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"Run away! Run away!" ... what if they don't?
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<blockquote data-quote="Caliburn101" data-source="post: 7451004" data-attributes="member: 6802178"><p>If they don't take reasonable hints, and the situation is clearly very bad, and they know there is no cavalry to save them, then allow the encounter to proceed to character deaths until they run.</p><p></p><p>CR and Threat Level and all these concepts were introduced by D&D, and many people who have only played D&D seem to think that all encounters <em>must</em> be balanced.</p><p></p><p>There are so, so many fantasy rpg's (and ones of other genres) where balancing rules are a hand-waive or simply not present at all. They treat the GM like they are competent to create encounters themselves without the handholding.</p><p></p><p>That said, CR etc. is useful - but it is just one tool in the GM's kit, and should not be taken for granted by players.</p><p></p><p>A gameworld (not a single dungeon or challenge type game - these do of course need to be balanced) should have lots of dangerous stuff in it characters cannot defeat, and it should not gate them off from those if they want to interact with them. There can be in-game warnings from NPCs, History/Lore checks, local legends sang about by Bards, or just local knowledge that the ruins make mincemeat out of powerful adventurers and are not for the likes of YOU.</p><p></p><p>In other words plenty of in-game ways for the world to make it clear that 'you shouldn't do the thing'...</p><p></p><p>As a GM, do yourself a favour and tell your players that your world is more freeform than the CR rules straight-jacket implies, and that whilst most things will be reasonably balanced, there will be times when they are not, and that doing research, scouting, planning, using sound tactics, and when necessary, <em>fleeing</em>, are all VERY good ideas.</p><p></p><p>Your campaign will be all the better for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Caliburn101, post: 7451004, member: 6802178"] If they don't take reasonable hints, and the situation is clearly very bad, and they know there is no cavalry to save them, then allow the encounter to proceed to character deaths until they run. CR and Threat Level and all these concepts were introduced by D&D, and many people who have only played D&D seem to think that all encounters [I]must[/I] be balanced. There are so, so many fantasy rpg's (and ones of other genres) where balancing rules are a hand-waive or simply not present at all. They treat the GM like they are competent to create encounters themselves without the handholding. That said, CR etc. is useful - but it is just one tool in the GM's kit, and should not be taken for granted by players. A gameworld (not a single dungeon or challenge type game - these do of course need to be balanced) should have lots of dangerous stuff in it characters cannot defeat, and it should not gate them off from those if they want to interact with them. There can be in-game warnings from NPCs, History/Lore checks, local legends sang about by Bards, or just local knowledge that the ruins make mincemeat out of powerful adventurers and are not for the likes of YOU. In other words plenty of in-game ways for the world to make it clear that 'you shouldn't do the thing'... As a GM, do yourself a favour and tell your players that your world is more freeform than the CR rules straight-jacket implies, and that whilst most things will be reasonably balanced, there will be times when they are not, and that doing research, scouting, planning, using sound tactics, and when necessary, [I]fleeing[/I], are all VERY good ideas. Your campaign will be all the better for it. [/QUOTE]
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"Run away! Run away!" ... what if they don't?
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