A shift in lethality. What's fair warning?

[Psion]

I have been thinking of turning up the heat in my games a bit. I have yet to claim a character in my current game, but I think that a change of the lethality level is in order.

I don't precisely want to announce this, but I don't want to just dump the players into it cold. I had considered just start gradually pushing them closer and closer to the line, but I think that fudging for them to avoid the results if I go overboard the first few times would be the exact wrong thing to do.

 

[Talmun]

I have been thinking of turning up the heat in my games a bit. I have yet to claim a character in my current game, but I think that a change of the lethality level is in order.

I don't precisely want to announce this, but I don't want to just dump the players into it cold. I had considered just start gradually pushing them closer and closer to the line, but I think that fudging for them to avoid the results if I go overboard the first few times would be the exact wrong thing to do.

I've done this a couple of times. Once when the PC's were going into a dungeon I wanted to be brutal, I had multiple NPCs give them ominous warnings and tell stories about the other heroic parties that had been slaughtered by the place...that worked very well, the players and their PCs quickly got the point.

The other time I decided that I was just being too easy on the party, so I actually told them, out of game, that "The holodeck safeties are now off, consider this a friendly warning".
They got it right away and it seemed to work just as well.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I have been thinking of turning up the heat in my games a bit. I don't precisely want to announce this, but I don't want to just dump the players into it cold.

I increased the lethality of my game (which involved all newbies, who were-- and are still-- terrible "tacticians" from a D&D player's perspective, so I had to ease them into it) by just turning up the heat where I wanted it, but giving them all action points to compensate. Now they know that occasionally they'll have to spend action points to survive, and they're getting a pretty good feel for when they'll need to spend them. (Sometimes I still have to ask, "Would you like to spend an action point on that saving throw?")


Wulf

 

[DonTadow]

I have been thinking of turning up the heat in my games a bit. I have yet to claim a character in my current game, but I think that a change of the lethality level is in order.

I don't precisely want to announce this, but I don't want to just dump the players into it cold. I had considered just start gradually pushing them closer and closer to the line, but I think that fudging for them to avoid the results if I go overboard the first few times would be the exact wrong thing to do.

I came to the decision to make asimilar move a month ago. I was hesitant to "throw the kitchen sink" at the party because I wanted the three new people who joined within the last three months to feel comfortable and get a feel for their character. But since I feel that several players have taken advantage of it, making unplanned and irrational decisions because they don't fear any consequences. My so called neutral good priest left the church, cursed out her superiors and stole some valuable items. My good hearted bard changed the time line to save his daughters life. Even my michevious little gnome began following random people in the time and cheating the local gang affiliates while gambling.

I began gradually increased the threats of the characters. A few weeks ago, three characters were killed in the big boss battle. However, do to divine intervention they were brought back (with the usual consequences). I believe they started figuring out at that moment that death was a serious thing and that they plan their moves out better. Unfortuntly the lesson was quickly forgotten, as I had a light hearted adventure in which no one was suppose to die and the combat was suppose to be a bashing in favor of the pcs. As the wizard began scrying for magical auras the priest decided to approach the guards with her own plan that no one else knew about. Good rolls saved her life but it irked me that they still wern't really planning anything out as a team.

After that and then cut thegame for a month. I do my game in seasons (like a tv show) and season 3 begins this sunday. I plan on having an npc (whom was presumably killed at the beginning of season 2) summon them to his demiplane again. There he will warn them that they best work better as a team if they hope to complete the tasks at hand. He'll also comment on how he has scryed on them fumbling around with simple tasks instead of maximizing each ones abilities. It will be my ingame way to nudge them to communicate more.

 

[Glyfair]

IMO, a lot of this depends on what you mean by "turning up the heat." Are you giving the players less slack? Is the heat being turned up within the campaign?

If it's the first, since it's not directly within the game, I'd let the players know outside the game. You don't have to say you're making the game more lethal, but let them know your overall style will be changing.

If it's the second, let the campaign speak for itself. Maybe drop a few hints that things are getting tougher. Have someone without much of a shot try a coup de grace on a PC (of course, you're risking getting lucky) that's down.

I firmly believe that changes within the game world should usually be represented within the game world. Change outside the game world, however, should be dealt with outside the game world.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

May I ask why the decision to amp up the lethality-level?

If the players have had their characters for a while and have had a chance to build strong attachments to them, it might be better to wait until that campaign concludes. Then, when you start the new campaign, you can easily let them know that this campaign will be a little tougher, a little more dangerous, and that as a consequence, character death will be more likely.

 

[The_Gneech]

Send along redshirts for a session or two.

Then wipe them out brutally.

That's what redshirts are for.

-The Gneech

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I plan on having an npc (whom was presumably killed at the beginning of season 2) summon them to his demiplane again. There he will warn them that they best work better as a team if they hope to complete the tasks at hand. He'll also comment on how he has scryed on them fumbling around with simple tasks instead of maximizing each ones abilities. It will be my ingame way to nudge them to communicate more.

No offense, but this seems cheesy and heavy-handed to me. As a player, I would much rather just have the DM tell me, out of game, that he wanted us to work better as a team, than to have some deus ex machina explanation in-game that involved summoning me to a demi-plane to have it explained by a DMPC who should be dead.

I mean, I'm supposed to be worried about the consequences of death when the NPCs don't stay dead?

 

[fafhrd]

If the issue you're concerned with is that they don't know when they're licked, you might use a very challenging opponent that can't be easily defeated but also has either no means or no reason to pursue them. If they simply rush in, they get beat up. Reasonably intelligent people will start to reassess their options when they start dropping into the negatives. In the Forge of Fury, the roper actually worked as advertised. Even though the strength damage made it a bit harder to escape, it served to underline how outclassed they were.

If the issue is a teamwork problem, like the one DonTadow mentions, perhaps you could create an npc group that is a bit weaker than the pcs but have them save the pcs bacon through use of clever tactics. My pcs have gotten that hint in the past. It's nice to hear the players say something like, "remember when we killed that dragon because we buffed beforehand? We should try something like that." The one issue with this approach is you want to layout the plausibility of rescue before the conflct. Otherwise it may backfire with the pcs expecting the GM to pull them out of the fire anytime they get in trouble.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Send along redshirts for a session or two.

Then wipe them out brutally.

That's what redshirts are for.

And describe the death in a very gruisome way.