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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 4715060" data-attributes="member: 8835">There's some good points in Raven Crowking's thread about campaign/game design:<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/252585-some-thoughts-campaign-game-design.html" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/252585-some-thoughts-campaign-game-design.html</a>He makes some valid points about hating moving 4e treasure parcels the party missed, to the next encounter.  This can be viewed as opposition to my "all roads lead to rome" advice.I view it as the GM is the director, trying to create a good narrative experience for the players, based on the players choices.  In play, if the party misses an opportunity for some extra treasure, I'm disinclined to move it, just to they get it.  But I am inclined to make sure that whatever clue the party follows, it leads to the bad guy who lives in the mansion at the top of the hill.  Basically, if it keeps the game moving, then I rearrange things (sensically I hope) so the party "made the right choice".  It's certainly a way to fix the GM mistake of penalizing them for thinking of a new idea, by making them get stuck.Now, on the other side-topic of interpreting "punish" them.  I think there's been a bit of miscommunication going on (albeit humorously).Let's assume, that for the sake of completing the story, you try to give plot protection to the PCs.  Therefore, if an encounter is turning fatal, you need to prevent that.  This is where the phrase "find another way to punish them" came up, I believe.  The real point, is to transform a fatality or TPK into a setback.A setback is something that changes the protagonists situation, for the worse, and often in a new direction.  The plot-points in the OP's outline could be done as setbacks.When a PC dies, or is about to die if you announce the results of the attack, you've got a problem growing.  It will become increasingly easier to kill more members (less PCs to spread damage, less to fight back).  You'll want to figure out if you really want to kill that PC.  A good question would be, is it dramatic.  A death early in the session, or later in the session could set that up.  However, it also takes a player out of the game, which is not fun.In any event, you've also got to figure out how to de-escalate the killing, so you don't get a TPK.  The hostile force could use this opportunity to capture a prisoner (the PC gets knocked out, not killed, and taken).  They could simply fall back, figuring the PCs will rally to their fallen foe, buying them escape time.  Or a new force could arrive, making them unable to finish the job (for example, the police show up, or a t-rex).Taking a PC out of play for a little bit, as left for dead, unconcious, or captured, is preferable to losing the PC outright.  Though raise dead is also an option (costing time and money as a setback).  In any case, the price for "dying" is changed from loss of PC to time not in play.As with all writing tricks, you can't use them all the time in your game.  You don't want PCs acting stupidly because they've got plot protection, nor do you want to end a campaign, because PCs died meaninglessly.  The goal is to find a balance.</blockquote>

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