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Matt Colville on adventure length
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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 9324914" data-attributes="member: 7635"><p>Since we're all armchair quarterbacking this, let's toss a few more what ifs on the pile;</p><p></p><p>1. The group was taking a short rest at level 1. Finite resources are small. There are few HD and fewer spells and potions. And SRs are generally only taken when the group is already weakened. As a DM who can see greater pictures, this is potentially the weakest point you can have your group at and still all be moving of their own power. Any attack here is a killing blow. The DM had full intent to murder at this point, even if that wasn't a conscious decision. </p><p></p><p>2. We don't know if the bandits were a reasonable challenge for the PCs or not, based on the DMG or revised encounter balancing system. Four bandits is a medium difficulty encounter for four PCs. A bandit captain automatically makes it deadly. If there were more than four, it would quickly become a deadly encounter as well. </p><p></p><p>3. Did the PCs get a chance to negotiate, parley, or sneak around or detect them? How many DMs move from "you see a group of bandits approach" to "roll for initiative"? Further, even if the bandits did talk and threaten before attacking, how much of that would have hinged on a single Charisma skill check? Where the penalty for failure is combat regardless? Nothing like watching your party slaughtered because the bard rolled a 2 on his d20...</p><p></p><p>4. What were the campaign expectations? Were the PCs supposed to be Big Damn Heroes or are they expected to have nasty brutish and short lives? Did the DM communicate beforehand how deadly the game was beforehand? Can you blame players if they expect Skyrim and get Dark Souls? </p><p></p><p>Because a lot of the blame here falls on the DM regardless of if you feel it was justified or not. At the very least, he's guilty of mismatching expectations. More than likely, he was attempting to make the game seem exciting and dangerous without actually taking into account what his PCs can handle. Whether that was a legitimate error or an act of maleficence is not important. It is as much on the DMs part to make sure there is a possibility of success (even if that success is running away) as it is on the players to know when run. Too many DMs opt for the "perfect trap" scenario and then wonder why the PCs all died and nobody shows up in the next session...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 9324914, member: 7635"] Since we're all armchair quarterbacking this, let's toss a few more what ifs on the pile; 1. The group was taking a short rest at level 1. Finite resources are small. There are few HD and fewer spells and potions. And SRs are generally only taken when the group is already weakened. As a DM who can see greater pictures, this is potentially the weakest point you can have your group at and still all be moving of their own power. Any attack here is a killing blow. The DM had full intent to murder at this point, even if that wasn't a conscious decision. 2. We don't know if the bandits were a reasonable challenge for the PCs or not, based on the DMG or revised encounter balancing system. Four bandits is a medium difficulty encounter for four PCs. A bandit captain automatically makes it deadly. If there were more than four, it would quickly become a deadly encounter as well. 3. Did the PCs get a chance to negotiate, parley, or sneak around or detect them? How many DMs move from "you see a group of bandits approach" to "roll for initiative"? Further, even if the bandits did talk and threaten before attacking, how much of that would have hinged on a single Charisma skill check? Where the penalty for failure is combat regardless? Nothing like watching your party slaughtered because the bard rolled a 2 on his d20... 4. What were the campaign expectations? Were the PCs supposed to be Big Damn Heroes or are they expected to have nasty brutish and short lives? Did the DM communicate beforehand how deadly the game was beforehand? Can you blame players if they expect Skyrim and get Dark Souls? Because a lot of the blame here falls on the DM regardless of if you feel it was justified or not. At the very least, he's guilty of mismatching expectations. More than likely, he was attempting to make the game seem exciting and dangerous without actually taking into account what his PCs can handle. Whether that was a legitimate error or an act of maleficence is not important. It is as much on the DMs part to make sure there is a possibility of success (even if that success is running away) as it is on the players to know when run. Too many DMs opt for the "perfect trap" scenario and then wonder why the PCs all died and nobody shows up in the next session... [/QUOTE]
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