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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Veander" data-source="post: 1093229" data-attributes="member: 1693">In case anyone thinks so, don't think I am saying that character death removal is a bad thing.  Also don't think that the connection to Godmode in video games is some way of making a point for me.  I was just curious as the few games I did cheat on (Postal 2 - what a horrible game I didn't even finish it), I understood the feeling of not being able to die.  For me it took 90% the challenge out for that game, though it was a stupid game so possibly it's not a good comparison.As a story telling DM I appreciate an epic story.  Sometimes players don't (I have one player who wants me to run just single modules loosely connected), but my style has always been to replicate the drama of any fantasy literature.  Those stories have characters that die off but never the main character(s).  It's not quite as unbelievable as an action movie, but it's still epic in the sense of their longevity of mortality.  Here's the way I look at it though.  Look at the Fellowship of the Ring.  Those 9 individuals - follow me here - thought they could die.  I know the reader is fairly comfortable some of them won't, but when playing DnD we are the readers.  We are the characters.  So for me to feel like I am in that book or having experiences epic and wonderful like those books, I have to throw in death.  As someone pointed out above the real threat of death is not knowing when to run.  So, IMO, a good DM should be able to accurately and successfully allude when a battle is beyond hope of victory for the PCs.  I have played in campaigns this way all my life and when you are through, even if the DM hid the fact that he really didn't want to kill the PCs, the accomplishments of the campaign feel incredible.  Players feel so close to their characters because of the reasons you have been stating AND the fact that they survived.Now the only other issue that needs dealt with is resurrection.  In some campaigns I have done different things with this: having an evil copy of the resurrected appear in exchange for coming back but the PCs don't know about it for a while (or ever if the rolls are good); taking them to something like that Dungeon World from Fast Forward games (a solo-adventure in the afterlife to get them back - wouldn't work as well in current group due to schedule); etc. Having the spells to do this task is not a problem but IMO it has to be worked into the mythology.  I haven't done this so well for the current FR campaign, but I didn't intend to... it's Faerun for goodness sakes.  LOL  There is more to this topic but I have rambled far enough...Sincerely,V</blockquote>

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