Fantasy-related: Law in your games?

[Jon_Dahl]

Hi,

I'd like to know how laws work in your game.

As always, their importance relies heavily in the setting and players. Recently I had a city adventure where the PCs committed plenty of offenses against important people and organizations.

One of the PCs was caught and there were strong evidence to indict him. He was given a chance either to confess and testify against his party-members or be sentenced to death. He confessed, gave names and the full story of their wrongdoings.

Thus, he was sentenced to two years of hard labor for burglary (of a guild house) and possession of property stolen by crime. He will be given his gear back, but anything that was obviously used for the criminal activity will be confiscated by the crown (such as Chime of Opening of a thief).

[Driderman]

Hi,

I'd like to know how laws work in your game.

As always, their importance relies heavily in the setting and players. Recently I had a city adventure where the PCs committed plenty of offenses against important people and organizations.

One of the PCs was caught and there were strong evidence to indict him. He was given a chance either to confess and testify against his party-members or be sentenced to death. He confessed, gave names and the full story of their wrongdoings.

Thus, he was sentenced to two years of hard labor for burglary (of a guild house) and possession of property stolen by crime. He will be given his gear back, but anything that was obviously used for the criminal activity will be confiscated by the crown (such as Chime of Opening of a thief).

Two measly years sounds like a sweet deal, when you're downgrading from a death sentence.
In my fantasy realms, laws are usually pretty basic and punishment mainly revolves around execution, exile/outlawing, permanent disfiguration/branding to show off the nature of their crimes, forced labour/slavery or fines (in land or currency). Of course, my fantasy worlds are usually low on tech and culture and high on lethality and brutality.

[hymer]

In my worlds, the most basic system of law is from one of the most socially advanced of civilizations, a theocracy to the god of Justice and Community. The law is simply "Do what's right. Don't do what's wrong." If you break the law, you get a talking to by the local priest, and you must then do what's right and make amends for what you did wrong. That's all they need, except in war.

But that's the exception. My dwarves generally have extremely convoluted (some would say oppressive) legal systems, especially when it comes to trade practice and guild laws. Most human settlements tend to have fairly straightforward laws and harsh punishments. There's rarely any actual jails, instead you're sentenced to hard labour (unless you're important in some way, in which case a noble gets charged with imprisoning you).

[Ravens_cry]

I like the law to be a force to be reckoned with. Town Guard aren't bumbling buffoons who guard bridges from being stolen, but trained detectives and soldiers, who know how to put down and stop most crimes. Some things are out of their league, but, for the most part, they are who the townsfolk turn to.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Standard punishment is to be stripped naked and a description of your crimes scarred all over your body, then you're forced to walk the streets under an enchantment while random passerby beat you with sticks and pelt you with rocks, but you're conscious and aware of every moment of it, not needing to drink but feeling the hunger and the broken bones and the sleep deprivation. Some stay alive under these conditions for weeks until their bodies finally give out.

That's if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, they'll do even worse. Law enforcement is competent but universally corrupt, using their authority purely for their own material benefit or often just for cruel, sadistic fun. If there's a wrong to be righted, you're basically on your own, and you're just as likely to be punished for doing so as the actual criminals.

[Kitten Champion]

It would depend which jurisdiction you happen to be in. One utilizes enchantments to enslave anyone who lacks sufficient wealth or influence to worm their way out of suspicion. Another utilizes divination for their trials and investigations, and tends toward capital punishment -- although that's assuming your actions get passed their version of pre-crime. Still another imposes a mark of justice on all its citizens and visitors, with a strict list of commandments to follow making law enforcement pretty easy... unless you know how to lift the curse and reimpose the mark once you've committed a crime. One settles all conflicts with money, be it remuneration for property stolen/destroyed, healing for injury, or the costs for resurrection for murder/manslaughter -- assuming you lack the proper capital you'll be making up the cost with your flesh.

