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How Do You Stop TPKs/Killer GM Habits?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8690180" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Well, while they're ending in TPKs for you I would posit that's not the case for most other DMs running those same modules; and you seem (by many previous posts of yours) to know what you're doing as a DM.</p><p></p><p>And so I'm going to turn this around and look at the players.</p><p></p><p>What are they doing that turns normally-winnable encounters into disaster? Further, what are they doing that's turning a simple defeat into a TPK?</p><p></p><p>--- Do the players/PCs have any sense of strategy and tactics, or do they just wade in face first and hope for the best?</p><p>--- Do any of the players ever have their PC(s) bail out and hide or flee when things start seriously going south, such that at least someone survives and the story/party/game can continue?</p><p>--- Before leaving town, do the players/PCs make sure they have a well-rounded party and-or do they recruit NPC adventurers to fill gaps in their lineup? (corollary: do you-as-DM allow and maybe even encourage this?)</p><p>--- Metagame: do your players just assume that every fight is winnable?</p><p></p><p>All of these are player-side issues that can only really be solved by player-side fixes.(other, perhaps, than the NPC adventurer piece). My suggestion is to somehow get them looking in the mirror if you can, and figure out where they're going wrong.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8690180, member: 29398"] Well, while they're ending in TPKs for you I would posit that's not the case for most other DMs running those same modules; and you seem (by many previous posts of yours) to know what you're doing as a DM. And so I'm going to turn this around and look at the players. What are they doing that turns normally-winnable encounters into disaster? Further, what are they doing that's turning a simple defeat into a TPK? --- Do the players/PCs have any sense of strategy and tactics, or do they just wade in face first and hope for the best? --- Do any of the players ever have their PC(s) bail out and hide or flee when things start seriously going south, such that at least someone survives and the story/party/game can continue? --- Before leaving town, do the players/PCs make sure they have a well-rounded party and-or do they recruit NPC adventurers to fill gaps in their lineup? (corollary: do you-as-DM allow and maybe even encourage this?) --- Metagame: do your players just assume that every fight is winnable? All of these are player-side issues that can only really be solved by player-side fixes.(other, perhaps, than the NPC adventurer piece). My suggestion is to somehow get them looking in the mirror if you can, and figure out where they're going wrong. [/QUOTE]
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