As several people here touched on, player expectations and their ideas of fun matter; I expect to finish the story as a family activity, with my first-ever DnD character (which I quickly became attached to), and losing him (especially without narrative significance like a heroic sacrifice) is not acceptable to me.
I'll be taking everyone's advice and talking things out with my SIL/DM, relaying my concerns, and looking for a way to get my character resurrected if not outright retconning from death to unconsciousness.
Thank you again!
I’m going to respectfully ask her to overrule her own prior declaration after I share where I’m coming from.
Any good DM worth their salt will listen to this. I have a group of new players and we're running Dragon Heist followed by Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Whenever I'm coming up to an encounter with an opportunity for a character to be instakilled, I always think of an 'out' for it. For example, they know a cleric in the temple of Selune, who knows True Resurrection. (They're going up against intellect devourers soon). Of course there will be a cost.... but the cost doesn't always have to be in gold..... you can think up your own creative ways to get a pc back and to encourage RP within the group...
No, that is your opinion. I know many many good players who would never even consider asking a DM to reconsider anything.
It should be noted, any good DM is going to listen to their players’ concerns. That’s a pretty basic tenant of decent human interaction. Now, whether the DM changes their mind, that’s a different question—a good DM absolutely should listen to any concerns raised by their players, and then has the right to say “no, I won’t do that, and here is why.”
A good player is going to be willing to communicate with their DM about problems—that way the DM has more information that they can choose to apply to how they run their game. That good player needs to also respect that the DM might put different weight on different factors and might not rate the players’ concerns at the same degree of urgency as the player might. The good player also should be able to accept that, after the conversation, they might not get exactly what they want.
Mutual understanding, respect, and open communication is a critical part of any social interaction, D&D included.
As several people here touched on, player expectations and their ideas of fun matter; I expect to finish the story as a family activity, with my first-ever DnD character (which I quickly became attached to), and losing him (especially without narrative significance like a heroic sacrifice) is not acceptable to me.
I'll be taking everyone's advice and talking things out with my SIL/DM, relaying my concerns, and looking for a way to get my character resurrected if not outright retconning from death to unconsciousness.
Thank you again!
I’m going to respectfully ask her to overrule her own prior declaration after I share where I’m coming from.
Any good DM worth their salt will listen to this. I have a group of new players and we're running Dragon Heist followed by Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Whenever I'm coming up to an encounter with an opportunity for a character to be instakilled, I always think of an 'out' for it. For example, they know a cleric in the temple of Selune, who knows True Resurrection. (They're going up against intellect devourers soon). Of course there will be a cost.... but the cost doesn't always have to be in gold..... you can think up your own creative ways to get a pc back and to encourage RP within the group...
No, that is your opinion. I know many many good players who would never even consider asking a DM to reconsider anything.
It should be noted, any good DM is going to listen to their players’ concerns. That’s a pretty basic tenant of decent human interaction. Now, whether the DM changes their mind, that’s a different question—a good DM absolutely should listen to any concerns raised by their players, and then has the right to say “no, I won’t do that, and here is why.”
A good player is going to be willing to communicate with their DM about problems—that way the DM has more information that they can choose to apply to how they run their game. That good player needs to also respect that the DM might put different weight on different factors and might not rate the players’ concerns at the same degree of urgency as the player might. The good player also should be able to accept that, after the conversation, they might not get exactly what they want.
Mutual understanding, respect, and open communication is a critical part of any social interaction, D&D included.
As several people here touched on, player expectations and their ideas of fun matter; I expect to finish the story as a family activity, with my first-ever DnD character (which I quickly became attached to), and losing him (especially without narrative significance like a heroic sacrifice) is not acceptable to me.
I'll be taking everyone's advice and talking things out with my SIL/DM, relaying my concerns, and looking for a way to get my character resurrected if not outright retconning from death to unconsciousness.
Thank you again!
I’m going to respectfully ask her to overrule her own prior declaration after I share where I’m coming from.
Any good DM worth their salt will listen to this. I have a group of new players and we're running Dragon Heist followed by Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Whenever I'm coming up to an encounter with an opportunity for a character to be instakilled, I always think of an 'out' for it. For example, they know a cleric in the temple of Selune, who knows True Resurrection. (They're going up against intellect devourers soon). Of course there will be a cost.... but the cost doesn't always have to be in gold..... you can think up your own creative ways to get a pc back and to encourage RP within the group...