The states in the setting all have a fair bit of power, but their justice rarely extends beyond their boarders unless it's a matter of national security. The difference in enforcement depends on the level of authoritarianism with each state, and the respective economic conditions. The aristocratic state lead by sorcerer clans who produce servants, labourers, and foodstuffs with mere conjuration is less concerned about criminal activity than those who are centred on a more mundane Renaissance-era free market economy based around transmutation or the xenophobic nationalistic state with abjuration spells to provide safeguard within safeguards for the overzealous defence of their land.

It wouldn't be strange at all to see a homogeneous, highly conservative, and religiously orthodox state -- which are most in a stereotypical medieval settings -- using inefficient yet lethal punishments for petty crimes. Getting a plea deal is something of a modern concept. Although I guess you never know when the law has been handled so informally.

[DigoDragon]

One thing about fantasy law is having to deal with magic. While the average city guard/police force has few mages in their employ, I like to give all the officers in larger cities at least 1 rank in Knowledge (Arcana) or Spellcraft to represent training in identifying magical effects and how they affect a crime scene.
This way, if a PC starts casting a spell, the guards have a chance to understand that the words coming out of the character's mouth isn't gibberish and it's time to duck and cover.

[Andreaz]

Of course, my fantasy worlds are usually low on tech and culture and high on lethality and brutality.

The only way to be "low on culture" is to remove any intelligent being from the equation.

[Yora]

I'm currently preparing a barbarian campaign in which there is obviously barely any official law enforcement, yet I want players to be restrained about the use of force. Everyone just burning and pillaging all the time is just too unrealistic.

So what is restraining them is the reputation of their clan:
To be allowed entry to any settlement, you have to give the guards your clan and they will decide if your clan is welcome or not. If you do great deeds, it improves the reputation of your clan, if you commit crimes your clans reputation suffers. So even if you escape from a crime, someone will come to your chief and demand reparations. The chief does not want the reputation of his clan to be damaged, so he will probably pay. But he will also severly punish the offenders that caused the incident and also make sure that no other of his people step out of line when visiting other clans again. If you don't behave, you are not allowed to visit the lands of other clans, and if you ignore the order, you can be exiled.
When you come to another clan and you are from a clan with good reputation, people will trust you. If your chief is known to keep his people in line and he allowed you to travel, this makes you trustworthy. If people from your clan often cause trouble that means that the chief either can't control his people or doesn't care what they do, which both means that people from that clan can not be trusted. If you don't have any clan that means you got exiled or are the child of exiled parents. Even if you are not a horrible person, there is nobody who would pay reparation for any damage you cause. Also, it means nobody would be offended when something happens to you, so people without a clan are usually chased away.

So basically, when you come to a village or town and the clan is friendly with your clan, you are a honored guest. If your clan has poor reputation or you have no clan, you will be send away. If your clan is an enemy, you probably get shot on sight.
No laws, no courts. Just always the threat of becomming an outcast who is welcome nowhere to keep people in line.

[pffh]

In my current game the area where the players are in has three types of punishment:

1. A fine equal to the harm caused
2. A fine equal to the harm caused plus an additional thousand silver pieces
3. Exile for 24 years

All fines can be paid in whatever way the person that was wronged agrees to including but not limited to money, goods and services.

During your exile anyone can legally kill you and those that help you.

[some guy]

Some cities in my campaign have medievil-type of law and punishment.
Some cities have no law. The main city is ruled by bored aristocrats though, and that results in very Kafka-esque law and punishments, all for the amusements of the upper class.

[Vorr]

Hi,

I'd like to know how laws work in your game.

While it varies from place to place in the game world, law and order is above all else fun. I would never give a character time in prison, for example. That is boring. They would get the 'special' penalty. The judge would come to them in the cell and offer a deal, that leads to an adventure.

Every society, good or evil, lawful or chaotic, needs unseen people to get things done. Things that the official members of the society can't do.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Because laws are so dependent on culture, I find it terribly unrealistic for dramatically different places; socially, politically, or even just geographically; to have sets of laws that are too similar. Obvious exceptions being made for theocratic city states under the rule of the same church, though even those will show some difference depending on regional cultural and climatological influences.

