D&D General Why fear is good for PCs

[Piperken]

Obergruppenführer John Smith: " ...See, now you're some place, where good people actually look out for one another. I'll see you tomorrow."
Juliana Crain: "Okay. Thanks." (pauses) "Wait. What about the key?"
Obergruppenführer John Smith: "Oh, there isn't one." (smiles) "No one locks their doors around here."
-- Man in the High Castle, "Travelers" (Season 2, Episode 3)

Having a good handle on the PCs (as supposed to the players), really understanding what motivates them, and applying pressure at those points during dramatic moments, constructively inspires emotional response.

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

I love the Cup of Doom. Genius.

I know there’s games that use dice pools for DM’s but for me the idea came from trying to implement a Doom Mechanic as per Conan 2D20. I love the idea of characters pushing their luck until it runs out.

I recently bought Nord Games box set of critical hit cards, and it came with good/bad fortune cards. They are great and as of last session I’ve used them when either the players or I drain our cups of dice.

 

[CreamCloud0]

My best tip for Real Fear is run an Old School Style Hard Fun Unfair Unbalanced Game.

Just Random Meaningless Character Death at any time fills many players with fear. They worry the whole game that the DM might say something like "well, that is 11 damage, your character is dead".

Just Random Meaninglessness Character Death at any time can also fill many players with apathy, if their character can die for no real reason at the drop of a hat why should they care about them in the first place?

 

[bloodtide]

Just Random Meaninglessness Character Death at any time can also fill many players with apathy, if their character can die for no real reason at the drop of a hat why should they care about them in the first place?

Having the characters be immortal demigods can fill the DM with apathy. Why even have game play if it will always be "well, your characters already won" right from the start.

Just different gameplays

 

[Bill Zebub]

Just Random Meaninglessness Character Death at any time can also fill many players with apathy, if their character can die for no real reason at the drop of a hat why should they care about them in the first place?

Define "die for no real reason at the drop of a hat"....?

 

[Distracted DM]

"Random meaningless character death." I had to think about this one, because it sounds bad and I thought it was trolling at first- but then I think back to my playing OSE games and I think I know what you mean.

So yeah playing 1st level characters in Old School Essentials, it takes a few minutes to make a new character, we were climbing down a ladder to a deep delve. Ladder was old, rusty, parts of it broke- failed a check to save yourself, roll bad? Dead character, that sucked but oh well, roll a new one! AND we were more careful going forward, and took precautions. I one could say this gameplay style has roguelike elements to it, if you were to compare it to video games- you basically learn to play the game a new way as you go. Occasionally a character dies. Hold on lightly.

I don't love it for games with longer character creation processes, like DnD5e. If the PC made some bad choices and/or had really bad luck with rolls, and that led to their death? That's just DnD. But one hopes that death was seen coming and the player chose to roll the dice, or maybe they ignored the telegraphed dangers. But 5e characters, especially A5E characters, have repeatedly defeated encounters that I thought were impossible and should be avoided at the time. Sometimes a character dies in those attempts, and while the players aren't happy about it they either look to make a new character or hope that they can get raised.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Having the characters be immortal demigods can fill the DM with apathy. Why even have game play if it will always be "well, your characters already won" right from the start.

Just different gameplays

Define "die for no real reason at the drop of a hat"....?

i'm not saying characters should be immortal beings* who nothing challenges, but between you saying 'Random Meaninglessness Character Death' and 'They worry the whole game that the DM might say something like "well, that is 11 damage, your character is dead" doesn't sound to me like damage you take in battle, from a failed skill challenge or the result of a poor decision, it sounds like the character is constantly in a lottery to learn the universe hates them and to get blindsided with unexpected unpreventable damage, 'the cave is dark and even with your lantern you couldn't see properly, you twist your ankle and take 6 damage' 'the jungle is filled with masses of poisonous plants and creatures, you must have touched one at some point, take 11 damage'

*although 'death is off the table' campaigns are still incredibly viable but that's not my point.