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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8020063" data-attributes="member: 6801845">Should Batman kill The Joker?  I mean, I get it.  Largely thanks to the comic-book panic of the 50s and because people love recurring villains, Batman doesn't kill. Well, except when he does but that's another story.But take The Joker.  No matter how many times Batman sends him to Arkham, the Joker always escapes. Like every time.  Every time Joker escapes he terrorizes the city, usually with a pretty high body count.  At what point does the moral calculation change to saving innocent lives by ending the threat once and for all?It's the same with some TV shows.  The protagonists have just mowed down a couple dozen nameless guards, have the BBEG in their sites but then let him go.  Why?  Because if they kill the BBEG they'll "be just like him".  Seriously dude?  You saw him kill your own mother, you know if you don't kill him he'll set off a doomsday device that will take out half the city and now you've decided to be a pacifist?Which kind of goes back to something I was thinking about starting which is Crime and Punishment in D&D.  What if you don't have prisons?  What happens when there are no authorities to turn the bad guys over to?  What happens when the BBEG is running away and you know he's planning on releasing a magical plague to wipe out half the city?  Actions or inaction of the PCs matter.Generally speaking the PCs in my campaign are not dealing with petty theft or minor crimes when they cross paths with criminals.  They're either dealing with murderous cults trying to stop atrocities or are effectively fighting the front lines of an ongoing war.  If they're fighting a hostile aberration, it's because that outsider is at the forefront of an invasion not because they broke into the aberration's house to steal shiny stuff.End of the day, yes, it is just a game.  If the PCs can find a way to make peace or avoid conflict altogether, fantastic.  If they just want to wade in and start hacking the bad guys?  We can do that too.  I don't encourage either approach (I don't use XP). My big takeaway?  Is the group having fun?  Are we telling a story we enjoy?  If so, we're doing it right.</blockquote>

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