In the more medieval-ish city-states the law is fairly basic and informally enforced.

In a theocratic state run by a church of a lawful deity, the laws and their enforcement will be precise and detailed, though they may be tempered by mercy or steeped in cruelty if the theocracy isn't morally neutral.

In a more climatologically temperate and fertile region laws will tend toward a more thorough degree of detail and somewhat more moderate enforcement, while in an ecologically or climatologically harsh region the laws will tend to be simpler and their enforcement more harsh.

TL;DR: There are simply far too many factors that go into how laws are formed and enforced to realistically apply just one set to an entire campaign world, unless it's a fairly small world.

[Jay R]

Basic Feudalism:

1. The king can do anything he likes in the kingdom.
BUT the tools he uses to enforce his will are the nobles. He'd better not try to do something that the nobles won't support.

2. Within their fiefdom, the nobles can do anything they like.
BUT the tools they use to enforce their will are the knights. They'd better not try to do something that the knights won't support.

3. On their land, the knights can do anything they like.
BUT the tools they use to enforce their will are the men-at-arms. They'd better not try to do something that the men-at-arms won't support.

4. The men-at-arms can do anything they like.
BUT they can be killed by peasants with bows. They's better not try to do something that the peasants won't support.

5. The peasants can do anything they like. If they don't like growing food, they starve.

This is all modified by the fact that the Church has real power, in the form of divine magic, and the wizards have real power, in the form of arcane magic. But priests and wizards sleep. they'd better not ...

... ad infinitum.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Basic Feudalism:

1. The king can do anything he likes in the kingdom.
BUT the tools he uses to enforce his will are the nobles. He'd better not try to do something that the nobles won't support.

2. Within their fiefdom, the nobles can do anything they like.
BUT the tools they use to enforce their will are the knights. They'd better not try to do something that the knights won't support.

3. On their land, the knights can do anything they like.
BUT the tools they use to enforce their will are the men-at-arms. They'd better not try to do something that the men-at-arms won't support.

4. The men-at-arms can do anything they like.
BUT they can be killed by peasants with bows. They's better not try to do something that the peasants won't support.

5. The peasants can do anything they like. If they don't like growing food, they starve.

This is all modified by the fact that the Church has real power, in the form of divine magic, and the wizards have real power, in the form of arcane magic. But priests and wizards sleep. they'd better not ...

... ad infinitum.

Of note: the church or churches would likely wield a fair amount of political clout even if they didn't have magic to back it up. So says history, anyway.

[kieza]

Varies depending on what country we're talking about:

-Imperial-Russia analogue: Minor crimes, you get a term of forced labor ranging from 3 months to 10 years, or are forcibly conscripted and sent to the front lines; major crimes, you get executed by drawing and quartering.
-Victorian-England analogue: Minor crimes, imprisoment in kind of nasty prisons; for major crimes, death by hanging.
-Imperial Rome analogue: For minor crimes, branding or imprisonment; for major crimes, death by lightning strike. Notably, punishments for people in positions of power are commensurate with the degree of power held.
-Vatican-esque theocracy: Minor crimes punished by terms of fasting, purging, or ritual flagellation. Major crimes punished by an inquisition: torture until confession, aided by healing magic, followed by immolation. Judgement is passed by inquisitor-priests.
-Reconquista-esque Spanish nomads: Minor crimes punished by scarification and exile. For major crimes, execution by being dragged behind a wild horse until dead. If you can get loose from the horse, the sentence is reduced to exile. Judges are tribal chiefs or shaman.
-Feudal French petty kingdoms: Local lords write the laws and pass judgement, and punishments vary. Mutilation (removal of limbs, eyes, or tongues) is common for minor crimes. Major crimes generally get execution by beheading, drawing or quartering, or drowning.
-Dwarves: For minor crimes, fines. For major crimes, the guilty are stripped of their clan name (which ensures that they will not be inscribed in a Book of the Dead) and exiled. For murder, death by entombing in stone. Judges double as historians and genealogists, and the accused are tried by their own clan.
-High Elves: For minor crimes, fines or imprisonment. For major crimes, exile, unless the victim belonged to a noble House, in which case you are turned over to the victim's family to perform a punishment specified by the courts, which are not affiliated with the noble Houses.
-Wood Elves: All crimes are judged by the local lord, who gives summary judgement. For this reason, punishments vary widely. The exception is if the victim was a druid, in which case, you will probably wind up part of a ritual sacrifice.

