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<blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8293444" data-attributes="member: 70468">I don’t think this is a problem because the monsters do what the GM decides they do. Moreover, as a GM, it’s in my interest not to undermine procedures I’ve put in place to help the PCs mitigate bad situations. The obvious thing to do is to treat NPC death as an abstraction. They don’t really die at 0 hit points, but it’s a waste of energy at the table to track and roll for every single NPC that goes down, so we assume they all bleed out by default.Even if the PCs make sure to dismember every creature they fight (even when they are going to retreat), I’d still not take the lack of wounded to check as a reason to go ahead and pursue. Again, my interest is in making sure the PCs have that escape valve for when things get too tough. If it seems incredulous that the PCs are just allowed to escape, then determine why they were allowed as part of narrating the escape procedure.I started an adventure in media res once and posted about it on the Internet. I got a ton of crap for it. I suspect people just expect you start at the beginning because that’s the place where you start. Otherwise, I agree. If you need the PCs going into the dungeon, then just start them at the dungeon and ask them how they got there.I agree with CapnZapp. Well, I’m not sure I’d go quite as far, but I agree with him as far as it concerns Paizo’s and many of WotC’s adventures. The “trad” adventure is all about ushering PCs through a story. Any opportunity for actual exploration will screw that up, so at best it’s a facade. The meat of the adventures is combat, and the game has developed provide a thrilling combat experience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenada, post: 8293444, member: 70468"] I don’t think this is a problem because the monsters do what the GM decides they do. Moreover, as a GM, it’s in my interest not to undermine procedures I’ve put in place to help the PCs mitigate bad situations. The obvious thing to do is to treat NPC death as an abstraction. They don’t [I]really[/I] die at 0 hit points, but it’s a waste of energy at the table to track and roll for every single NPC that goes down, so we assume they all bleed out by default. Even if the PCs make sure to dismember every creature they fight (even when they are going to retreat), I’d still not take the lack of wounded to check as a reason to go ahead and pursue. Again, my interest is in making sure the PCs have that escape valve for when things get too tough. If it seems incredulous that the PCs are just allowed to escape, then determine why they were allowed as part of narrating the escape procedure. I started an adventure in media res once and posted about it on the Internet. I got a ton of crap for it. I suspect people just expect you start at the beginning because that’s the place where you start. Otherwise, I agree. If you need the PCs going into the dungeon, then just start them at the dungeon and ask them how they got there. I agree with CapnZapp. Well, I’m not sure I’d go quite as far, but I agree with him as far as it concerns Paizo’s and many of WotC’s adventures. The “trad” adventure is all about ushering PCs through a story. Any opportunity for actual exploration will screw that up, so at best it’s a facade. The meat of the adventures is combat, and the game has developed provide a thrilling combat experience. [/QUOTE]

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