I agree with your point and disagree with your methods.

It is true that random and undramatic character death sucks. It is not true that GM is the best person to decide this. Example: I was playing in a con one-shot. My character was a dumb racist bastard and acted the part. The GM just would not let him die. He deserved that death. The circumstances warranted it. The GM just didn’t like character death.

So: Fudging rolls or adjusting the relevant stats of opponents are, with certain players, very bad ideas. So, what’s a GM is to do is make deadly situations obvious and avoidable through some means. If there is a cavern with a troll (and trolls are scary and dangerous), having the cave littered with skulls and pieces of armour, as well as a number of heads rotting on stakes, should make the danger level of the place explicit. If the players still want to go in, they have made an explicit decision to confront whatever lurks there and shall live with the consequences (or die with them, as the case may be).

Another useful is method is reducing the number of fights to the death. Muggers just want your purse, you will be left bleeding and broken on the street. Most intelligent opponents have some other purpose besides killing the PCs. Unintelligent creatures are usually boring or tools.

Explicit script immunity also works just fine, as long as the characters have actual motivations beyond getting rich and surviving. The key is to threaten things that are not the character’s life. Stop the zombie horde or the village is doomed (zombies as sufficiently slow and pathetic that being killed by them is very unlikely, but they are a good tool for killing villages).

Psst… you just ruined the big DM secret for all of us players!

Some systems, if you play fairly, will kill PC randomly. If that’s not something you like in your games, consider choosing a different game where that doesn’t happen– or explicitly, with your players, change that rule.

For example, in Star Wars SAGA, you can survive any blow by spending a force point. You’re still left unconscious, and your fellow PCs can’t count on your for the rest of the battle… but at least you didn’t die to Orc #2. [You were taken out by Orc #2, but probably due to overwhelming numbers or the like.]

Similarly, Spirit of the Century gives you a couple of chances to negotiate the conditions of your defeat (as stress and wounds pile up)– though you can push on and risk death, it’s an informed choice.

Even in D&D, my current game has houseruled that dropping below 0 HP is disabled and unconscious rather than dead, whether you hit -1 or -52. It gets away from the tension draining raise dead spell… and the “exhausted” penalty makes it important to stay on the right side of 0.

Some of those examples work very well ScottM. However, I don’t think the houserule you mentioned is a good idea. Shouldn’t the players know they eventually can die?

I agree that killing PC’s can ruin the game, but the DM/GM needs to show the players that trying to kill everything is not the way to survive the game.

Ask yourself, how many times have you set up an encounter to have the monster or NPC run away from the players? If the players haven’t seen it, why should you expect them to run away? Unless trapped, most creatures will attempt to escape if wounded sufficiently. Only mindless monsters (e.g., zombies, golems), fanatics and creatures that dieing doesn’t effect them or are compelled to fight (e.g., ghost, summoned creatures) will fight to the death.

Also, how many times have you had the monster or NPC beat up the players, but not kill them, as indicated in Tommi’s example of the mugger? Alternatively, how many times have you had the combat occur in a town with strict laws on murder. If the players know that subdueing their opponents is an option or that killing their opponents have severe consequences, they’ll think twice of killing everything in sight.

As a DM/GM, you need to show the players that there are other options than just killing everything they see. Additionally, you need to provide them rewards for not killing and punishments if they do. Also, you need to be prepared in case the PC’s surrender. Unless the monster/NPC is one that would fight to the death, or would normally eat the PC (e.g., many animals); there is a good chance that the captured PC’s would not be killed immediately. Of course if they take too long to try and escape, they all might not survive.

Of course the characters can die. It just happens when the player decides that they’re done with the character’s story, instead of when the dice say the same thing.

While you give up death, you get back something that you ordinarily give up in most D&D games: wounds like missing arms, storylines where the PC is captured, etc. I’ve been in few campaigns where those stories would work, because it’s hard to hit that little 0 to -10 window once the PCs have a few levels under their belt.

Plus, you never have to worry about losing the tension when the players notice your fudging.

Zelgar: your points are excellent. Heather Grove’s article Planning the First Night of Your Game, specifically the section titled “What Sort of Play Do You Want to Encourage, and How?” is great about pointing out options other than both sides fighting to death every encounter.

Both of you guys are right, thanks for the comments. However, I noticed that players often have troubles with not-killed enemies. Escorting crimnals to jail, finishing orcs begging for mercy… Not all players like it.

Since the original purpose of this topic was to think of methods of keeping the characters alive, I think it’s a little counterproductive to state that some players don’t like doing something like escort duty. I know of a lot of players who would be digested with the idea of fudging die rolls to keep their character alive (a.k.a., Let the dice fall as they may).

a. Keep track of the PC’s hit points - if you keep asking them what their HP’s are, they might catch on that you’re keeping them alive. Knowing their HP’s can limit the possibilities of “accidentally” killing the PC’s.
b. Reduce the HP, # of monsters/NPC’s, spells, use of magic items, etc. in the encounter. Unless you let the PC’s see your notes, they’ll never know the difference. Make certain that any change in HP’s still fall into the range of the monster/NPC, else some players may be able to figure out that you’re fudging.
c. Increase the amount of healing potions/scrolls in the treasure trove. Scrolls are better since they give you an excuse why the monster/NPC didn’t use them.
d. Make certain that the players have calculated what they need to hit the monster and calculating damage properly (e.g.,if the rogue keeps to forget to add their extra damage if they’re flanking).
e. Have unexpected allies come and help. Maybe another party of NPC’s, a monster turns on the BBEG, escaping prisoners. The allies may be able to turn the tide to the PC’s favor, or sacrifice themselves to let the PC’s get free.
f. Fudge a little in rolling to hit, damage, and saving throws. Be extremely careful about fudging. Some groups feel that the DM/GM is cheating when they fudge. If you do fudge, try not to make it obvious (e.g., you’re constantly hitting the PC’s and then start fumbling left & right; you’re hitting for 10+ damage and when the PC’s are almost dead, you only hit for 6 pts.) Fudging can be like lieing. If you do it too often, you begin to use it all of the time and you can’t seem to stop.
g. Surrender or Ransom – Have the monster offer the PC’s a chance to surrender or ransom their lives for treasure or a job. The monster/NPC may be willing to leave the area provided that their old lair is cleaned out or some other task is performed (e.g., they need something from the area). Most players get into the KTATTS (Kill Them, and Take Their Stuff) mode, that they don’t consider alternatives of getting the monster to move out of the area. This can cause problems if the “monster” is Good (e.g., metallic dragons).