[Andreaz]

I advise against treating races as nations. Just use nations.

[kieza]

I advise against treating races as nations. Just use nations.

I'm sorry, whose setting is this?

That said, "Dwarves" is a shorthand for "Nation founded, ruled, and mostly populated by dwarves."

[PetterTomBos]

In my campaign only the home-land of the PC's have a statted out legal system. There exists courts in the big cities, and prisons as well. In the capitol one has both the city gard and the paladin order. Both are in charge of handling crime, sharing the work. The city guard is flexible lads with common sense. They are good, yet oftenly corrupt to some degree. On the other side we have the paladins, faithful, loyal and completely incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

Out in the country they have Judge Judy, a wyrm gold dragon, that has lost in xorvintaal. She travels the countryside, handing out judgement. If things are not urgent, the local chief wait for her, if they are he may drag the wrongdoer to town, or a neighboring village that Judy will soon pass trough. (Judy is naturally inspired by the TV-show. She does look a bit like an angry, inpatient dragon in human shape, doesnt she? :) )

Elsewise, I just assume that the law reflects the rest of the nations. Some examples: Southern nation of the desert: weird, harsh punishments. Smaller kingdoms in the middle? Changing practices, hard to know what to expect. May be subject to the latest whim (2 years of hard tannery work for you sir!). The western free cities? Solid systems that differ a little. Their authority usually penetrates tens of leagues into the country around them.

Somewhere there is a "deck of shabby things", as an alternative to a conventional punishment for first time offenders.

[Ravens_cry]

I'm sorry, whose setting is this?

That said, "Dwarves" is a shorthand for "Nation founded, ruled, and mostly populated by dwarves."

True, but I agree, this is a trope I've also been trying to move away from. It should have a name besides 'the Dwarves'.

[Jon_Dahl]

Varies depending on what country we're talking about:

-Imperial-Russia analogue: Minor crimes, you get a term of forced labor ranging from 3 months to 10 years, or are forcibly conscripted and sent to the front lines; major crimes, you get executed by drawing and quartering.
-Victorian-England analogue: Minor crimes, imprisoment in kind of nasty prisons; for major crimes, death by hanging.
-Imperial Rome analogue: For minor crimes, branding or imprisonment; for major crimes, death by lightning strike. Notably, punishments for people in positions of power are commensurate with the degree of power held.
-Vatican-esque theocracy: Minor crimes punished by terms of fasting, purging, or ritual flagellation. Major crimes punished by an inquisition: torture until confession, aided by healing magic, followed by immolation. Judgement is passed by inquisitor-priests.
-Reconquista-esque Spanish nomads: Minor crimes punished by scarification and exile. For major crimes, execution by being dragged behind a wild horse until dead. If you can get loose from the horse, the sentence is reduced to exile. Judges are tribal chiefs or shaman.
-Feudal French petty kingdoms: Local lords write the laws and pass judgement, and punishments vary. Mutilation (removal of limbs, eyes, or tongues) is common for minor crimes. Major crimes generally get execution by beheading, drawing or quartering, or drowning.
-Dwarves: For minor crimes, fines. For major crimes, the guilty are stripped of their clan name (which ensures that they will not be inscribed in a Book of the Dead) and exiled. For murder, death by entombing in stone. Judges double as historians and genealogists, and the accused are tried by their own clan.
-High Elves: For minor crimes, fines or imprisonment. For major crimes, exile, unless the victim belonged to a noble House, in which case you are turned over to the victim's family to perform a punishment specified by the courts, which are not affiliated with the noble Houses.
-Wood Elves: All crimes are judged by the local lord, who gives summary judgement. For this reason, punishments vary widely. The exception is if the victim was a druid, in which case, you will probably wind up part of a ritual sacrifice.

