The gold medal for the “Most Murdered” competition in Phandalin definitely goes to Thel Dendrar. The woodcarver’s untimely demise at the hands of the Redbrand Ruffians is part of the El Mop story, after all. He’s been murdered so many times over the last decade that he’s like the Michael Phelps of Sword Coast murder victims.

I’ll go out on a limb and say Harbin Wester is the silver medalist, with Halia Thornton standing on the podium to claim the bronze. Should their pictures be on a box of Wheaties or the side of a milk carton? Do they even put pictures on that stuff anymore? I’m old and confused.

Full disclosure: I cannot state with any degree of certainty these are, in fact, the medal winners of the Most Murdered competition. I don’t have analytical data to back this claim which, as someone who stares at spreadsheets all day, hurts my soul. But I do follow the Lost Mines of Phandelver subreddit rather closely. And I have read many accounts over the years where player characters have murdered Harbin Wester and Halia Thornton so many times I’m starting to wonder if it’s some kind of gang initiation ritual.

Okay Tick. Where are you going with this. There’s a point, right?

If you’re running DoIP after the events of LMoP – where Thel Dendrar has been murdered by ruffians, only to have other residents murdered by adventurers who at first appeared to be the town’s saviors – it’s hard to imagine Phandalin’s townsfolk rolling out the red carpet for anyone with a sword at their belt. Even if that carpet is made entirely of greasy red cloaks.

Regardless of what side of the issue you’re on, an open-carry enthusiast at Walmart is going to be the least popular person at any Walmart in the days or weeks after a mass shooting at a Walmart. Especially at that Walmart.

Who’s more open carry that a band of adventurers?

With that in mind, I might be a fun flourish for Phandalin’s residents to have a default attitude of hostile toward armed and armored characters who bear no sigil associated with a well-reputed faction. Perhaps a successful Charisma check might be required for characters to shift NPC attitudes from hostile to indifferent for social encounters around Phandalin to start Dragon of Icespire Peak.

It’s often the case that commoners get butchered by “heroes” in Dungeons & Dragons. Why not bake that in as a challenge for the players at your table, and give them some clues into how the world views adventurers?

It may serve as an ounce of prevention for potential murder hobos, as well as give you threads into the use of factions in the story, or as a way to work in seldom used rules like Attitude into your game.

I’ve been having fun sharing my random D&D thoughts over at Bluesky. If you’re interested in following, I’m at @ticklecorn.bsky.social. I’ll follow back.

If you’d like to support my work, please consider checking out my supplements for Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak over on Dungeon Master’s Guild! All of my titles are Free/PWYW offerings.