Would you play D&D if [rule X]?

[cignus_pfaccari]

I think you forgot a qualifier before the word "players", like "my" or "most" or "some".

I suspect "most" or "almost all."

Certainly, in my experience, after making a new Shadowrun character every other session, there was no real personality attached, because it was too much trouble to come up with a different one.

Brad

 

[Traveller From Afar]

I dunno, take away the levels and associated enhancements and you don't have D&D anymore, really.

 

[JamesonCourage]

I suspect "most" or "almost all."

Certainly, in my experience, after making a new Shadowrun character every other session, there was no real personality attached, because it was too much trouble to come up with a different one.

Brad

That may certainly be true. I have no idea how many people would feel that way, or have felt that way. I imagine a good number, potentially all the way up to "almost all".

However, I have one good friend from high school, longtime gamer, and current roommate. We've been playing together for about 7 or 8 years now, and he never really connected with a character until we started using the system that included no resurrections, and a combat chart that could (potentially) kill your character much faster than your hit points allowed. For the time he ran that character, he was the most invested, and the most immersed in RPing out of our group (when normally he was the least invested). As an aside, his character didn't die, either, but the players ended up making new characters (we were playtesting my system in its very early stages).

At any rate, I understand warning against a game where "random death" can sever emotional ties to characters. It's probably common, in fact. I just don't like it as a blanket statement, as the opposite has proven true for one player of mine (the rest remain about as attached as they used to before this system).

Anyways, thanks for your thoughts and feedback. I suspect you're largely correct. As always, play what you like

 

[Lanefan]

A dead character ends that character's story. Permanently. Once PCs begin to die, players react by investing less and less into their characters, so that the loss of one won't hurt. They also begin to act tactically, not in character. PCs become game pieces, not roles.

I'm old and jaded with 30 years of gaming experience under my belt. Newer players might not have gotten jaded - but if you start killing their PCs and expect them to care, they may become so quicker than in a more friendly game.

In fact, part of the reason I run such a lightheated game is as a reaction to when I saw myself and my players start treating their PCs as game pieces. It has taken years of more light-hearted play to bring back more role-playing and character identification.

My game's about as light-hearted as it gets - serious, I think, is sometimes taken as a four-letter word - yet characters die by the boatload. And in the game where I'm a player, my characters are usually lining up to get on said boat.

And I'm also getting near the 30-year-experience point, but I'm not quite jaded yet. I just keep coming back with new - and, I hope, entertaining - characters once the careers of the previous lot are done; and keep on truckin'.

Lan-"entertainment is the name of the game"-efan

 

[Starfox]

If you people can keep up a happy face in the face of repeated character death, more power to you. Just be aware of the risks.

 

[TarionzCousin]

1. & 2. Yes.

3. No. I like playing spellcasters, and the risk/reward of this just isn't worth it to me. This could be very frustrating much of the time. I think it would prompt spellcasters to hire NPC's (or use willing PC's) to shield them while they cast. I think this minimizes the impact of non-spellcasters in the game.

Now, if this were an option--say only a few spells were like this--I think it would work. Give the PC's the choice and it makes all the difference.

4. Yes. Doesn't one of the FATE books use this sort of mechanic? Dresden Files RPG?

5. Yes. Ouch.

6. Yes, but only for a limited time, like 6 months or so.

7. Hmmmm. Maybe. Probably not. Too much crunch for me.

8. Only in Cthulhu games and the like. Otherwise, no.

9. Yes, but not in a strictly Hack and Slash game.

10. Yes. I did. When the Wild Mage (?) first appeared in Dragon Magazine, I added him as an NPC to the group. Of course, they didn't know about the inherent Chaos until one of his spells went awry.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm bored this afternoon so I've made an attempt to tally up the responses so far. I've probably misinterpreted various people's opinions, but all I had to go on was your posts above...

The number sequence reads as Y-N-M where Y = Yes, N = No, and M = Maybe including answers with lots of qualifiers and everything else I couldn't find a yes or no in. The totals are not always the same as not everybody answered every point.

1. 8-7-6.

2. 9-5-7. These two questions kinda go together, some are fine with either way, one or two don't like either way, and most went with one or the other.

3. 11-5-5. Surprisingly high yes vote on this one; tone it back to spells take less than a round and I suspect you won't be far from unanimity.

4. 13-2-7. Is this a blip or an early signal of a desire to move away from grid-based gaming? Most decisive vote of the lot.

5. 12-6-3. Not as decisive as it looks as some of the Ys had reservations about how it would work in the long run; whether the PCs would come out on the short end.

6. 10-7-4. This one surprises me, when I read the question I thought there'd be a huge 'no' vote. Interesting.

7. 4-9-8. Given the apparent trend toward simplifying things, no surprise here. Only question where N beats Y.

8. 7-5-9. Most see this one as situational to campaign.

9. 12-3-7. Another decisive one, some again see it as situational to campaign but not as much as the sanity question.

10. 9-6-6. Pleasant surprise from my perspective as I thought this would get shredded. Bring on those magic surges!

11. 2-1-1. As this one (regarding graduated effects on a failed/made save) wasn't on the original list not everyone saw it.

Lan-"your league statistician"-efan