Why is being a murderhobo bad?

[Slipperychicken]

I shudder to think what sort of PTSD your average D&D character would have by level 5, let alone 20.

The kind which can be suppressed with regular doses of XP and gold.

[Remmirath]

Why would it not be bad?

It implies that the characters in the game have no point to them besides rampaging around and killing things, and no depth. It implies a lack of roleplaying, and perhaps also a lack of subtlety or variation in the campaigns they are in as well, assuming that they actually fit into the campaign. It's more about the lack of any motivation or character development than it is strictly about the behaviour, although there is certainly a behavioural element (killing and looting everything in sight requires some very specific character choices and motivations to actually be in character, or special circumstances).

Looking at what the PCs will do if you leave them alone with no pressing plot motivation for a while can be quite revealing. Most well-developed PCs will be able to find something reasonable to do in that circumstance, that does not involve killing or stealing (well, it may involve stealing in the case of thieves). They'll be able to carry on a conversation in character, and so forth.

I shudder to think what sort of PTSD your average D&D character would have by level 5, let alone 20.

There's a reason that most adventuring parties become increasingly quirky as time goes on.

[Anonymouswizard]

Also, presence of backstory does not mean a character isn't a murderhobo. One of my friends once had a character (I wasn't in the game, so this is second hand) who's backstory consisted of:
"1) I am barbarian from northern tribe, so I is trained warrior.
2) party save me from chaos cultists, so I now stay with party."
In addition he considered the fact his character had 80 Weapon Skill to be the most important part, and was the only PC not to own property that couldn't be picked up if they needed to run (they slept in another character's factory).

I've also seen non-murderhobo PCs who aren't murderhobos, because they have a place in the world (one of my characters was a scientist who wanted to understand what was happening in a wider context, and another player's character was basically an inspiration for the area).

Long story short, a murderhobo is a character who's only ongoing connection to the world involves killing and looting. Which can be good, but most players I've met prefer something more complex.

Also, it turns out that if the game includes you getting attacked by homeless people, murderhobo is a confusing term to bring up.

[Coidzor]

Why would it not be bad?

You only want a short game which is just frying up some kobolds and goblins for the night while unwinding?

[Sartharina]

You only want a short game which is just frying up some kobolds and goblins for the night while unwinding?

No. He wants to play a game where the world doesn't condemn him as a psychopath because he happens to rack up a kill count on par with a Natural Disaster over the course of an entire campaign (If not single adventure), nor want to have to deal with owning any more property than perhaps a cart/wagon he can crash in any time he wants while wandering the world (Instead of having to own a home and have a family that requires him to spend a great deal of time with), nor find an employer/start a job to keep his character occupied 8-16 hours per day.

[Jay R]

You only want a short game which is just frying up some kobolds and goblins for the night while unwinding?

I agree that if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos.

But if you might be willing to talk to the kobolds and goblins, and there might be a non-murder-focused solution, and the kobolds and goblins might just be waiting to buy tickets to see the Iron Golems, and the right solution might be to talk to them and work things out, then murderhobos are not acceptable.

And since some of us run games in which the murder solution is the red herring, there are some games in which murderhobos will fairly quickly be condemned to death or running from the law.

But yes - if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos.

[Psyren]

Well presumably because the DM put you there. If the DM did not direct you to the dungeon but rather your character sought out the dungeon specifically so you could kill all the things in the dungeon, while the DM was trying to...I don't know direct the party to an apple orchard or something, that would also be murderhoboing.

In my group's campaigns the apple orchard IS the dungeon

And since some of us run games in which the murder solution is the red herring, there are some games in which murderhobos will fairly quickly be condemned to death or running from the law.

Or better yet, furthering the Big Bad's plans by picking fights with everything.

Honestly though - I think it's rather easy to tell if you're in the sort of campaign where slaughter is encouraged or frowned upon. Presumably we all play with friends, including the DM - friends should be able to tell friends when they are not happy with the way a campaign is going, from either side of the DM screen.

[Arbane]

No. He wants to play a game where the world doesn't condemn him as a psychopath because he happens to rack up a kill count on par with a Natural Disaster over the course of an entire campaign (If not single adventure), nor want to have to deal with owning any more property than perhaps a cart/wagon he can crash in any time he wants while wandering the world (Instead of having to own a home and have a family that requires him to spend a great deal of time with), nor find an employer/start a job to keep his character occupied 8-16 hours per day.

You just reminded me - a guy over on RPG.net came up with a rather nifty idea: Doomed Slayers: Justifying the tropes of Adventurers. Basically, a setting where 'murderhobo' is an actual legal status. Slayers can't be taxed or have the things they take from monsters they kill confiscated, but they're not allowed to have any titles or own anything they can't carry with them, and they have to keep moving to new trouble spots. They're also not supposed to kill people, just monsters.

So, if you WANT a murderhobo campaign, here's a setting where it makes some sense.

[Coidzor]

I agree that if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos.

But if you might be willing to talk to the kobolds and goblins, and there might be a non-murder-focused solution, and the kobolds and goblins might just be waiting to buy tickets to see the Iron Golems, and the right solution might be to talk to them and work things out, then murderhobos are not acceptable.

And since some of us run games in which the murder solution is the red herring, there are some games in which murderhobos will fairly quickly be condemned to death or running from the law.

But yes - if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos.

Or you're testing out tactics across a number of standalone scenarios. Or...

Not sure where you got the idea I was either arguing that beer&pretzels was for everyone or that it was appropriate to all situations. Especially given that I was pointing out cases where combat or dungeon-crawl only scenarios would appear.

[TheCountAlucard]

In my group's campaigns the apple orchard IS the dungeon

It worked for Heracles.

[Jay R]

Or you're testing out tactics across a number of standalone scenarios. Or...

This is off-topic, unless the only tactic you would ever test is murder. We were talking about murderhobos, not general tactical thinking.

Not sure where you got the idea I was either arguing that beer&pretzels was for everyone or that it was appropriate to all situations. Especially given that I was pointing out cases where combat or dungeon-crawl only scenarios would appear.

I didn't claim either of those. I specifically said, "I agree that if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos."

But I don't confuse beer-and-pretzels role-playing with playing murderhobos. There's no particular relationship between them, since you can have long, detailed campaigns as murderhobos or short beer-and pretzel games in which you pretend to be something other than a murderer. In fact, it's easier to play something more real in a short game, since the PCs can be assumed to go back home after the battle.

Neither switching off the higher-order reasoning nor engaging in mindless self-indulgence requires pretending to be a murderer.

I consider long, detailed campaigns about murderhobos to be far less interesting than long, detailed campaigns about people invested in their world, and I consider short, beer-and-pretzel games about murderhobos to be far less interesting than short, beer-and-pretzel games about people invested in their world.

And I still agree that if all you want to do is play at murder, then there's nothing wrong with murderhobos. But after my first year-and-a-half of role-playing, that's never been all I want to do.