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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 6934386">Maybe.&nbsp; We might not lose an actual leg, or we might not actually get captured and sent to prison, or we might not actually all get eaten by kobolds; but we do lose out on the potential to make a good story, we lose out on the potential futures those characters and stories that may have spawned, and I think, we lose out on good memories.Sure, we may go home laughing about us all getting killed by giant rats on the first day of our first adventure, or maybe failing that diplomacy check to not be taken slaves by the ogres, or even just talking our way out of a pickle with the city guard.&nbsp; But these aren't the stories people talk about on here and I suspect that these aren't the stories we savor and tell our buddies and kids in order to get them enthused about the game.&nbsp; To say that D&amp;D has no consequences is inherently begging the question of: &quot;then why play?&quot;&nbsp; We're obviously trying to accomplish something by sitting down at the table and I think I can speak for most people when I posit that thing is &quot;fun&quot;.&nbsp; Which as much as people don't want to hear it, is accomplished by &quot;winning at D&amp;D&quot; that is: overcoming challenges in a way that creates lasting memories and a positive experience.&nbsp; You may create lasting memories and a positive experience by failing to overcome challenges sometimes.&nbsp; I'm sure everyone has experienced a great battle in which they lost but still generally went home feeling positive and probably still remember that loss fondly.&nbsp; But again, I will posit that long-standing fondness for a loss stems from positive experiences leading up to that loss.&nbsp; IE: &quot;We played a good game, even though we lost.&quot;The &quot;consequences&quot; of failing at D&amp;D basically lead to a dislike for the game.&nbsp; You die often enough, in inglorious ways enough, you fail to generate good memories and go home thinking about D&amp;D as &quot;that game you died in a lot for no reason.&quot;&nbsp; I mean, there's no consequences to video games, but dying a lot, often enough, early enough will lead to a dislike for the game.&nbsp; Just as losing quickly, regularly and often will do in any game, even in real-life games!Any time you go home from D&amp;D feeling like you've wasted you time, wasted your effort and wake up with no fond recollection of your playtime is a time you have &quot;lost&quot; at D&amp;D.&nbsp; So yes, there are consequences to failing at D&amp;D, on the grand scale those consequences may be nothing more than no longer being interesting in playing D&amp;D; but for a niche hobby, I'd say that's a pretty big deal.Now there are plenty of ways to &quot;win&quot; at D&amp;D and not all of them are going to rely on dice rolls but unless you disregard the numbers entirely, at which point I would question why you're playing D&amp;D, and those that are are going to rely on being backed up by &quot;good&quot; (lets say good means +X's and &quot;bad&quot; means -X's) stats.&nbsp; So if you have bad stats, at least when it comes to rolling, you are more likely to &quot;lose&quot; at D&amp;D then when you do not.&nbsp; The rest is your ability to role-play and think on your feet and if you're not good at that well then....</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 6934386"] Maybe. We might not lose an actual leg, or we might not actually get captured and sent to prison, or we might not actually all get eaten by kobolds; but we do lose out on the potential to make a good story, we lose out on the potential futures those characters and stories that may have spawned, and I think, we lose out on good memories. Sure, we may go home laughing about us all getting killed by giant rats on the first day of our first adventure, or maybe failing that diplomacy check to not be taken slaves by the ogres, or even just talking our way out of a pickle with the city guard. But these aren't the stories people talk about on here and I suspect that these aren't the stories we savor and tell our buddies and kids in order to get them enthused about the game. To say that D&D has no consequences is inherently begging the question of: "then why play?" We're obviously trying to accomplish [I]something[/I] by sitting down at the table and I think I can speak for most people when I posit that thing is "fun". Which as much as people don't want to hear it, is accomplished by "winning at D&D" that is: overcoming challenges in a way that creates lasting memories and a positive experience. You may create lasting memories and a positive experience by failing to overcome challenges [I]sometimes[/I]. I'm sure everyone has experienced a great battle in which they lost but still generally went home feeling positive and probably still remember that loss fondly. But again, I will posit that long-standing fondness for a loss stems from positive experiences leading up to that loss. IE: "We played a good game, even though we lost." The "consequences" of failing at D&D basically lead to a dislike for the game. You die often enough, in inglorious ways enough, you fail to generate good memories and go home thinking about D&D as "that game you died in a lot for no reason." I mean, there's no consequences to video games, but dying a lot, often enough, early enough [I]will[/I] lead to a dislike for the game. Just as losing quickly, regularly and often will do in [I]any[/I] game, even in real-life games! Any time you go home from D&D feeling like you've wasted you time, wasted your effort and wake up with no fond recollection of your playtime is a time you have "lost" at D&D. So yes, there are consequences to failing at D&D, on the grand scale those consequences may be nothing more than no longer being interesting in playing D&D; but for a niche hobby, I'd say that's a pretty big deal. Now there are plenty of ways to "win" at D&D and not all of them are going to rely on dice rolls but unless you disregard the numbers entirely, at which point I would question why you're playing D&D, and those that are are going to rely on being backed up by "good" (lets say good means +X's and "bad" means -X's) stats. So if you have bad stats, at least when it comes to rolling, you are more likely to "lose" at D&D then when you do not. The rest is your ability to role-play and think on your feet and if you're not good at that well then.... [/QUOTE]

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