In their new book WotC suggest that DMs must ask for consent any time something bad is going to happen to a Player Character.
#dnd #dnd5e #ttrpg #OSR

I can't imagine how one would run something like werewolves and lycanthropy infections in a game where that is meant to be a surprise but transformations require an OK from the players.

This stuff seems way over board for me. I don't mind if people have a different approach to play that involves more player input in world building or something, but that is a matter of what people are looking to get out of a game session and an RPG. This seems to crank things up to a level where there is a moral impetus that makes it bad not to do that. It also seems like a terribly slippery slope. You begin with massive transformations like a cursed polymorph event, which shouldn't require buy in (though i can see complaining if the GM is railroading that plot), and it will naturally lead to the players having to sign off on level drain, HP loss, death, etc

Remember, when playing Chutes & Ladders, after a child makes a spin, warn that the number of spaces will land the character on a chute, and that the player can spin again to avoid getting hurt feelings.  Because we're saying the player is amoral.  Stupid game anyway, teaching morality to children.  Zealots.

The Human Retardation Project proceeds apace.

I wouldn't dismiss "consent" right away.

Just tell your players what kind of game you run beforehand.

It is better for everyone involved.

If they cannot handle a TPK etc., they can choose other table.

Don't want to turn into a werewolf etc.? Likewise.

Although "read the room" is also useful. I was a bit gruesome with combat descriptions but my players reacted poorly so I dialed it back.

I have also considered only allowing a PC to die if the player said "the PC is willing to die for that". Otherwise, the PC must run, fall unconscious, etc. I think it could work for some genres. But I never put it in practice.

I've played games where I eventually noticed that the PCs simply couldn't die. I certainly wish the GM had told me this beforehand!

Twitter rando said a thing. News at 11!

Quote from: Eric Diaz on September 11, 2023, 03:15:18 PM
I wouldn't dismiss "consent" right away.

Just tell your players what kind of game you run beforehand.

It is better for everyone involved.

If they cannot handle a TPK etc., they can choose other table.

Don't want to turn into a werewolf etc.? Likewise.

Although "read the room" is also useful. I was a bit gruesome with combat descriptions but my players reacted poorly so I dialed it back.

I have also considered only allowing a PC to die if the player said "the PC is willing to die for that". Otherwise, the PC must run, fall unconscious, etc. I think ti could work for some genres. But I never put it in practice.

I've played games where I eventually noticed that the PCs simply couldn't die. I certainly wish the GM had told me this beforehand!

That could work for a Pulp game, would need playtesting tho.

If it wasn't a Pulp game then that was a shitty game.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on September 11, 2023, 03:15:18 PM
I wouldn't dismiss "consent" right away.

Just tell your players what kind of game you run beforehand.

Ok.  "I run a TTFRPG."   

That should cover everything that could happen to a PC.

Quote from: Scooter on September 11, 2023, 03:25:23 PM
Ok.  "I run a TTFRPG."   

That should cover everything that could happen to a PC.

  Since Toon is Castle Falkenstein is D&D is Champions is Warhammer is Traveller is Call of Cthulhu ...

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on September 11, 2023, 03:30:40 PM

Quote from: Scooter on September 11, 2023, 03:25:23 PM
Ok.  "I run a TTFRPG."   

That should cover everything that could happen to a PC.

  Since Toon is Castle Falkenstein is D&D is Champions is Warhammer is Traveller is Call of Cthulhu ...

So?

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on September 11, 2023, 03:30:40 PM

Quote from: Scooter on September 11, 2023, 03:25:23 PM
Ok.  "I run a TTFRPG."   

That should cover everything that could happen to a PC.

  Since Toon is Castle Falkenstein is D&D is Champions is Warhammer is Traveller is Call of Cthulhu ...

Just run Toon Cthulhu as a gritty, epic superhero game in space.  "What Ate Roger Rabbit?"

Quote from: VisionStorm on September 11, 2023, 03:19:20 PM
Twitter rando said a thing. News at 11!

That's not what this is. This is something appearing in an official D&D product.

This reminds me of a book I read, I think it was by John Ringo...

Marine sergeant:  I need 3 volunteers, you, you, and you!
Civilian:  How do they volunteer?  They didn't say anything.
Marine sergeant:  They volunteered when they joined the Marines

Similarly, when someone joins my game they opt in to all the things, good and bad, that can happen.  In this diminished age it might be useful to explain before someone joins that bad things can really happen to their characters, especially if they screw up, but once in they're in for good or ill.  (Or til the player quits, of course)

Quote from: Mishihari on September 12, 2023, 01:19:30 PM
This reminds me of a book I read, I think it was by John Ringo...

Marine sergeant:  I need 3 volunteers, you, you, and you!
Civilian:  How do they volunteer, they didn't say anything?
Marine sergeant:  They volunteered when they joined the Marines

Similarly, when someone joins my game they opt in to all the things, good and bad, that can happen.  In this diminished age it might be useful to explain before someone joins that bad things can really happen to their characters, especially if they screw up, but once in they're in for good or ill.  (Or til the player quits, of course)

Yarp. I am still bewildered by the notion that a grown ass person would be actually offended because something happened to a fictional character in a game. " BLACKLEAF NO!!!!!!!" has become reality.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on September 11, 2023, 03:22:36 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on September 11, 2023, 03:15:18 PM
Although "read the room" is also useful. I was a bit gruesome with combat descriptions but my players reacted poorly so I dialed it back.

I have also considered only allowing a PC to die if the player said "the PC is willing to die for that". Otherwise, the PC must run, fall unconscious, etc. I think ti could work for some genres. But I never put it in practice.

I've played games where I eventually noticed that the PCs simply couldn't die. I certainly wish the GM had told me this beforehand!

That could work for a Pulp game, would need playtesting tho.

If it wasn't a Pulp game then that was a shitty game.

I've played in a bunch of games where effectively the PC only died with permission.

I've enjoyed Toon, which isn't pulp but has an absolute "PCs don't die" rule.

I also played in a serious "adventures in history" game where all the PCs were immortal beings, and we played out adventures in non-linear time. i.e. The first adventure might be in the 1600s, and the second adventure in the 700s. So for continuity, PCs couldn't permanently die - though they could be crippled or trapped for decades.

Though requiring consent doesn't mean that PCs don't die. In almost all the cases of player death that I can think of, the player was fine with it and enjoyed having a dramatic death scene.

Also, I've also had plenty of relatively light-hearted games where no PCs died - like Champions, James Bond 007, Marvel Superheroes, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, effectively PCs can't permanently die except by player choice, since returning from the dead only costs 1 drama point. (Though they might be out for a few episodes and the player has to take over an NPC.)