by BG05

I like having g the ability for characters to die. I find that if you don’t, people will try all kinds of nonsense without considering the consequences. I tell my kids all the time that it’s about the story, not about preserving their characters.

I just got the Invincible RPG Core Book and Starter Set yesterday. One of my sons has characters in his head and on his phone that he updates from time to time and wants to bring into Invincible. I told him that would be great but that characters WILL die and we won’t be retconing anything.A character death can help push the story forward.

by shiva666

Characters can die like flies if the system setting allows for the player to continue playing without interruption.

by Yugblad

Female option:

by Dutys_Fist

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Taverns of the Old World is exactly what it sounds like: A sourcebook for taverns in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. I picked up this PDF as a part of a deal on WFRP stuff because I was thinking of running a few one-shots of this system.

This is the second tavern source book I've read and reviewed, the first being Paizo's Inner Sea Taverns. This one covers the same ground, but does it a bit differently. I'm not satisfied with either of them, but I think this is the better of the two.

There are two sample taverns that are apparently also featured in Enemy in Shadows.

Contents
Taverns are the typical starting point for RPGs, and especially in a low-fantasy game like WFRP, where traveling is difficult and full of hazard, one might expect to see a lot of taverns, and not just as the stereotypical party meeting point for any campaign.

This a source-book to help the GM make their own taverns. We get a lot of random tables and suggestions to that effect, as well as two sample taverns generated using the rules herein. But the design seems to be to aid the GM in prep rather than at the table mostly.

We start with how to name our taverns. This is 3 pages. The advice contained therein is absolutely awful and should be ignored.

Then we get to a table to describe our tavern and what it's generally like. This is only 1 page, but it is similarly awful and should be ignored.

Then we get 3 pages of tavern "quirks"; interesting things about the tavern - and here things start to be interesting. Most of these aren't good, but if you comb through, there's a few good ideas buried in here.

Next there's a bunch of tables for how much staff, drinks, and food the tavern should have. Frankly, these pages are largely useless. It would be nice maybe to have a sample table with what the price of board, meals and a drink should be, but instead this is spread over paragraph form, with a bunch of words describing each thing and a price, making it annoying to use at a table, and thus ignorable.

There's a few more similarly unhelpful tables about games one might play at a tavern.

That being said, there are 2 good parts to this which are useful. The first is 2 pages filled with statblocks for the tavern staff, which is absolutely sure to come up on the fly, and the other is 3 pages of a random table with guests you might find at the tavern.

This is really the stuff I would probably need to pull up on the fly, and it's very system-specific. That being said, the only differences here are a few points of stats and the skill distribution - I'm not sure how much of difference it would make to pull up a generic NPC statblock instead of these more specific ones.

As for the sample pubs, there mostly generic, and just consist of a set of rolls on the tables provided herein.

Overall Impressions
So, most of this I don't think is useful, but 2 sections I could make use of at the table for some on-the-fly things, so it's not a total waste. That being said, I don't think what's here justifies purchase, and it's not like I'll be printing out the useful pages on the off-chance they come in handy.

But, a few useful and system/setting specific pages is more than I usually get with these sorts of things.

Rating
Salvageable

by dysjunct

An item RPG Item: Hope's Last Day: Starter Set has been added to the geeklist KevinCon 2026

by Yugblad

So, I had a go at re-doing a character sheet so that it better suited a beginner's session of my friends.
I felt the sheets we got are adequate, doubtless made with the desire to create something new - this had the unfortunate side effect of making some aspects difficult to parse in a hurry. Also, not enough space given to write down equipment and trinkets or ape currency you may discover on your adventures. While I've expanded the space given to hero points, I will be using poker chips of some kind.
All this is only my taste, obviously.

I also added an additional wound level: Torn Clothing - which can just be a narrative thing, or can be used as a damage buffer if you find the Ape Planet a bit too deadly.
I may do more tinkering! Any thoughts?

by MABBY

It turns out that our next door neighbour is an artist.
Over the past two days she's been up on a makeshift scaffold putting the finishing touches on her creation:

by Moonlight_Fox

It really depends on the genre and tone of the game for me on how easy PCs should be to be killed, and even if death should be an option as a consequence.

by robbbbbb

Yes, but the difference is that I'm right.

by FNGRaleighNC

by FNGRaleighNC

by AZBarbarian

The cons are more significant than the pros in my opinion. Certainly, character death can be tough for a player as they often pour their heart and soul into their PC. This can be no fun for them; especially an established PC in a long term game. The worst is when death is based on one unlucky role or situation that the PC has no way to avoid. I have had this happen to a high level PC and it either destroyed the fun or resulted in a retcon by the GM.
On the flipside, if there aren't challenges, the game just isn't the same. The potential for death of a PC makes the game more 'real' and gives players more incentive to be careful in their decision making. I know many GMs who believe that characters generally shouldn't die unless the player does something stupid or disrupts the game in some way. For example, a 'murder hobo' is taking their chance.
I like more modern games where mortality is possible, but it isn't sudden. Players have a chance to recover in one way or another and it takes some freakishly bad rolls or a group that simply ignores that a party member is about to perish and refuses to help out.
This is a good area for discussion for GMs and new players in a game to determine the 'social contract' or 'table rules' if they do a session zero or some such thing.