D&D 5E Expedition based adventuring

[Greg Benage]

One suggestion: kill the player characters. I mean, don't be unfair. Don't be cruel. But let the dice fall where they may, even if it results in a TPK. When (not if) a PC dies, promote one of the hirelings. The new character will already be familiar to everyone at the table, and have a reason for being there.

I even encourage you to go a step further, and to consider the expedition the player, rather than the individual PCs. It's the success of the mission that matters.

It's like we're the same person. Also from my Player's Guide:

"This is really what the classic game is about – not fantasy combat simulation, not heroic fantasy genre emulation, not story-telling. The game is about exploring and interacting with a fantastic (and often downright weird) setting in a way that challenges you as a player. This is why even long-running campaigns can survive very high character mortality rates: The adventuring company, the expedition, and the players’ collective experience are greater than any one character. Comrades will fall – and retainers will fall by the dozens – but they will be replaced by new comrades and new retainers and the expedition will continue unbroken and undaunted. It’s a different kind of continuity than we get with a character- or story-focused game, but it is continuity nonetheless. And out of that continuity, when you’re not paying attention, a story can emerge…"