The other issue you need to deal with is establishing whether the players are exploring this new world, or working to get back to the old one. Everything that's been prepared so far is put on the back-burner while the players deal with their after life. The problem is that you're effectively starting a new campaign from scratch. In this case the DEM is a necessary contrivance to get access to a novel campaign, a price many players are willing to pay. That's how it's supposed to work." Death is Only the BeginningĬontinuing the campaign after the point of death ( as suggested by Sardathrion) can work really well. It'll still feel like DEM, but at least you'll have something in print to say "no, really guys. It doesn't happen often, but it's worth checking on. Sometimes you get very lucky, and the creature in question has a known "out" for overly tough encounters (such as dragging victims back to a cave to be dined on later). Telling the players that you're actively working to save them does nothing more than shine a colossal spotlight on your DEM, making its faults stand out. If you don't think you're going to get a lot of mileage out of admitting your mistake to the group, or if you're dead set on digging yourself out of the problem in a continuous narrative, keep your mouth shut. It also means you have to redesign encounter components that rely on trickery. This erases it from the "story," and puts a more mechanical spin on the "saving." However, some groups are very set against this. If you do, I'd recommend just asking to rewind time and start the encounter over (in a more balanced form). Your first consideration is whether or not to tell the rest of the group what happened. What's needed here is a way to make the DEM grate a bit less on the players. Any sudden deviation from that expected model will be Deus Ex Machina, by definition. The "rules" that are established in most campaigns are that antagonists will press an advantage as long as they have the upper hand, and that characters below zero hit points who are left unattended perish. The first thing to understand is that you can't do this without Deus Ex Machina. Here's some of my observations on it, in case they help. This is an interesting problem, that I've run into a few times but haven't solved yet. When I threw in the Witchfire it was largely off the cuff ("Won't this be cool!") and I underestimated both it's offense, and the party's unpreparedness for incorporeal undead. The next obvious target would be the cleric, but I'm fairly sure attacking him would lead to the demise of the party. The WitchFire quickly downed the fighter and took out one of the sorcerers as well (no one died yet). They kill the minor fey and plants guarding the gate, but I threw in a WitchFire (Pathfinder Bestiary 2, CR9, Incorporeal Undead) disguised as a captured nymph. They decide to help him close the gate because it's a good thing to do. He tells them he was chased away from a gate to the bad part of Thelanis by the fey, and agrees to help them find their way. They were traveling through a forest where they met a Gatekeeper druid (new party member) being chased by some evil fey which they destroy. The party was returning from adventure where they lost one of their members to bad luck and bad tactics. How can I get my players out of a bad situation without leaving a sore spot in the story? What techniques can I use at the table to make this less painful for the GM and the players? Because this was my mistake and not either the players or luck I don't intend to kill the players, but there is no obvious way out, and I'd rather not resort to obvious Divine Intervention or other Deus Ex Machina. We arrived in this situation since I underestimated a monster, and it quickly proved both more powerful and more resilient than I expected to be. I've gotten into a situation in my Pathfinder game where I will certainly kill my entire party (perhaps excepting one or two who can flee quickly) if I let the situation play out.
0 kommentar(er)
