History Main / CityGuards

** The standard variant is present throughout much of the series. While not inherently superior to the PlayerCharacter in terms of strength, they are more numerous and typically attack in groups. They can be killed, though each one killed adds significantly to the bounty the character must pay off to avoid jail time, and unlike most [=NPCs=] they respawn endlessly, so there's no point in killing all of them. Unlike in most video games, the city guards will always remember who you are. If you are wanted, they will try to apprehend you on sight. Given how much of the series is spent in cities, it is usually a good idea to just accept the fines or jail-time they offer you rather than fight them. Further, they will attempt to arrest you rather than kill you immediately. You may choose to pay the fine or go to jail if arrested, though in either case, the guard will confiscate any stolen items you may have. You can also choose to resist arrest, which will make all guards in the area immediately hostile to you. The exception is if you have such a high bounty (usually 5000 gold, which is 5 murders worth fines or stealing one priceless item) that they mark you for death on sight. At that point, your only hope is to have the ThievesGuild [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections make your bounty go away]]. Specific examples and exceptions are below.

** The standard variant is present throughout much of the series. While not inherently superior to the PlayerCharacter in terms of strength, they are more numerous and typically attack in groups. They can be killed, though each one killed adds significantly to the bounty the character must pay off to avoid jail time. Unlike in most video games, the city guards will always remember who you are. If you are wanted, they will try to apprehend you on sight. Given how much of the series is spent in cities, it is usually a good idea to just accept the fines or jail-time they offer you rather than fight them. Further, they will attempt to arrest you rather than kill you immediately. You may choose to pay the fine or go to jail if arrested, though in either case, the guard will confiscate any stolen items you may have. You can also choose to resist arrest, which will make all guards in the area immediately hostile to you. The exception is if you have such a high bounty (usually 5000 gold, which is 5 murders worth fines or stealing one priceless item) that they mark you for death on sight. At that point, your only hope is to have the ThievesGuild [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections make your bounty go away]]. Specific examples and exceptions are below.

The City Guards are the local authorities. They strut about between one tile square and another, looking busy, decked out in more armour than your [[FightInTheNude hero]] and generally acting superior.

** Guards vary on how helpful they are to players in need. Some guards, like Booty Bay Bruisers, will rush to your aid if you've got monsters after you. Other guards won't lift a finger unless the monster attacks ''them.'' Certain guards will react to PvP combat by killing everyone involved, even if one player didn't do anything. For awhile, this was a very common cause of {{Grief|er}}ing.

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** They will also attack you if you directly assault a shopkeeper. [[spoiler: The key word being 'directly': If you anger the shopkeeper by zapping him with a wand or throwing things at him, the guards won't care, and any subsequent beating will apparently be considered self-defense.]]

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* Non-game [[spoiler: (sort of)]] example in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'': the guards that are found in the Pyar, Guardians, and Circle cities (and quite possibly the cities for the other Power Groups as well, though the four never visit them). The four are initially impressed by the Pyar cities' guards' friendliness and helpfulness, and they're rather awed by their efficiency when they witness the guards taking down bad guys. And ''then'' they find out that the guards are also empowered as JudgeJuryAndExecutioner, at least up to city or town limits.

* Spiderweb Software's ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' (and ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'') series features guards that aren't really all that tough versus various miscellaneous enemies and tend to get killed easily when defending the town... Except for when YOU piss them off. When that happens, all of their stats (and their attacks/round) instantly triple.

* Creator/{{Bethesda}}, in keeping with their above example, included guards in some locations in ''VideoGame/Fallout3''. The most notable is Rivet City, which has a practically unlimited amount of guards with combat armor and small arms in defense. Of course, almost everybody in Rivet City can be slaughtered, leaving only the guards and [[InfantImmortality a few kids]] to take care of.

* In the Nintendo 64 game ''[[GanbareGoemon Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon]]'', one necessary path is blocked by two guards. After getting the required pass, the guards [[LampshadeHanging complain]] that now they have nothing else to do but stand there for [[NoFourthWall the rest of the game]].

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* In ''BreathOfFireIII'', Mayor [=McNeil=]'s mansion is guarded by two types of guard: the lazy ones who are easily bribed and {{only in it for the money}}, and the serious ones who will throw you out if they catch you. They [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience wear different colors so you can tell them apart]].

