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<blockquote data-quote="Orryn Emrys" data-source="post: 3242663" data-attributes="member: 6799">PC death tends to be rare in my games.&nbsp; There was a time, more than a decade past, when my players somehow managed to figure out that I was so loathe to allow their characters to die that I would go to great lengths to avoid doing so.&nbsp; I carried on like this for quite some time, but kept up an image that suggested otherwise.&nbsp; I consistently made near misses seem very much an accident of fate.&nbsp; Then, I had a couple of very enterprising players teach me the absolute folly of my convictions.&nbsp; They did this by playing characters who blatantly took advantage of my unconventional mercy.They were both very surprised the day that one of them died.I have, in the years since, been more inclined to allow the dice and circumstances to determine the fate of my PCs.&nbsp; I do try to avoid any truly meaningless death, since my players are very roleplaying-oriented and tend to become very attached to their characters, who often have incredibly complex ties to the world they live in by the mid-point of their careers.&nbsp; They seem more satisfied when a death has consequence, when it's heroic or noble in some fashion or simply seemed inescapable.There have been occasions in the past few years when players have lost a character they'd been playing for more than a hundred sessions.&nbsp; On such occasions, the table tends to get somber... the players silently trying to offer each other emotional support whilst one of them says their final farewells to an expired friend and alter ego.&nbsp; It's never easy... and sometimes makes the rest of the combat, and even the session, less fun.&nbsp; But they try to put a good face on it and move on....&nbsp; Mortality is part of the game, or it wouldn't be an equitable challenge and there'd be little point in fighting for survival.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Orryn Emrys, post: 3242663, member: 6799"] PC death tends to be rare in my games. There was a time, more than a decade past, when my players somehow managed to figure out that I was so loathe to allow their characters to die that I would go to great lengths to avoid doing so. I carried on like this for quite some time, but kept up an image that suggested otherwise. I consistently made near misses seem very much an accident of fate. Then, I had a couple of very enterprising players teach me the absolute folly of my convictions. They did this by playing characters who blatantly took advantage of my unconventional mercy. They were both very surprised the day that one of them died. I have, in the years since, been more inclined to allow the dice and circumstances to determine the fate of my PCs. I do try to avoid any truly meaningless death, since my players are very roleplaying-oriented and tend to become very attached to their characters, who often have incredibly complex ties to the world they live in by the mid-point of their careers. They seem more satisfied when a death has consequence, when it's heroic or noble in some fashion or simply seemed inescapable. There have been occasions in the past few years when players have lost a character they'd been playing for more than a hundred sessions. On such occasions, the table tends to get somber... the players silently trying to offer each other emotional support whilst one of them says their final farewells to an expired friend and alter ego. It's never easy... and sometimes makes the rest of the combat, and even the session, less fun. But they try to put a good face on it and move on.... Mortality is part of the game, or it wouldn't be an equitable challenge and there'd be little point in fighting for survival. [/QUOTE]

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