Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
On the Importance of Mortality
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 4019067" data-attributes="member: 704"><p>Most of what you say I agree with, particularly in the impact of strong tactical play by the DM, and in letting the dice fall where they may. However, there are some key distinctions I would make.</p><p></p><p>First, while player mortality is in general a good thing, I have found that killing a character off will often result in the player rolling up a clone. I have found that character death in the literal sense is something to generally avoid. Character death is not so much the goal, as is Character Defeat. However, the only real distinction is that as wherever plausible within the narrative, you do not equate a total party kill with having to roll out new characters. If you can justify the character survival in the narrative, do so.</p><p></p><p>The second point I will make is that random character death is generally not a good thing. While you could put a 10d4 Con Poison with a DC 35 Fort save on some food the players purchased due to a random die roll, this will not result in your players giving you a high five for creativity. As long as the players have had adequate warning that their characters are in danger, they are fair game. This can mean in the midst of a dungeon or wilderness environment, or it can mean hitting them with an angry dragon when they decide to seek out a dragon lair to loot. Alternately, if the unexpected peril they are facing is somehow plot related, and they have a reasonable chance of defeating it, by all means knock yourself out.</p><p></p><p>Eseentially, what I think is a more accurate guideline to achieve the kind of effect you describe is this. For every encounter involving any real peril, there must be real chance of defeat, and a reasonable chance for victory.</p><p></p><p>END COMMUNICATION</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Zardoz, post: 4019067, member: 704"] Most of what you say I agree with, particularly in the impact of strong tactical play by the DM, and in letting the dice fall where they may. However, there are some key distinctions I would make. First, while player mortality is in general a good thing, I have found that killing a character off will often result in the player rolling up a clone. I have found that character death in the literal sense is something to generally avoid. Character death is not so much the goal, as is Character Defeat. However, the only real distinction is that as wherever plausible within the narrative, you do not equate a total party kill with having to roll out new characters. If you can justify the character survival in the narrative, do so. The second point I will make is that random character death is generally not a good thing. While you could put a 10d4 Con Poison with a DC 35 Fort save on some food the players purchased due to a random die roll, this will not result in your players giving you a high five for creativity. As long as the players have had adequate warning that their characters are in danger, they are fair game. This can mean in the midst of a dungeon or wilderness environment, or it can mean hitting them with an angry dragon when they decide to seek out a dragon lair to loot. Alternately, if the unexpected peril they are facing is somehow plot related, and they have a reasonable chance of defeating it, by all means knock yourself out. Eseentially, what I think is a more accurate guideline to achieve the kind of effect you describe is this. For every encounter involving any real peril, there must be real chance of defeat, and a reasonable chance for victory. END COMMUNICATION [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
On the Importance of Mortality
Top