No, that is your opinion. I know many many good players who would never even consider asking a DM to reconsider anything.
It should be noted, any good DM is going to listen to their players’ concerns. That’s a pretty basic tenant of decent human interaction. Now, whether the DM changes their mind, that’s a different question—a good DM absolutely should listen to any concerns raised by their players, and then has the right to say “no, I won’t do that, and here is why.”
A good player is going to be willing to communicate with their DM about problems—that way the DM has more information that they can choose to apply to how they run their game. That good player needs to also respect that the DM might put different weight on different factors and might not rate the players’ concerns at the same degree of urgency as the player might. The good player also should be able to accept that, after the conversation, they might not get exactly what they want.
Mutual understanding, respect, and open communication is a critical part of any social interaction, D&D included.
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
As several people here touched on, player expectations and their ideas of fun matter; I expect to finish the story as a family activity, with my first-ever DnD character (which I quickly became attached to), and losing him (especially without narrative significance like a heroic sacrifice) is not acceptable to me.
I'll be taking everyone's advice and talking things out with my SIL/DM, relaying my concerns, and looking for a way to get my character resurrected if not outright retconning from death to unconsciousness.
Thank you again!
I’m going to respectfully ask her to overrule her own prior declaration after I share where I’m coming from.
Any good DM worth their salt will listen to this. I have a group of new players and we're running Dragon Heist followed by Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Whenever I'm coming up to an encounter with an opportunity for a character to be instakilled, I always think of an 'out' for it. For example, they know a cleric in the temple of Selune, who knows True Resurrection. (They're going up against intellect devourers soon). Of course there will be a cost.... but the cost doesn't always have to be in gold..... you can think up your own creative ways to get a pc back and to encourage RP within the group...
No, that is your opinion. I know many many good players who would never even consider asking a DM to reconsider anything.
It should be noted, any good DM is going to listen to their players’ concerns. That’s a pretty basic tenant of decent human interaction. Now, whether the DM changes their mind, that’s a different question—a good DM absolutely should listen to any concerns raised by their players, and then has the right to say “no, I won’t do that, and here is why.”
A good player is going to be willing to communicate with their DM about problems—that way the DM has more information that they can choose to apply to how they run their game. That good player needs to also respect that the DM might put different weight on different factors and might not rate the players’ concerns at the same degree of urgency as the player might. The good player also should be able to accept that, after the conversation, they might not get exactly what they want.
Mutual understanding, respect, and open communication is a critical part of any social interaction, D&D included.
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
Let me put this as simply as possible for you:
1.A good DM will welcome and listen to their players’ concerns. That does not mean they will agree with those concerns or change their actions.
2. A good player will listen to their DMs judgments and accept them. To the extent they think the DM is missing information, they will provide that information in a respectful way and will respect the DM’s judgment made in light of the new information.
3. Not telling the DM how a player feels is far more disrespectful than sharing—that is the player saying “huh, I think this might change the outcome, but, rather than give them the information and allow the DM to make a choice, I will deny them agency and information they might want.”
4. Even if the outcome remains the same, this kind of dialogue helps the DM better understand their players, giving them information they can use moving forward. Thus the DM benefits greatly from the fact the player shared their thoughts, even when the DM answers “no, I’m not changing anything.”
5. All of that is a basic hallmark of human communication and obviously can be done in a mutually respectful manner.
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
A concern cannot be voiced before an action is taken to raise the concern. This post seems to convey the message that any player who dares to give voice to their concerns is disrespecting the DM. I cannot imagine a DM mature enough for the chair who cannot handle having their players express concerns or wishes to them in a respectful manner. Do you find it personally disrespectful and offensive when anyone questions you, irrespective of the approach?
Personally, I see it as having fostered an environment of trust and respect when my players voice their concerns and they have. I don't know every rule and I sometimes get things wrong. I believe my games would suffer if my players felt they could not safely give voice to their concerns. It is healthy to be receptive to feedback and even disagreement from your players and I encourage you to give it a try.
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
A concern cannot be voiced before an action is taken to raise the concern. This post seems to convey the message that any player who dares to give voice to their concerns is disrespecting the DM. I cannot imagine a DM mature enough for the chair who cannot handle having their players express concerns or wishes to them in a respectful manner. Do you find it personally disrespectful and offensive when anyone questions you, irrespective of the approach?
