!["Death Face Vector Image" by Vectorportal on Flickr](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5205842067_03f29dcb4b_m.jpg ""Death Face Vector Image" by Vectorportal on Flickr")"Death Face Vector Image" by Vectorportal on Flickr
D&D 4th Edition makes death rare. A player-character can be knocked unconscious, and one can be dying, but actual character death is generally uncommon.
Character death is a big driving force for players, and provides the primary dramatic tension. Death is always scary. For a long time, the possible death of your character (usually via poor Hit Point rolls and good monster Hit Dice rolls) created a lot of the tension in D&D–will the next monster murder my character? Will this boss crush her?
Now that 4E makes death rare, combat is less of a risk than before, and death is no longer a driving force. That means that DMs must now make the overall story more interesting.
The story itself must be dramatically interesting now. DMs can’t rely on possible death for drama.
I wonder if 4E’s designers intended this, or if it was a lucky result of incorporating player feedback that random character death in the middle of a dungeon isn’t fun.
Just thinking.
What Is This?
This site is dedicated to intellectual reviews and analysis of anime, with detours into video games and tabletop RPGs. I also make things, from crafts to Gunpla to 3D printing.
What's Here?
3D PrintingAnime
Drawing
Model Kits
Tabletop RPGs
Video Games
Workshop
Worldbuilding
Panels
Search
Live Shows
Chat
Popular Tags
anime news review Role-playing gundam workshop monsters drawing video games Faction Monsters faction Let's Play an Interesting RPG Uncategorized boogiepop Random Idea 50 Games in 50 Weeks Game Design Hour Pyre Shattered World worldbuilding Tarakona GM Advice basics Prescriptions gunpla gm advice serial experiments lainArchives
- 2024
- 2021
-
2020
- December 2020
-
November 2020
- Digging Deeper into: Megazone 23
- Brent's Anime Rec: Moshidora
- Brent's Anime Rec: Princess Tutu
- Digging Deeper Into: Urusei Yatsura 2
- Is Mecha Dead?
- I Just Love: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
- Digging Deeper Into: Arcadia of my Youth
- 6 Influential But Forgotten Mecha Shows
- Brent's Anime Rec: The Cat Returns
- Digging Deeper Into: Vampire Hunter D
- 5 Classic Harem Anime That Are Actually Interesting
- Digging Deeper Into: Project A-Ko
-
October 2020
- Digging Deeper Into: Castle of Cagliostro
- Digging Deeper Into: Blood The Last Vampire
- Fall Anime Preview 2020
- Brent’s Anime Rec: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
- Digging Deeper: Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968)
- A Brief History of Anime: The 2010s
- A Brief History of Anime: The 2000s
- Digging Deeper Into Akira
- Digging Deeper: Hakujaden
-
September 2020
- Digging Deeper Into: Okko's Inn
- A Brief History of Anime: The 1990s
- Digging Deeper: Momotaro's Sacred Sailors
- Brent's Anime Rec: Kodocha
- A Brief History of Anime: The 1980s
- Digging Deeper into Angel's Egg
- A Brief History of Anime: The 1970s
- Digging Deeper into Metropolis
- A Brief History of Anime: The 1960s
-
August 2020
- A Brief History of Anime: 1900-1959
- Digging Deeper into Pom Poko
- Brent's Anime Rec: K-ON!
- The heartwrenching contrasts of war in "In This Corner of the World"
- Digging Deeper into A Silent Voice - SPOILERS
- How Heavy Are Those Dumbbells You Lift?
- Brent's Anime Recs: Robot Carnival
- Abstract Realism in "Night is Short, Walk on Girl"
- The Anime Aesthetic in Land of Lustrous
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020