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When Failure Isn't an Option in 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8253510" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>In my campaigns the world is always changing and evolving. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Most of the changes are pretty insignificant, but I have had city-states fall because the adventurers failed. In other cases, PCs turned a potential big bad (and potential long term threat) into an ally. In other cases they succeeded beyond my expectations and a region was left in a far more stable state than I had been anticipating affecting my general concepts for potential future campaign arcs.</p><p></p><p>It goes both ways. Sometimes the PCs fail and bad things happen. But unless it's a TPK, it's not the end of the campaign it's just opening up different obstacles. In other cases failure may be a setback but not a permanent one. Especially if running a mystery scenario, if they miss a clue it's not going to be the last clue they will ever get. It just means that if they had picked up on the clue they would have solved the mystery more quickly, perhaps they could have prevented some damage or even a death. Maybe their reward will be slightly less if they fail.</p><p></p><p>In other words, there will never be a secret door they <em>must</em> find. If they find the secret door they can bypass a fight or be in position to set up an ambush. If they fail to stop the dragon, the dragon burns their home base to ash and their favorite Num Num bakery is gone, the owner fled to parts unknown. That just sets up another path, another story arc where they have to face down a more powerful foe with a rallying cry of "Remember Num Num!" <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8253510, member: 6801845"] In my campaigns the world is always changing and evolving. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Most of the changes are pretty insignificant, but I have had city-states fall because the adventurers failed. In other cases, PCs turned a potential big bad (and potential long term threat) into an ally. In other cases they succeeded beyond my expectations and a region was left in a far more stable state than I had been anticipating affecting my general concepts for potential future campaign arcs. It goes both ways. Sometimes the PCs fail and bad things happen. But unless it's a TPK, it's not the end of the campaign it's just opening up different obstacles. In other cases failure may be a setback but not a permanent one. Especially if running a mystery scenario, if they miss a clue it's not going to be the last clue they will ever get. It just means that if they had picked up on the clue they would have solved the mystery more quickly, perhaps they could have prevented some damage or even a death. Maybe their reward will be slightly less if they fail. In other words, there will never be a secret door they [I]must[/I] find. If they find the secret door they can bypass a fight or be in position to set up an ambush. If they fail to stop the dragon, the dragon burns their home base to ash and their favorite Num Num bakery is gone, the owner fled to parts unknown. That just sets up another path, another story arc where they have to face down a more powerful foe with a rallying cry of "Remember Num Num!" :) [/QUOTE]
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