When I first saw D&D I said “I hate dice games.” But I discovered that it wasn’t a “dice game,” played properly. It is a microcosm of Life: do everything you practically can to avoid having to rely on a die roll to save your bacon. You won’t always be able to, but you can minimize the number of times you have to life-and-death “roll dem bones.”
Life with a Capital "L"
An RPG can be a microcosm of Real Life in the most basic sense (though often it isn’t): about how to behave rightly, how to cooperate, and how to avoid being foolish. First, let's define a microcosm: “a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.”
There has to be real danger, a real chance that your character will die. Otherwise, it doesn’t resemble Life at all. Adventure stories aren’t like Life, because you know the good guys will win. Some RPG players prefer a bit of Life in the broadest sense, some prefer Adventure Stories.
As in Life, risky behavior in an RPG is more likely to get your character killed. Taking unnecessary risks in an RPG is similar to, for example, not wearing a seat belt. Or being a smoker. Or attending meetings/events with lots of people around when there’s a pandemic! But some people pursue risky behavior despite the risks.
A Different Point of View
This puts me in mind of a character whose name from the very start was “Billbash the Rash” (really). He charged a balrog (old version, not nearly as quintessentially dangerous as the devil version!) with a lance on a horse when at second level. I think he managed to live by sheer good luck! But it was not an example to live by.
One of the bigger lessons RPGs may teach: “He who lives by the dice [chance] dies by the dice.” Yes, this is a take-off on “he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword” (which some RPGs, the ones where you usually avoid combat, also teach).
This is not a “heroic” point of view. I understand wanting to be heroic, and one way to arrange this is to let everyone know that their characters WILL DIE sooner or later, so they can feel OK about being heroic until that happens. I’ve preferred a more mercenary/soldier point of view, trying to stay alive until the war/job is over rather than to be heroic. But both versions can work. I do recall once playing one of my lesser characters in a first edition game that was supposed to serve as a source of ideas for someone wanting to write a story. So I had my character do something somewhat heroic - and he died. “A foolhardy act is a brave act which fails.” (He was raised from the dead but owed a vast sum of money for it for the rest of his life, and became a paladin.)
Of course, in Real Life few people look to be heroic. One of the attractions of RPGs is the ability to do things you’d never do in real life.
GMs Beware!
From the GM’s point of view, keep this in mind: adventure stories are often not realistic, not true-to-Life. Especially, stories often lack real danger, whereas Life does (I think of how the stormtroopers can’t hit the good guys, while their armor never helps the stormtroopers, only hinders). Because it’s a game, necessarily separated from reality by the “Magic Circle” as Game Studies people call it, you have a choice of some relation to reality, with the danger to characters necessarily associated; or of a lack of reality, the “purer” form of escapism, of adventure storytelling.
Let me leave you with another example of lessons for Life: high-level (9th+) characters faced a poison-cloud-breathing iron golem in the next room. By swapping items (this was First Edition D&D) the party’s two clerics had saves of “2" vs poison, that is, only a 1 on a d20 would be a failure. My advice to have only one cleric go in, so that the other could neutralize poison if necessary, was ignored (I wasn’t one of the clerics). Only one chance in 400, after all. Both rushed in, the golem breathed, both rolled “1's”. And there was no “Plan B”. Others killed the golem without further loss though at great risk, but both clerics were dead, no Raise Dead available! We even had a Rod of Resurrection but no one who could use it. . .
When it comes to Life in role-playing games, in my opinion: Don’t rely on chance if you can avoid it!
Life with a Capital "L"
An RPG can be a microcosm of Real Life in the most basic sense (though often it isn’t): about how to behave rightly, how to cooperate, and how to avoid being foolish. First, let's define a microcosm: “a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.”
There has to be real danger, a real chance that your character will die. Otherwise, it doesn’t resemble Life at all. Adventure stories aren’t like Life, because you know the good guys will win. Some RPG players prefer a bit of Life in the broadest sense, some prefer Adventure Stories.
As in Life, risky behavior in an RPG is more likely to get your character killed. Taking unnecessary risks in an RPG is similar to, for example, not wearing a seat belt. Or being a smoker. Or attending meetings/events with lots of people around when there’s a pandemic! But some people pursue risky behavior despite the risks.
A Different Point of View
This puts me in mind of a character whose name from the very start was “Billbash the Rash” (really). He charged a balrog (old version, not nearly as quintessentially dangerous as the devil version!) with a lance on a horse when at second level. I think he managed to live by sheer good luck! But it was not an example to live by.
One of the bigger lessons RPGs may teach: “He who lives by the dice [chance] dies by the dice.” Yes, this is a take-off on “he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword” (which some RPGs, the ones where you usually avoid combat, also teach).
This is not a “heroic” point of view. I understand wanting to be heroic, and one way to arrange this is to let everyone know that their characters WILL DIE sooner or later, so they can feel OK about being heroic until that happens. I’ve preferred a more mercenary/soldier point of view, trying to stay alive until the war/job is over rather than to be heroic. But both versions can work. I do recall once playing one of my lesser characters in a first edition game that was supposed to serve as a source of ideas for someone wanting to write a story. So I had my character do something somewhat heroic - and he died. “A foolhardy act is a brave act which fails.” (He was raised from the dead but owed a vast sum of money for it for the rest of his life, and became a paladin.)
Of course, in Real Life few people look to be heroic. One of the attractions of RPGs is the ability to do things you’d never do in real life.
GMs Beware!
From the GM’s point of view, keep this in mind: adventure stories are often not realistic, not true-to-Life. Especially, stories often lack real danger, whereas Life does (I think of how the stormtroopers can’t hit the good guys, while their armor never helps the stormtroopers, only hinders). Because it’s a game, necessarily separated from reality by the “Magic Circle” as Game Studies people call it, you have a choice of some relation to reality, with the danger to characters necessarily associated; or of a lack of reality, the “purer” form of escapism, of adventure storytelling.
Let me leave you with another example of lessons for Life: high-level (9th+) characters faced a poison-cloud-breathing iron golem in the next room. By swapping items (this was First Edition D&D) the party’s two clerics had saves of “2" vs poison, that is, only a 1 on a d20 would be a failure. My advice to have only one cleric go in, so that the other could neutralize poison if necessary, was ignored (I wasn’t one of the clerics). Only one chance in 400, after all. Both rushed in, the golem breathed, both rolled “1's”. And there was no “Plan B”. Others killed the golem without further loss though at great risk, but both clerics were dead, no Raise Dead available! We even had a Rod of Resurrection but no one who could use it. . .
When it comes to Life in role-playing games, in my opinion: Don’t rely on chance if you can avoid it!
