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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 6375886" data-attributes="member: 6778044">Yes, and I think this assessment is reflected in the XP needed to gain levels. My campaigns are high fantasy/high magic, and the PCs tend to be heroic in that I try to avoid killing them, but I do want them to feel that they can be killed. On the other hand, I'm not sure I've ever had a player resurrect a character in one of my campaigns if they did die.Their actions have an impact on the world around them, sometimes in fairly large ways but localized. I tend to avoid storylines of the 'save the world' type, or at least those where it's known that they stopped something that could have had greater ramifications. Of course, I set my campaigns in the Forgotten Realms, and there are always more powerful (and more famous) NPCs, and while some of them may make appearances, they are always secondary characters in the story.Of course, I also the world fairly gritty. I expect that there will be circumstances where they'll figure out that the prudent approach is to run away. In civilized lands I expect that there's a lot more unarmed and nonlethal combat instead of drawing a sword in the middle of a tavern. We have our own critical system that remains true to the abstract nature of the game, yet allows consequences such as injuries that last for weeks and impact your ability to function, and even allows for potentially permanent effects. We've eliminated most of the instant death rules, but they still put you very close to dying and you'd better do something quick or you will die. But since I let the players have a long leash in designing the character that they want to play, I take killing off that character very seriously. On the other hand, if they decide they want to move on to a new character, finding a creative exit (which may or may not include death) is part of the fun. And while we don't script something specific, I do take those wishes into consideration when designing scenarios and such.Randy</blockquote>

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