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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 4507498" data-attributes="member: 3820">Since we're talking about consequences other than death, I'll bring up one that I think may resonate:Having to live with humiliation.Let's consider a game in which character aren't necessarily going to be in peril of death unless the game's moving to a climax. But in such a game, even minor maneuvers that end in failure can result in your character being humiliated. Worse, you can be humiliated in such a way that you cannot simply kill everyone who was witness, or who heard the rumors. And unless it's a samurai chambara flick (and that's probably high-lethality anyway), you're not going to kill yourself rather than live with the shame. You can fight your way back from this sort of thing, of course. But restoring your good name with crucial people — the aristocracy, the girl you're crazy for, the thieves' guild — is probably going to be harder and more work than shelling out for a raise dead spell. Personally, I know players who would rather risk death on a random die roll than risk their characters being shamed. I tend to play with others, though, who are more interested in a high-stakes social aspect to a game to go along with the high-stakes mortal combat aspect. In a way, some "old school" campaigns flinch away from consequences like living with shame or humiliation in the same way that low-lethality campaigns shy away from random death. Does this mean that the people who are all "Death before dishonor!" are cowards, ready to quit the game rather than suffer a lasting setback that might make them look less than heroic? I don't think so. But it's a good example of how lethality is just one of many categories of risk that isn't for everyone.(Edit: Completely forgot to even talk about people who refuse to establish social links with NPCs: you know, who are orphans so the DM can't use their parents against them, who don't want to forge a relationship with an NPC just because they fear betrayal, who don't want to have a romantic relationship because maybe the DM will kill off their intended, etc. That's yet another category of risk that some people embrace and others avoid at all costs.)</blockquote>

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