We are still busy finding our way through Chetwood – and through the rules. We "encountered" an ambush situation and the question came: How do you make a melee attack to stun/temporarily disable opponents without risking to kill them (in our case, some bystanders goaded into opposing us by evil forces)? Any attack with a weapon has a chance to cause a piercing result and can therefore kill (even cudgels/clubs have an injury rating); the rules do not describe applying piercing results as optional. The only exception I see is the unarmed/stone throw attack, but that causes so little damage that we risk a long fight and damage to self.
Is discussing/convincing them the only other option? How do you handle such situations?