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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5097894" data-attributes="member: 22779">Trying to run a moral scenario is extremely difficult, but, I think, very rewarding too.  But, first, you have to identify a few things.  Why are you (the DM) running this scenario?  What is it you are trying to accomplish?  To me, a moral scenario is all about pushing the player's buttons.  You want to push them out of their comfort zone and generate an interesting scene/session by driving home a situation where the players really don't have a "right" answer.If you start a moral scenario with a "right" and a "wrong" answer, there's no ambiguity to play out.  To me, the end result of the scenario is not the important party.  It's the process the players go through to get there that will be memorable.  And, since the result is not as important, the consequences cannot be one sided - if doing X gets rewarded and doing Y gets punished, that's not ambiguity, that's preaching.  At worst it's an Aha Gotcha moment when the paladin gets put in an impossible situation and loses his status through no real fault of his own.All that does is annoy the heck out of players.Moral situations have to be crafted with a great deal of care.  Trying to wing it, IME, generally won't work, because the situation has to be very strongly framed.  The players have to know A) this is a moral choice situation, and B) all choices are equally valid.Take the tried and true cliche of the D&D party has just slaughtered their way through the goblins and is now saddled with 2d6 goblin babies.  What do they do?  Ok, it's trite and whatnot, but, it is a morally gray issue.  Either way, kill the goblin babies or bring them home, is a valid option.  If they kill the goblin babies, probably the more merciful churches might give them the hairy eyeball and not be as nice to them, but they won't outright refuse service or publicly denounce them.  OTOH, the more martial social groups will probably fully support them and give them a pat on the back.  If they show mercy, then the opposite is likely true.  The merciful social groups will be happy, but the more martial groups might see them as weak.  Again, they don't denounce the PC's and they don't go out of their way to make their life difficult, but, relations are definitely strained.Granted, not all situations will be binary, and there may be multiple possibilities.  But, as a DM, you have to let the PC's make that decision.  They have to decide what is morally right.  It is not the DM's position to take his DM hat and beat them about the head and shoulders for not following what the DM thinks is right.  If you find yourself doing that, take a couple of steps back.  You can disagree with their reasoning without punishing them for it.  Their decision is every bit as valid as your own.To give an example from my own campaign, a recent SF scenario had a highly biotech modified individual insert himself into a low tech society.  The low tech society intentially chose to be low tech - think the SF equivalent of the Amish.  The biomodified individual began wooing women to spread his biotech modifications through his children.  The PC's are called in to catch the guy and find out what he was doing.  They did so and now have to decide what to do with the pregnant mothers.It was a great session.Moral situations make for fantastic roleplay but have to be handled with a great deal of care.  This is potentially explosive and potentially very divisive in a group.  Much more than many other situations, you have to know your group and what they will respond to.  Tread very, very lightly.</blockquote>

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