Thank you, I found this post very inspiring! Thanks!

[Roxxy]

My campaign setting is based around a single nation, and therefore bears a unified legal system. This country is a republic with a legal system based off of the idea of innocence until proof of guilt. Trials are decided out by three professional judges and three randomly chosen civilians, with a unanimous verdict required. The accused has the right to a lawyer, with the government providing one if necessary.

Generally, fines are issued for minor crimes and a period of indentured servitide for major crimes, with imprisonment only used to for people considered too dangerous for indentured servitude. Executions are reserved for rapists, torturers, slave traders or slave owners, and murderers. As a long standing matter of tradition, the condemned individual is permitted to decide how to die so long as they choose a feasible method. Executions are not done publicly, even if the condemned asks.

Law enforcement is done by trained police in cities and by sherrifs backed by civilian posses in rural areas.

Treason is not a crime on the books of this nation do to a past marred by a totalitarian government (this is the same reason executions are not public and people involved in the slave trade can be sentenced to death). This is not to say that traitors get off scott free, they just get charged with things like sharing secret information instead of with treason.

[Admiral Squish]

I once had a law student friend of mine draw up a set of laws about the ownership, sale, and inheritance of warforged slaves. It was pretty cool, but the project died before he was finished.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I have one very high-magic setting I've run a few games in ("very high magic" meaning lots of outsiders/elementals/aberrations on the Prime, low-level casters being almost ubiquitous and high-level casters not being particularly rare, that sort of thing, not necessarily Tippyverse-scale magitek) that includes several nations that are interesting from a legal perspective.

The State of Paradise

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Paradise is a strongly Good-aligned nation with a high population of celestials. Archons, guardinals, eladrin, and angels all have a relatively equal representation in the state of Paradise, and all governments consist of an equal ratio of archons, guardinals, eladrin, angels, LG mortals, NG mortals, and CG mortals--the smallest towns generally have a council of 7, while the capital city has a ruling body of 343. The celestials use their innate SLAs and casting for the good of the community, almost everyone has at least one level of a divine spellcasting class (in this world the average young teenager/apprentice is level 1 and the average adult professional is level 5 or 6, so 1 level of a divine casting class doesn't make the population too homogeneous), and society runs very harmoniously.

The armies of Paradise are entirely defensive in nature (they will go to the aid of their allies, but they never act as aggressors) and are composed almost entirely of paladins (of all three good-aligned varieties), knights, crusaders, soulborn, and similar martial hybrids on the martial side and clerics, archivists, shugenja, and incarnates on the casting side. Military service is entirely voluntary, and those who believe that evil should be confronted rather than reacted to are often sent out in what amount to state-sponsored adventuring parties to confront evil. Of course, only the slaying of supernatural evil is tolerated, and then only after diplomacy fails; such "adventuring parties" carry scrolls of atonement more often than scrolls of fireball.

Since you pretty much have to be Good to be a citizen of Paradise--both because neutral and evil people wanting to move in are asked to undergo atonement first, and because most of its territory has the Major Good-Aligned planar trait and you can't walk five feet without tripping over a hallow effect--the legal code is quite simple and straightforward. The entirety of the law is as follows:

• Take no action that will harm another, unless by your inaction a greater harm will come to pass.
• Take no action that will infringe the freedom of another, unless by your inaction a greater freedom is infringed.
• Take no action that will compromise your integrity or another's trust in you, unless by your inaction a greater trust is violated.
• Treat all other beings according to their wishes.
• Treat all other beings with the respect due them.
• Treat all other beings as being equal to yourself.
• Act always to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.

Very Asimov, and it works quite well. The legal system, such as it is, consists of celestials concerned with what exactly constitutes "greater harm" or "greater good" or "equal," but celestials live for discussion of that kind of moral philosophy; for the average mortal citizen, it's obvious when one of those laws might be broken, the only uncertainty being which laws take precedence (which the celestial scholars have discussed to death by this point) and what the consequences might be, and that kind of situation doesn't really come up in daily life.

