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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grimhelm" data-source="post: 2743132" data-attributes="member: 37079">The answer to your first question, "Is part of the suspense of an RPG the uncertainty of character life & death?" is most certainly yes.However, it is my opinion that you can't legitimately use Indiana Jones or Perry Mason or Die Hard as foundations for your supposition.  These are (with the possible exception of Mason) action movies and not very suspenseful at all.  We watch these sorts of movies because we are thrilled with the action and the daring scenes, not because we really feel that the character is in actual danger.  We watch how the hero is going to get out of the predicament he is in, but we never are in suspense about his actual well being, only about how he will escape or succeed in the scene.The most successful suspense in movies has little to do with the above suspense.  The most successful suspense is based upon a fear of death that is most realized when we know as viewers that danger lurks for the hero, but the danger has not yet been arrived at.  After all, when our characters engage in combat, the fear of death is somewhat diminished.  It is the anticipation of the oncoming death struggle that makes our palms sweat and our bowels churn.Therefore, I would take issue with your eventual conclusion, that it is the hero's sacrifice that tantalizes us.  Take the movie Jaws for instance...We anticipate a mighty struggle of life and death with the shark as the hero goes out to sea, but the suspense is in the search, not in the sacrifice we anticipate.  It is the unknown that we fear, that keeps us on the edges of our seats.  When the shark appears, the suspense wanes and is replaced with the shared feelings of struggle.  Like a man might take reflexive swings with his fists while watching boxing, he is no longer engaged in suspense.  He is engaged by the struggle.  Sacrifice is not an issue.  Winning at all costs is the issue.  There can be no suspense about what the hero will lose if we already know he will give it all up to win, and in movies most likely will win.  Therefore, the only possible way to maintain suspense throughout the fight is to maintain the sense of the unknown, not to hinge the whole thing on how much the hero is willing to sacrifice.  A hero might very well be willing to sacrifice all, but this does not assure victory.  Actually, it is rather more suspenseful to us if we know that the hero does not wish to give up his life, for in this way his life maintains value!  Using Jaws as an example again, we never really feel remorse or fear for the salty old shark hunter.  He is not really afraid of death.  It is the guy who is afraid, who values his life, who isn't totally willing to give it all up, that captures our attention.</blockquote>

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