DM: The ancient black dragon of unfathomable power looms in front of your small puny adventuring party. A sizzle can be heard as a gob of caustic fluid drips from its lips. You see the skulls of hundreds of adventurers MORE POWEFUL THAN YOU lining the walls. What do you do?
Players: We can do this, the city depends on us! I cast fireball!
DM: *facepalm*
Occasionally, it becomes necessary for the main characters to make a strategic retreat. The Dungeon Master (DM) might employ this as a storytelling device, perhaps to introduce a formidable adversary before the characters are truly ready to face them. At times, an overpoweringly strong enemy is meant to serve as an obstacle to be circumvented rather than confronted directly. Alternatively, the characters may simply find themselves outmatched due to a streak of bad luck with the dice. Regrettably, players often respond to these scenarios by stubbornly pressing forward, which can result in a Total Party Kill (TPK). The typical reaction is a collective shrug, accompanied by remarks like “They should have known better” or “They should have just run away.” And yet, time and again, they choose to stand and fight. For DMs, it can be frustrating to witness their players persisting in the face of insurmountable odds or ignoring clear narrative signals suggesting that engagement was the wrong choice from the start. However, the root of the issue does not lie with the game mechanics or the DM’s storytelling capabilities. Instead, it stems from ingrained expectations about the narrative arc of adversity and victory, and the conventional hero tropes that we unconsciously bring to the tabletop roleplaying experience.
Across all forms of story-telling media, the most compelling stories stem from the protagonist’s victory over what appear to be insurmountable odds. In fact, the standard progression of almost every story in existence is for the situation of the protagonist to get progressively worse right up until the climax of the story. This creates the appropriate narrative tension to have the triumph of the protagonist elicit exhilaration for the reader. As tabletop RPGs move progressively towards more narrative collective storytelling, the ubiquity of this narrative flow has a detrimental effect. It means that in the times when the odds seem the worst and the situations are the direst, the players will expect to win, not die.
The real problem is that tabletop roleplaying games are still, at their heart, games. They are distinguished from just roleplay or cooperative story-telling by having a set of rules and deciding outcomes at least partially by luck. In a pure narrative, there is no luck to the outcomes. The story is fully determined by the author. The protagonist was always going to win because the author determined it to be so. The tension is an illusion created in the mind of the reader. In a game where the results are a statistical outcome from randomization tools such as dice, the tension of possible loss comes from actual odds of the players failing.
All is not lost, however! You can still have compelling retreat-likely situations. The key idea is to avoid the climax-like prompts that make players focus on the potential fight. Here are some ideas of methods to help your players understand that fleeing is a viable and preferred route:
Extend the Narrative: Try to make the players aware that the current situation is not the climax. Describe future steps or plot points in a way that makes the current situation feel like only a stepping stone that they must get past. This will direct players’ narrative mindset away from an all-out confrontation and get them thinking about ways to bypass the encounter while conserving resources.
Introduce a Timed Goal: Change the immediate goal of the encounter from defeating the enemy to achieving something else that doesn’t require combat. This is usually only effective if there is a sense of urgency that would cause the players to abandon the idea of fighting.
Moral Dilemma: Illustrate how staying and fighting the enemy may cause public harm or other consequences that will give the players pause and make them question whether a fight is in everyone’s best interest.
Personal Hooks: Use a character’s background or personal goals to create a reason for them to avoid the fight. Maybe they have a history with the enemy that makes them fear for their life, or gives them insight into a reason why a direct confrontation is not a good idea.
NPC Intervention: Without breaking the fourth wall, a DM’s communication menthod with the players are NPCs that the party trusts. Have one of these characters advise the group to avoid the fight, providing information and solid reasoning for doing so. Have them offer the group plausible alternatives or previously mentioned goals, hooks, and dilemmas.
Transparent Mechanics: Temporarily pull back the curtain on the game’s mechanics, sharing more information about the enemy’s stats, challenge ratings, or potential dice rolls required for success. This can help players shift from making this decision from a narrative mindset towards making the decision from a tactical gaming mindset.
Break the Fourth Wall: Temporarily step out of the narrative to directly communicate with the players when things start to go off the rails. A temporary aside that this is just an introduction and not the climax of the story can be an effective means of avoiding disaster. Make it clear that this is not the players’ fault in failing to see the signs, but an different narrative that you are trying out.
Cutscene it: When all else fails, you may opt to have a dramatic storytelling moment rather than playing out an encounter. Be warned that this does remove player agency and may frustrate your players.
Experiment with the strategies mentioned above to introduce great villains and exciting escape sequences in your campaign. However, if your players are still deadset on standing their ground, let them. Sometimes a TPK can add a dramatic twist to your story, creating memorable moments and opportunities for new adventures. The ultimate aim is to ensure an engaging and enjoyable experience for everyone at the table, so whatever direction your narrative takes, embrace it and have fun crafting your shared story.