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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 9128679" data-attributes="member: 996">Well, in D&D, which has detailed, if occasionally punishing, systems for combat, little or nothing to cover social interaction, a tradition of meticulous exploration, expansive spellcasting and long lists of magic items, the play experience certainly varies a great deal from moment to moment and player to player.  All the more so when when a character is virtually excluded from one or another of those modes by random stat roll, class restrictions, want of the right item, lack of options, and the like.But that's not RPGs in general - tho it's understandable to think of it as such, given D&D's overwhelming domination of the industry, and exemplar status. One of the things D&D lacks is any sort of narrative system for getting the party out of the kinds of extremely tight spots with bad odds that are so common to protagonists in genre.  Escaping from a combat you're losing is another one that's standard genre fare that D&D hasn't usually done much to cover. I guess the "social contract" also comes into it.  If "capture & escape" scenes are a thing in genre (a way to get information when the villain monologues, for instance, is a classic) and the game emulates genre, players might not have PCs go to extremes to avoid capture when they're beaten, or, indeed, take extreme measures to avoid risky encounters where they might be beaten.</blockquote>