I'm not trying to make my games all misery-tourism-y but I wanna set a scene the characters will witness (whether they elect to stop it is up to them, of course...) whereby there's a large number of people about to be put to death.  So in, say, Greyhawk (where the game is set) what would the prescribed method be.  We're not talking about other characters or high level adventuring NPCs, just 0-level commoners here.

Mass burning?  Mass hanging?  One at a time headsman's axe?

Not looking for anything TOO exotic - no "Force them in to a 10'x10' area and cast disintegrate" or "cover them in oil, cast Flame Strike", etc.

I've decided to have kind of a game of thrones sort of feel to this game so it's set on the border of the Duchy of Tenh and the Theocracy of the Pale - lots of political and religious intolerance and strife.

The Aztecs seemed pretty proficient in killing thousands of people per day.

During the French Revolution, civilians in the Nantes region were executed hundreds at a time by tying them to a barge, floating them out into the river and then scuttling the barge.

One option, I guess.

Throwing them in the moat and dumping boiling oil on top?

Defenestration.

Alright, not necessarily effective, but i like the word, so ner.

Or they're all packed into an old barn and then the barn is set on fire.
Forced into a small cave or mine or catacomb and sealed in to suffocate/ starve?

I'd say stick with the basics. As we all know, the Romans were into mass crucifications, if I recall correctly Vlad Tepes was big on that too. Hanging is cheap and efficient, build a small scaffold and do 5 or 6 at a time, make it an all day thing. Worked in Salem, MA. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven they hanged people by tossing them off of a balcony high on a stone wall. (I think that's right, or was that another movie? Hmmm...)

Quote from: Doughdee222;749366I'd say stick with the basics. As we all know, the Romans were into mass crucifications, if I recall correctly Vlad Tepes was big on that too. Hanging is cheap and efficient, build a small scaffold and do 5 or 6 at a time, make it an all day thing. Worked in Salem, MA. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven they hanged people by tossing them off of a balcony high on a stone wall. (I think that's right, or was that another movie? Hmmm...)

Yeah, I think a large gibbet is the way to go.  Thanks.  Thanks to everyone in the thread, too!

The triple gallows in the Clint Eastwood movie "Hang 'Em High" always sends chills up my spine. I would suggest that as a good method.

//Panjumanju

Lock in a barn. Bar the doors. Set the barn on fire.

Edit: Ah, too late. Well I'm going to recommend myself the old Slav method - impaling. Proper one makes you suffer for weeks until you die.

Cutting off heads is definitely ineffective, as it's actually pretty hard and tiring.

Let them starve to death. Just round up a large group of peasants and trap them in an inaccessible place with no food or water.

The Tyburn Tree in London could hang up to 24 at once, though from what I read it wasn't a quick death, unless the hangman favored you or you had some pals to come help you along (pull on your legs to help break your neck).

I think the Mongols used to just line everyone up and chop heads with axes.

If it's the Pholtus Priests killing "heretics" I think burning is the way to go.  Perhaps a day of facing the light of the sun without eyelids, followed by a burning before sunset.

If it's a border dispute, and wiping the village is a "lesson" nothing sends a message like Vlad style staking alive.

If it's just executing peasants for whatever, mass hanging is good, just remember to have them dig the grave first.

First thought was tied up and drowned.  But the barn idea is better.