The Ascendancy

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Where Paradise is heavily skewed towards Good and divine magic, the Ascendancy is heavily skewed towards Chaos and psionics. The entire population is psionic, individual freedom and initiative are the highest virtues, mental privacy and free will are inviolable, material possessions are interchangeable, and intellectual and artistic pursuits are prized above all. The civilization is coordinated by non-evil aboleths and illithid-kin (there aren't many of them, for obvious reasons), and it's the most magitek-y civilization in this setting; if you're familiar with The Culture, the aboleths and elder brains are basically Minds, and you get the gist of the social norms.

Between the elan ritual, astral seed, true mind switch, temporal manipulation, and similar methods, the citizens of the Ascendancy are functionally immortal and will often change bodies several times throughout their lives. Psicrystals and elemental envoys are ubiquitous, and national defense is ensured via psicrystals' Channel Power and voidmind creatures; when a single soldier can have 5+ high-level psionicists manifesting through it, you don't want to face these guys on the battlefield.

The legal code is fairly loose, with social norms being enforced by informal social contract more than anything else, but there are still some hard laws and some harsh penalties for breaking them, including but not limited to:

• Thou shalt not read, alter, or otherwise interfere with another sapient being's mind or grossly violate their free will.
• Thou shalt not cause the permanent death of another sapient being under any circumstances, or the bodily death of another sapient being without their permission, unless failing to do so would result in an illegal action against you.
• Any extensions of a sapient being's mind, such as a psicrystal, schism, astral seed, fissioned body, drone in a hive mind, etc. are legally considered to be that sapient being for the purposes of damages and reparations.
• When a mind has exited a body for good (e.g. the former inhabitant has grown a new one), the body is henceforth considered to be collective property and may be freely used for necromancy, science, and other purposes.
• A "lifetime" is defined as being one subjective century for humanoids, one subjective millennium for aberrations and other biologically-immortal creatures, and five subjective centuries for all other creatures.

Punishments depend on the severity and target of the crime:

• "Negotiable" crimes (those that don't involve mental violation or permanent death) are punished with Isolation:
  • Minor crimes against non-citizens are punished by immersing a criminal or the criminal's astral seed in quintessence for a specified period of time not to exceed one lifetime.
  • Major crimes against non-citizens or minor crimes against citizens are punished by physical isolation in null psionics sensory deprivation chambers, with appropriate mental care to ensure that they stay sane the whole time, for up to one lifetime.
  • Major crimes against citizens or extreme crimes against non-citizens are punished by a custom-tailored unpleasant microcosm, with the body being cared for so that the full sentence is lived out. Particularly heinous crimes can merit multiple consecutive life sentences, which means multiple increasingly-unpleasant lifetimes lived out in increasingly-unpleasant microcosms. Such a punishment was only ever administered once in Ascendancy history, to a power-mad yuan-ti wilder who attempted to travel back in time and retroactively render humanoid species extinct; he is currently serving his 80th consecutive life sentence, out of a total of 1500.
• "Non-negotiable" crimes (those that do involve mental violation or permanent death) are punished with Oblivion:
  • Minor crimes against non-citizens are punished by removing the perpetrator's psionic abilities and stripping them of citizenship for a specified period of time not to exceed one lifetime.
  • Major crimes against non-citizens or minor crimes against citizens are punished by turning them into Generators: they are rendered helpless, their power selections are altered by apopsi and psychic chirurgery to consist solely of bestow power, they are infected with Cascade Flu, and then are used as conscious-but-unwilling psionic batteries by other citizens. This sentence is usually measured in months for minor crimes or years for major crimes, but lifetime sentences are not unheard of.
  • Major crimes against citizens or extreme crimes against non-citizens are punished by turning them into voidmind creatures, destroying any extensions they may have, and destroying their soul on death.

The Ascendancy is generally very tolerant within their limits, but they believe strongly in retributive karmic justice; break one of their laws, especially one of the Big Two, and they do not **** around.

There are several others I can write a bit about if people are interested, but those should be good for now.

