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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 3219696" data-attributes="member: 25619">Beowulf died as an old man defending his kingdom from a ravaging dragon.  He got the job done, but died doing it -- a heroic death indeed.The scenario I was reacting to the idea that PC's could just as easily do the adventure, or decide to make the heir a zombie, rape the princess, kill the king, and take over the kingdom.  My reaction as a DM: no, they can't.  I would make it effectively impossible through "in character" challenges they couldn't possibly overcome.If somebody wanted to rules-lawyer those challenges and argue with me on why they are the indisputable masters of the universe and why I have to DM their "Uday Hussein Fantasy Hour" for them, it's just not something I'd tolerate.  Thank goodness, I've never had to deal with this in 24 years of gaming.  Most players just want to play, not become Jeffrey Dallmer, Master of the Universe.Magic is not common in my campaign, just as ICBM's are not common in the real world, Stargates and interplanetary starships are not common on Earth in the Stargate universe, and Death Stars are not common in the Star Wars universe.  The thing is, the government has all these things, because the government has greater resources than the average homeless guy who wanders around killing orcs for a living.Because the first guy posting this said the kid went missing.  Stuff happens.  Go see "The Hunt for Red October" or "Broken Arrow" for how a powerful government could lose something important.The actual answer from my campaign is because there's a war on.  He's busy at the front, as is his army and many of his allies.  His castle is essentially the Pentagon, and the 20th level dudes are there healing the wounded brought back from the front and building a gate to a distant allied fortress.It seems a lot more plausible to me than the idea that the PC's can take over the kingdom at will, unopposed.Me too.  But if behavior like this (distasteful, obscene, nihilistic vandalism of the campaign world, in a silly preening attempt to prove you rule all), I wouldn't tolerate it.  I wouldn't hesitate to say "This action is the equivalent of jumping in a volcano and trying to swim in lava just to prove how awesome your Fort save is.  It has no place in this game, and I'm not interested in whatever rules you want to twist to claim it does.  If you insist, the character will perish."Political manouvering is one thing, but a direct assault on the king just because you figure it's easy and it's fun to push everybody around?  Ummm, no, you have miscalculated.</blockquote>

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