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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 8190539" data-attributes="member: 19270">After 20+ years DMing, I still am juggling my thoughts on this one. Some of the best stories players & DMs have to tell have been not about victory but rather the unique way their character went out. Victory is easy. "We beat Strahd." Echoed from thousands of other gaming tables: "So did we."Compare this with: "We were in the heart of Acererak's Tower on the Negative Plane with nothing but a tiny amulet of thin metal protecting us from withering away. And there it was, in a chest, a Deck of Many Things. Now we knew better. We should have known better. Just a couple cards, we said. Maybe we'll get a wish. And boom, 1st draw, my character is sucked away, imprisoned at the heart of some planet for eternity. Well of course, now we've got to draw. No one can free them, so it's Wish or go home. We're good but not that good. So, my friend draws, and wouldn't you know it...she draws the exact same card! That's 2 down. Our cleric goes next, and it's just not our day. He draws the "lose all your magic items." Guess what's protecting him from the Negative Plane? He's gone. That leaves our monk. You think he'll have better luck? Not a chance. He loses all his non-magical gear and wealth. He's naked with a little amulet on, and no cleric to Plane Shift him home. So he looks around the table and says "guys, you know what..." And he takes off the amulet.Although subject to sheer bad luck, the players ended up with a story that no one else had. I definitely want to avoid any notion a character can't die so long as you come up with an awesome story. But, it ultimately is all about weaving that story. I've come to think low-level deaths due to dice aren't much of a story, but invincibility can cheapen the experience.</blockquote>

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