DMs, Prevent Murderhobos By Rewarding Alternative Player Strategies

We're all used to hearing from the dungeon masters who complain about the murderhobos at their table. DMs who are trying to run a world with depth, complexity, and meaningful characters, but where the only response from their players seems to be to keep stabbing until either the plot moves forward, or people stop trying to talk at them.

He's a big guy, right? I take his shoes.

While there are numerous reasons that players turn to the life of the murderhobo, there is one thing you can do to help reform them. In some cases it even stops PCs from becoming murderhobos in the first place. The method is simple.

Reward the effort that comes with taking alternative routes, rather than simply making death the quick and easy answer to everything.

Enemies Should Be More Than Mere Mooks

There are going to be some enemies that have no unique characteristics. They have no personality, they aren't important to the story or the world, and they really are here just to have their heads staved in by the PCs. Your automatons, your mindless undead, things like that. However, any time there is a living, breathing creature involved in a combat, you need to signal to players that these characters aren't just targets to be knocked down so they can progress. They're a living, breathing part of the world that can be interacted with in ways other than violence.

It's still AN option, just not THE option.

 

You can lead by example on this, if you want to. For example, rather than just having a gang of outlaws ambush your party while they sleep, have them hail the camp. The leader lets the party know they're surrounded, and they have a choice. They can hand over a tithe (some reasonable amount of gold, typically), and the gang will leave... or if they refuse, then the gang will take everything they have.

Sure, some players are going to just draw steel or cast a spell, drawing all the readied actions coming their way. But others might try to get a dialogue going. To make a deal with the bandits by appealing to their sense of professionalism, by scoffing something like, "I thought the Cardinal's men had honor, yet you approach us like this?", or even by challenging them to single combat. But by opening the scene with dialogue, you've shown these particular bandits are characters. They react like reasonable, rational people, and they're open to suggestions if the party can make something worth their while.

That's a start.

Taking Prisoners, Instead of Taking Heads

Another thing you can do, as a DM, is to institute the Old West rule of bounty hunting, as I call it. If you've seen old-timey Wanted posters, then you know the phrase, "Dead or Alive," that was so famously tacked to the bottom of them. But the thing a lot of folks forget is that the reward for a live capture was often a great deal more than that given for a dead body. And in some cases the reward was entirely contingent on the individual being handed over while they were still alive, and able to stand trial, with no reward for someone who was dead.

Poster don't say nothing about the condition his knees have to be in, though.

 

Take that logic and apply it to early quests in your game. PCs want to get paid, but if killing someone means the reward for them goes up in smoke, then they're going to approach the situation very differently. It will get them thinking about the world, and about how they can win without needing to deliver a death blow. The sheer challenge is why I listed this approach in my 3 Ways To Spice Up Combat in RPGs, but it can have a larger effect than a single mission.

Especially if you plant the seeds just right.

Let's go back to that bandit gang example. Say you've got a low-level party, and they want to claim a reward that's out right now for the Cardinals; a gang of cutthroats and highwaymen who have plagued the area. Rather than just giving the PCs a flat reward for killing all the bandits, change it up. Give them a big reward for bringing in the leader of the gang to stand trial, with a smaller reward for him dead. Give the lieutenants the same treatment. But for the smaller foot soldiers of the gang, there's no reward if they're dead, unless a living prisoner verifies who they were.

Now you've got a challenge on your hands. Because not only do you have to take captives (ideally), but you may need to negotiate with some of them get them to act as your witnesses that their dead comrades-in-arms were actually part of the Cardinals so you can get paid. How do you persuade them to do that? Do you scare them into it with Intimidate checks? Do you talk to these bandits, and find out who they are, and who they used to be? Does the fighter recognize an old army tattoo on one of the prisoners, cajoling him to stand up, and tell the truth like a soldier should? Can the rogue get one of them talking over their soup, finding out that he only joined the outfit to get the money to take care of a wife, or a sick mother? Do they use that knowledge to make a deal with them, agreeing to take some of the proceeds to that bandit's family, if they help them out here and stand witness?

Repercussions For Their Actions

If you set the tone early, then you can give PCs repercussions for their actions... both good and bad.

Valor may be its own reward, but sometimes it helps to sweeten the deal.

