New DM+players, how to handle death in Keep

[phil500]

Wanted some advice- i dont know where the balance between creating tension by consequences for death and keeping the game going should be.

also- how likely is it that a char will die? seems to me its pretty rare for just one death, either it would be a wipe or the downed chars would be revived and there would be no deaths.

i will play the monsters to their tactical best, so I assume they do not go after unconscious chars, right?

 

[Duckforceone]

well if the characters just jump into the fray, fighting to the death without thinking of escape, i will assert how much they can pay, and then make them pay their arm and teeth to get the party member revived.

Now if they died because i made it a bit too hard, i would make it alot cheaper to get the member rezzed.

It all depends on the situation and levels... the above goes for lvl 1-5 only...

 

[Rechan]

Ultimately it's up to you.

I'm more the taste of "Bring in a new PC, same XP as the old one" (though that's more difficult with pregens), and if someone wants their dead friend back, they got to go into the Shadowfell to get him back. But some people really get married to their PC, or that there's a time crunch.

Also, as it was mentioned above, if he died because he was stupid, it should be costly. If he died because you miscalculated or was harsh, then take it easy.

 

[Mort_Q]

I find caring about pregens... difficult.

I am thinking of running KotS as well, and I think I'd run it more as a rules test than a immersive roleplay.

If someone died, I might go back to a saved game, as it were, or treat it like an opportunity to have them try a different pregen.

Heck, I might ask players to switch characters every few encounters.

Speaking of which, does anyone know when the Eberron and/or Realms KotS conversions are coming out?

The Eberron one is supposed to have 2 more pregens.

 

[Mengu]

I'd say easy way to rez in town at affordable donation. Character at -1 attack and defenses for 3 milestones seems like a sufficient penalty.

 

[Boarstorm]

The Eberron one is supposed to have 2 more pregens.

Really? Cool deal. I hadn't heard that.

 

[Korgoth]

Reverses should be costly or else they're not really reverses (and nothing is really at stake); death is the worst possible reverse (and so should cost the most). I say bring in a new character at level 1.

Playing D&D is already like playing Texas Hold 'Em for free (as opposed to playing for money or candy or something)... and practically everybody plays on the same team. It's almost as non-competitive and low key as you can possibly get. Even Candy Land is marginally more edgy. So I don't see why somebody would want to remove the solitary shred of edginess and risk that is actually allowed in the game.

 

[Mort_Q]

Really? Cool deal. I hadn't heard that.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=225506

 

[Boarstorm]

Thanks for the link, Mort_Q.

 

[Harr]

I've tried all of these (aside from player is out of the game) and the one that has worked the best for us is "New character, same XP as last".

In the great majority of cases, the mere fact that a death took place is enough of a punishment. The players are putting all of their attention, strategies and resources into not letting that happen, and once it happens, it's not necessary to compund it by adding on more penalties. They already will be somber enough; from a player's persepective, they have in effect failed the encounter by letting one of their number die. That's what matters to them, anything added on top of that... is just annoying.

Playing D&D is already like playing Texas Hold 'Em for free (as opposed to playing for money or candy or something)... and practically everybody plays on the same team. It's almost as non-competitive and low key as you can possibly get. Even Candy Land is marginally more edgy. So I don't see why somebody would want to remove the solitary shred of edginess and risk that is actually allowed in the game.

That's very logical and makes a lot of sense. And yet what's logical and makes the most sense in theory... is almost never what actually happens in play.

Of course, all this is just what's true for my playgroup, others may have a wholly different experience.