Should the players always win?

[ivocaliban]

Well, I voted yes, but I think "winning" is open to a great deal of interpretation. I do not think that PCs should always be successful, particularly if they make obviously foolish choices. However, I've been running a single player campaign for several years now and it's quite clear that the storyline has a certain arc that would be utterly destroyed if the one and only PC bought the farm.

Because of this, and the background of the PC himself, there's a very slim chance of his dying on a random toss of the die. This doesn't mean that he wins every battle, that he's rolling in gold, or that he's even particularly happy with his life. It also doesn't mean his destiny, so to speak, will protect him if he decides to leap into the jaws of a dragon. It certainly won't.

The point is, when a campaign focuses more on story elements than dungeon crawling it doesn't make much sense to have a character die a random death at the hands of a nameless peon. For some, campaigns and characters are a dime a dozen. A character dies, you roll up another and meet up with the group around the next corner. That doesn't work very well with one player, unfortunately. It also doesn't work very well when the PC's backstory and very existence is tied so strongly to the storyline. If Bilbo had been eaten by trolls, for example, The Hobbit would have been a rather disappointing short story, instead of the prelude to an epic.

None of this means I'm against deadly campaigns or even hack-and-slash excitement, but for the purposes of my campaign...and for any campaign where the characters ARE the story...it's important that they survive, if not win...at least until the story can reach a satisfactory conclusion.

 

[el-remmen]

I say no for myself personally.

But some people are happy playing with degrees of success that have no chance for total failure (i.e. TPK).

 

[lukelightning]

I voted "no" but with the following condition: I view the PCs as heroes, so over the long run they will "win" despite various losses along the way. Of course, as many have mentioned "winning" is rather ill-defined; if you define "winning" as accomplishing goals, of course the PCs always win because otherwise the game would go nowhere.

 

[Umbran]

There are two different questions:

Should they always win? (Meaning: Should the DM arrange for them to win?)
and
Should they always win? (Meaning: Should the DM arrange for the occasional loss?)

In my games, the answer is no to both. I don't predetermine endings. As a DM, I make the players work - they have to be smart and tough and brave and hopefully a little lucky. If they always manage to win, more power to 'em.

In some campaigns, for dramatic effect, I have been known to tweak exactly how the PCs win or lose. Whether the PC actually dies after being defeated, or whether the BBEG is defeated, but doesn't leave a corpse for a confirmed kill are details that, in some cases, I'll play with.

 

[Yair]

So, let's suggest alternate polls. Here's mine:

"Should the characters always achieve their goals, regardless of opposition?"
1. Yes. We fail enough in real life.
2. Almost, the characters should succeed in reasonable goals.
3. Almost, the characters should succeed in reasonable broad goals (even if they lose the battle, they shouldn't lose the war that is the focus of the campaign).
4. No, the characters should have a chance to succeed and a chance to fail at everything. Let the dice roll and fall where they may.
5. No, the characters should succeed or fail according to what makes a better story. Dice and even carefully laid out plans shouldn't wreck the storyline and drama.
6. No, the characters should always lose!

 

[Aus_Snow]

No.

 

[diaglo]

hell no.


but i wanna go down with dice in my hand.

 

[Tsillanabor]

No, but they should have a shot at winning. Sometimes my PCs will bite off more than they can chew, but I try to leave a way out if they choose to back out. If they don't-well, good luck, I don't often pull punches.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

No, the party should not always win, but the outcome should be determined primarily by the actions of the party.

Also, there should be the possibility of a partial win.

Last, I do my best to avoid TPKs and even individual character deaths when possible (player stupidity is not rewarded but bad dice rolling is not usually punished through PC termination). I tend to find other ways for the party to fail, and it often ends up opening new motivations, hooks and adventures for the party.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

In another thread, it was suggested that some D&D groups prefer campaigns run so that the PCs always win the day.

would you mind linking to said thread?