 

As an example, say your PCs are trying to stop the bloodshed between a clan of orcs, and a local town. Common setup. While some raiders might be slain, those who are taken prisoner present another opportunity. Can the PCs show their captives that they will treat them with respect and dignity, as enemy combatants are due? Does this improve the attitude of the prisoners (perhaps from hostile to distrustful)? Do they find that the orcs are unique from one another, with some holding forth about the blood debt the town owes them, and others saying this whole thing is just a show because they're hungry and pushed off their land, but pride won't let them just move onto greener pastures... so to speak?

To take it a step further, say that the chieftain's son was among the raiders. A party of murderhobos would see his fine equipment and noted rank (likely as the raid leader), charge him, and kill him. Doing so might make him a martyr, and entrench the orcs that much more deeply. PCs who think to make knowledge checks, and who disable him so he can be captured may find they now have a prisoner who is very valuable... both for the information he possesses, and because he could force the chief to come to the negotiation table so terms for ending this feud can be discussed.

Repercussions can be small things, as well as big ones. Characters who bring in prisoners instead of corpses might find themselves admired and treated as heroes, while those who kill for gold are seen as untrustworthy and dangerous. PCs who pause long enough to find that the rampaging manticore has a toothache might be able to solve the problem without slaying the beast, giving them an opportunity to, if not tame it, then to earn its positive regard. Those who challenge an ogre to a test of strength when it tries to mug them on the road, and who then trick that ogre with some Grimm fairy tales Sleight of Hand shenanigans, may find that other ogres are deferential to them, having heard the tales of the man who squeezed blood from a stone.

And so on, and so forth.

You Get What You Give

To carry through the theme I started with If Your Players Focus On It, Make It Matter, players are going to latch onto the things that reward them. Both in a monetary sense, as I mentioned above, but also in the sense that you show them their actions are having an effect on the game world around them. That what they're doing matters, even if it's in small ways.

Return on investment is the name of the game, here.

 

If you want your players to take actions other than mindlessly killing NPCs, then those other actions need to give them something. Because if you stolidly refuse to have any give-and-take when PCs interrogate prisoners, you insist that all enemies fight to the death like zealots, or you refuse to reward any other course of action, then sooner or later players are going to stop using any other method because they aren't getting anything out of it.

On the other hand, if you show them there are multiple ways to approach a problem, and that the NPCs they deal with have real concerns, real lives, and are still characters in the world, then the PCs are more likely to treat them as such. And when they take actions, play them out. If the PCs try to reform a goblin rogue, throw them a bone for their efforts. Maybe he runs away after a while, but then at a climactic moment returns to stab another enemy in the back because a little glimmer of what the paladin was saying to him actually got through. If the party makes a deal with a crime boss instead of just killing him, develop that relationship. It could become a kind of gentleman's agreement over time, and he could act as a neutral player in the city, rather than just being another mobster to hack on their way up the chain of command.

And so on, and so forth.

This mindset takes some work, and you don't have to go whole hog on it right away. Start small, and keep several NPCs around who have more going on than just enemy #4 in this evening's fight. Lead by example, and show your enemies interacting with the party in different ways; bartering, threatening, cajoling, but doing more than just mindlessly attacking them. It's something a lot of players will pick up on, and you can establish some real back-and-forth once they've got the tune.

And if you're looking for some ready-made NPCs to help get the train rolling, I'd suggest checking out the following:

- 100 Random Bandits To Meet: Whether you want to follow the example I gave above, or you're just looking for more personality for your highwaymen, there's all sorts of thugs and mugs you can use in this supplement.

- 100 Pirates to Encounter: Whether your game is on the high seas, or just near a port town, there's scalawags aplenty to choose from in this collection.

- 100 Prisoners For A Fantasy Jail: Whether the PCs sent them there in the first place, or the game starts off in a prison, there are lots of colorful characters here that can add a dash of danger and intrigue to any game.

Lastly, there is one other thing I'd like to draw your attention to as a DM. The concept of a PC (or even a party) rogues' gallery. As I said in Who's in Your Character's Rogues' Gallery?, the individuals you oppose can define you in important ways. And if your party tries not to just murder every NPC they find (or if they do end up killing someone whose brother, father, mother, lover, etc. swears vengeance), then this can be a particularly useful narrative device.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used this tactic successfully in your games why not leave a comment below?

