How does your party prefer to handle things?

If anything, it'd be
>4
>5
>3.x

>my system
>fecal matter
>your system

>Doing their legwork, crafting fairly meticulous plans, with backups and contingencies.
this, but then followed by somethin going horribly wrong before the door kicking happens instead of boredom.

>Fate
>4e
Except Fate is the fastest of them.

I'm not the guy you're responding to, but can you explain what you're talking about? I have no idea why you brought up fate

Fate is the name of the character in the top panel.
Although, this being Veeky Forums I can see the confusion.

Our party once had a simple assignment: assassinate an enemy noble. Said noble was throwing a party soon, so we decided to pull off our daring plan during the distraction of the party. Speaking of the plan, it was a fairly simple one, having only one step.

1. Poison his drink

Any steps before or after this one would have to be improvised. Finally, the time came and the would be assassins sprang into action, acquiring the disguises necessary and sneaking into the party. Almost immediately the bard was searched and his hidden dagger was nearly revealed, but he managed to talk his way out of it. Meanwhile, the others spread out, and the rogue managed to find our target on the dance floor. She started to seduce him, and the two left the ballroom to go somewhere more private.

Now alone with the target and with the cover of the party to mask any sounds, the rogue stuck to the plan. She, too, had a hidden weapon, a dart, and enough sneak attack dice to reduce the noble to salsa, but that was not the plan. The plan was to poison the drink, and that's what she did. That part went according to plan. With the noble dead, the rogue suddenly remembered that the party was asked for proof of the deed, and so went to find the bard, the only one with a weapon good enough for what came next.

They cut off the noble's head and stuffed it in a pillowcase. So the bard threw the bagged head out the window where the wizard was waiting, having been informed of the revised plan and finding no problems with it. So while the assassins were leaving, the body was discovered. A fight broke out, during which the cleric busted several skulls and the bard conjured a fearsome illusion, before breaking and running with the rest of the team.

Success.

I usually demand my groups to do what would realistically pay off. Not full-on autismo simulationist, but I try to stress that they should interact with the world in a believable way.

See, order could also be
>fecal matter
>my system
>your system
Depending on whether going through or circumventing the maze is what you prefer.
Uninteresting thought experiment, though. Useless as anything but bait, unless I'm missing something.

>Try to take it seriously
>Fail
>Resort to cheating
>Then start scheming about how to get paid twice or more for the same job
>Sudden yet inevitable betrayal chess ensues

We use diplomacy at all times. The wizard blasts the enemy with diplomacy, the archer fires diplomacy at a range, the paladin plunges his diplomacy through their guts, and the assassin backdiplomacies them. With their diplomatic immunity, the group breaks down the door and makes a simple offer to their foes: you die and we rob your corpses. Diplomatically.
in all seriousness, our paladin's constant failure to roll high persuation checks is why he nicknamed his claymore "Plan B."

My party is a three-man standard distribution (WoD).

One player is a sociopathic sin-eater who pretty much goes for the path of least resistance, infanticide is a justifiable option for this one.
One player is a cyborg and as close as you can get to an average Joe, he has fundamental human morals but sometimes you just have to blast your way out.
My character is 9/10 morality and gunning for 10, nothing but diplomacy and self-sacrifice here.

It's always interesting when we're forced to work as a group, although that admittedly hasn't happened a great deal thus far.

See, of all game stories that get passed around here, this is the type of shit I could actually see happening.

>we need proof that we killed him
>take one of his rings and the finger attached to it.

This isn't hard folks.

...

first step: convincing my party to use their brains BEFORE something bad happens

Summon Monster Spells. All of them.

They find someone to hold their hand and lead them through the labyrinth because they are a bunch of pussies.

I'm picturing a red faced, sweating paladin clumsily trying to talk to some other fella, meanwhile his eyes are darting between his sword and the other guy the entire time, and the rest of the party is trying to damage control the social situation.

They started with diplomacy, but their certain skillsets, distrust, and their preceding reputation have made negotiations fail. Repeatedly.

Now that they're beleaguered and weary and combat-hardened, I shall soon introduce socially-savvy friendly NPCs for them. If violence is their new hotness, this'll be good.

Second one isn´t even cheating, the task is to get THROUGH, not AROUND.
Cheating would be to have a map, not simply not participating.

A finger is not vitally important, nor is it easily identifyable.
Head is the only relatively safe measure.

No-one's cheating, it's just different playstyles.

Very few nobles are going to offer a finger to prove they were assassinated.

Like A but blasting walls at random.

I like my players but they tend to overthink a bit.

>implying I even need to give my players a maze
>implying the pic in the OP would not take my players at least 4 sessions

My party nowdays is more like 3, but the problem is that we think we are 1.

You are a douche.

Done.

Why does this always happen? For the time and money we put into cheating our way into a double payday, we could have done three jobs and made more.

Cheating people out of their money is more exciting.