Personally, I see it as having fostered an environment of trust and respect when my players voice their concerns and they have. I don't know every rule and I sometimes get things wrong. I believe my games would suffer if my players felt they could not safely give voice to their concerns. It is healthy to be receptive to feedback and even disagreement from your players and I encourage you to give it a try.
A char died per the rules. The player is now asking the DM, who has made a ruling, to reverse that ruling. That is the definition of disrespect.
Asking for the DM to reconsider is not disrespectful, Demanding that the DM reconsiders is is disrespectful.
Exactly. It's important that the players share what's upset them + what they want so the DM can better tailor the campaign to them and ensure no ones stuck at a table that accepts things in the game they hate and vice versa. Though at least attempting compromising before running out of the door and away from the table - or before just clicking "Leave Meeting" on the Zoom call or Discord group lol - in these hypothetical instances is good.
And I'm not talking about the specific situation posted on - which I might get to later - but I'm too tired and lazy and more frenzied for sleep right now than a piranha can be for blood. But, I find it respectful when my players voice concerns and might feel like it's actually a bit disrespectful at times if they do the opposite: I can't keep a game running if the players have countless worries in their head that don't escape the dungeon of their mouth. And it sucks if you think your friends in the group don't feel they can or want to talk to you - the Game Master - about issues in the campaign.
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Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
A concern cannot be voiced before an action is taken to raise the concern. This post seems to convey the message that any player who dares to give voice to their concerns is disrespecting the DM. I cannot imagine a DM mature enough for the chair who cannot handle having their players express concerns or wishes to them in a respectful manner. Do you find it personally disrespectful and offensive when anyone questions you, irrespective of the approach?
Personally, I see it as having fostered an environment of trust and respect when my players voice their concerns and they have. I don't know every rule and I sometimes get things wrong. I believe my games would suffer if my players felt they could not safely give voice to their concerns. It is healthy to be receptive to feedback and even disagreement from your players and I encourage you to give it a try.
A char died per the rules. The player is now asking the DM, who has made a ruling, to reverse that ruling. That is the definition of disrespect.
How is it disrespectful? You are making a pretty grave assumption about the poster in question who is actually reading this thread. I daresay your accusations are more disrespectful than asking a DM for help.
The compact that all players are to follow is that once a DM makes a ruling, that is the end of it. That has ALWAYS been the way. To ask a DM to retcon a death is very disrespectful.
Thankfully, it is not the way so much now. More and more DMs understand that this is a collaborative game, recognize their own fallible nature, and seek to ensure that everyone has fun at the table, including the players. We come from very different schools of thought, clearly, but I am going to ask that you stop insulting people in this thread, including but especially the OP, who is a new player to this game and is therefore vulnerable to being driven off from the game with your accusative comments.
Hi everyone - I still appreciate everyone's input, although sorry that the thread has turned contentious.
Time for an update, but the TL;DR is that DM was more than happy to nerf the bludgeon damage to leave me unconscious.
At the last session, my character being declared dead was literally the last in-game event. My SIL (DM) and brother needed to gather their things and leave our parents' house to catch a flight home. There was no time to emotionally process or try to work out anything. (Ironically, I was the one to point out that the damage was enough to insta-kill me, since I had light knowledge of rules going in. Insta-deaths had never come up for the DM before, on either side of the table, so she didn't know that rule.)
I just spoke with them this evening, and literally the Plan A offered eagerly by DM was to set my HP to 0, no death. She shared the sentiment that some have given here, that this is a for-fun, one-shot campaign that was meant to be enjoyed to the fullest by three first-time players. She was dissatisfied even at the time with the damage she was tasked with rolling (TBH, I still cannot believe a low-level campaign's trap could give 12d10 damage), as well as finding the text's possible warnings insufficient for the scale of the threat.
(DM's Plan B was having my character's identical (same class and all) twin brother stumble in after searching for my char's last known whereabouts, then join the party. Plan C was coming back as a literal ghost.)
So all is well! I can't say those couple days after "the incident" felt great, but I guess I'm mentally prepared to lose a char when it actually does happen. And I'll definitely encourage the party to look for traps better!
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
A concern cannot be voiced before an action is taken to raise the concern. This post seems to convey the message that any player who dares to give voice to their concerns is disrespecting the DM. I cannot imagine a DM mature enough for the chair who cannot handle having their players express concerns or wishes to them in a respectful manner. Do you find it personally disrespectful and offensive when anyone questions you, irrespective of the approach?