** City guards wearing light armor, Imperial Legion soldiers wearing heavy armor; neither is superior to the player character, but they are seldom alone. Attack one, and more will come. Each one killed adds significantly to the bounty the character must pay off to avoid jail time. But you ''can'' kill them. It's even possible through underhanded methods (legitimate and not) to get them to attack ''other'' innocent [=NPCs=] on the street; for example, by casting "Frenzy" on a person. The target goes crazy and starts attacking anybody nearby, the guards rush in and kill him.
** Unlike in most video games, the city guards will always remember who you are. If you are wanted, they will try to apprehend you on sight. Given how much of the series is spent in cities, it is usually a good idea to just accept the fines or jail-time they offer you rather than fight them.
** If the guards witness you attacking/killing someone, there is a pretty good chance that they will [[{{Determinator}} literally chase you across the entirety of the game world]]. One player was apprehended three weeks after attacking a civilian, on nearly the opposite edge of the map, [[InspectorJavert by the SAME GUARD that witnessed the attack]].
** 99.9% of Tamriel's citizens are above the law. If you provoke somebody into attacking you, the guards will simply tell you to "Move along outlander" or calmly say "Tell me outlander, what do you need?" when there's a Dunmer trying to punch your lights out. If you try to sleep in town, you'll be sent right to jail, whereas they might get stuck trying to walk over somebody's unconscious body.
** It was more reasonable to flee in [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]] - criminal records only applied within a given province, and decreased over time, so if you committed a crime in, say, Daggerfall and managed to flee, you could simply hang around in Wayrest until you no longer were seen as Pond Scum in the province of Daggerfall.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' manages to avoid some of the previous problems with the city guards. While they'll still chase you down and try to arrest you, you can still attempt to flee, as each of the holds (read: city/provinces) tracks crime separately. Kill a man in Riften, and the guards in Whiterun won't care. Also, if you commit a crime and leave the city, the guards ''will'' remember you; an overt crime that earns a bounty will cause them to arrest on sight, while a covert crime like thieving (without getting caught) will periodically result in a guard who will comment "Wait a minute, I know you...." If you stop to talk to said guard, he'll realize you're apparently behind the theft or other crime and try to arrest you.
** If you are the Thane in a hold, you can sometimes get guards to look the other way in regards to some of your crimes, but you can only do this once. If you've done enough jobs to get Thieves' Guild influence in the hold, you can bribe a guard for half your bounty to make the problem go away.
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHYvLdHhn8very rare cases]], guards will [[ArtificialBrilliance stop to actually interrogate you if you linger near the scene of a murder]].

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* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' almost entirely takes place in the cities of Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem, and the city guards are a constant obstacle during every stage of every assassination. While on the ground their encircling tactics can be nastily effective, Altaïr, the protagonist can take to the rooftops to fight in his element. Due to the social stealth aspect of the game, the guards are infamous for their quirks. For example, after stealthily assassinating a guard, Altaïr can sit down on a nearby bench, [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy eliciting no suspicion from guards who come to investigate]], despite the small armory he wears.

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* ''[[VideoGame/PeasantsQuest Peasant's Quest]]'' has a guard guarding the mountain that leads to Trogdor. In order to pass, you must prove that you are a peasant, which includes being on fire.

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* ''VideoGame/NetHack'':

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* In a non-game example, this trope is deliberately subverted in the Literature/{{Discworld}}, where Creator/TerryPratchett's Ankh-Morpork City Watch take every associated trope [[UpToEleven up to and past eleven]]. This is reflected in the computer games based on the Discworld, such as ''DiscworldNoir''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fable I}}'' abounds in City Guard antics, from the obnoxious BrokenBridge that bars you from entering Bowerstone North until after a certain point in the main plot, to their willingness to accept 1000-gold "sponsorship" for "guard breaks", to their annoying propensity to get in the way whenever you have to team up with them on various [[EscortMission good-aligned quests]].
* {{Bethesda|Softworks}}, in keeping with their above example, included guards in some locations in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. The most notable is Rivet City, which has a practically unlimited amount of guards with combat armor and small arms in defense. Of course, almost everybody in Rivet City can be slaughtered, leaving only the guards and [[InfantImmortality a few kids]] to take care of.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has guards in cities with functioning governments: Vault City, the NCR capital, and San Francisco. They typically have slightly better equipment than a player first finding the city would have, barring SequenceBreaking. Everywhere else, theft or assault is punished by random civilians pulling their guns and trying to shoot you.

