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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Monayuris" data-source="post: 7940433" data-attributes="member: 6859536">You can have traps provide interesting choices without resorting to pixel-ing or chronic searching. You just provide information that can be acted on. Describe hints and clues to the existence of traps and allow players to interact with the environment.Tomb of Horrors isn't a great example as it was literally an f-you to players. It was designed to be nearly impossible. It is not generally considered to be a great example of a old school dungeon. It is an outlier case.I guess we are at odds here because I don't see the value of comparing D&D to video games. But yes, if you deal with a hallway filled with traps and you solve it, then of course the next time it is boring and you repeat the steps. This is the reward for solving it in the first place. You can easily pass through that hallway.Different people have different tolerances to PC deaths. I enjoy running and playing in high lethality games. But that doesn't mean I am callous about character death. I don't enjoy having my character killed and I don't enjoy killing players' characters. But I'm not so emotionally attached that I can't accept it and move on. Even though I can just roll a new character, I still got my old character killed. It still stings, even in a high lethality game. The state of having a character die is a failure… it was something I did wrong that led to its death. This is the point to high lethality games. Character death is a failure that resulted from a mistake. But just like any other game, you can learn from your mistakes and get better at it. I agree with you. But the adventuring day as a concept doesn't work for me. I prefer a more realistic approach. There shouldn't be a standard unit of time that encapsulates challenge. It works for a more casual style game but it fails when you are looking at a larger scale campaign.The ambushed by a poison spider and dying in B/X is a statistical anomaly. It requires a 1 or 2 on d6 for Surprise, a 2 result on 2d6 Reaction roll for immediate attack, an attack that hits the characters AC, and a failed saving throw to die from the poison.Honestly, if that happens in my games (as a DM or player) I'd just have to laugh at the absurdity of overcoming probability. The character was just destined to die.More likely you will encounter a poison spider and have a chance to decide to attack or not. The decision to attack brings the consequence of being exposed to a potential save or die.This is reductio ad absurdum. No one wants something like this to happen. The thief can describe how they are searching for traps on the door. Are they looking for a trip wire, a spring on the hinges, a needle in the handle? A lot of times searching can be done without resorting to the roll. If you are a thief and just rely on the percentile roll, you are putting yourself in a massive disadvantage.B/X Goblins don't usually have poisoned arrows. If the DM is giving them such then they are stacking the deck and will have to expect these results. It's a strawman argument. Certainly, it is possible for this to happen without poison (just on the damage alone). If you are playing with the reaction rolls then you still have the statistical improbability of this (surprise plus immediately attack reaction plus hitting AC plus failed save). If the DM is not, then the DM is deciding to just have goblins kill the fighter.What you are really proposing is a DM problem. A DM throwing an ambush with goblins with poison arrows in B/X is no different than a DM throwing an ambush with archmages with upleveled fireballs in 5E. The DM is creating a situation that will lead to the character's death.You are fabricating a situation that will lead to a character's death to prove your point.Scouting ahead, checking for traps, interacting with the environment using role-playing (don't just rely on the die rolls) will in general improve your chances of survival in ways that are challenging. Just rolling dice and getting high numbers or picking powers out of a list don't provide a challenge.This happens when the players rely on the die rolls. This style of play is hoping to roll high. It relies on luck and not challenge. However, when you interact with the environment, think about your actions, make choices that are meaningful and have direct impact on your success and failure you are engaging in the game and being presented with greater challenge.The point of save or die is that the choices you make in the game are more challenging because the consequences of potential bad choices are more significant.In 5E, the game rules grant a level of a safety net to character survivability through game mechanics. It reduces the difficulty of the choices you need to make to survive because it will protect you from a poor choice. You have an easier time with choices because the in-game consequences are blunted.I don't understand your point, here. Would you clarify?</blockquote>

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