The ethics of killing

Community Larp discussion
#21

I agree would be cool. Makes it easier for those characters uncomfortable with killing to roleplay their anger/disgust at their comrades.

As a crew member we did this in Wolfgang, and it was interesting to see how these “christian” players dealt with the dead villagers, and the dead bodies didn’t dissapear until we had been dealt with. Indeed the GMs wanted the NPC to report back, to know how it was done and by who. I recall being bemused that they gave one guy some rites but just threw me in the pile.

Sometimes its hard to phys rep the stinking bodies of the following morning, and if its not phys rep, then its way too easy for the players to forget all about them. Well, I do anyway - memory=sieve. I recall some bishops(?) in Wolfgang arriving and making some comments about the stink and most players looking a bit abashed.

I guess this comes back to how the GMs want to treat the relative importance of casual death wrt plot lines, and most people take their cue from that. Since I’ve not GMed combat game, I do wonder whether it is something consciously decided upon about the style of their game, or if the default setting just applies.

#22

[quote=“Derek”]
I’d like to see the way we deal with PC and NPC death get a little closer together though…[/quote]

Me too.

#23

[quote=“Adrexia”][quote=“Derek”]
I’d like to see the way we deal with PC and NPC death get a little closer together though…[/quote]
Me too.[/quote]

I’m one of those that find combat games exciting. The rush comes from adrenaline, pitting yourself against what I always consider dangerous foes, succeeding or not. The threat of death puts a real edge on combat and it is the real consequence of fighting for me. Most of the time my characters including Shard will not killing blow a foe, not unless they keep getting back up and attacking or they are otherwise so dangerous that leaving them alive is tactically invalid. My favourite experiences in combat is where we run a real risk of being defeated and the bodies of the defeated being over run… captured or killed.

Also on reflection, hunting bandits, is something I have done as Shard. Not for fun but certainly for profit (an IC motivation). But when the bandits start begging for mercy… well then we get to play the moral aspect… we get to see who is a cold killer and who is not.

For me as a Knightshade GM, the lowering of base HP and the inclusion of a bleeding to death rule was my desire to imprint the risk involved. (I do like that Teonn also has a bleed rule based on moving injured characters however). The results are twofold, one that players can die in ANY combat situation… knocked to 0HP and 3 minutes later you’re dead without first aid or healing. And secondly, players cannot get away of the soft combat option of beating someone up and leaving them on 0HP. I guess a third point is that solo fighting becomes really dangerous if you get cut down behind the enemy line.

Reflecting on combat, my favourite moment from the last Teonn game was being killed an hour into game by Regulus Bain. The fight was short and bloody and my opponent was my nemesis. Despite only wearing my new (and expensive) kit for an hour, I was satisfied with that end for Shard. My adrenaline was through the roof. The groundhog day repeat left me with mixed feelings, both relieved but yet also slightly robbed.

#24

To my mind at least, the issue here is less about how to react to the enemies who have just turned up to fight, without any chance of something other than violence. In that situation, I would quite expect players to fight back violently - although if people want to play out their character’s morality in that situation that’s good too :slight_smile: To me, its more about the situations where players maybe go seeking fights with perhaps an overly casual attitude to it, that seems more grounded in OOC considerations than IC.

And the use of violence by PCs against NPCs who were not posing any threat of violence, seemingly purely because the player was sick of dealing with the NPC, and felt that because they were an NPC it was alright to use violence against them, even when IC it probably shouldn’t have seemed like such a good idea. Of course whether it would have been seen as appropriate IC varies between characters.

That’s my perspective at least :stuck_out_tongue:

#25

This is quite possibly pertinent:

In the last Teonn game, Derek and I got the chance to interrogate (and generally decide the fate of) two assassins who were proven to possess killing intent and poisoned weapons. While there definitely was the temptation to kill them, I took the opportunity to attempt to convince them to turn over a new leaf and become proper residents of Cormere etc etc. Long story short it worked… it was a great scene, a great alternative to death and it really took my character in an interesting direction.

To put it simply - It is great to be faced with the option “Do I kill this bad person or do we look for another solution.” - Choices are fantasic, and choices revolving around life or death carry ALOT of weight. On the flipside - in battle with adrenalin flowing, it’s AWESOME to strike down 10bazillion bandits and be the hero too!

#26

Wait, so they weren’t all working for you?!? :wink:

#27

Well they are now!

#28

While crewing Teonn, I decided you players were a bunch of sociopaths. You’ll kill anything that stands in front of you, consequences be damned. :smiley: This point was driven home by the Woodsman Massacre incident on Sunday morning.

Having stolen anything that wasn’t nailed down on Saturday night, we crew had to find an IC reason to give it back to you on Sunday morning. So we gave it to a designated “Woodsman”, gave him a 30 second head start, then ran down the road to the Keep, screaming bloody murder about him stealing our stuff.

And you killed him. And then us.

He was clearly not with us. He was wearing a different colour. We were putting on the vaguely piratical accent from the night before, he sounded like a hobbit. He was shouting about having found the stuff while out chopping wood. We were shouting about having stolen it fair and square.

And you didn’t even WANT the stuff!! You just left it lying in the road!

Conclusion: The PC’s are all sociopaths, and your arguments about socio-economics are all null and void. :smiley:

On a serious note, all human NPC’s in 33AR now have orders to beg for their lives when on 1HP, because I love finding new ways to traumatise players. :smiley: