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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 3312213" data-attributes="member: 198">I want a lot of the things you want, Quasqueton, and so far I think I'm doing a decent job achieving them in my Eberron campaign (see sig). One of the simplest ways to that end for me was to take death effectively out of the equation. IMC, PCs get to use action pts (originally) or swashbuckling cards (currently) to survive killing blows/effects by being dropped to -9 hp (and stable) instead. I let the dice fall where they may and I run brutal encounters, and without this rule, we'd have had 25 PC fatalities in 50 sessions. Raising people from the dead is really not an option in this campaign, so all of those deaths would have been permanent, and I'm quite sure I'd have lost all interest in the game by now (as, very likely, would my players).What I make sure to do is have a very large number of repercussions for defeat. PCs may be captured, may lose valuable/important equipment and possessions, may fail to stop enemies from some goal, may allow enemies to stop them from achieving something important, may lose NPC allies who don't have this kind of immunity to death, etc. And, of course, there's the whole issue of PC (and player) ego, which makes defeat a very unpopular eventuality, death or no death.Along with these, I do all of the things PC mentioned above, other than being prepared to kill PCs off. So I get to have party/PC consistency, develop long-term and complicated plots, watch the PCs and the game world around them grow together, and let the dice fall where they may. It's not for everyody, but I definitely found my personal perfect combo, and I really don't think I'll ever DM any other way.</blockquote>

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