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

The 5 RPG Characters We Should Stop Playing

The great thing about roleplaying games is that they provide us with escapism, and entertainment. And while everyone's escapism is different, there are certain character archetypes that show up again and again no matter what game you're playing. Whether you're dragon hunting in the newest edition from Wizards of the Coast, enjoying shadow politics in one of the incarnations of Vampire from Onyx Path, or gearing up to take on the multiverse in Savage Worlds, Rifts, GURPs, or any of a hundred other games, here are some PCs you should probably avoid bringing to the table.

Also, this turned out to be a lightning rod for controversy. So, if your thirst for controversial advice hasn't been sated by the end of this post, go check out It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems In Your Hobby or instead head over to take a look at I Don't Really Care What Gygax Had To Say (Appeal To Authority in RPGs). Trust me, they're both well worth your time!

Also, I recently wrote a follow-up post to this list! So if you felt I missed a few archetypes, you might find them in 5 More RPG Characters We Should Stop Playing.

#1: The Bigot

We've all seen this character. Maybe you're in an Old West or 1920s setting, and the player wanted to try being "authentic" to the time period. You might be in a fantasy setting, and one player at the table rolled a die to declare that he was actively prejudiced towards one of the base races of the world. Most of the time this decision isn't made to be offensive, but that doesn't change the fact that the results usually are.

White swans are inferior. Got a problem?

Think about that job you had for a while where one of your co-workers thought it was perfectly fine to talk about women's bodies right in front of them using crude, offensive language. Or that time you were stuck on a company road trip, and discovered your manager wanted to tell you he was surprised that you were unlike all the other Asian/Hispanic/African Americans he'd ever worked with, and then proceeded to list off his secret opinions of what an entire group of people was actually like. If you're lucky enough that you've never been in a situation like this, use your imagination. That is an uncomfortable position to be in, and it's never a good idea to purposefully bring a time bomb like that to a game where everyone's trying to have fun.

But, if You're Going To Do It Anyway...

If you decide that your character must be prejudiced in some way, it's your responsibility to sit down and put some heavy thought into why and how that came about. For example, you've decided your paladin is sexist. That's fine, but why? Is it because he was raised to view women as delicate, and to put them on pedestals (a white knight in more than one way), and he insists that his view of an entire gender take precedence over reality? If your dwarf has a noted prejudice against orcs and half-breeds, what form does that prejudice take? After all, if you've fought an enemy for decades, or centuries, there's no denying their courage, strength, and viciousness. So, does the dwarf instead believe that orcs lack discipline and control? Would this lead said dwarf to talk down to orc party-members, acting more like a disapproving father than a co-worker? Or does he believe orcs are stupid, and therefore ignores strategy and knowledge that is perfectly valid because of its source?

The biggest thing you need to ask, though, is how are you going to maintain prejudice that doesn't stand up in the face of reality? Prejudice, by its very nature, is a broad judgment of a people. If you believe gnomes are cowards, or that fae are all capricious, how will you alter your beliefs when they don't hold up? Characters need to develop, and the Bigot is one who needs more development than most.

#2: The Joke

This one is particularly problematic with newer players, who often confuse silliness with creativity. Maybe it's the guy who comes to Vampire, and uses his potent Disciplines to bend people's minds in order to make them re-enact The Emperor's New Clothes. It might be the new player who decided to play a thief who steals everything that isn't nailed down, purely because the image of a burglar with a bulging sack filled with her compatriots' belongings never fails to get a giggle from the player. At its basest form, the joke character is that guy who comes into game with a character who acts like a cat. It's amusing the first time, but like a 25 cent gumball, loses its flavor in a big damn hurry.

Yeah, it was very funny. Now hold still.

Characters should have quirks, and players should feel free to embrace personalities from all ends of the spectrum. Characters who are genuinely funny, or completely unique, should be encouraged. Joke characters, though, are neither of these things.

But, if You're Going to Do It Anyway...