[TheOOB]

I find it's less important how laws work, and more important how they don't work. Adventure focused games tend to do best in areas of poor law enforcement. For good type characters, that gives brigands and monsters to fight, rights to wrong, and people to rescue, and for bad guys it gives a setting where they can get away with their plans. Areas with good law enforcement tend to have little need for adventurers, and even they most good adventures will likely run afoul of any strong law enforcement.

[Roxxy]

I find it's less important how laws work, and more important how they don't work. Adventure focused games tend to do best in areas of poor law enforcement. For good type characters, that gives brigands and monsters to fight, rights to wrong, and people to rescue, and for bad guys it gives a setting where they can get away with their plans. Areas with good law enforcement tend to have little need for adventurers, and even they most good adventures will likely run afoul of any strong law enforcement.

I found a way to work with strong law enforcement in my games: let the players be part of a special unit of law enforcement. Those who deal with the worst threats, such as vampires, rogue mages, and hostile dragons, have a wide level of freedom to act as they choose, so long as the threat gets eliminated, collateral damage is minimized and nobody gets illegally arrested or tortured, and killing is permitted if a lethal threat is posed (and there pretty much always is a lethal threat posed).

[Jay R]

Some day I want to run a game in which this is the real question for many adventures. The game would start a game in an isolated village surrounded by a haunted forest. There is one road going through the forest north and south, with almost no traffic - only an occasional adventuring party, telling outlandish stories. The PCs are all just reaching adulthood (13-16 years old), and don't know anything about the outer world. Old folks would talk about better days when there were lots of travelers.

The PCs would take on the goblins in the "haunted" forest, and travel to the rest of the world. They would discover brigands, tyrannical barons, abandoned settlements, and places overrun with monsters. Eventually, they would discover that almost all law and structure fell apart fifty years ago, with the fall of Camelot, the end of King Arthur' rule, and the breaking of the Round Table.

[Wyntonian]

One notable example is the Wolf's Head. People that commit a crime that falls between the death sentence and a thorough ass-kicking by everyone wronged get a wolf's head branded on their forearm, and a fine. Only, nobody is supposed to hire you, feed you, or help you in any way, and your land, if you have it, is given to the victim and your assets parted out.

So, the Wolf Heads go to the neighboring country to the south and raid like viking bastards until they collect enough money to pay off their debt and return to society. Except. Y'know. Without their stuff.

Otherwise, they go further south and sign on as mercenaries or something and never come back.

[Jay R]

One notable example is the Wolf's Head. People that commit a crime that falls between the death sentence and a thorough ass-kicking by everyone wronged get a wolf's head branded on their forearm, and a fine. Only, nobody is supposed to hire you, feed you, or help you in any way, and your land, if you have it, is given to the victim and your assets parted out.

So, the Wolf Heads go to the neighboring country to the south and raid like viking bastards until they collect enough money to pay off their debt and return to society. Except. Y'know. Without their stuff.

Otherwise, they go further south and sign on as mercenaries or something and never come back.

Band together? Of course. Raid or become mercenaries? Sure - it's the only option they have.

But why leave and prey on other lands? I would expect the Wolf Heads to band together against the people who did that to them, savagely attacking and laying waste to the countryside.

This idea really does seem like a culture creating its own attackers.

[Wyntonian]

Band together? Of course. Raid or become mercenaries? Sure - it's the only option they have.

But why leave and prey on other lands? I would expect the Wolf Heads to band together against the people who did that to them, savagely attacking and laying waste to the countryside.

This idea really does seem like a culture creating its own attackers.

The culture is the Obligatory Northern Viking Expy Guys. They're a Proud Warrior Race, attacking their own people from sheer pissyness isn't really on their agenda.

Also, they'd get demolished. The people who kicked them out didn't do so because they were too weak to kill them and be done, they just want to screw with their neighbors to the south. They have the strongest and best-organized militia in the world, and they don't take kindly to bandits.

That said, I see your point. If it weren't for the deeply-rooted social stigma against it, that's be freaking stupid.