Restart From Last Save?

Scribble · Nov 26, 2008

So I was playing Dead Space last night for a bit, and I died. (Booo.)

The game as lots of (all?) computer games do started from the last point I saved at. It wasn't a far point behind where I died, so I liked my ego wounds and moved on...

But then it made me think...

I'm pretty used to that idea in computer games. If I die, I don't end up having to restart from the very begining, or make a new guy, or choose some other path in the adventure. I just restart from the last save point and move on. I don't think twice about it. I don't think I ever really thought twice about it in the very first few computer games that had save points in them. I just restarted, this time with a renewed energy to beat the jerk that killed me...

But in a Pen and Paper game, this idea just seems wrong. I died... There's no restarting the adventure from the last "save" point... You make a new guy, or you end up "failing" at the adventure and suffering the consequences.

What is it about P&P games that causes this difference?

is it the DM aspect?

Do you accept the "save point" more in a computer game because the computer can't come up with "consequences" on the fly? Or because the computer can't handle another adventurer joining the game, and taking on a "new" adventure based on the old?

Or is it something else?

Does anyone out there use an idea like "save points" in their P&P D&D game?

Thanee · Nov 26, 2008

Continuity.

Bye
Thanee

Delta · Nov 26, 2008

I don't accept it in a computer game.

But for those who do, my guess is it's the difference between single-player and multiplayer. 5 players don't want to go through the same stuff because you died. You yourself might find that okay instead of being dead.

Scribble · Nov 26, 2008

Delta said:
I don't accept it in a computer game.

So in any computer game you've played when you die you just start from the begining?

But for those who do, my guess is it's the difference between single-player and multiplayer. 5 players don't want to go through the same stuff because you died. You yourself might find that okay instead of being dead.

Well I think I'd have to equate death in a Computer game with a TPK in a P&P game.

Hypersmurf · Nov 26, 2008

Scribble said:
Does anyone out there use an idea like "save points" in their P&P D&D game?

Look up 'Thought Bottle' in Complete Arcane.

-Hyp.

Mallus · Nov 26, 2008

Scribble said:
So in any computer game you've played when you die you just start from the beginning?

Delta must have the patience of a saint or the reflexes of an extremely coordinated teenager!

Mallus · Nov 26, 2008

Scribble said:
Or is it something else?

I accept save points in computer/video games because it's a genre convention. Well, it's more than that, it's part of how the whole experience is structured. Software can't respond to play in a creative manner. On the other hand, games with save points can pull more moments of pure surprise on players, that is, they can use challenges that really aren't meant to be solved the first life through. Part of the fun of software games is really just gussied-up trial-and-error. Die and restart until you solve the challenge.

In the more fiction-like world of the PnP game, I prefer other death-mitigating mechanics, and consequences for failure that take the narrative in new and unexpected directions, rather than just taking another crack at the same challenge that defeated you.

Does anyone out there use an idea like "save points" in their P&P D&D game?

Not me.

Thanee · Nov 26, 2008

Heh. There are actually a few computer games without the option to save (unless you are cheating). Most MMORPGs (though dying there usually isn't the end), the old Wizardry games, Hack/Angband, Diablo 2 Hardcore, and so on. Those also have a certain appeal.

Though I do use the save game function, when it is available, I usually only keep a single save game to limit the extent of it.

Anyways, it really breaks the suspension of disbelief to do something like that in a Pen & Paper game.

Bye
Thanee

corncob · Nov 26, 2008

Scribble said:
So in any computer game you've played when you die you just start from the begining?

Isn't starting over basically the same as using a really old save point?

Treebore · Nov 26, 2008

Mallus said:
Delta must have the patience of a saint or the reflexes of an extremely coordinated teenager!

Or he is like me and simply does not play video games because it is IMPOSSIBLE to make it from beginning to end without dying.

That is the biggest reason I liked "Knights of the Old Republic", I made it from beginning to end with only 6 tries. The 6th time really ticked me off, though. I was at the very end, fighting all those robots, and didn't figure out how to beat the scenario until after I died. So I had to play for another 20 hours to get back to that point with a new character, but I won that battle and quickly figured out how to win the last battle without dying. It came close though, fortunately I had lots of shields and lots of healing.