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Message: <blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 9687161" data-attributes="member: 86653">I've never really understood this mindset and that's as someone who's often described as a killer referee. The referee should never, ever, ever actively try to kill the PCs.First, the referee can literally say "rocks fall, everyone dies" and the PCs are dead or the referee can throw infinite dragons at the PCs until they die. So there's no point at all in "trying" to kill the PCs. The gods of the setting are the referee's puppets. If the referee wanted the PCs dead, they'd die. Simple as.Second, there's no point. Why bother? You just proved that you're all powerful in a game that gives you unlimited power. Good for you.Third, the goal of the referee is generally one of three things: 1) to facilitate a compelling story, or; 2) play an authentic world, or; 3) challenge the PCs. If a compelling story is the goal, the players are on board and likely itching for that dramatic death when it's appropriate. If an authentic world is the goal, it's on the players to not be dumb and get themselves killed. If this bit of the world has an army of ogres marching through it and the four 1st-level PCs decide to attack, that's not on the referee trying to kill the PCs, that's on the players for making incredibly bad choices. If challenging the PCs is the goal, then the game's meant to be hard and on that knife's edge of just hard enough or too hard.That last one is where Age of Umbra sits. At the end of the session zero for Age of Umbra, the players explicitly asked for a deadly and challenging game.</blockquote>

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