Why is the "party goes to prison" such a ubiquitous beat to play for GMs?

Shouldn't have to compromise with the players if they know before hand that if they commit crimes they'll be treated as criminals. If you're doing it for story reasons or they did something really bad then I could see offering them something could work. But, honestly, if you're with a group of people that would get mad for being jailed, then they'll probably just discard and want to restart anyways.

> Why is the "party goes to prison" such a ubiquitous beat to play for GMs?
>beat
Now this is a story all about how
Our life got flipped all upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there
I'll tell you how we end up in prison of the town called Bel Air.

>fines tend to be for minor crimes
Not if you're using the best legal principle ever.

Weregeld is all about making perpetrators compensate the damages they do (including murder, assault, theft, and other crimes) with stiff fines to prevent blood feuds and such. It's highly appropriate for dnd games, since one of the main purposes of it was to allow nobles to do what they want, but within the limits of how many crimes they could afford to compensate for. I think the bethesda TES games used a variant of it, since the sentences for pretty much any crime could be paid off with a sufficiently large fine.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weregild

Also daily reminder that old english and germanic legal systems are perfect for dnd-like fantasy and its different expectations regarding violence, as well as giving the GM much better and more fun options than making everyone roleplay a shitty mock-trial for two sessions. Cross-examination? Presumption of innocence? Jury of your peers? Fuck that shit, you get what the lord says, which could range from heavy fines, to outlawry, to a trial-by-combat, depending in large part on his mood or if he left his kids in charge that day. Isn't that more fun? Come on, you know it is.

Let's be honest after half the shit the party probably does it's either going to jail or RANDOM ENCOUNTERS WITH HIGHLY TRAINED ASSASSINS EVERY SESSION!

>party goes to prison
well it wouldn't be such an unbiquitious thing in RPG's if the PC would stop flailing about engaging in obviously criminal acts, making no attempt to hide their activities, and then responding to accusations by NPC by going on a full murderhobo rampage.

In short. you guys leave us no choice.

>Party gets fined for a horse parking violation
>Ranger gets upset when the guards attempt to impound his horse provokes a fight with the cops
>Party tries to break up the fight
>Reinforcements come, see the whole party involved in a fight with their fellow guardsmen
>Party gets sent to prison
>Evil mastermind forces party to assist in his schemes to survive
>They start off being implicated in small crimes, then things escalate
>By the time they're released, they're in too deep to confess, plus they're all addicted to a dozen different drugs
>They're now the most feared group of brigands in the land
Prison is one of those things that always goes horribly wrong in a way that's mildly entertaining while roleplaying but horribly depressing in real life.

I only once sent my party to prison. But that's because they walked into a town run by Paladins, found the nearest Paladin, and blabbed about carrying what was basically the One Ring and how them carrying it caused the last town they were at to get destroyed by evil.

I didn't plan for that at all.

Stop complaining and start making your shank, prisoner, that orc in the corner is looking at you funny.

>Why are no other forms of justice usually carried out though?
Because players get pissed off when the guards just lop a character's head off for committing crimes. They have to have a surefire way to get out of any situation, even when they're getting marched to the guillotine, because otherwise you're a bad, railroading GM.

ye olde punishment is not something bitch-ass players appreciate, since it usually means their shit getting wrecked.

>Horse parking violation
Okay, yeah, *that* one is totally railroading. Or at least really douche GM behavior.

What if the party explicitly ties their horses up in front of the doors to a building so no one will come in and interrupt them?

Why would they be sent to prison? You'd expect them to be taken before the Paladin council and forced to explain how to end the evil.

Because the players would complain if their characters got shipped to the setting's version of Australia for starting a bar brawl.

>I only once sent my party to prison. But that's because they walked into a town run by wise and ancient Elves, found the nearest Elf, and blabbed about carrying the One Ring and how them carrying it caused the last town they were at to get attacked by Ring Wraiths.
That's how the story goes, right? Frodo is raped to death in prison by Gimli?

This was a particularly unreasonable Paladin order. Imagine the Brotherhood of Steel, but in fantasy.

They were taken before the Lord Commander, who told them off for bringing an evil artifact into their walls, confiscated it, then dumped in the dungeon with the implication they would be executed the next day. Fortunately I was able to work in an admittedly convenient escape option which managed to help the plot.

I didn't blindside the players with this. Several people they encountered on the way to this town made it clear to watch out for these guys because they're dicks.

> party hired to guard the prison while the sheriff is out of town
> overpowered thugs break the BBEG out
> sheriff knew they were coming and let the party take the fall
> rest of adventure deals with slightly depowered adventurers trying to bring the BBEG back in
> BBEG let himself get caught on purpose for nefarious reasons that become apparent much later on

>getting caught was part of his plan
Of courshe it was