Use Moral Dilemmas The Right Way

Moral dilemmas are a classic tool to increase the stakes and dramatic tension of encounters and storylines. But you have to use them carefully, and I'll show you how.

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[sinistertwister]

Great advice!

My problem with moral dilemmas is that sometimes it's hard to come up with one when you have morally ambiguous party (if not outright amoral one). Usually it boils down to "what's most profitable" and "which option is less likely to backfire on us personally". I learned it the hard way!

[Marcus-kien]

I once played in a game where the DM pulled an interesting one on us: We rolled into a village with a cult leader that was sacrificing a villager. We terminated him and heading down into the dungeon. After cleaning it out, we returned to the surface, only to find the whole village had self-deleted themselves. Ouch - needless to say, we were a little more careful when entering the next village, paying attention to what was going on. Rarely absolute Black or White, but varying shades of gray.

[jasonconnerley]

Great video and good advice at the end, this is powerful stuff but best used sparingly.

[mattnerdy]

Hey Kevin, great video and topic. I've always enjoyed the adventure Kurishan's Garden because of the moral dilemma. Innocent men women and children under the control of plant monster or whatever you want to be. The party has to figure out what is really going. What if they do kill someone then find out they had no control over themselves. Or what do they do when its a party member. Spoiler Alert towards the very end one town warrior is still alive and I guess its been to long now to turn him back to normal. He talks to the party kinda helps the party then attacks them because he has no choice. The town folks seem to have some control at first, long enough to talk. Roll playing out a dilemma is one favorite things about D&D.

Thanks Kevin you have a wonderful day!

[michaelwest]

I think in classic D&D the morality was mostly black and white with a strong bias of good versus evil, the players championing good, but behind it lurked the gritty ambiguity and allowed for more dilemna and evil charatcters. Now I say that because I like this drama but some prefer their fantasy be clear cut, all monsters evil and deserving of the sword, every princess needs saving, etc. I do think it is for the table to choose, but if chosen it still should be used sparingly to add to the realism and grimdark aesthetic rather than just be a crutch for good story. Well played it lets the game be layered and full of loose ends to explore, so I endorse this style heartily!

[srmillard]

great recs and agree to avoid everything becoming a moral dilemma

[kadmii]

it's why i love Star Trek, almost every episode has a moral dilemma