DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
Sure. When Joe and I worked out Mortality our goal was a challenging game where it was more true to real life in that going into battle was a scary and likely deadly affair. That being said, often people would seek to capture/ransom/etc. enemies instead of just kill them, but death in battle happened and was often abrupt. It created a game that was more role-playing focused because combat could easily turn into a course of action you truly regretted.So much of this is also about honesty in our goals.
Personally, my take on DMing is to pose a serious challenge to the PCs where good thinking and planning, and a bit of good luck, should win the day. But there is the side where the players have to be smart enough and realistic enough to understand "some threats are beyond us" and avoid them or flee. PCs are by no means invincible or assured of a win!
I agree with much of this, too, but with one significant difference-- I am quite okay with a single PC dying because of bad luck, just as a single PC can turn the tide of battle and win with a single stroke of good luck. But, what I am opposed to is an entire TPK because of bad luck. I will "defeat" the party in such cases (have them captured or something) and allow them the chance to save themselves later, but yeah a full TPK just due to bad rolls is a poor way to end a campaign.Exactly my thoughts. I want the decision to have real and potentially deadly consequences. What I do not want is that through no fault of their own, a group TPK simply because the the game became so swingy that a simple critical could kill a mid to high level character in one shot.
I played Role Master enough to understand that players want a challenge but do not like to die through extreme bad luck. Dying because you made poor decisions is quite ok. Dying because the DM got an incredibly lucky roll... not so.