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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5168032" data-attributes="member: 177">I see him taking a position:"Now and then a player will die through no fault of his own. He or she willhave done everything correctly, taken every reasonable precaution, butstill the freakish roll of the dice will kill the character. In the long run you should let such things pass as the players will kill more than one opponent with their own freakish rolls at some later time. Yet you do have the right to arbitrate the situation..." (emphasis mine) Not quite right, by my reading (see above).  In those freakish situations where the character is killed through no fault of their own, the DM does specifically have the right to 'arbitrate the situation', and impose a penalty other than death.It looks to me like Gary did specifically allow for it, but suggested that one should not to so frequently, and should do so only with caution.  I've got no problem with that.   And, to loop some of the rest of the discussion back to the AD&D DMG - on hinting at plot points/elements, I didn't see anyone mention this:"There must always be something desirable to win, something important to lose, and the chance for either to happen.  Furthermore, there must be some purpose to it all.  There must be some backdrop against which adventures are carried out, and no matter how tenuous the strands, some web which connects the evil and the good, the opposing powers, the rival states and various peoples.  This need not be evident at first, but as play continues hints should be given to the players, and their characters should become involved in the interaction and struggle between these vaster entities."-AD&D DMG pg 112</blockquote>

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