D&D General Why fear is good for PCs

[Remathilis]

If people didn't yearn to simulate fear, we wouldn't have horror movies or those tower things at amusement parks. So fear = bad thing is false.

Fear has it's place. I'm not anti-fear. But it is exhausting to walk on eggshells every game session. Players who learn to fear everything end paranoid wrecks or defiant Leeroy Jenkins.

 

[Fanaelialae]

There's a sweet spot for fear of death. Sure, if PCs can't die, there's probably no fear of death (but this is largely a strawman argument). On the other hand, if player death is a regular occurrence you end up with apathy and frustration, not fear. Maybe paranoia, which some people conflate with fear, but in my experience (unlike fear) excessive paranoia bogs the game down and makes it a boring experience, with the players checking every square of the dungeon for traps.

IME, to kindle fear of death in players, the potential for death should be present without death becoming omnipresent. Fear of character death is mostly about attachment. If characters rarely last more than three sessions, for example, it's the rare player who will grow attached to those characters. Players don't typically invest heavily in disposable characters. If the character is seen as disposable, then character death is merely an inconvenience, if that. IMO, the sweet spot is to have at least one character death per campaign, with the possibility of a few more. The players invest and grow attached to their characters, and therefore have legitimate stakes in that characters survival. Since the character is not viewed as disposable, the specter of death is real (despite being rare).

 

[Autumnal]

Fears vary, to put it mildly. As Roger Ebert wrote, “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it’s about it.”

 

[tetrasodium]

.

And that's a fair statement. As a DM and a player, I simply don't take D&D very seriously. It's a supremely silly game to me, and that's not a dig, it's why I like it. It's a game where I kick down doors, kick butt for goodness, and get treasure. (Except these days I can't be bothered to care about the treasure.)

You say that like it's some new mold breaki innovation that 5e brought to d&d, that's far from being accurate though. I started back with ad&d2e and Redbox about the same time (maybe even same purchase) and kick in the door->kill always been a big part of d:d, that's nothing new. What iss new is that Adam West Batman is now used by the (5e)system as the door template for the whole process and the gm gets tasked with fighting

 

[Umbran]

If people didn't yearn to simulate fear, we wouldn't have horror movies or those tower things at amusement parks. So fear = bad thing is false.

I haven't read every post, but I don't expect anyone here has said that fear is categorically bad.

But, not everyone loves horror movies or scary amusement park rides. Heck, most of the horror fans I know are picky, and don't like all horror.

So, the issue isn’t fear = bad.

The issue is, does a particular technique actually generate the emotion you want in a player, and will that emotion yield what you are actually looking for in the play experience or player behavior.

The answer to those is often "no" and "not reliably", respectively.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If anyone actually dies on an amusement park ride its not working as intended.

 

[tetrasodium]

If anyone actually dies on an amusement park ride its not working as intended.

It's fairly common actually.

And then there are the poor souls who got stuck on small world for over an hour

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's fairly common actually.

Sure, but no one goes on a ride with the expectation that they might die. The point is to get an adrenaline buzz (I’m one of those people who it doesn’t work on, I find rollercoasters boring).

 

[tetrasodium]

Sure, but no one goes on a ride with the expectation that they might die. The point is to get an adrenaline buzz (I’m one of those people who it doesn’t work on, I find rollercoasters boring).

Your bringing it up as if death on a rollercoaster==PC death. It doesn't work that way no matter how much you read about poor blackleaf. Instead of stacking hypotheticals about what people don't do and trying to build a case from your own creation it's more effective to look at what people actually do. Most people go on rides because they expect it to be fun or because someone they are with wants others to join in something they expect to enjoy.... Shockingly that applies very accurately to people joining a ttrpg game like d&d yet just like getting stuck on the totally safe zero risk small world ride for over an hour is understandably the definition of not fun for many, so to is joining a game where the PCs have nothing to be afraid of because risk is implausible

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Most people go on rides because they expect it to be fun or

It’s well known that it’s directly correlated to adrenaline production - fairground rides are designed around that. It’s “fun” because your body gives you a chemical high. Also true of many horror movies, especially those featuring jump scares.

Pretty hard to do in a turn based game, when it rarely depends on a single dice roll.

Fortunately, dread doesn’t depend on adrenaline and jump scares, just good storytelling.