D&D: Justice Time
Apr. 26th, 2026 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerSince we're going to play my D&D game again later today I should really catch up on sharing the story from our last game twos weeks ago. That previous blog got a bit long— and also kind of dark. I want to retell what happened with the players meting out justice and add a few thoughts.
One of those thoughts is that I purposefully include morality plays in RPG stories. These are situations where there's no obviously right answer. And figuring out what's most right (or least wrong) is not easy. It's hard— on purpose. Honestly, players don't always respond well to these situations. So I use them sparingly. But I do use them.
Now a bit of background about this situation, illuminating what happened before it took an arguably dark turn:
First, recall that the group was attacked in an ambush by hobgoblins. But it wasn't just the monsters that were against them. Before the ambush they'd uncovered that the head merchant was a traitor. He knew the attack was coming and was paid to keep quiet about it. Then, during the attack, they spotted a human "spy" trying to make a getaway. Two of the PCs chased and captured the spy. Through questioning the two men they determined that the spy was the paymaster for the hobgoblin ambushers.
So, that brings us to this moral question:
You've captured two criminals. They plotted a murderous attack against you. You're days from a city big enough to try them in front of a magistrate. What do you do?
Letting them go is such weaksauce. Dragging them along with you for days to face justice in a city, expending time and resources and shouldering increased risk to transport murderers, seems nonsensical. And, oh, did I mention... one of the your party members is a member of a ruling coalition family? The magistrate a few days away you'd take them to would also be a member of a ruling coalition family... possibly the same family, possibly the family that the paymaster/assassin belongs to! 😨😵💀
Kiarana, the cleric, didn't condemn the two criminals, per se. Instead she proclaimed that fellow group member Otonio Tashara "Is the law here". Otonio, surprised by her strong words and not quite ready to step into that role, nonetheless did so. The aristocratic playboy pulled on his big-boy pants and pronounced sentence. For attempted murder of himself and his companions, death. For mutiny against the caravan and its crew, death. Leoghnie killed the assassin; Otonio killed the traitorous merchant himself.
One of those thoughts is that I purposefully include morality plays in RPG stories. These are situations where there's no obviously right answer. And figuring out what's most right (or least wrong) is not easy. It's hard— on purpose. Honestly, players don't always respond well to these situations. So I use them sparingly. But I do use them.
Now a bit of background about this situation, illuminating what happened before it took an arguably dark turn:
First, recall that the group was attacked in an ambush by hobgoblins. But it wasn't just the monsters that were against them. Before the ambush they'd uncovered that the head merchant was a traitor. He knew the attack was coming and was paid to keep quiet about it. Then, during the attack, they spotted a human "spy" trying to make a getaway. Two of the PCs chased and captured the spy. Through questioning the two men they determined that the spy was the paymaster for the hobgoblin ambushers.
So, that brings us to this moral question:
You've captured two criminals. They plotted a murderous attack against you. You're days from a city big enough to try them in front of a magistrate. What do you do?
Letting them go is such weaksauce. Dragging them along with you for days to face justice in a city, expending time and resources and shouldering increased risk to transport murderers, seems nonsensical. And, oh, did I mention... one of the your party members is a member of a ruling coalition family? The magistrate a few days away you'd take them to would also be a member of a ruling coalition family... possibly the same family, possibly the family that the paymaster/assassin belongs to! 😨😵💀
Kiarana, the cleric, didn't condemn the two criminals, per se. Instead she proclaimed that fellow group member Otonio Tashara "Is the law here". Otonio, surprised by her strong words and not quite ready to step into that role, nonetheless did so. The aristocratic playboy pulled on his big-boy pants and pronounced sentence. For attempted murder of himself and his companions, death. For mutiny against the caravan and its crew, death. Leoghnie killed the assassin; Otonio killed the traitorous merchant himself.