If you really can't let the concept go, then you have to transform it from a joke into an actual character. Say, for example, you had a character who was a bard, but who was a terrible bard. Can't sing, can't dance, and all his music is off-key. Sure, that's amusing in a "wow, this guy really sucks at his job," kind of way, but the joke will only last until the end of the first character introduction. The question you need to ask is, if this character is awful at music, what is he good at? For example, was he a drill sergeant in the army before leaving, and his battle cries and strategy are unmatched, giving huge benefits to his allies when the swords come out? Is he actually a barbarian, who can shatter skulls with his lute, and then write a truly terrible tune about it afterward?

A joke is a one-note character. You need to write an entire song, and to figure out what's going to still be useful and endearing about the character once the joke's already been told.

#3: The Mute

This one always sounds like a good idea, ironically, but it is rarely as great as the player thinks it will be. In the player's mind, a mute character is sort of like Ariel in The Little Mermaid; we'll be paying more attention to them, because we'll want to know why they can't talk. In reality, though, mute characters tend to get sidelined because so much of the interaction at the table involves speaking. The result is that even if the player who brought a mute character thought it was a good idea, he or she will quickly get frustrated that everyone ignores them.

At which point they have to communicate in exaggerated expressions.

The most frustrating part of the mute character is that you might have a really cool story behind why you can't talk. Demon stole your voice in exchange for a boon, you're operating under a curse from a sea hag, or you're pulling a Silent Bob and just never talking until that one moment in the adventure where it will make everyone's head turn. But that moment isn't going to be in a few hours; it's going to be months until you get to drop that bombshell. If you ever do.

But, if You're Going To Do It Anyway...

If you insist that you can make your mute character work, there are a lot of things you should consider. The most obvious is a partner; a Jay to your Silent Bob, if you will. This could be another player at the table, or even a character under the storyteller's control, but the point is you have a mouthpiece that will keep you involved, even if your character isn't talking.

The other thing you need to think about is the point of playing a mute character. For example, say you're involved in a shadowy Call of Cthulhu game where you're playing a mute who is also an expert in mythos lore. However, you have a secondary role for the storyteller as the head of the local Cult of Hastur, and you keep silent around your compatriots so they won't connect that you are also the threatening voice on the phone trying to manipulate their movements. That kind of double-blind situation can be very rewarding, and you're plugged into the action because you're spying on what the party is doing. However, not being able to speak is a huge handicap that rarely pays off the way we think it will in our roleplaying.

#4: The Hedonist

We've all seen this character at least once, and it's one of the only kind that travels in flocks. It's the bard who decides to try to seduce the queen, in the throne room, while the king is delivering your quest. It's the changeling who decides he's going to just chill at the bar, and refuse to get on the plot bus unless it makes a stop downtown in front of his favorite watering hole. It's that one guy who comes along on your spy mission, and thinks it would be a topping idea to start shooting up medical grade amphetamines that actually hinder his prowess while trying to sneak into an enemy base.

In short, it's the character who should really be an NPC.

"The necromancer raises his staff, and-" I seduce him!

The Hedonist is all play, no work, and tends to make amazingly stupid decisions as a result. The best case scenario is that the character stays behind at the tavern. The worst case scenario is that you brought their scabrous, drunken ass with you into a place where you're actually depending on them to perform.

But, if You're Going To Do It Anyway...

The key to the Hedonist is the same as the Joke; develop past the one-note character trait. You have a drunken dwarf, who never goes anywhere without a supply of spirits. Okay, good for you. Add some drama to that situation by asking, why? Is it because the character is coping with the emotional trauma of making a living by putting his ax into thinking, feeling creatures in exchange for gold? Is it because the wound that got him dismissed from service, and brought shame to his family, still pains him, and he drinks to numb it?

These kinds of questions can deepen the character, and add layers of personality you weren't expecting. Everything from drinking and drugs, to sex and gambling can be made relevant in a character's story. As long as, that is, the character can still do his or her job when called upon to strap up and ride out.

#5: The Misanthrope

This is the character we all dread showing up at our tables. They have no interest in making friends, they don't care about teamwork, and generally give the impression that they would be much happier if tabletop games came with a single-player version. They're usually trying to reach for the essence of characters like Batman or Wolverine, but instead they just end up as surly murderhobos who will grumble and growl until it's time to kill more things.

No, I won't shower. I don't care what you think.

