Big Damn Heroes

{{page |text= The premise is simple: Player characters don’t die. The party is the centerpiece of the story, the persistent window through which players see and affect the GMs setting. They get top billing in the flashy opening and they pretty much always stick around until the credits roll. They also get their asses kicked occasionally just to show why real victory is so sweet.

Here’s the Deal
The execution of this social contract is a bit more complex than ‘do whatever you want, because you’re safe from all harm’. The Game Master promises not to kill the player characters, but he won’t stop them from killing themselves. Situations prompted by the GM can lead to a character’s defeat, but never death. If a sudden wind or slap of a wyverns tail sends a player off the side of a dizzyingly high and narrow mountainside trail, that character always end up hanging from the ledge by their fingertips or snagged in the branches of a lonely tree part way down — perhaps defeated and out of play, but still alive. Players still have the power to commit suicide — if the player chooses to jump off into that chasm, he’s done. Whenever a player announces their intention to take an action that will categorically result in their death, the GM must spell out in no uncertain terms that’s a ‘fatal decision’. After that its on the player’s head. The GM has a fair bit of latitude in determining what constitutes a fatal decision — maybe more than players are used to. If he says “going into the dragon’s cave armed and skilled as you are now is certain death” he’s not kidding. If players choose to go anyway, that’s the end of them - no combat scene required, just a few gouts of flame, some screaming, and off to roll up new characters. There is a subtle but critical distinction between saying that and saying “going into the dragon’s cave armed and skilled as you are now is almost certain doom.” That’s the signpost that you can go, but don’t look shocked if you wind up getting pounded, and pounded badly. The safety net is to keep players from getting killed, not to prevent them from running headlong into the wrong end of a level-inappropriate encounter. Not sure if your GM is telling you you're about to make a fatal decision? Ask them. Its not a trick question. It's the GMs responsiblity to make the the prospect of fatal decisions clear moreso than to entertain by couching them in flowery language.

Defeated, not Dead?

 * See Also: Desperation & Fervor

When a special character is reduced to 0 wounds, or a standard NPC fails a damage save, they are Defeated. So what is defeat (the game term), and why is it maybe worse than death? Defeated is a condition that takes the place of death for most negative outcomes. For standard NPCs it's a catch all for beaten into submission or possibly dead, depending on the attacker’s mood. For Special NPCs it's beaten badly enough they can no longer press the fight. For Player characters it's the point were you are out of the story... for a while. The reason it may be worse than death is NPCs, particularly friendly NPCs, don’t share in this protection. If the entire party is defeated it's a wipe and bad things happen — villains advance their schemes unopposed, critical allies get killed, current party goals may become unachievable, and best (or worst) of all the players have to live with the consequences. Them’s the breaks of immortality.

Rallying
After being defeated, players can return to active play three ways.

Battlefield Rally

 * Spells or character abilities may offer a battlefield rally. This returns the character to play immediately. The wounds and vitality restored is described with each option. Battlefield rallies frequently reduce the rallied character’s maximum vitality until the end of the scene.

Regroup

 * Once all non-defeated members of the player party are out of combat and any dangerous environments they may rally the other players and any surviving NPCs. Special Characters rally with their maximum vitality reduced to one-half until the end of the current scene (rounded up). They recover 1d6 wounds and their maximum (adjusted) vitality. If the party wipes, the GM may choose to allow the players to regroup in place, where they can directly experience the consequences of their defeat with play typically resuming 1 hour after any surviving hostile characters have withdrawn.

Fall Back!

 * When all of the Player characters and their allies have been defeated the party is forced to fall back. One way players can prepare for setbacks is to select a rally point by unanimous decision. Rally points fall into 3 categories: secure locations (such as a friendly town or pre-prepared safehouse), their present location if they are not directly under threat (such as the party’s current campsite), or a proposed location within 1 day’s travel for the slowest player character that is unlikely to be under direct threat.

These three categories primarily affect the number of action dice the GM must spend to torment the players should they suffer a wipe and be forced to fall back. Undefeated Players may (by unanimous decision) choose to conceed a combat to the enemy, retreating to the rally point prior to a party wipe. Play resumes after a reasonable amount of time has passed to allow characters to singly or in small groups groups slink off back to the rally point. If the Players have not agreed upon a rally point prior to wiping the GM chooses one for them, with the modifiers for meddling with their rally as for proposed locations.

New Conditions
Defeated: You may not take actions except to speak (with GM approval). If you are a special character you may take a 5 foot step each round if there are no enemies adjacent to you. You do not contribute to flanking or block movement through or around your space. Other characters within 1 size category of you may not end their movement in you space. This condition ends when you rally.

Fantasy Craft
Guts Things are lookin’ bad? Time to man-up. Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus with Push Limit checks and suffer only half of the penalties-per-grade of fatigued and shaken.

The Extra Mile You go to extreme lengths to make sure everyone comes back alive. Prerequisites: 1+ ranks of Medicine. Benefit: You gain +4 threat ranged when making a stabilize checks to rally a defeated character (see page XX). Once per adventure, if you are not captured when the party wipes you can prevent the capture of one character of your choice.

New Pie
Guts Things are lookin’ bad? Time to man-up. Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus with Push Limit checks and suffer only half of the penalties-per-grade of exhausted and shaken.

The Extra Mile You go to extreme lengths to make sure everyone comes back alive. Prerequisites: 1+ ranks of Profession, Medicine field Benefit: You gain +4 threat ranged when making a stabilize checks to rally a defeated character (see page XX). Once per adventure, if you are not captured when the party wipes you can prevent the capture of one character of your choice.

Interfering with Rallying
GMs may spend Action Dice to make life interesting for their players. If the players have selected a secure location to rally at the total number of dice required is increased by 1. If they have selected a proposed location to rally at it is reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 1).

1 die

 * Party-wide brief delays
 * Party-wide harrowing trek (3 soul drain saves per character)
 * Party-wide minor losses (-1 prudence until beginign of next adventure)

2 dice

 * Long delays
 * Major losses (3 low value gear destroyed)

4 dice

 * Crushing losses (1 high value gear destroyed)

1 die per character

 * Injury (roll 3d20+15 on the Table of Ouch)
 * The character is captured by their opponents.

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