30s/white/tired/coyote/&
Words are my favorite stim toy
Is it an unspoken rule in ttrpgs that bad things can only happen to players if they are either foreshadowed or permitted by a dice roll outcome?
Maybe it's considered bad form, but it shouldn't be. I think a lot of times there should be at least some reason behind it, from the DM's perspective, but giving players unexpected adversity to overcome or wrangle with is the mark between a good game and a great one.
The Killer DM is something that has faded in popularity but was absolutely something in the past .
Buddy, I have friends whom have had horrible things happen to them without foreshadowing because the GM said so.
with the particulars to be hammered out aloud as soon as possible. what's foreshadowed and what's a permissible outcome varies from player to player
awkwardly shifting around and avoiding eye contact
Well what do you mean by "bad things" exactly
when i wrote this, I was thinking "any consequence or event that works counter to player goals"
I don't think it's always an unspoken rule, it probably depends a lot on the game and play style. A bad thing happening to the players that shifts to focus to "How do you deal with this problem?" can be fun and interesting for everyone depending on personal preference even without foreshadowing or by will of the dice.
👍 If it is dependent on game and play styles, I have to wonder the relationship with a given game and the introduction of those problems.
It's a very interesting question.
Thinking about it a bit more, I think two types of situations I'd consider pretty fair in general, that don't require foreshadowing or dice would be
There is no foreshadowing or chance to avoid some bad thing happening to the player due to the consequences of a choice made by that player about how they were approaching a scene/area.
A predicament introduced where the interesting part is how the players deal with the bad thing that happened to them.
So the short answer is, “Bad things happening to characters by surprise is fine.”
The Long answer is, it depends on a few factors, including the severity of the bad thing, and your session 0 discussions. If a bad thing happening is one that can either be stopped and/or mitigated in some way, you should probably be fine to do the bad thing. (Think things like ending up in a non-instant kill trap, like a room getting flooded). You should also take into consideration session 0 discussions. This goes without saying, but if the bad thing crosses lines or veils for your group, they probably shouldn't happen at all. And mentioning rule 0, you should discuss with your group in session 0 whether you want to have things like insta-kill traps or a more meat grinder-esque game. There are parties that enjoy those kinds of things, you just need to make sure your party is one of them.
