Challenges facing fugitive PCs.

[MonkeySage]

Recently, my players managed to prevent the mayor of a village from being executed for heresy(he worships Heironeous)... They did this by attacking his executioners and unfortunately couldn't finish off the leader of the group before he teleported out. As a consequence, the players found a lovely piece of artwork in the next town they went to: 6 wanted posters with their faces on them.

As a dm, what challenges might I face in the future creating adventures for my players?

As players, what challenges should they expect now that they know they are 'criminals' in the eyes of the empire?

How might these challenges be overcome?

They have already had a run in with the imperial Shadow Guard, a secret police force consisting of rogues and wizards.

[Cazero]

Depeding on the group, being forced to avoid civilisation can be challenging in itself. A druid wouldn't care much, but low level wizards would certainly suffer.
They have to avoid main roads where they could be recognised, wich slow them down. They have difficulties to obtain supplies, wich can make them starve or simply slowly deplete their reserve of magic components. They have to sleep in the open, wich isn't comfortable and expose them to harsh climate and feral beasts. All of these add up to whatever trouble their adventuring get them into.

As players, they will probably look forward to get out of the wanted list. The simplest way to do that is to get a fair trial in wich they are declared not guilty. Finding a judge willing to do that rather than an outright execution can be an adventure in itself. To have any chance at convincing a jury, they will have to save the day publicly a few times despite being wanted criminals. And then they will have to make sure that their trial is not rigged by a villain while being technically in custody.

[golentan]

As players, they will probably look forward to get out of the wanted list. The simplest way to do that is to get a fair trial in wich they are declared not guilty. Finding a judge willing to do that rather than an outright execution can be an adventure in itself. To have any chance at convincing a jury, they will have to save the day publicly a few times despite being wanted criminals. And then they will have to make sure that their trial is not rigged by a villain while being technically in custody.

Bear in mind this may not get them out of harm's way. In the scenario described, they're now basically known cop killers in an empire with a secret police. That's a good way to be found floating face down in the river the day after your "release from custody," or killed while violently resisting arrest when they detain you for something else: reasonable suspicion and actual resistance not required.

Depending on circumstances, while they're wanted they should expect manhunts. Several people they thought of as friends may sell them out if there's enough of a reward on the wanted poster. Doesn't have to be bad folks only, either, a thousand GP reward will pay for a lot of community outreach for a church, or give a dirtfarmer's daughter a shot at a better life attending university and learning to be a wizard, or help a community through a famine pretty solidly. If there's a reward being plastered all over the place, the PCs have no guaranteed friends anymore outside of other folks who are intrinsically opposed to the establishment.

They probably can't enter walled cities through conventional means, they'll be caught at gate checkpoints. Depending on regulations for travellers and documents (lots of empires have a pretty strict rule when it comes to papers), staying at inns may be more complicated unless they work up some forged identities. If guards take notice of them, don't have the guards jump them. Remember, guards travel in groups, and fair fights are for suckers. Amp up the paranoia, have two stay and engage in low voiced conversation while repeatedly glancing the PC's direction while one goes to get backup.

[AMFV]

Recently, my players managed to prevent the mayor of a village from being executed for heresy(he worships Heironeous)... They did this by attacking his executioners and unfortunately couldn't finish off the leader of the group before he teleported out. As a consequence, the players found a lovely piece of artwork in the next town they went to: 6 wanted posters with their faces on them.

As a dm, what challenges might I face in the future creating adventures for my players?

As DM the hardest thing to do I expect would be to keep the players from fleeing the Evil Empire altogether, unless they have a really good stake there they'll probably try to flee completely in order to avoid being hunted down.

As players, what challenges should they expect now that they know they are 'criminals' in the eyes of the empire?

Well it's going to be harder to get supplies, they are going to have to avoid almost all settlements, since people would rather be informants than accomplices. So they'll need a better degree of wilderness survival skills than they had previously.

How might these challenges be overcome?

Well as I said, survivalism, and contacting other criminal organizations or resistance organizations to help them flee would be my recommendation.