Need help on a DM'ing issue/Guardians of Gondor 2nd Session

[TheMonarchGamer]

Hi everyone, I figured I'd post a brief writeup of the events of today's session, as well as pose to y'all my issue/question. I recognize that my question has a lot to do with personal style, but I'm still curious to see if people have run into this problem before and what ideas they have.

As I said, last session left off with the players having just discovered that an extra man was buried with Stork Company, and no one recognized him. This session, they told the knight in charge of the town, a man named Ecthelion, that they were looking for a man who was missing (Findegil) and thought it might be the same man. Ecthelion agreed to help them, but asked them to wait until morning, as the town was rather superstitious and wouldn't take well to strangers digging up bodies in their graveyard at night, especially after the fact that they JUST buried many of their relatives.

The party, however, decided to go ahead and dig up the body that night, trying to hide from Ecthelion and his two squires. They failed miserably, and ended up (in addition to desecrating the burial ground) assaulting both squires (and knocking one out), lying about their intentions, and eventually assaulting the squire a second time while being tied up. That squire wounded the character who attacked him, and the character was stabilized by a local herbalist. I ended the session with them being in the custody of the knight (who is a fair and honest man).

My question is this: realistically, it seems like the two who assaulted the guards would be killed and the other two who went along with it but played no major role in the matter would be locked in the stocks for the day, and then released and ordered never to return to the town. Obviously, however, killing off half of the party because of a single stupid mistake isn't a very exciting or fun prospect, and really would be boring and annoying for the players. I don't want to let this careless error go without some form of punishment, but I'm also not sure about just saying "You are executed. Time to roll up a new character." That seems to take some of the fun out of playing, especially since the game is played to have fun.

The only other option I can think of is that I've introduced a noble who has been willing to help that could probably save their lives, but I still think that the they would be effectively stripped of posessions and banished/turned into beggars, which wouldn't make for a very good "epic" campaign (this adventure revolves around political intrigue, so beggars wouldn't be the best option there). Besides, the other two players would basically walk away from the think unharmed, leading to a pretty huge disparity in social status.

I suppose my final option is to simply start with a new set of characters in the same setting/adventure, but not restarting the adventure. So basically have the new characters just come into the game from an entirely separate direction/point of view.

All the players feel really bad about the way the session went, as do I. I don't want to punish them too vigorously for what might have been a simple mistake made in haste, but also don't want to let this one just slide or use a really cliched deus ex machina solution to solve the problem, as I'm trying to portray a realistic setting with an open world feel where the characters can go back to meet that bartender they bought a drink from half a year ago and ask him what happened to his wife who was fighting a disease.

Comments/thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
The Monarch Gamer

[Otaku-sempai]

Well, I don't see any reason why the offending characters would necessarily be put to death, but they should certainly be expected to provide some restitution for their crimes, perhaps including some time in jail, and then get told to bugger off. I would guess that the entire remainder of the company would be considered to be unwelcome at this point.

Perhaps an influential NPC who has some sympathy for the party could intervene--although there should still be some penalty for assaulting the mayor's men and disregarding his wishes.

[zedturtle]

Did they accrue any Shadow for their actions? I sure hope so.

Perhaps the knight (and/or the noble) can spare them, this time. Have him be a generous and merciful man (perhaps he's had the opportunity to speak with a certain grey wizard and has wisdom beyond his years) and simply kick the heroes out of town.

Or, he could assign them some sort of penance that they must accomplish. Are there any brave and foolish things that could be done that would almost guarantee their doom? (Except for that they're heroes and thus might survive the quest)

[TheMonarchGamer]

Did they accrue any Shadow for their actions? I sure hope so.

Perhaps the knight (and/or the noble) can spare them, this time. Have him be a generous and merciful man (perhaps he's had the opportunity to speak with a certain grey wizard and has wisdom beyond his years) and simply kick the heroes out of town.

Or, he could assign them some sort of penance that they must accomplish. Are there any brave and foolish things that could be done that would almost guarantee their doom? (Except for that they're heroes and thus might survive the quest)

Yes, I did give them all one point of shadow and am planning on giving the ones who actively participated in the conflict one to two more. Since they didn't actually kill anyone or such, I was hesitant to heap on shadow points like the way heap on scoops of my ice cream. If they do get to digging up the body, I'm going to treat the graveyard as a blighted place both for the previous killing and the player's desecration of it.

