What to do in this situation

[Sam_Konkin]

You're in a town. The party hears fighting going on, checks out the source of the commotion, and see soldiers fighting what appears to be armed civilians. The soldiers cry out for help, saying that the town is under attack by bandits. The armed villagers also scream for aid, saying that they were simply gathering, and are being oppressed by the soldiers.

How do you figure out who's telling the truth?

PS: Preferably without magic. And if you need additional info, please ask.

 

[Axel]

The answers to your question are as varied as the characters involved. The choice of which side to take (or to take no sides) and subsequent actions depends on your character class (a Paladin will probably react differently to a Rogue who will probably react differently to a Cleric of Hextor). Alignment plays a significant factor as well.

Now, assuming the party interposes itself between the two sides and yells "Stop!", sorting out wrong from right is far from an easy (or even possible)process. Zone of Truth would probably be a good start if you're determined to get to the bottom of things. Failing that, Discern Lies. Without using magic, a lot of role playing the interactions and Sense Motive rolls.

Based on real-world similarities, its likely both parties are largely right. The civilians might very well be bandits that weren't engaged in banditry at the time. They may have been gathering with intent to invade, or they may have been about to stage a riot...its really hard to tell from a short paragraph. Hell, they could even be a huge group of vampire spawn, or dogglegangers... I would suspect, based on the worlds that I have played in, that genuine civilians arming themselves with anything that can withstand the town guard for more than 2 rounds means that something is up.

If you were meaning what would I, as a living and breathing person do? Probably get the hell out of dodge. Armed civil disobedience, when I don't know what is going on, is never something good to be around.

 

[Alexander123]

The first thing I would do is stop the fighting make sure all the armed civilians are unarmed and none have escaped. Then I would use interogate them to see if they are telling the truth while making sure they can't escape. I would also get the details of the story from the guards. Since D&D has magic available that makes things much easier. Although I do agree with Axel that if these civilians lasted for more than two rounds against the guards then something is up. Although I have heard or read stories about cops in real life who have done oppresive things. (like beating a helpless woman for example, so it is not far-fetched, but at this point you can't draw any conclusions from what is going on and it could swing either way. The best thing in my view is to stop the fighting, make sure the civilians have not escaped so you can interrogate them and if they turn out to be innocent you can defend them if necessary from the guards. Also you might want to interrogate the guards though magic and the like also just to make sure.)

 

[Submission]

What Alex and Axel said no need for me to repeat. But i would ask around i'm sure there is a crowd and someone that saw the start. If all else fails kill both parties dead men can't tell lies.

 

[frankthedm]

You're in a town. The party hears fighting going on, checks out the source of the commotion, and see soldiers fighting what appears to be armed civilians. The soldiers cry out for help, saying that the town is under attack by bandits. The armed villagers also scream for aid, saying that they were simply gathering, and are being oppressed by the soldiers.

How do you figure out who's telling the truth?

Sounds like the soldiers were doing their job either way! Dealing with armed commoners gathering without good reason, in town, is definitely within the soldiers purview.

 

[Vegepygmy]

How do you figure out who's telling the truth?

I beat it out of the DM.

 

[Cavall]

to be honest I would see if the towns people are armed. Bandits that attack have swords, and I doubt highly that a bunch of townspeople just "gathering" if every one of them has a weapon. Like, one guy with a pitch fork Ill buy. One with a stick. But bandits are armed.

So Id base it on that for starters.

 

[Jhaelen]

How do you figure out who's telling the truth?

The more interesting question to me is: Do I have to? Or: Why would I want to?

What I would do, depends on what kind of character I am portraying. Some characters would just try to stay out of trouble and make haste to leave the place. Others might simply wait out who's going to win. Others would try to make sure they'll gain some kind of reward before interfering. Some might automatically fight on one side or the other, others might try to end the conflict peacefully and _then_ try to find out what's actually going on.

 

[Cavall]

The question itself implied that my character is interested.

Thats why my choice was a visual summary of are the towns people claiming to be who they say that they are, given no one is disputing the Guards are who they say they are. Since that is the only information that needs to be figured out, like I said, I would look for weapons between the two "fighting" parties.

 

[Empirate]

To resolve such a situation in a satisfactory way, you need a lot more detail.

For example, what kind of town is this? Is it known for the totalitarian rulership going on there? Or for corrupt police forces? Do the laws stipulate that "civilians" (what does that even mean in a medieval world - btw, is it a medieval world?) must go unarmed all the time? Or is this taking place in a warrior culture, and everybody pretty much goes armed all the time? Is there a ban on public gatherings - and is there a good (or evil) reason for such a ban? Are there any background factors you need to take into account, like food shortages, racial upheavals, unusual environmental conditions, plague, religious zeal, a public hero being put to death on a trumped-up charge, a crime wave, etc.?

On to the situation itself: has there been blood already, maybe even several deaths, or is it more of a brawl? How messy is the situation - all a big clump of people struggling, or more of a standoff with clearly delineated sides? How big is the fight - a dozen guys slapping around four guards, or more like hundreds of citizens duking it out with the entire militia? What escalation is possible if the PCs don't intervene?

And so on, and so on. Whenever my PC finds him-/herself in a situation of the kind you briefly sketched, I'll probably know how to react properly and in-character. But that really requires more information.