Misanthropes are one of two things. Either they're incomplete characters, or they're a result of a player forgetting that roleplaying games are a team-oriented pastime. Either way, the reaction to the misanthrope is going to be strained patience at best, or letting him get eaten by a dragon at worst.

But, if You're Going To Do It Anyway...

Don't. The proper answer to the misanthrope is to go back to the drawing board, and fill in the blanks until you have a character that can work with compatriots in order to achieve his or her goals.

Now, that doesn't mean you have to be friendly. It doesn't mean you need a ray of sunshine to shoot from your nether regions. What it does mean, though, is that you need to design a character that can act like an adult when it's time to follow the plot. Whether that's taking point on a government black ops team going after ancient cults in deep jungles, or working with a team of monster hunters trying to beard the local vampire prince in his own court, is up to you.

Easy ways to hammer a misanthrope into a more acceptable shape include making him part of an official organization (so the storyteller can simply order him into areas, as a commanding officer), attaching him to one of the other PCs (lifelong friend, trusted partner, or someone he owes a debt to. The misanthrope might not say it out loud, but he cares about this person), or simply making sure his aggression is pointed toward the enemy, rather than his allies.

You Can Make Any of These Work

As I've tried to point out, a good roleplayer can turn any of these archetypes into a complex, compelling character. However, most of us are nowhere near as good as we think we are, and the execution often falls far short of the image we had in our heads. Additionally, there are just certain concepts that fly in the face of a game's flavor, and canon. So, while I don't want to discourage players from stretching out, and trying new things, I would strongly caution against bringing monkey wrenches into a game.

If your character is going to cause a strain, whether it's because there's friction with other PCs, he won't follow plot hooks, or his concept simply can't pick up his share of the work load, it's time to go back to the drawing board. You won't have fun with it, and neither will anyone else at the table.

As always, thanks for popping in to check out my latest update here on Moon Pope Monday. If you want to help support me and my blog, then consider bopping over to my Patreon page to become a patron today! As little as $1 a month can be a big help, and it will keep content just like this coming your way. Also, if you don't want to miss any of my updates, then consider following my on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter! Lastly, I've got more content in my Gamers archive, and if you want to hear me and other talented gamers build our own little world full of adventure and advice, check out Dungeon Keeper Radio!

The Iron Hand of Gotz von Berlichingen

Germany is a country with a reputation. Its tribes stopped the advance of the Roman legions, its swordsmiths created a two-handed rapier, and if certain schools of musical thought are to be believed, gave birth to the ancestor of heavy metal with creation of Richard Wagner. It's a nation whose mythology is bloody, whose fairy tales are terrifying, and whose warriors are legendary.

With that said, Gotz von Berlichingen is unique even among the hardcases coming out of Germany in the 1500s. He started his career around the turn of the century as a mercenary, and he was marked as a particularly tough man. Good if you were the one paying him and his company, not so good if you were on the receiving end of things. According to Atlas Obscura, in 1504 Gotz lost his hand, courtesy of a cannonball. He did not, however, let such a minor inconvenience get in the way of his continued, paid-for rampages.

So he did what any self-respecting, hard-bitten soldier of fortune would do. He stopped by the blacksmith, and told him to make an iron hand so he could keep pummeling the living hell out of his enemies.

Years later some British guy is going to write a heavy metal ballad about this shit.

The model you're looking at above is the second installment, which Gotz had made for him after he'd roused a significant number of rabbles, collected a metric butt-load of plunder, and along the way gotten himself knighted. While the initial hand was little more than a crude metal clamp holding his sword, the later model could hold a quill, his reins, and perform a range of other tasks as well.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Anyway, in addition to smashing teeth, wielding a sword, and likely doing some awesome saluting, this iron fist became Gotz's symbol. He, and his hand, grew so popular that it was made a part of his home city's flag. Because they wanted to advertise to anyone who thought about starting trouble that they would have to bring some serious A-game to survive an encounter with the man who lived there.

And if that name sounds familiar to you as a fan of anime, then you might recognize the similarity to Guts, the protagonist of Berserk... iron hand and all. While there's no historical record of the German mercenary knight keeping a cannon in his arm, there is a character build for the animated character at How To Build Guts From (Berserk) if you'd like to see my take on it.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!