How to avoid killing your player characters as GM

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by hal

Is it in the rules that a living tree will stop 26 hit points?

This is one of those things I don't bother checking rules over (unless I really desire gritty consistency for some reason), but would simply rule "it does". Unless it's a game where shooting through things was supposed to be viable and encouraged... but I tend towards highly cinematic Action! so even couches are proof versus small arms (yes holes will get 'blown through" dramatically to represent it's a bad place to hide from firearms, but the PCs can get a turn or three of cover out of most household furniture in my games).

For all others who want to chime in - how do YOU keep your player characters alive in a modern or future campaign?

I don't know. Honestly I suspect I've had a lot of luck, but I also tend to tune encounters to the "needs of the scene" on the fly. I don't fudge rolls, I roll in the open, but as Outlaw mentions; if I had an encounter setup at one "power level" and the PCs do something to shift the power balance on their side for the weaker, I'll tone it down as it enfolds. Skills on NPCs might drop, weapons might be scaled back, HPs reduced, or even rules of engagement shifted (from "Kill On Sight" to "Capture" or even "Drive Off") as suits the needs of the outcome I'm halfway aiming for. I say halfway, because no scene survives contact with the PCs so I never really bother to 'script the endings'. Like I'll have an idea of where it could/should go, but Players will be Players and dice will fall as they may.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

A non-trivial component of this is players keeping themselves from getting killed. They build characters who can figure out the battlefield and use conditions to their advantage with skills like Tactics, Observation, and Stealth.

I wish that were always the case. I've had Players deliberately design absolutely combat useless PCs in a game where combat was going to see scene time on the regular. Usually it was with the understanding of the other Players that "I'm hyper-focused in this non-combat niche, you guys cover the combat", and I always have one or two gung-ho combat spotlight hogs, so it usually works out.

How do I handle said PC when they fall into the meat grinder as they always do? Intelligent enemies usually aim to capture, not kill non-dangerous PCs (and other NPCs). Otherwise I just try to let the PCs handle themselves and sometimes, well, sometimes the dice have the non-combatant PC fall. Usually unconscious, sometimes maimed and dying. But I try to steer the absolute 'bastard' enemies (Bloodlust, Eats Downed Foes, etc) into the scrum and try to have them avoid mixing it up with a non-combat PC. Which usually works as most non-combat types aim to be 'less dangerous and threatening looking' which usually steers that sort of danger away from them.

Lights, camera: ...cinematic options. Most players...well, a lot of players...OK, people like me don't really want realistic games. We want action-adventure-movie games. So cinematic options in the rules are generally on the table.

Yup, I roll with Impulse Points, Mooks, B.A.D., high powered PCs (200+ points), the works. I roll with deadly weapons, but having the above means the PCs almost always have options to mitigate the danger to themselves if things really go sideways on them.

But even with all that on, sometimes a PC dies. It happens, they make a new Character and we move on. Learning to lose a Character gracefully is a skill I think all Players should master.

Originally Posted by Witchking

Who the heck wants to have a fair fight?

Beware Vows and Codes of Honor. This can force the PCs into situations highly unfavorable to themselves, be prepared for this.

Originally Posted by Outlaw

Players will always find a way to be stupid no matter how much you try to prevent it.

I prefer to think of this as "Players are never as properly informed as their Characters and will often make rash choices".

Not Properly Informed? Outside of combat with the Player's gods eye omniscient moment to moment view of a battle map, most PCs roll into a situation lacking an awful lot of info. And if you do 'theatre of the mind' for combat, they don't even have that 'god's eye view' or 'omniscience' because I've never met a GM who could completely describe things as well as a battle map can. So think about that the next time you start a social scene, you aren't providing a 'battle map' to cover the 'thousand words' that a picture can bring. So consider this when it looks like your Players are making some ludicrously simple and obvious (to you) mistake; they simply do not know everything you do. Maybe rectify that? Toss them a few Skill (Savoir Faire, Streetwise, Tactics, Diplomacy, Detect Lies, etc) or Attribute (IQ or Per are usually good) rolls to spot where things are maybe going awry. Or if it looks like they just forgot something that they should have remembered, remind them. If you have no idea why the PCs are taking a hard left into "deliberately ******* off the Mafia Don", pause and ask them. Sometimes they've got a "brilliant" (read dumb) plan and this is the row/hill they wish to hoe/die on. But they'll go into it knowing what they're doing.

And sometimes they really do have a brilliant (read ludicrous) plan that might work. Roll with it.