Monday, March 05, 2007
Some chatter on RPG.net about "setting stakes" in a game got me thinking about risk and reward in RPGs. In the games I've run and played in over the years, the risks and rewards have not always been clear. Sure, back in the day, we all knew that the risk in D&D was having your character die and having to whip up a new 1st level PC, but during my Greyhawk campaign, I fudged a lot of rolls to keep characters alive (especially in the first couple of adventures). That probably created a very false sense of risk for my players.
Although the game ended without a single PC death (five years of D&D with no PC deaths, you ask? for sure, I say), what would have the players thought if, after a couple of fudges to keep PCs alive, I had let the dice fall as they may? Would they have been angry? After all, I think it was usually quite clear when I was fudging (for an example of this, check out the write-up of the first adventure of my Greyhawk campaign).
Contrast that with the rewards of some of the adventures or battles, and in many cases, the rewards were far greater than the risk. In an early (poorly-designed) adventure, the PCs got hold of a suit of kickass armour without facing suitable challenges, for instance.
Risk versus reward is on my mind as we're heading into our second session of my Star Wars campaign. Last week, I sent out an email asking the players how they would prefer to have me deal with character death -- whether they would prefer to let the dice fall as they may or have me drop a deus ex machina on them to save their asses if the dice went bad. The only response I got was a request for no PC deaths.
Now, assuming I go the route of finding a way to save the lives of PCs should the dice dictate their deaths, I feel I have to balance the risks and rewards. If the PCs will never risk death, then the rewards should be smaller, should they not? Or perhaps I simply need to find other suitable penalties for the character that would feel as meaningful as death without scaling back the rewards.
No matter which way I go, I think I owe it to the players to tell them how things are going to be.
Although the game ended without a single PC death (five years of D&D with no PC deaths, you ask? for sure, I say), what would have the players thought if, after a couple of fudges to keep PCs alive, I had let the dice fall as they may? Would they have been angry? After all, I think it was usually quite clear when I was fudging (for an example of this, check out the write-up of the first adventure of my Greyhawk campaign).
Contrast that with the rewards of some of the adventures or battles, and in many cases, the rewards were far greater than the risk. In an early (poorly-designed) adventure, the PCs got hold of a suit of kickass armour without facing suitable challenges, for instance.
Risk versus reward is on my mind as we're heading into our second session of my Star Wars campaign. Last week, I sent out an email asking the players how they would prefer to have me deal with character death -- whether they would prefer to let the dice fall as they may or have me drop a deus ex machina on them to save their asses if the dice went bad. The only response I got was a request for no PC deaths.
Now, assuming I go the route of finding a way to save the lives of PCs should the dice dictate their deaths, I feel I have to balance the risks and rewards. If the PCs will never risk death, then the rewards should be smaller, should they not? Or perhaps I simply need to find other suitable penalties for the character that would feel as meaningful as death without scaling back the rewards.
No matter which way I go, I think I owe it to the players to tell them how things are going to be.
// posted by Chris @ 4:26 PM 
Comments:
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I'd like to put in my request for unfettered bones rolls!
If death is in the dice, then so be it. (as he immediately get's smoked in his first encounter ...).
Although I do reserve the right to Vader the ass of whomever blew me away (yaa prosthetics!).
May the Schwartz be with you,
Z.
If death is in the dice, then so be it. (as he immediately get's smoked in his first encounter ...).
Although I do reserve the right to Vader the ass of whomever blew me away (yaa prosthetics!).
May the Schwartz be with you,
Z.
# posted by 
: 3/06/2007 12:09 PM
: 3/06/2007 12:09 PM
I like having the chance to live, but If you want, let the dice lay where they may.
I would be sad to see my character die, but I promise not to bury him in the backyard.
I would be sad to see my character die, but I promise not to bury him in the backyard.
What if you had a choice -- death or something horrible happen to your character? In Star Wars, characters die, but they also lose limbs (as a for instance).
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