When PCs attack!

[Chymist]

As a DM, I seem to be having some difficulty in predicting just when my players are going to fight the random (or not so random) encounters. If I have a mysterious contact, I'm afraid he's going to be killed. But if I just have a couple of ogres for them to crawl over between towns, I don't want them angry at me for getting plastered in the surprise round.

So far, I've tried using descriptions and tone of voice to hint at the mood of the situation and give non-verbal clues about the way this encounter should probably go, but we switched to an online-only format recently, and I'm not sure how I can give those vital hints about the way they should or should not react.

Also, please don't accuse me of railroading. If the PCs really want to kill everyone they see, I won't tell them no, I just don't want them attacking allies because I can't give them the hints they need over the internet.

Thanks

[Tokiko Mima]

Use color coding? It works for dragons, after all. Describe all your baddies as shadowy and/or wearing darker hued clothing. Try to add words like 'menacing' or 'on the hunt' or 'predatory' that suggest hostility.

For the ones you don't want your PC's to attack, mention light colors and adjectives like 'attentive' or 'scouting' or 'appears alert' that mean the same thing but are taken in a non-threatening light. :smallsmile:

[Lycar]

Oh well. That is a bit of a problem in D&D I'm afraid.

Players are kinda expecting to be able to defeat everything they meet. You know, 'level appropriate challenges' and all that.

Personally I believe that a group of, say 4 people travelling together should always be reluctant to fight a group of, say, 12 ork bandits. Because 3 to 1 odds aren't exactly favourable. Even though they can easily wipe them out at lv. 4 for example.

Ogres? Well, they are really really large brutes who can really ruin your day if you aren't careful. So characters should think twice about engaging them. Not unless they feel confident they can dodge most blows (that is, have enought HP to suck up the punishment!).

As far as your mysterious contact goes... he is just one man. Against four. The characters have all rights to expect to be able to take on him.

Question is: Why are they feeling like killing one lone traveller on the road? That is murder after all. Something that good aligned characters should not even contemplate. Even neutral types should think twice before simply attacking someone because they can easily defeat him.

It is a question of playstyle really. If your players just want to go around and kill stuff, they want to meet creatures they can slay without being labeled murderes.

You know, non-layer races and beasties and aberrations and such. :smallamused:

If you want a more social game, try to give XP not for killing things but for achieving goals. Like, get the message through the Forest of Random Encounters and tell them that they get a fixed amount of XP for doing the quest, no matter how many beasties they flatten on their way through. That might actually encouarge them to hold themselves back a bit.

This approach doesn't sit well with some types of players though.

Or you really have to be tough about it and have some legal authorities investigate the murder of a person the PCs murdered. And let them pay the price!

It really comes down to if they want to play their characters as 'conquering heroes', who waltz over all opposition (and happen to save the world while they are at it), or if they want to play a group of people who wander the world together, to see new things, meet intersting people, learn the stories and mysteries of the world they live in (and just happen to grow more powerfull as their knowledge increases. World-saving optional).

Hope this gives you some ideas. :smallsmile:

Lycar