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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6196846" data-attributes="member: 27160">I think it depends on the match between what the characters are expected to do and the system in use.Running 4E I can honestly say that I haven't had to use GM force to keep PCs alive at all; we have had occasional PC deaths, but no TPKs (so far!). There is a sort of "system force", in the sense that the encounter design guidelines in the DMG tell me what numbers and powers of monsters are likely to be beatable by the party, so there is a kind of "forced assumption" there.On the other hand, I run and play in HârnMaster games on a regular basis, too - and we get few PC deaths there, also. But, if the HM characters tried to do what a typical D&D character does, recklessly going into monster-infested sites and deliberately engaging in combat to gain loot, they would die in droves absent some serious DM fudging.So, the thing seems to be "Ask First What the PCs are Supposed to be Doing, Then Build Rules to Suit". If the general game activity is supposed to be player characters doing heroic and daring stuff to reap mythic rewards, then the system is going to need to make the PCs pretty mythic themselves. If the idea is to emulate a big, independent fantasy world where the PCs are not the "heroes of the action movie", on the other hand, verisimilitude in place of character puissance will be useful. Trying to do either type of core play assumption with rules made for the other will need some major GM interventions (also known as "the GM changes the rules as play goes on, in order to suit the actual requirements of the game").</blockquote>

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