Personally, I see it as having fostered an environment of trust and respect when my players voice their concerns and they have. I don't know every rule and I sometimes get things wrong. I believe my games would suffer if my players felt they could not safely give voice to their concerns. It is healthy to be receptive to feedback and even disagreement from your players and I encourage you to give it a try.
A char died per the rules. The player is now asking the DM, who has made a ruling, to reverse that ruling. That is the definition of disrespect.
How is it disrespectful? You are making a pretty grave assumption about the poster in question who is actually reading this thread. I daresay your accusations are more disrespectful than asking a DM for help.
The compact that all players are to follow is that once a DM makes a ruling, that is the end of it. That has ALWAYS been the way. To ask a DM to retcon a death is very disrespectful.
this is, again, incorrect and both deceptive and disingenuous.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Hi everyone - I still appreciate everyone's input, although sorry that the thread has turned contentious.
Time for an update, but the TL;DR is that DM was more than happy to nerf the bludgeon damage to leave me unconscious.
At the last session, my character being declared dead was literally the last in-game event. My SIL (DM) and brother needed to gather their things and leave our parents' house to catch a flight home. There was no time to emotionally process or try to work out anything. (Ironically, I was the one to point out that the damage was enough to insta-kill me, since I had light knowledge of rules going in. Insta-deaths had never come up for the DM before, on either side of the table, so she didn't know that rule.)
I just spoke with them this evening, and literally the Plan A offered eagerly by DM was to set my HP to 0, no death. She shared the sentiment that some have given here, that this is a for-fun, one-shot campaign that was meant to be enjoyed to the fullest by three first-time players. She was dissatisfied even at the time with the damage she was tasked with rolling (TBH, I still cannot believe a low-level campaign's trap could give 12d10 damage), as well as finding the text's possible warnings insufficient for the scale of the threat.
(DM's Plan B was having my character's identical (same class and all) twin brother stumble in after searching for my char's last known whereabouts, then join the party. Plan C was coming back as a literal ghost.)
So all is well! I can't say those couple days after "the incident" felt great, but I guess I'm mentally prepared to lose a char when it actually does happen. And I'll definitely encourage the party to look for traps better!
Thank you all again!
outstanding 😀
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
A good session 0 would solve this and so many issues posted in this forum. Not every table is right for every player/DM.
How would Session 0 have solved this? As a DM, I would've never anticipated this situation. As a player, I understand that I didn't calculate my HP just for fun.
Yeah. With relatively inexperienced players and (I believe) DM, using a canned adventure, it's easy that nobody would think of the problem of "way out of scale surprise damage".
They did the right thing, and stepped back out of the game and sorted it out. There's no lasting harm, except to JustAFarmer's sense of propriety.
Well a good session 0, should be about, among other things, how to deal with issues like this when they inevitably come up. This was not a problem about the death of a PC it was a problem of how to deal with a PC death that the player was not okay with. The group or this player in the group had no clear way to deal with the problem, evidenced by this threads existence, so they came here and asked for solutions which came aplenty. Ultimately the OP had a conversation with their DM and it was sorted out, color me surprised. A good session 0 would address not every single issue that may arise, but a clear way to deal with any issues when they arise. Going outside the group for help to solve a table problem is not a bad thing, but it shouldn't be the first thing.
Well a good session 0, should be about, among other things, how to deal with issues like this when they inevitably come up. This was not a problem about the death of a PC it was a problem of how to deal with a PC death that the player was not okay with. The group or this player in the group had no clear way to deal with the problem, evidenced by this threads existence, so they came here and asked for solutions which came aplenty. Ultimately the OP had a conversation with their DM and it was sorted out, color me surprised. A good session 0 would address not every single issue that may arise, but a clear way to deal with any issues when they arise. Going outside the group for help to solve a table problem is not a bad thing, but it shouldn't be the first thing.
Session zeros are of questionable merit with new players - and often do more harm than good. A new player does not know what they want out of the game; they cannot know things like “how hard will I take character death?” before they game has even started, since they have no context of how attached they might get to a character they are playing.
The most major risk of a session zero is the risk of getting the compact wrong, then having players who use the shaky foundation of a session zero to justify inflexibility. Folks realise they have different views on certain situations (like death) once that situation actually manifests, and their new, more informed opinions are dismissed as “too bad, you didn’t bring it up in session zero.”