The idea of the knight meeting with the grey wizard or such isn't bad. There's actually two characters that will be introduced later in the story, and either could have had a similar effect, so there's that. I think I'm starting to get a feel for how the issue will be resolved, but I'd already posed the question of the chief perpetrator's sentence to the character's player at the end of the session, so I'll respect his judgement on what happens to his character. I do think I'll spare the secondary perpetrator and certainly the tag-alongs - they might get off with just a mild scolding. As I said earlier, I think the influential noble they met earlier will have something to do with their release as well. He might end up wiping their records a little bit as well, as he has reason (unknown to the players) to support them.

Thanks all for the ideas so far, I appreciate the help. If nothing else, talking through the concepts has helped cement them in my head. All I have to do now is prepare a combat...

^_^
The Monarch Gamer

[TheMonarchGamer]

Well, I don't see any reason why the offending characters would necessarily be put to death, but they should certainly be expected to provide some restitution for their crimes, perhaps including some time in jail, and then get told to bugger off. I would guess that the entire remainder of the company would be considered to be unwelcome at this point.

Perhaps an influential NPC who has some sympathy for the party could intervene--although there should still be some penalty for assaulting the mayor's men and disregarding his wishes.

Yes, I do think some penalty is still in order. I believe it will work like this, without giving away too much: the infliential NPC, who is actually REALLY influential, will help secure their release as long as they are willing to do favors for him from time to time. The mayor knight might also impose some sort of fine or such on them for the time being, or some form of 'community service' since they do still need to gain access to the body.

[Terisonen]

Get them Fined (rob them of every Treasure Point they have) , if you are a bit sadistic branded on shoulder, and throw out of town. Little town have by no way possibility to take them in custody too long.

However... Future may not be so bleak... Use that incident as a lever to introducing a new adventure:

Ask them to do a very difficult mission assigned by the knight to wash their black mark on their reputation. If the knight is influential and successful he must have something of Foresight.

Made them swear by the Valar. This kind of Oath is really potent. Made it clear that if they cannot fullfill their oath, something very, very bad will befall them. As a GM, I hoped this kind of incident was made by my player

"It doesn't matter you made mistake, but you have to assume them".

[Majestic]

Sounds like you've got things pretty well figured out, TMG. I definitely wouldn't execute any players in this case, but other severe consequences do seem appropriate. The issuance of Shadow Points, loss of Standing and/or Treasure, and other game mechanics can really work to enforce that they didn't make a wise choice (in addition to the various RP moments you alluded to).

It's the perfect opportunity to have a powerful NPC patron come to their 'rescue' and thus you'll have somebody who has gained their trust and good will for future adventures.

By continuing on with these characters (as opposed to creating new PCs), you've now got a rich history that the PCs will be able to somebody look back on and say "Remember that time we foolishly...?"

[Andrew]

If you want to move your adventure to Rhovanion, Rohan or Eriador, perhaps they are exiled for no less than 10 years!

[Glorelendil]

If you want to move your adventure to Rhovanion, Rohan or Eriador, perhaps they are exiled for no less than 10 years!

+1

[Matchstick]

Well, I don't see any reason why the offending characters would necessarily be put to death, but they should certainly be expected to provide some restitution for their crimes, perhaps including some time in jail, and then get told to bugger off. I would guess that the entire remainder of the company would be considered to be unwelcome at this point.

Perhaps an influential NPC who has some sympathy for the party could intervene--although there should still be some penalty for assaulting the mayor's men and disregarding his wishes.

Yes, I do think some penalty is still in order. I believe it will work like this, without giving away too much: the infliential NPC, who is actually REALLY influential, will help secure their release as long as they are willing to do favors for him from time to time. The mayor knight might also impose some sort of fine or such on them for the time being, or some form of 'community service' since they do still need to gain access to the body.

I have to say, I'd be pretty tempted to have the influential person be a bad guy. Greedy, self interested, or even an agent of the Enemy, hiding behind a smiling facade. The characters then get assigned small good deeds, but progress to larger questionable deeds. Eventually, they have to decide whether to keep doing these things, to betray the sponsor somehow, or something in between.