* TabletopRPG example: This trope is [[ExaggeratedTrope taken to it's logical conclusion]] in {{Exalted}} with the demon Sondok, whose literal ''reason for existing'' is to guard things (thus the title "She-Who-Stands-In-Doorways"). She's ''so'' good at her job, that some of the merchants who summon her have formed a cult expressly devoted to her as a form of contract.

* On the other side of the coin, some of the guards in earlier ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' games were just way stronger than your characters, at least at first. In addition, many [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMOs]] use City Guards which are pretty well leveled, largely to keep [[TheGreatPlayerVersusPlayerDebate PVP]] from getting out of hand.

* This is an old staple of the ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series. Unusually, the first two games require you to kill guards in order to win. In the first game, you need to kill a jester in a castle to gain a key, which causes the guards to turn hostile. In the second game, killing guards is the only way to gain keys which in turn are the only way to unlock essential doors, plus one of the plot-critical items is found inside a prison, which has an unmoving guard standing in the doorway. The guards are the biggest threat in parts III-V due to the battles taking place on a separate combat map. What looks like a single creature in the main gameworld can turn out to be anywhere between 1-10 enemies in combat. Guess whether the guards are always packed full? The guards are also frequently some of the strongest enemies in the entire game. ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' begins in the walled-off town of Trinsic, and the guards ask for a password in order to let you ''out'' through the city gates.

* In a sequence in ''{{Okami}}'', you are required to sneak past a door guarded by two weak, early-game monsters, even though you could probably kill them at this point with a flick of your Reflector.

* ''{{Prototype}}'''s marines will almost always target you over the nearby infected horrors, even if you're just running away while Hunters [[{{Determinator}} chase you to the ends of the earth]]. Justified in that you are their primary target.

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* ''[[VideoGame/PeasantsQuest Peasant's Quest]]'' has a guard guarding the mountain that leads to Trogdor. In order to pass, you must prove that you are a peasant, which includes being on fire.

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* In a non-game example, this trope is deliberately subverted in the Literature/{{Discworld}}, where Creator/TerryPratchett's Ankh-Morpork City Watch take every associated trope [[UpToEleven up to and past eleven]]. This is reflected in the computer games based on the Discworld, such as ''DiscworldNoir''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series has Space Police, which scan cargo bays for contraband and attack pirates. Their bigger brothers, the Border Patrol, keeps an eye on jumpgates leading to the other faction's sectors, and they use higher-end ships. [[PoliceAreUseless Both generally still get wiped out]] by {{Space Pirate}}s, because the Police apparently can't afford anything bigger than [[ScrappyWeapon Impulse Ray Emitter pea-shooters]]. The various racial military groups and [[NGOSuperPower corporate fleets]] generally do a much better job of defending their area-of-operations courtesy of being backed up by {{Mile Long Ship}}s in [[TheBattlestar various]] [[MacrossMissileMassacre flavors]], but do not scan for pirate smugglers.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' used these too...and were attackable. They weren't actually programmed the same way most City Guards are actually...and players would regularly kill them for experience. It's even been lampshaded how guards don't have a very long lifespan.

* One of the more amusing sequences in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is when you scare off a pair of guards that had been blocking the path to Mosphoran Highwaste with a [[HorseOfADifferentColor chocobo]].
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' a pair of guards blocks a path early on... and when they move, ''your own party members'' will tell you you have more important things to do. Damn.
* In the Nintendo 64 game ''[[GanbareGoemon Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon]]'', one necessary path is blocked by two guards. After getting the required pass, the guards [[LampshadeHanging complain]] that now they have nothing else to do but stand there for [[NoFourthWall the rest of the game]].
* On the other side of the coin, some of the guards in earlier ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' games were just way stronger than your characters, at least at first. In addition, many [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMOs]] use City Guards which are pretty well leveled, largely to keep [[TheGreatPlayerVersusPlayerDebate PVP]] from getting out of hand.
** For example the guards in ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' are nigh-invulnerable teleporters who kill with one hit.

