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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Victor Spieles" data-source="post: 8442828" data-attributes="member: 59260">So I’m about to turn 50. As I approach this new life milestone I’ve started wrestling with killing and deaths in RPGs.I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this dilemma.I’ve withdrawn from one Dungeons & Dragons group this year that was more combat heavy. The group’s solution was kick asses, stockpile treasure and get information later. It was guys I used to really like to game with, but I have evolved into more of a subtle role-play my character and find interesting non-combat ways of overcoming situations and solving adventures.I also stopped DMing a Dungeons & Dragons group recently after one of the younger players had their 5th level character die. The player failed their three death saves and then had an unexpected meltdown reaction to it. I talked to the player after the game and a subsequent conversation days later. But the character’s death just put them off gaming with the group any longer. Which led to an older player in the group quitting the group over the younger players reaction to their character’s death.Now days I prefer to run a more role-play character driven exploration and information gathering style of play. But even then most players resort to violence as their first option for dealing with monsters, villains and NPCs.Part of the draw of RPGs is walking that dangerous balance between life and death. The thrill of staring death in the face and vanquishing a foe or faction to be celebrated as a hero.I have played various RPGs, most heavily Dungeons & Dragons over 20 years. But it didn’t hit me until this incident the amount of killing we as RPG game masters and players do of humanoids, aliens, creatures, demons, devils, dragons, monsters and robots in various RPG games.The incident struck a weird chord emotionally in me. I sat down and looked at all the RPGs on my bookshelves and tried to find something to run where the main solution to in-game encounters is not killing the adversary. I also did some searching on Drive Thru RPG for an RPG where exploration and out thinking adversaries is more the premise and focus of the game. It was hard to find RPG options like that.Has anyone else experienced this dilemma?Is it just time to put away my dice and RPG hobby?Can you play and run Dungeons & Dragons without all the violent encounters and killing?What fantasy and sci fi RPGs would you recommend as an alternative to the traditional slay the adversary and take their loot model?</blockquote>

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