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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7950066" data-attributes="member: 2629">Death is not the point of role playing.&nbsp; We get that right?&nbsp; This is a role playing game, not a video game.&nbsp; Characters play a role in a story.&nbsp; The point is to tell a good story - and random PC death is not part of a good story, generally.&nbsp; It leaves their stories incomplete.&nbsp; And, if eery encounter is a life and death struggle, the heroes do not feel like they are heros... and everything tends to feel samey rather than experiencing a spectrum of challenges.&quot;But I want to be strategically challenged!&nbsp; There needs to be stakes!&quot;If threat of death is the only challenge you can see in D&amp;D, you're skimming the surface of a very deep, very rich and very rewarding game.&nbsp; Some of the best sessions I've run, and played in, featured little or no combat - and my PC never felt like it was in jeopardy.&nbsp; However, the stakes were high.&nbsp; Something it was the lives of others on the line.&nbsp; Sometimes it was an ethical dilemna.&nbsp; Sometimes it was just friggin amazing puzzles to be solved for treasure in an Indiana Jones type way.&nbsp; 5E is a far more flexible system than 4E when it comes to storytelling.&nbsp; The balance between the classes blows away what we saw in 3E and before without falling prey to the mirroring we saw in 4E.&nbsp; It is a very , very good system that is true to the D&amp;D roots from which it sprang.&nbsp; So, is it easy? No. If you focus on it, you can create wonderfully complex and enriching campaigns that are full of very difficult challenges with real impacts for failure.And if you just can't give up n the idea that threat of death has to be forwardly present for you to come sit at one of my death trap delves.&nbsp; As a DM, I can set up sessions with no encounters exceeding the deadly XP limit that will kill almost every party that attempts to beat the challenge.&nbsp; Because although not every encounter needs to bring the threat of death to be a challenge, the challenge of a deadly threat is definitely one of the things you can bring to the table at the right times to really bring a climax.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 7950066, member: 2629"] Death is not the point of role playing. We get that right? This is a role playing game, not a video game. Characters play a role in a story. The point is to tell a good story - and random PC death is not part of a good story, generally. It leaves their stories incomplete. And, if eery encounter is a life and death struggle, the heroes do not feel like they are heros... and everything tends to feel samey rather than experiencing a spectrum of challenges. "But I want to be strategically challenged! There needs to be stakes!" If threat of death is the only challenge you can see in D&D, you're skimming the surface of a very deep, very rich and very rewarding game. Some of the best sessions I've run, and played in, featured little or no combat - and my PC never felt like it was in jeopardy. However, the stakes were high. Something it was the lives of others on the line. Sometimes it was an ethical dilemna. Sometimes it was just friggin amazing puzzles to be solved for treasure in an Indiana Jones type way. 5E is a far more flexible system than 4E when it comes to storytelling. The balance between the classes blows away what we saw in 3E and before without falling prey to the mirroring we saw in 4E. It is a very , very good system that is true to the D&D roots from which it sprang. So, is it easy? No. If you focus on it, you can create wonderfully complex and enriching campaigns that are full of very difficult challenges with real impacts for failure. And if you just can't give up n the idea that threat of death has to be forwardly present for you to come sit at one of my death trap delves. As a DM, I can set up sessions with no encounters exceeding the deadly XP limit that will kill almost every party that attempts to beat the challenge. Because although not every encounter needs to bring the threat of death to be a challenge, the challenge of a deadly threat is definitely one of the things you can bring to the table at the right times to really bring a climax. [/QUOTE]

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