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<blockquote data-quote="5ekyu" data-source="post: 7490559" data-attributes="member: 6919838">Well, what i see at first level in 5e and similar is the &quot;mortal fear&quot; of death at any moment. most any weapon strike can crit and drop anyone. Any roll can drop you and put you at risk of death and if you use the massive damage rule even a lucky axe strike might one shot dead you at any moment.Dice are the gods.that is not a flavor i try to keep alive and am glad it goes away. i usually actually rule it out in house rules session zero.I prefer for the game to transition its &quot;tension&quot; as the game progresses. Esrliest stages survival and routine challenges are rough. By tier-2 things have shifted beyond the mundane and a host of other challenges and tensions arise.The tension i prefer to keep and cultivate through the campaign is that of &quot;loss&quot;. The challenges have stakes and risks and matter not because you might die (time to teleport or fly away) but because there is a reason you are fighting this thing and a reason why you need to win here and now and losing the fight loses you that thing.Its like the difference ebwteeen old school wreslting angles and new school indy dancing.OLD SCHOOL: This cage match is for the belt and if the challenger's manager loses his head gets shaved. The champ wants payback for the beatdown the heels did to his partner who is at ringside in a wheelchair. The heels know this is their last shot at the title. blood will flow cuz these guys hate each other. NEW SCHOOL: Wow what a fantastic series of coordinated stunts one after the other with little if any drama.To make your matches... err fights matter a lot... make the outcomes matter a lot and not just try and make it about whose stunt work wins out over the other.heck, do it that way and even some wins might be&nbsp; costly making the PCs choose between vengence now or saving what matters. &quot;We wont win by killing what we hate, but by saving what we love.&quot;Put another way - if a Gm sets up winning and losing as stand-ins for controlling events and losing control of events instead of living or not - a lot of doors open up for his sessions and focus.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="5ekyu, post: 7490559, member: 6919838"] Well, what i see at first level in 5e and similar is the "mortal fear" of death at any moment. most any weapon strike can crit and drop anyone. Any roll can drop you and put you at risk of death and if you use the massive damage rule even a lucky axe strike might one shot dead you at any moment. Dice are the gods. that is not a flavor i try to keep alive and am glad it goes away. i usually actually rule it out in house rules session zero. I prefer for the game to transition its "tension" as the game progresses. Esrliest stages survival and routine challenges are rough. By tier-2 things have shifted beyond the mundane and a host of other challenges and tensions arise. The tension i prefer to keep and cultivate through the campaign is that of "loss". The challenges have stakes and risks and matter not because you might die (time to teleport or fly away) but because there is a reason you are fighting this thing and a reason why you need to win here and now and losing the fight loses you that thing. Its like the difference ebwteeen old school wreslting angles and new school indy dancing. OLD SCHOOL: This cage match is for the belt and if the challenger's manager loses his head gets shaved. The champ wants payback for the beatdown the heels did to his partner who is at ringside in a wheelchair. The heels know this is their last shot at the title. blood will flow cuz these guys hate each other. NEW SCHOOL: Wow what a fantastic series of coordinated stunts one after the other with little if any drama. To make your matches... err fights matter a lot... make the outcomes matter a lot and not just try and make it about whose stunt work wins out over the other. heck, do it that way and even some wins might be costly making the PCs choose between vengence now or saving what matters. "We wont win by killing what we hate, but by saving what we love." Put another way - if a Gm sets up winning and losing as stand-ins for controlling events and losing control of events instead of living or not - a lot of doors open up for his sessions and focus. [/QUOTE]

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