As soon as my players found out that the dwarf king doesn't allow unrestrained wizards into his court, their characters' goal changed from "get friendly enough with the dwarf king that we can get help locating the dragon's hoard we're here to recover" to "forget money, let's try to bring down the dwarven kingdom."

These are adults, and the impetus for that came from somebody who's not new at ttrpgs - but they want the full adventurer fantasy. :/

I'm now curious to see if they manage to connect with the other side of politics and discover the "right" way to take down this king, ally with the evil giants, or go back to chasing the lucre. Last night they tried an unprepared frontal assault against a fortress and retreated ignominiously... Both scouting familiars were shot out of the sky by archers, the wizard "caught" a ballista bolt the first round, the ranger got through the outer gates and into the field of fire of the murder-holes for long enough to be winged by a poisoned arrow...

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 06, 2025, 10:43:09 PMOn a side note, it is very easy to see how organized adventurers could quickly become a social menace. They're well armed and trained, usually better than the local authorities, and the amount of money you can make as an adventurer prices the authorities out of hiring similarly capable enforcement officers. As mentioned, an adventurers guild could easily hold a city or even a small state to ransom by refusing to take quests in their territory, leaving them to either pay up or accept the depredations of their local monsters. Real world mercenaries often did something similar by refusing to fight on the eve of important battles, until their demands were met. A sufficiently well-organized adventurers' guild might become a "state within a state" and functionally above the law. It's only real threats would be freelancers undercutting the guild prices and trying to avoid paying their union dues. But hey, that could be fun for a campaign.

Case in point - I think any fantasy world where the means to control use of magic exists would be exerted, too. Not just people with weapons, but to prevent things like this happening as well.

Quote from: Naburimannu on Today at 04:28:32 AMAs soon as my players found out that the dwarf king doesn't allow unrestrained wizards into his court, their characters' goal changed from "get friendly enough with the dwarf king that we can get help locating the dragon's hoard we're here to recover" to "forget money, let's try to bring down the dwarven kingdom."

These are adults, and the impetus for that came from somebody who's not new at ttrpgs - but they want the full adventurer fantasy. :/

I'm now curious to see if they manage to connect with the other side of politics and discover the "right" way to take down this king, ally with the evil giants, or go back to chasing the lucre. Last night they tried an unprepared frontal assault against a fortress and retreated ignominiously... Both scouting familiars were shot out of the sky by archers, the wizard "caught" a ballista bolt the first round, the ranger got through the outer gates and into the field of fire of the murder-holes for long enough to be winged by a poisoned arrow...

Adults...who still harbour juvenile power fantasies. I can only laugh at the results of their petulance, though. This is a mess entirely of their own creation.

mm-hmm.
In all my campaigns, unless it is specifically a very violent setting like say Gamma World, then running around armed and armored is usually not permitted in all big cities and most small ones.

One of my few exceptions is running anything in Forgotten Realms. It is such an insanely lethal setting any more that you NEED do be armed and ready practically 24/7. Especially in 5e FR where there is a WORLD ENDING DISASTER at least once every year, sometimes MORE! Going unarmed and unarmored into Baldurs Gate is practically begging to get murdered or enslaved or both. Neverwinter is a mess too. Just not so heavily internal a threat. Waterdeep is not much far behind that.

But in other campaigns one is usually expected to leave weapons and armor at home or wherever the PCs are staying.

Which brings up the problem of...

How do you keep your stuff safe when its back in the house or inn?

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 06, 2025, 10:43:09 PMOn a side note, it is very easy to see how organized adventurers could quickly become a social menace. They're well armed and trained, usually better than the local authorities, and the amount of money you can make as an adventurer prices the authorities out of hiring similarly capable enforcement officers. As mentioned, an adventurers guild could easily hold a city or even a small state to ransom by refusing to take quests in their territory, leaving them to either pay up or accept the depredations of their local monsters.

Amusingly, this is a common setup in Rifts when you venture outside one of the big city states.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on Today at 06:31:37 AM

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 06, 2025, 10:43:09 PMOn a side note, it is very easy to see how organized adventurers could quickly become a social menace. They're well armed and trained, usually better than the local authorities, and the amount of money you can make as an adventurer prices the authorities out of hiring similarly capable enforcement officers. As mentioned, an adventurers guild could easily hold a city or even a small state to ransom by refusing to take quests in their territory, leaving them to either pay up or accept the depredations of their local monsters.

Amusingly, this is a common setup in Rifts when you venture outside one of the big city states.

And Empire of the Petal Throne. You were just as likely to get robbed by armed groups on leaving a complex. AD&D had the tables for running into other groups of adventurers too. Friend or foe.

Greetings!

Indeed, Kiero, I can see the attraction for running a milieu set in an Ancient or Medieval flavoured setting. My love for History aside, I also consider that whatever powers-that-be, would be more concerned about the Bulletes, the crazy fanatic cults, the assassins everywhere, the mutants, the scheming sorcerers, the vampires, werewolves, and the necromancers and ghouls lurking in every sewer system, than some group of mercenary adventurers.

That is all of course, in addition to packs of hateful, demon-worshipping Rat men in the sewers, the savage Lizardmen in the marshes, and the bands of monstrous beast men led by huge armoured Chaos Warriors lurking just outside the city gates.

How many Human women that have breeding fetishes about powerful, huge Orc warriors are eagerly willing to open the city gates to let the Orc hordes pour through and conquer everything?

Fantasy communities have far more to worry about than communities in historical ancient or medieval environments.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

In D&D, armor stops you from getting hit, instead of the character's ability to parry, dodge, or block with a shield or buckler. 

In games with settings where armor is less common you tend so see mechanics where those things hold true and armor is only worn on special occasions like when the character's ability is expecting a big battle.

Kiero, you're overthinking it.

D&D is the Wild West with fantasy medieval trappings.

That's it.

Frankly, what you're describing sounds like a thinly-veiled screed for gun control. If my fighter wants to control his own weapons and armor, then why would I ever visit one of your big cities? Why would I spend time in anything other than small frontier towns, if I have to inevitably surrender my armor and weapons to a bunch of mouthy, arrogant NPCs?

Your campaign would guarantee that every player becames either a spellcaster or a monk (because no armor and weapons allowed, peasant). And that's if anyone actually deigns to play in such a campaign. And if you made things sufficiently punitive against spellcasters too, then it would just be an all-monk campaign....where every player character would be focusing on mastering martial arts and unarmed combat. Why, you ask?

Because you're hellbent on punishing the characters for using the abilities of their class (weapons and armor for fighters, for example), and doing it in the name of "verisimilitude".

Aren't martial characters (like fighters) weaker than spellcasters in D&D already? And you want to limit fighters.....more? No weapons allowed? No armor allowed? And you want me to play a fighter?

I don't think too many gamers will sign up for that.