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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Baron Opal II" data-source="post: 9526916" data-attributes="member: 6794067">Well... see below for a serious attempt at an answer.This, mostly.If the party can't roll higher than a 5 and my dice are hot, falling back to regroup might be a good idea. If they just defeated 8 jub-jub birds and their tamed witherwhat, are at 40-50% of their health and resources, and find a similar group around the bend in the river, falling back to regroup might be a good idea. Pressing on with low resources when the dice are cold is a poor plan.I concur. Since there is "easy" returning from the dead, character death tends to be only slightly worse than defeat. Sometimes, particularly with younger players (< 18-20 yrs), the desire to avoid defeat by risking death trying to get that "Hail Mary" play leads to more deaths than defeats.Yes, I'll never* have a "chosen one" character in a game again. While character death is relatively rare in my games, it can happen. Just because raise dead exists doesn't mean it is feasible or successful. The party/team always carries the A-plot, everyone always has their own B-plot. If the team decides they want a different A-plot, well and good. But that's a team decision. The B-plots follow the individual characters, and are disposable if the character leaves/dies. Which happens sometimes because the player moves away, quits the game, is too busy, &c.Not the illusion but the feeling. And that's tricky.The thing about RPGs that I love whole-heartedly is the blend of intention, logic, and passion that they allow. You can have "easy" encounters (the 7th level fighter, ranger, and paladin gleefully leaping into the fray against a platoon of orcs) that let the players feel like badasses. "Medium" encounters requiring some forethought and planning but are otherwise straightforward (crossing the rickety rope bridge by sending the rogue out first, the fighter holding a rope tied to their waist, and the rest of the party looking our for flyers or other surprises) where there is obvious risk but yield a sense of accomplishment at the end. "Hard" encounters, however, promote that "heart in your throat" feeling that yields to excitement and accomplishment when the team has worked together to win. "Win" being defined as achieving the objective and not losing the stakes of the game. These stakes being character death, social standing, wealth, or whatever it is.This isn't an illusion. The end is not fore-ordained. There is real risk (gamewise), and this risk is mitigated by various means of preparation, forethought, learning means of adaption to the unforeseen, and hot dice. The risk has to be real to have the drama, the excitement, and the ultimate rush of victory or catharsis of failure. How often are or should the stakes be lost? In actuality, I think "rarely" is the best answer for most campaigns. It could happen, but if it does it should a memorable occasion. Even if it is a "random" death, the banality of it could be cathartic or philosophic, depending on the table.This is hard. This is why premade adventures exist, and why there are so few "great ones". Especially since not every table has the same level of risk tolerance, identical stakes, or level of satisfaction for different types of victories or successes. Or, even loss tolerance for that matter.Remind me to tell you sometime about the gathering of heroes at the storm giant's castle, and the... altered/drunk... spellcaster. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> That wasn't tragic or dramatic, but wholly comedic.* If there's one thing I've learned in health care, "always" and "never" aren't.</blockquote>

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