Campaign Ended by... Bad Dice Rolls.

[Raloc]

Make sure not one except you uses your dice. You might also try to use a computer-based dice roller. Random numbers generated by computers are 'really' random.

Computer generated random numbers are actually *less* random. Depending on who made the program. Your typical seed, however, is *much* less random than a roll of the dice.

 

[a_kirby_ball]

Wow I have never heard of this happenning, we must be lucky. Normally my mindset is 'roll with the punches' and as the bad dice come up, make a fun story line out of it...but gosh it sounds like you are all having just a hard time.

 

[Kalendraf]

Actually, the intent was specifcally to make things slightly more realistic.

It's common to desire to add "more realism" to the game. But remember the reason why most of us are drawn to RPGs in the first place - Fantasy Escapism, not Realworld Simulation.

Adding extra ways to die to improve the realness in a game can quickly stifle the enjoyment. Any added saves to avoid dying will invariably lead to more deaths happening; 1's happen. Maybe you and your players will enjoy the extra bodycount, but I know I certainly wouldn't.

 

[Michelle Lyons]

Something to keep in mind, though, is that this was set in Eberron. Eberron is designed to have more of a pulp sensibility. In keeping with that, it would be just as appropriate to have the characters fall and have the world go black, leaving them in suspense about whether the character lived or died, and then have them wake up sometime later tied to a stake with gnolls dancing around them an chanting, or being used as target practice by a bunch of drunk Talenta halflings.

Death is not the only adventure, nor the only outcome possible when a potentially dangerous check fails. You don't want to bail them out every time, mind you, but failure isn't any reason the game has to end.

Just a thought.

 

[Morpheus]

Believe Dagger75 when he says the party rolls poorly...I'm the DM and I get to witness the rolls firsthand. BTW, the Jump and Climb check were to get on a Lightning Rail when it first started moving, so no Taking 10). DC8 and DC 7, come on! They were 3rd level and I just... Back to Dawnforge where the PCs are tough SOBs...(Note: Dagger75 was a 3rd level Bar/Ftr and had 46 hps! Bad luck on some rolls and not on others...)

 

[rushlight]

It's common to desire to add "more realism" to the game. But remember the reason why most of us are drawn to RPGs in the first place - Fantasy Escapism, not Realworld Simulation.

Adding extra ways to die to improve the realness in a game can quickly stifle the enjoyment. Any added saves to avoid dying will invariably lead to more deaths happening; 1's happen. Maybe you and your players will enjoy the extra bodycount, but I know I certainly wouldn't.

I suppose it all hinges on your point of view. It's not the bodycount that's the desire - it's the unknown that beckons. While I could set up a story where the PCs have no fear of an accidental death, that really boils down to me describing the story to them with some occational input. Either way, no one is suprised when the story ends all Hollywood style. But we feel there's enough of that coming out of Hollywood. Sometimes bad things happen - the unpredictability is what makes it more exciting. I mean, who really gets worked up when James Bond dives off a 70 foot building? Do you *really* expect anything bad to happen to him? No, of course not. He'll do something flashy and he'll be fine.

But we're not roleplaying in Hollywood. When you take a header off a building, you better check yourself first. You might make it - you might not. But you'll never duplicate that level of tension, excitement and anticipation as you roll that die without a chance of something bad happening. It's visceral. It's the closest we can get to how you'll feel if you were to be facing that jump in person - even if it is just a mere sliver of emotion.

Try to evoke that when the players know nothing bad can happen, and you'll just end up with players waiting for you to explain to them how they got off the roof. "Gee, you jump down and nearly die! But you don't. Now where do you go?" That's not even close to being exciting.