Here OP is both in a group that should be able to address problems as they arise given that they are already have pre-existing social relationships (and as evidenced by the fact OP and their DM did, in fact, work things out without any blowups). That is the exact situation where you do not need a session zero—especially not a session zero built on the shaky foundation of new players guessing at things they have no experience with which to base their guesses on.
Ultimately the OP had a conversation with their DM and it was sorted out, color me surprised. A good session 0 would address not every single issue that may arise, but a clear way to deal with any issues when they arise. Going outside the group for help to solve a table problem is not a bad thing, but it shouldn't be the first thing.
It's easier to solve problems within games where family and friends are involved, and OP did state he was playing his sister-in-law (the DM), and the players were their brothers, and partner. Had this been a group of strangers the outcome probably would have been this player just quitting or finding another table.
I'm more surprised that they came to the forum with this post instead of going to their family first. I understand coming here for clarification if you have problems in a game with strangers, but when it's a home game with family it seems strange to go and ask strangers on the internet whether one of them is cheating, even to go as far as having someone check the module to see if their sister in-law ran it right. But, at least everything turned out for the best.
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It should be noted, any good DM is going to listen to their players’ concerns. That’s a pretty basic tenant of decent human interaction. Now, whether the DM changes their mind, that’s a different question—a good DM absolutely should listen to any concerns raised by their players, and then has the right to say “no, I won’t do that, and here is why.”
A good player is going to be willing to communicate with their DM about problems—that way the DM has more information that they can choose to apply to how they run their game. That good player needs to also respect that the DM might put different weight on different factors and might not rate the players’ concerns at the same degree of urgency as the player might. The good player also should be able to accept that, after the conversation, they might not get exactly what they want.
Mutual understanding, respect, and open communication is a critical part of any social interaction, D&D included.
Exactly!
Seems to me that this is part about mutual understanding and respect is a one way street. If a DM makes a ruling, you seem to think it is fine to disrespect the DM and ask them to reverse that ruling.
Let me put this as simply as possible for you:
1.A good DM will welcome and listen to their players’ concerns. That does not mean they will agree with those concerns or change their actions.
2. A good player will listen to their DMs judgments and accept them. To the extent they think the DM is missing information, they will provide that information in a respectful way and will respect the DM’s judgment made in light of the new information.
3. Not telling the DM how a player feels is far more disrespectful than sharing—that is the player saying “huh, I think this might change the outcome, but, rather than give them the information and allow the DM to make a choice, I will deny them agency and information they might want.”
4. Even if the outcome remains the same, this kind of dialogue helps the DM better understand their players, giving them information they can use moving forward. Thus the DM benefits greatly from the fact the player shared their thoughts, even when the DM answers “no, I’m not changing anything.”
5. All of that is a basic hallmark of human communication and obviously can be done in a mutually respectful manner.
A concern cannot be voiced before an action is taken to raise the concern. This post seems to convey the message that any player who dares to give voice to their concerns is disrespecting the DM. I cannot imagine a DM mature enough for the chair who cannot handle having their players express concerns or wishes to them in a respectful manner. Do you find it personally disrespectful and offensive when anyone questions you, irrespective of the approach?
Personally, I see it as having fostered an environment of trust and respect when my players voice their concerns and they have. I don't know every rule and I sometimes get things wrong. I believe my games would suffer if my players felt they could not safely give voice to their concerns. It is healthy to be receptive to feedback and even disagreement from your players and I encourage you to give it a try.
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A char died per the rules. The player is now asking the DM, who has made a ruling, to reverse that ruling. That is the definition of disrespect.
Asking for the DM to reconsider is not disrespectful, Demanding that the DM reconsiders is is disrespectful.
Exactly. It's important that the players share what's upset them + what they want so the DM can better tailor the campaign to them and ensure no ones stuck at a table that accepts things in the game they hate and vice versa. Though at least attempting compromising before running out of the door and away from the table - or before just clicking "Leave Meeting" on the Zoom call or Discord group lol - in these hypothetical instances is good.
And I'm not talking about the specific situation posted on - which I might get to later - but I'm too tired and lazy and more frenzied for sleep right now than a piranha can be for blood. But, I find it respectful when my players voice concerns and might feel like it's actually a bit disrespectful at times if they do the opposite: I can't keep a game running if the players have countless worries in their head that don't escape the dungeon of their mouth. And it sucks if you think your friends in the group don't feel they can or want to talk to you - the Game Master - about issues in the campaign.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
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HERE.The above is incorrect.
