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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7452092" data-attributes="member: 97077">Okay, thanks for explaining. It seems your objection is mostly rooted in &quot;wasted effort.&quot; I can see that as valid in particular ways of playing and from some perspectives. Imagine the TPK of, say, a beloved cast of characters on a popular vodcast. What about all that unsold merch?! It's definitely a concern.For a table game like mine, I would say it's less of a concern for several reasons. I ask the players to put very little &quot;work&quot; into their characters. Backstories are no longer than an old-style tweet, for example. And since &quot;the story&quot; is an emergent property, an artifact of play let's say, it's not like we really put any effort into it. As far as story hooks go, my players already have backup characters ready to go who are also easily tied into those hooks and can continue where the dead characters left off. The players prioritize the adventure goals over some nebulous backstory goal created before the game even started, so there's really no loss of DM prep tied into long term goals. Perhaps during play I might be inspired to tie some aspect of the adventure to something about the character's backstory, but that's about the amount of work I'm willing to put into it. And honestly, having done it the other way, I think this way is far better. It's less prep, less planning, less caring whether there's a payoff for that prep, and it leaves me flexible to insert it at the best moment possible as it arises in play. Oh, you're trying to avenge the death of your parents by an orc tribe? Well, it just so happens this orc tribe right here is the one responsible!So, while a TPK is actually pretty hard to come by, if one happens it's really just not a big deal. The backup characters come in, very little effort is lost, and we're back at it within minutes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7452092, member: 97077"] Okay, thanks for explaining. It seems your objection is mostly rooted in "wasted effort." I can see that as valid in particular ways of playing and from some perspectives. Imagine the TPK of, say, a beloved cast of characters on a popular vodcast. What about all that unsold merch?! It's definitely a concern. For a table game like mine, I would say it's less of a concern for several reasons. I ask the players to put very little "work" into their characters. Backstories are no longer than an old-style tweet, for example. And since "the story" is an emergent property, an artifact of play let's say, it's not like we really put any effort into it. As far as story hooks go, my players already have backup characters ready to go who are also easily tied into those hooks and can continue where the dead characters left off. The players prioritize the adventure goals over some nebulous backstory goal created before the game even started, so there's really no loss of DM prep tied into long term goals. Perhaps during play I might be inspired to tie some aspect of the adventure to something about the character's backstory, but that's about the amount of work I'm willing to put into it. And honestly, having done it the other way, I think this way is far better. It's less prep, less planning, less caring whether there's a payoff for that prep, and it leaves me flexible to insert it at the best moment possible as it arises in play. Oh, you're trying to avenge the death of your parents by an orc tribe? Well, it just so happens this orc tribe right here is the one responsible! So, while a TPK is actually pretty hard to come by, if one happens it's really just not a big deal. The backup characters come in, very little effort is lost, and we're back at it within minutes. [/QUOTE]

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