Do players want challenging games, with a real chance of death?

[Distracted DM]

The snarky answer is "ask them."

But it's my opinion that many players want to be challenged, and they want to feel like their characters' lives are on the line in very dangerous situations- but they don't WANT their characters to die. If they die, they may (most) or may not (some) want their characters to be able to be brought back.

It's rare, but characters die in my games. Even rarer, I break someone's heart with a character death- and man, I hate that feeling.

 

[Shardstone]

Not really. Fluffy and happy seem the norm. Old games and very small print are the only ones that seem to have anything resembling intense.

There a lot of games claiming to be intense, but they don't deliver.

I def wouldnt call them happy. Itch.io is crawling with dark, weird, and slightly esoteric games. Free League has no happy games. Even Radiant Citadel was fullof slaughter, evil, and messed up stuff.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I def wouldnt call them happy. Itch.io is crawling with dark, weird, and slightly esoteric games. Free League has no happy games. Even Radiant Citadel was fullof slaughter, evil, and messed up stuff.

Had to look up Radiant Citadel. Pretty light-weight stuff, especially using the 5e 'nap it off' system. Can't speak as to Ichi, as I never go there.

5e is a happy, fluffy system. Death isn't even a significant setback.

 

[Shardstone]

Had to look up Radiant Citadel. Pretty light-weight stuff, especially using the 5e 'nap it off' system. Can't speak as to Ichi, as I never go there.

5e is a happy, fluffy system. Death isn't even a significant setback.

How you play 5e is the problem then. Me and other dms i run with have never ran 5e in the eay you describe. And if you arent on itch.io and not looking at the new ks stuff coming out, you really dont know what the wider hobby is like now.

 

[Muso]

I usually play as DM, but when I play a PG I want a challenging game with a constant probability of death (I remember a AD&D 2E campaign in Dark Sun where none of us was ever at full hp).

 

[Distracted DM]

How you play 5e is the problem then. Me and other dms i run with have never ran 5e in the eay you describe. And if you arent on itch.io and not looking at the new ks stuff coming out, you really dont know what the wider hobby is like now.

I'm on itch but usually just to get stuff I already know I want, can you point me in a direction to get "in the know" like you refer to?

 

[Wolfpack48]

I always enjoyed those old AD&D tournament scenarios. They were a puzzle to be solved, and if not, death was a real possibility.

 

[John Dallman]

But it's my opinion that many players want to be challenged, and they want to feel like their characters' lives are on the line in very dangerous situations- but they don't WANT their characters to die.

Yup. We like the intensity, but we aren't keen on the actual dying part.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yup. We like the intensity, but we aren't keen on the actual dying part.

When I run 5E games for my family, they specifically tell me that if people weren't rolling death saves during the adventure, it wasn't exciting enough. I don't think I've ever killed any of their characters, but there have been a number of times when heroic rescues mid-battle were definitely required.

 

[John Dallman]

I don't think I've ever killed any of their characters, but there have been a number of times when heroic rescues mid-battle were definitely required.

I was pleased with a pickup-game I ran at a convention in the 1980s, for a bunch of level 1-2 OD&D and AD&D1e characters I'd never seen before. Their fight against a young green dragon ended in victory with only one PC still standing but no characters dead.