason that if the BBEG isn't stopped before the next full moon (2 weeks away), he will enact his vile plan to summon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, driving everyone insane and destroying the world in the process.

All the NPCs in the city are content to scramble for political leverage against the city lord. they think he is a corrupt politician. They do not know he is an evil cultist of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. No one is actively opposing the city lord or his secret plans, except for the PCs. They just don't know how to do anything more subtle than kicking in a door and shooting the bad guy in the face.

Maybe the BBEG's plan or ritual doesn't go as expected and it only affects the localized area. But it twists the BBEG, corrupting him even further with all these new minions to work for him as he goes about looking for the reason the ritual failed and how to do it right. Then flash forward following Vraille Darkfang's idea. Now the BBEG is exposed but more powerful, and they have nothing to start with and must build up. Only they know how to stop him or something from the first try at doing so, or maybe it is ordained that they are they only ones. Either way sounds like a fun way to get out of the corner they have backed you in to as well as teach a lesson about in game repurcussions.
RD

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

This is a cool idea. Yet it won't work, for the simple reason that if the BBEG isn't stopped before the next full moon (2 weeks away), he will enact his vile plan to summon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, driving everyone insane and destroying the world in the process.

All the NPCs in the city are content to scramble for political leverage against the city lord. they think he is a corrupt politician. They do not know he is an evil cultist of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. No one is actively opposing the city lord or his secret plans, except for the PCs. They just don't know how to do anything more subtle than kicking in a door and shooting the bad guy in the face.

So what are the choices then? Lets see:
Exile - the bad guys win, the world is destroyed unless someone else comes along

Imprisonment - the bad guys win, the world is destroyed unless someone else comes along

Release with whipping/fines/weregild - Lord is "killed", party is framed, accused and imprisoned again - the bad guys win, the world is destroyed unless someone else comes along

Escape - party members are fugitives. May be able to foil plot. May or may not be able to clear their name

 

[painandgreed]

This is a cool idea. Yet it won't work, for the simple reason that if the BBEG isn't stopped before the next full moon (2 weeks away), he will enact his vile plan to summon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, driving everyone insane and destroying the world in the process.

Tough. the players had their strategy and made their try and it failed. Game over, and they lose just as if they'd had a TPK.

Now for a non-trivial answer. The BBEG is goign to try and get them executed as punishment for such typically ranges from death to pay off. With enough money, the character might pay wereguild on those they killed and get off. In a lawful society, they'll want to get to the bottom of what's going on and pull in the clerics to use truth spells and divination magic to get to the bottom of it. They'll follow up on the PCs story and get to the bottom of it and that might offset any punishments they accrued. Meanwhile, the BBEG will be trying to get in a quick and hasty execution and will be loud about it to the PCs. Then he'll arrange the PCs for a chance to escape and when they do, they'll no longer be in a postion to rat him out to the police until they are captured again (or hopefully die in the process).

 

[frankthedm]

First give them Know. Local checks DC 10 to 15, if the make it, letb them know the law require death sentences for the guard slaying.

The guards should,

1. Seperate them under the pretence of individual questioning.

1. Question them in a chair where they are tied up. [ Assume guards are hostile for diplomacy check purposes]

2. Immediate execution for those who canot get guards to better than indifferent with diplomacy checks

3. Long jail term or banishment for those who got the guards to helpful