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Should D&D Have an Alternate Death Mechanic?
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<blockquote data-quote="phindar" data-source="post: 3620458" data-attributes="member: 37198"><p>I think Death makes a poor default for losing in D&D; a lot of times instead of coming up with consequences for failure we just gamble with the ability to keep playing. Death becomes commonplace, so ways around Death have to be in the system. <em>Raise Dead, Resurrection</em> and so on, and Death becomes more of a temporary setback. At high levels, it gets very Superheroes, with people dying one day and coming back the next. Death in D&D is actually one of the nicer consequences for failure in the system-- players may note with relief: <em>Well, at least I'm only dead.</em></p><p></p><p>There's nothing inherently wrong with that. (To quote Fry, there's nothing wrong with anything.) Personally, I'm a big fan of making Death more rare in the system, but much tougher (or impossible) to come back from. Not every conflict is life-or-death, maybe most of them aren't life-or-death, but when they are dying's scarier because its more final. Shadowrun is about as lethal as D&D-- characters die about as often, in the games I've played-- but there's no Raise Dead.</p><p></p><p>I like Big "D" <strong>Death</strong>. I think it should be rare, but scary and significant. I'm happier with a less lethal game, but without <em>Raises and Res's</em> et al.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="phindar, post: 3620458, member: 37198"] I think Death makes a poor default for losing in D&D; a lot of times instead of coming up with consequences for failure we just gamble with the ability to keep playing. Death becomes commonplace, so ways around Death have to be in the system. [i]Raise Dead, Resurrection[/i] and so on, and Death becomes more of a temporary setback. At high levels, it gets very Superheroes, with people dying one day and coming back the next. Death in D&D is actually one of the nicer consequences for failure in the system-- players may note with relief: [i]Well, at least I'm only dead.[/i] There's nothing inherently wrong with that. (To quote Fry, there's nothing wrong with anything.) Personally, I'm a big fan of making Death more rare in the system, but much tougher (or impossible) to come back from. Not every conflict is life-or-death, maybe most of them aren't life-or-death, but when they are dying's scarier because its more final. Shadowrun is about as lethal as D&D-- characters die about as often, in the games I've played-- but there's no Raise Dead. I like Big "D" [b]Death[/b]. I think it should be rare, but scary and significant. I'm happier with a less lethal game, but without [i]Raises and Res's[/i] et al. [/QUOTE]
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Should D&D Have an Alternate Death Mechanic?
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