[DF] Controling well armed and armored adventures in towns

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

How do other GM control their players when they are the only ones armed to to hilt when they are in a city or town?

If they are the only one's armed to the hilt in town then they are going to stick out like sore thumbs and look very intimidating indeed. I see no reason why local authorities have to allow it.

[Pagan]

Have the local authorities follow them around. If they aren't looking for trouble then they shouldn't be dressed like they are. I don't run a DF game but IMC the pcs soon grew tired of the guard and watch keeping track of their every move and ppl on the street growing afraid to deal with them because they were always armed and armed all the time.

4 or 5 armed and armored men heading for a shop will get a shop owner to close and lock a door quick.

[Bruno]

To be honest, in a "pure" DF game I control it by making "in town" a fuzzy undefined place where players may have in-character conversations and "day in the life" vingettes (and spend money) but otherwise expect things to be combat free.

And I explicitly point out that folks walking around MY citie's streets in tac vests and carrying even just baseball bats will be treated like crazy loonies, so of COURSE they're going to take their armor off and stow their weapons ASAP right? hint hint.

They get a blanket promise that they will not be randomly ambushed, and that they WILL get in 20 different kinds of trouble if they try to deal with potential violence using a broadsword instead of fists (or possibly a pocket knife under extreme circumstances). Fireballs are also out.

You can't sell your loot or spend your salvaged gold if everyone in town is terrified of you. Threatening to cut their profit on selling used goblin weapons by 40% tends to knock even the most mechanistic player back in line.

[ed_209a]

As soon as the PCs start making trouble for the guard, riders go out to several nearby towns to let them know about "rogue adventurers"

DF chars have lots of points, but they don't out-point the entire county.

[Michael Lewis]

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful.

But what about caravan guards?

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful.

But what about caravan guards?

Caravan guards are going to be expected to be armed and armored while near the caravan, but once they go in to the town proper they should probably leave the armor and heavy weaponry behind. Indeed, a town that commonly has a caravan go through it is likely to have veryspecific policies regarding this. City guards will keep an eye on the caravan guards to insure they don't cause trouble (as they are sometimes wont to do), and inns/pubs/etc are going to require people to check their weaponry at the door and might maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward violence.

Think about if a modern military caravan stopped and some of the guards granted leave. They aren't going to be taking their kevlar vests and M4's out on the town with them, although they might keep hold of their sidearms and KA-BARs in case something goes wrong (particularly if it is a town known to have trouble from time to time). The cops will probably keep an eye on the soldiers just in case things get out of hand.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

... inns/pubs/etc are going to require people to check their weaponry at the door...

Or entire towns/cities. At the risk of bringing realism into a Dungeon Fantasy discussion, Rome used to bar most people from carrying anything heavier than a dagger inside the city limits IIRC.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

I've always had a problem with adventures always wearing their armor and weapons everywhere they go, especially in towns/cities.

In the genre, the adventurers are highly unlikely to be the only people wearing armor and weapons to walk out and about town. DF is a lower tech wild west setting and wearing your sword and armour is like wearing a gun. The bystanders don't even necessarily mind all that much since you never know when a griffin or something will decide to use the town as a buffet.

[Kuroshima]

Violence in my DF towns will likely bring hordes of Justicars (Pyramid 3.10), out of nowhere (A la Ultima games) until the PCs are overwhelmed. Then, they would get their gear confiscated to pay for damages, gain Social Stigma (Criminal Record) and both physical and magical brands. Yeah, this will happen even in Hamlets, where the number of justicars needed to stop the players might be way more than the hamlet population.

[mlangsdorf]

Wow, that's harsh. I'd totally let my PCs overwhelm a hamlet if they really, really wanted to. They could have all the cheap beer, baked bread, and wooden shoes they wanted for at least 5-6 hours... at which point the local military would arrive in force and massacre them.

Having a zillion justicars pop out of a village of 100 farmers just makes my head hurt.

Having a few refugees flee to the local town, and then having the town's army arrive to put down the rebellion just works better for me.