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Today on GMTT: Guards, Troubles, and the Hangman’s Noose!

They entered the town you just described to resupply rations and rent a room in the local inn. The evening ended with three of them in a dank cell, and two swinging from the hangman’s noose in the town’s square!

 

When characters enter towns or castles, they too often cause a ruckus that brings the city watch or guardsmen down on their heads. What follows is too often mayhem, which can easily derail your game. Though this may be fun for a few minutes, it usually devolves into a bloody mess in the streets, rotting in some cell somewhere or swinging from the hangman’s noose. It is not an unnatural reaction to the constraints of imaginary laws. Not only do players have to overcome whatever cultural biases they have (Freedom!!) but they have to deal with some 0 level guardsman barking at them after they just took down a manticore, a few ogres, and a spider with a human head. Listening to a guardsman is the last thing they want to do.

 

#1 A Viable Threat: Make the guardsmen a viable threat. Arm them with decent armor, scale mail or chain shirts, shields, long swords, and thick daggers. Helmets too. And do not forget polearms specifically designed to pin or trip people, such as the Scottish Lochbar (for more on polearms see the Adventurers Backpack). This becomes more challenging when the characters gain levels, but a stout troop of 8 guardsmen and a Captain goes a long way to dissuading players from doing crazy or irrational things in town. You should probably avoid having them physically threaten or try to intimidate the characters, rather rely upon the threat of force to encourage good behavior. What was Ted’s philosophy, walk softly and carry a big stick?

#2 Priest on Deck: To bolster the above, place a cleric with the guardsman. Having one with every patrol is a bit much, but one at the gatehouse, or readily available to assist. With the ability to detect lies and truth, contact the gods, etc., it only makes sense that there would be some deity in the employ of the city council or town mayor. Not only will this give the guardsmen a little extra weight in a scuffle, but it brings magic to the encounter, something that may further discourage your players from going rogue in town and burning it down.

#3 Friendly Sergeant: With all the above, I like to throw in a friendly sergeant or commander, or even a lazy guard who does not want to deal with troublesome travelers. If for some reason the characters are under threat of force or the guards are detaining/arresting them, allow the sergeant to wave them on with a stern warning. "Adventurers will be adventurers after all. But don’t do it again." Or if you want to drop a bit of humor into it, allow the guard who sees or interacts with the party to just wave them on with a look of feigned innocence. Anything to keep the game from boiling into a madhouse of fighting guards and the hangman's noose. And if you are a little lucky, the guardsman might become a friendly NPC that they interact with later.

#4 Minimize It: If all else fails and the guards have arrested the party and hauled them off for punishment, keep the punishment very simple. Avoid role playing it out as such scenes often devolve into some player hollering at the noble, the judge, or whoever and making it worse. To avoid that, after the arrest, simply haul the players to jail then before the local sheriff, who fines them X amount of gold. The sheriff then sends them on their way with a stern warning to not behave that way again. This way you avoid the whole mess entirely and can get on with your adventure.

 

#5 Create Opportunity: You can also turn this into an opportunity. Allow the fines or jail time waived because one of the council members, judges, nobles, or whoever needs a certain task done. The judge pulls them aside and spills his plan. "You all seem to be a group able to handle a problem as well as you can create one. Well, I have a job…". Whip up a simple adventure that involves rooting out some wererats in the sewer, or hunting a gnoll bandit, whatever you can conjure, and turn the mishap into an opportunity. Make the individual likable and if you are lucky, it will create a few new NPCs that the characters can revisit and a town they may turn out to like.

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