Are you a killer DM?

[Palantir]

Remembering that the goal of every session is to have fun, I always try to reward Indiana Jones/Buffy/James Bond style shenanigans. They add so much colour to the session, and are often talked about for months afterward, that I can not, in good conscience, say to a player that ran through a melee and provoked seven attacks of opportunity to aid a failing comrade, "Wow... that was such a heroic move! The opportunity attacks cut you to shreds. Next."

I want to reward my players for entertaining me and adding to the fun of the game, not slap them down for it.

A killer DM has feelings too!

-Palantir

 

[Fenes 2]

Hmm...I think I look at it differently.

Indiana Jones is always trying insane crap that by all rights oughtta get him killed. He somehow survives it.

Bufy and gang are poor planners a lot of the time, fall for traps all the time, and generally don't work together nearly as well as they could. Character death is really rare on the show.

James Bond engages in absurdly risky stunts and barely pulls them off.

If you're going for a high-adventure feel like these stories, then it's worth fudging to keep the characters alive. And it doesn't really reduce the excitement.

When I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time, I knew that Indy was going to survive the movie. It didn't make it any less exciting for me.

Similarly, I can enjoy a hair-raising chase, an all-out battle, or a death-defying stunt in a game without wondering whether my PC will survive.

Daniel

I wholeheartedly agree with this view.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

To have death defying situations wouldn't that demand that a PC could die? If not then you are not in a death defying situation. You are in a happy place instead.

 

[Bragi]

A maimer maybe but a killer? Well I do tend to have a lot of characters die at some point in my adventures but I like to run games that are very challenging. I'm not talking about games with overpowered foes but more along the lines of making you pay attention.

For instance, I once ran a game with a were-spider who was holding people in cocoons in a warehouse. A few people excaped and ran to the city guards who brought word to the party that they had found the location of the spider that they were hunting.

The group found the warehouse and once they broke in they found it covered in spider webs. So they set fire to the spider webs and unknowingly killed the rest of the prisonered the were-spider had cocooned. Meanwhile the were-spider in human form calls the guards because someone is breaking in to his warehouse. The guards arrive and find no signs of the webbing with was completely burned but they do find the group along with the charred bodies.

The group is arrested, all of the equipment taken away and thrown in jail for killing those people.

 

[incognito]

Different topic but

This topic is morphing into what your feelings are with regard to being or not being a killer DM is - which is fine.

My 2 cents:
If the characters risk nothing in a fight situation, then the fights should have little meaning in the context of the adventure. ELs are already structured such that PCs can handle 4 fights in a day (!!).

That's fine, if your story is the XP/treasue/entertainment generator.

YET D&D is pretty combat centric for this to be pervasive in most campaigns. The politicts and struggle should be there, I agree, but there should also be plenty of "put the beastie to the sword" action as well.

With those thoughts expressed, I like fewer, but more challenging encounters. Challenging means possible PC death. Otherwise, where's the learning curve, where's the excitement?

Using the Indianna Jones exmaple: what happens if Indy just jumped into a pile of snakes, got bit by a few, and then made his 'fort save' or whatever, and strolled right out. Violates the suspension of disbelief.

I try not to GUN for the PCs, merely let them know that thier enemies will not lie down for them, and physical combat should be a little scary.


Whew!

 

[Fenes 2]

Many people said that there should be real risk of PC death, that players should learn to plan, play it smart etc.

I don't.

I don't want to "learn" D&D. I don't want to get "better" at it. I don't want to get taught how deadly a monster is, and how I should use my PC better next time. I don't want to beat my DM.

I just want to have fun, to play my PC without fearing for him. I am a good enough roleplayer to play my PC without acting on the knowledge that he or she will not die, and fear of PC-death not only adds absolutely nothing to my game, it actually makes it less fun for me. I hate worrying about my PC, hate going into every battle with my nerves on edge, fearing that hours of work will go to waste due to a lucky crit. I hate "playing it smart", always using the best tactics, best position, best plan. I hated how funny PC concepts turned into paranoid minmaxed killing machines due to fear of PC-death and the learning curve when I played in such campaigns.

If I wanted that I would play a strategy game, not a roleplaying game.

 

[mkletch]

I presume that your characters want to feel somehow "special" or blessed or whatever, compared to the rest of the creatures in your world? In a fight against NPCs with identical levels and equipment, they would have greater than a 50-50 chance of survival? If that is how they want their game, then I suppose you should cater to them.

It is really this special vs. ordinary discussion that lies at the core of most "how deadly is your camapaign" discussions. I've had it before with gamers I have played with, many a time. It is a fundamental question that can eventually tear apart a gaming group.

-Fletch!

 

[mkletch]

To have death defying situations wouldn't that demand that a PC could die? If not then you are not in a death defying situation. You are in a happy place instead.

Flexor gets a gold star for that one. The characters have to feel the fear of their characters, whether or not the fear is actually real. If they find it is not, you lose all credibility as a DM.

-Fletch!

 

[mkletch]

Re: Different topic but

Using the Indianna Jones exmaple: what happens if Indy just jumped into a pile of snakes, got bit by a few, and then made his 'fort save' or whatever, and strolled right out. Violates the suspension of disbelief.

To many gamers, especially casual players, "suspension of disbelief" is a four letter word...

-Fletch!

 

[Ravellion]

Re: Different topic but

I try not to GUN for the PCs, merely let them know that thier enemies will not lie down for them, and physical combat should be a little scary.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The last session before I moved to the UK, My players (levels 7-9) were completley spread out in a room which was intended to summon Bebilith (those demon spiders, not retrievers, are bebilith right?).

The Archer with Con 10(bloody elf), decided that it was good idea NOT to get the hell out of there and instead move just 5 feet back and make a full attack.

The B. attacked, hit, elf fails fort save, 1d6 poison damage to CON... *roll*. 6. The next round he couldn't get away without taking an AoO, so he moved another 5 feet back and made another full atttack... almost enough to kill the bebilith (the rest of the party was chugging lightning bolts and god knows what). The bebilith had one more attack in him, and poisoned him to 1 CON. The damage he had taken was more than enough to kill him.

They ball could have lived (the entrance to the room couldn't have let through a bebilith), but they chose to fight. No biggie, just a raise spell will get him his PC back.

Rav