Linked Questions
83 questions linked to/from How do I get my PCs to not be a bunch of murderous cretins?
19
votes
9
answers
14k
views
How to balance a "murder hobo" party with fair punishment [duplicate]
The events depicted in this question happened many months ago and that campaign is now over. While there is no fixing what I did, I want to move forward and learn from what I am pretty sure is a ...
- 4,232
22
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How do I let players know that not every encounter has to be hack and slash? [duplicate]
My players kind of have a habit of, "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, WE MUST KILL IT!"
Recently they came across a small goblin camp and one of them (who speaks goblin) verbally ...
- 55.5k
3
votes
2
answers
713
views
How can I handle, or prevent, provocative actions by my players? [duplicate]
I have been DM'ing for a few years, and due to my upbringing I prefer to run games that don't really allow for what I consider to be evil acts in game. For me, that means using basic common sense and ...
- 637
76
votes
15
answers
19k
views
How can I prevent players from using Persuasion or Deception to weasel their way out of a murder?
Background
My players accepted a quest to basically be drug mules, delivering illicit goods to a faraway town. While alone with the NPC giving the assignment, they decided to kill him and take the ...
- 871
68
votes
13
answers
18k
views
How can I impose consequences when PCs commit severe crimes?
For context, this is my first adventure as a DM. The PCs are level 2.
About 40 minutes into the first session, while investigating the rumours about a ghost ship, the group meets with Aleyd Burrows, ...
- 1,237
90
votes
12
answers
24k
views
Did I overstep my power as DM?
While playing a game with a previous group, in the middle of a combat, I had an enemy caster hidden from general combat, but still casting different spells like heal and other non-damage spells to ...
- 2,337
58
votes
17
answers
14k
views
Dealing with "fearless" players
I have some "badass" players in my group who do not fear death, 4 out of 6 to be precise, which causes problems for the rest players as they feel they are always getting dragged into trouble, trying ...
- 1,131
66
votes
12
answers
10k
views
How can I show-not-tell my players that they are The Bad Guys?
My players have an interesting habit of changing their behavior on a dime. Between objectives, they'll be trying to fix problems at small towns they pass through and helping the locals, but once they ...
- 1,067
36
votes
14
answers
9k
views
My players have a habit of always torturing enemies they capture for information, how can I make our adventure less macabre? [closed]
So I'm running the lost mines of Phandelver as a new DM and we're about 5 sessions in. I've noticed a pattern that seems to repeat itself: the players defeat and capture an evil NPC character that ...
- 427
45
votes
10
answers
23k
views
How do I deal with players who make friends with goblins?
I want to run a campaign "from the book" for a group of new players (played RPGs before, but stuff much much lighter then D&D, and I've not DMed this edition before. I DMed D&D 4e once: over ...
- 759
69
votes
13
answers
6k
views
How to communicate to the players that an encounter can be solved also through diplomacy?
When you play D&D, you are not supposed to chat with the enemy during encounters. The system is made for fighting. However, in some circumstances, it would be nice to make the players conscious ...
- 10.8k
59
votes
14
answers
7k
views
How can I get players to realize that their enemies aren't evil?
For an upcoming game, I'm planning on making one of the early hooks a standard-seeming "tribe of monstrous humanoids (in this case, lizardfolk, if that makes a difference) is bothering us, go deal ...
- 1,099
92
votes
5
answers
60k
views
What exactly is a "murder hobo"?
I've been here reading Q&A for some month now, and I already saw some concerning murder-hobos (or sometimes called murderous cretins).
As I'm French, I tried to directly translate it, but it gave ...
- 3,640
56
votes
11
answers
6k
views
How do I deal with PCs who use kidnap and torture as an investigative technique? [closed]
I'm running a game in a modern setting with emphasis on the paranormal (Conspiracy X). The player characters are part of a secret government organization and are tasked with investigating & ...
- 874
32
votes
20
answers
7k
views
How can I best implement a recurring villain when the players are not opposed to killing? [closed]
I am writing up a campaign for D&D4e that I will be playing in a couple of months and, though I do not have the storyline 100% all thought out, I know the general tone I am going for already, and ...
- 1,053