* Spiderweb Software's ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' (and ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'') series features guards that aren't really all that tough versus various miscellaneous enemies and tend to get killed easily when defending the town... Except for when YOU piss them off. When that happens, all of their stats (and their attacks/round) instantly triple.
* ''VideoGame/StarTropics'' was well-practiced at using this trope. In at least half of the towns you come to, plot requires you speak with the mayor/chief/head honcho of the town. However, a guard will be standing in the way, barring passage inside unless you talk to absolutely everyone in town at least once first. This, obviously, was a less than subtle way of making you talk with all of the citizens before moving on.
* The two [=BribeClaw=] in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' will let you pass -- for the rest of the game -- in exchange for 25 scarabs. (The second one, though, [[spoiler:can be bypassed using a Staff Power. If you do this, the [=BribeClaw=] will behave as though you had bribed him, and will therefore let you past every time you approach.]] You only need to pass him once, however, if you know what you're looking for.
* Each town in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: Wild World'' has two armed canine guards at the north gate. You can't even leave your own town until you get friend codes. The trouble is that you can't get friend codes within the game; you have to get them from other players.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', you have to [[StealthBasedMission sneak past them]] to get to Zelda. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' depicts them as [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy generally useless cowards]], although they thankfully never really get in your way either. Well, they ''try'' if you run around as Wolf in Hyrule Town...
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', the guards wouldn't let you out of Clock Town in the beginning of the game (because you're trapped in the body of a young Deku Scrub). Later, when you're back to human form, they try to protest that it isn't safe for children, but then decide that this particular young child is carrying a sword, and therefore will be perfectly fine. Nice job, guys.
** At one point in ''Majora's Mask'' an old lady walks through a field in front of a guard when she is mugged and completely ignores her cries for help. If that weren't enough, after running around a bit the mugger escapes through the very door he is guarding. It seems the only job these guys were hired for was keeping small children from going outside.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'', the guards were in the employ of the villains -- ''they held their own princess captive'' and tried to arrest Link for it later. The oft-ignored guard on Hyrule Castle's battlements will comment on how [[JustifiedTrope most of the guards lost their minds]] since [[EvilChancellor Agahnim]] took over, and muses that it'll only be a matter of time before he's affected too.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap Minish Cap]]'', the guards stationed around Hyrule Town never antagonize Link and will comment on the king's strange behavior. You do have to sneak past the guards at Hyrule Castle in the later parts of the game, just like in ''Ocarina''.
* Soldiers stand guard all throughout the city area in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil,'' and they [[NPCRoadblock prevent you from accessing certain parts of the city]] at first. More of them appear throughout the town as the game progresses, as the government grows more paranoid. Interestingly, they start out as {{jerkass}}es toward the heroine. But once you acquire a sidekick who happens to be one of them, they [[DevilInPlainSight immediately become polite and upright]]. ''Hmmm...''
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'':
** Minetown has guards that will simply stand by and watch as you and its inhabitants try to kill each other, but God help you if you [[spoiler:dry up one of the town's two fountains]], in which case every last one of them will be out for your blood.
** They will also attack you if you directly assault a shopkeeper. [[spoiler: The key word being 'directly': If you anger the shopkeeper by zapping him with a wand or throwing things at him, the guards won't care, and any subsequent beating will apparently be considered self-defense.]]
** There's also the guards that come if you're raiding a vault, though they can easily be sent away by [[spoiler:telling them that you are Croesus]]. God help you if [[spoiler:Croesus is dead]], though...
* Saffron City's guards in the original ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon|RedAndBlue}}'' weren't necessarily well-armed, but they did [[BrokenBridge prevent you from accessing an entire city]] for a good portion of the game, simply because they [[FetchQuest were thirsty]].
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games, guards abound. Even if they'd be sympathetic to the plot you're trying to advance, who has the time to explain it to them? Besides, getting around them is the majority of the game's objectives, and even in Thief 3's between-mission sandbox, they're really no more a deterrent than citizens, whether you're playing as intended, Thief-like, or going berserk. They do have some amusing exchanges to eavesdrop.
* ''VideoGame/{{EvE Online}}'' has CONCORD, the neutral police force. If you attack an another player in high-security space without a [[strike:war declaration]]bribe, retribution is swift, deadly and unavoidable. In fact, successfully evading them is a bannable offense on the basis that [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat it all but requires hax to do so]]. Factions also maintain their own navies, but those are at least escapable, if not survivable.
* ''VideoGame/EverquestII'' has guards in major cities. Some which are harder than high end raid bosses.
* ''{{Prototype}}'''s marines will almost always target you over the nearby infected horrors, even if you're just running away while Hunters [[{{Determinator}} chase you to the ends of the earth]]. Justified in that you are their primary target.
** Averted at one point when the Blackwatch forces are told that defending a particular truck is their primary objective, and they immediately cease to attack you, [[VideogameCrueltyPotential even you start butchering them]] [[ImAHumanitarian for health.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fable I}}'' abounds in City Guard antics, from the obnoxious BrokenBridge that bars you from entering Bowerstone North until after a certain point in the main plot, to their willingness to accept 1000-gold "sponsorship" for "guard breaks", to their annoying propensity to get in the way whenever you have to team up with them on various [[EscortMission good-aligned quests]].
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has guards in every city and town (as well as invisible elite guards that only appear to opposite faction players). Guards will give you directions if you ask them, however in some cities (specifically the ones in Stormwind for starters) are rather unpleasant about this. The ones in Undercity basically demand to know what you want for talking to them. To sum it up, all guards are somewhat AxCrazy with FantasticRacism and will attack/kill players of the opposite faction on sight whether they're causing trouble or not.
** Notably, town guards are usually level-appropriate to the area their town is located in. So they do a good job of driving off enemy-faction players questing in the area, but provide laughably weak resistance to high level players intent on killing everyone in town ([[HideYourChildren except the kids]]).
** Guards vary on how helpful they are to players in need. Some guards, like Booty Bay Bruisers, will rush to your aid if you've got monsters after you. Other guards won't lift a finger unless the monster attacks ''them.'' Certain guards will react to PvP combat by killing everyone involved, even if one player didn't do anything. For awhile, this was a very common cause of {{Grief|er}}ing.
** Some guards got the InvincibleMinorMinion treatment as of Cataclysm. In all starter areas but Quel'Thalas and The Exodar there are level 90 Elite guards that can kill most level 85s in three hits or less. Should the player ever [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential feel the need to wipe out a town of the opposing faction]] guards will spawn with several times the player's health pool just to be an annoyance. The latter type [[DeathIsCheap respawns instantly]] on death and [[{{Determinator}} begins to chase you until you leave the town.]]
* Picking a lock with any other creature (even a cat) on screen in the original ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' yields the delightful phrase 'Someone has noticed you. You heard the guards being summoned'. This would be followed up by high-level, well-equipped guards (though how powerful, exactly, depends on the in-game area you were in) showing up to confront you. Some of them can be bribed to go away, some just kill you.
* In the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' mod game ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'', every city guard is single-handedly capable of killing you, and it's impossible to bribe or evade them if they either spot you committing a crime or someone ''else'' reports you to them. This necessitates the use of stealth over brute force, which is the focus of the game. The one leeway you're given is that they'll only give you a verbal warning if it's a minor crime (like walking around with your weapon unsheathed).
* In the ancient Egyptian city simulation game ''Videogame/ImmortalCitiesChildrenOfTheNile'', you can employ these yourself, as distinctly separate from your main army. They're even literally called City Guards. Mostly they just go around stopping vagrants, thieves, and protesters, as they are fairly useless against a real army.

