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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6926910" data-attributes="member: 1465">You have many ways to make it work. You also have one major way to screw it up, and that is if you do not communicate properly and agree with your players.a) On one end of the spectrum, you can just comply to what the dice say, and if it's death so be it. This works if players don't take it personally when they lose a PC.This works if players don't get emotionally attached to their characters.This works if players don't invest too much in character creation.This works if the system allows for quick creation of a new character.This works better if PC deaths happen often, so everyone is guaranteed to lose a PC now and then, and it becomes clear that it's not a big deal.b) On the other end of the spectrum, you can promise no PC dies without its player's consent.This works better if PC deaths happen rarely, otherwise players may start losing suspension of disbelief, or feel that playing well is not worth it.-In recent years I have mostly chosen option b) but you can find a middle ground between the two.I find it less problematic to manage, especially because it keeps working even if there are different expectations from players. If a player assumed that dying was permanent and irreversible, he can only be positively surprised by being able to choose. If a player wants death to be permanent and irreversible, he is indeed able to choose so for his own PC. Not so if you choose option a).With option b) you are free to choose many ways to convert a PC's death into something else, if you want to reinstate a penalty that keeps suspension of disbelief and reward good play. Unless deaths are frequent, you won't easily run out of ideas.In addition, option b) supports more playstyles, for example it allows carefree players to jump into the game and try unusual ideas without too much fear, and it allows both tactical players and serious roleplayers to "invest" into character design (tactical or narrative side respectively) without being afraid that one bad encounter will spoil all their efforts. There is hardly a worse DM than one that first requires everyone to write pages of PC details and backstory, and then let them die easily.</blockquote>

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