NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 8245075" data-attributes="member: 6702445">I'll let the OP speak for himself about what he meant.  For myself, it means I need to find things that my group enjoys betting on the whims of the dice for--whether that's treasure, prestige, honor, or yes, their characters' lives--and put those things at stake.  But I want to do it in a way that makes the players feel like they can engage with the situation, have an idea of where the risks are, and can use the tools at their disposal in pursuit of the things they want--with the understanding that they may not succeed and that something logical will happen if they don't.If that is what some on this thread call fear, then we're just arguing semantics.  I might call it concern. To me, fear means the players are starting from a place of worry and timidity, and they avoid engaging because their highest priority is avoiding failure. I'd rather see players whose highest priority is trying for success because the consequences of failure are not something they'd do absolutely anything to avoid. This is not the same as the DM guaranteeing that they will succeed, or that nothing at all will happen if they fail.(<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/hot-take-fear-is-a-bad-motivator.679405/page-2#post-8244834" target="_blank">Vaalingrade's post</a> about horror movies also seems applicable here, with the note that some people who dislike jump-scares may be fine with more sustained or street-level horror. I have a friend who'll lap up creepy or gory movies but was deeply disturbed by Trainspotting, saying it was "too real.")</blockquote>

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