* This is an old staple of the ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series. Unusually, the first two games require you to kill guards in order to win. In the first game, you need to kill a jester in a castle to gain a key, which causes the guards to turn hostile. In the second game, killing guards is the only way to gain keys which in turn are the only way to unlock essential doors, plus one of the plot-critical items is found inside a prison, which has an unmoving guard standing in the doorway. The guards are the biggest threat in parts III-V due to the battles taking place on a separate combat map. What looks like a single creature in the main gameworld can turn out to be anywhere between 1-10 enemies in combat. Guess whether the guards are always packed full? The guards are also frequently some of the strongest enemies in the entire game. ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' begins in the walled-off town of Trinsic, and the guards ask for a password in order to let you ''out'' through the city gates.
* In ''Videogame/EliteDangerous'', populated ([[AnarchyIsChaos non-anarchist]]) systems have System Authority vessels that respond to danger and patrol around nav beacons and space stations. SA vessels are very dangerous and piloted by aces, but their response time outside of usual patrol routes can give pirates enough time to swoop in and harass traders. Each of the major Powers has their own city guard (i.e. Zachary Hudson's Federal Agents) that patrol their owned systems to keep out criminals and foreign powers.

** City guards wearing light armor, Imperial Legion soldiers wearing heavy armor; neither is superior to the player character, but they are seldom alone. Attack one, and more will come. Each one killed adds significantly to the bounty the character must pay off to avoid jail time. But you ''can'' kill them. It's even possible through underhanded methods (legitimate and not) to get them to attack ''other'' innocent [=NPCs=] on the street; for example, by casting "Frenzy" on a person. The target goes crazy and starts attacking anybody nearby, the guards rush in and kill him. It's apparently perfectly legal to use magic that causes people to go berserk.

* ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}} 2'' has guards in major cities. Some which are harder than high end raid bosses.