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.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
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How is it disrespectful? You are making a pretty grave assumption about the poster in question who is actually reading this thread. I daresay your accusations are more disrespectful than asking a DM for help.
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Thankfully, it is not the way so much now. More and more DMs understand that this is a collaborative game, recognize their own fallible nature, and seek to ensure that everyone has fun at the table, including the players. We come from very different schools of thought, clearly, but I am going to ask that you stop insulting people in this thread, including but especially the OP, who is a new player to this game and is therefore vulnerable to being driven off from the game with your accusative comments.
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Hi everyone - I still appreciate everyone's input, although sorry that the thread has turned contentious.
Time for an update, but the TL;DR is that DM was more than happy to nerf the bludgeon damage to leave me unconscious.
At the last session, my character being declared dead was literally the last in-game event. My SIL (DM) and brother needed to gather their things and leave our parents' house to catch a flight home. There was no time to emotionally process or try to work out anything. (Ironically, I was the one to point out that the damage was enough to insta-kill me, since I had light knowledge of rules going in. Insta-deaths had never come up for the DM before, on either side of the table, so she didn't know that rule.)
I just spoke with them this evening, and literally the Plan A offered eagerly by DM was to set my HP to 0, no death. She shared the sentiment that some have given here, that this is a for-fun, one-shot campaign that was meant to be enjoyed to the fullest by three first-time players. She was dissatisfied even at the time with the damage she was tasked with rolling (TBH, I still cannot believe a low-level campaign's trap could give 12d10 damage), as well as finding the text's possible warnings insufficient for the scale of the threat.
(DM's Plan B was having my character's identical (same class and all) twin brother stumble in after searching for my char's last known whereabouts, then join the party. Plan C was coming back as a literal ghost.)
So all is well! I can't say those couple days after "the incident" felt great, but I guess I'm mentally prepared to lose a char when it actually does happen. And I'll definitely encourage the party to look for traps better!
Thank you all again!
this is, again, incorrect and both deceptive and disingenuous.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
outstanding 😀
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
A good session 0 would solve this and so many issues posted in this forum. Not every table is right for every player/DM.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Yeah. With relatively inexperienced players and (I believe) DM, using a canned adventure, it's easy that nobody would think of the problem of "way out of scale surprise damage".
They did the right thing, and stepped back out of the game and sorted it out. There's no lasting harm, except to JustAFarmer's sense of propriety.
Well a good session 0, should be about, among other things, how to deal with issues like this when they inevitably come up. This was not a problem about the death of a PC it was a problem of how to deal with a PC death that the player was not okay with. The group or this player in the group had no clear way to deal with the problem, evidenced by this threads existence, so they came here and asked for solutions which came aplenty. Ultimately the OP had a conversation with their DM and it was sorted out, color me surprised. A good session 0 would address not every single issue that may arise, but a clear way to deal with any issues when they arise. Going outside the group for help to solve a table problem is not a bad thing, but it shouldn't be the first thing.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Session zeros are of questionable merit with new players - and often do more harm than good. A new player does not know what they want out of the game; they cannot know things like “how hard will I take character death?” before they game has even started, since they have no context of how attached they might get to a character they are playing.
The most major risk of a session zero is the risk of getting the compact wrong, then having players who use the shaky foundation of a session zero to justify inflexibility. Folks realise they have different views on certain situations (like death) once that situation actually manifests, and their new, more informed opinions are dismissed as “too bad, you didn’t bring it up in session zero.”
Here OP is both in a group that should be able to address problems as they arise given that they are already have pre-existing social relationships (and as evidenced by the fact OP and their DM did, in fact, work things out without any blowups). That is the exact situation where you do not need a session zero—especially not a session zero built on the shaky foundation of new players guessing at things they have no experience with which to base their guesses on.
It's easier to solve problems within games where family and friends are involved, and OP did state he was playing his sister-in-law (the DM), and the players were their brothers, and partner. Had this been a group of strangers the outcome probably would have been this player just quitting or finding another table.
I'm more surprised that they came to the forum with this post instead of going to their family first. I understand coming here for clarification if you have problems in a game with strangers, but when it's a home game with family it seems strange to go and ask strangers on the internet whether one of them is cheating, even to go as far as having someone check the module to see if their sister in-law ran it right. But, at least everything turned out for the best.