No-Win Scenarios Ruin Games (ESPECIALLY Horror Games)

Generally speaking every RPG you ever play needs to have a victory condition of some kind. A "good ending" if we're thinking about it like a video game, or a choose-your-own-adventure book. An ending where you stop the cult, save the princess, defeat the dragon, or whatever other scenario you happen to be faced with. There is a mistake a lot of Game Masters make when they settle in behind the screen, though. Sometimes they make this decision out of a genuine attempt to tell a compelling story with an impactful ending, and sometimes they make it out of spite, or pettiness, but it remains a mistake nevertheless.

It is, in short, putting the players in a no-win scenario... because that's not fun for anyone.

You need some light at the end of the tunnel. Trust me.

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If They Can't Win, Why Are They Playing?

For folks who don't know my history, and who aren't regular readers, I've been playing and designing RPGs for a while. And while I've made content for fantasy games like DND 5E with modules like The Curse of Sapphire Lake and Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh, I've also put together a lot of content for World and Chronicles of Darkness games to help storytellers really bring out the flavor of their settings. Some of my more popular supplements there include Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries (for Werewolf: The Apocalypse players), 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on SchreckNet (for the Vampire: The Masquerade lovers), and 100 Strange Sights to See in The Hedge (for all the Changeling: The Lost enthusiasts).

I mention my bona fides because, while this advice doesn't pertain solely to horror games, it is the genre where it shows up most often as a justification.

Trust me, bleakness impresses no one.

So what are we talking about, here? In short, we're talking about games where things don't just feel hopeless, but where they are hopeless. Games where no matter how well the PCs roll, how clever their plans are, or how hard they try there is no scenario where they can hope to really win. They are going to fail to achieve their goals, and most likely die in the process. You've already written the ending, and nothing that transpires is going to change it.

Some folks reading this are likely confused right now, so I will state it clearly. Hopelessness is bad for any RPG, but it is toxic to a horror game. Because if you have no hope of winning, if there is no chance you could do anything to come out ahead, then the horror loses all meaning. The darkness only has weight if you're trying to stop it from claiming the light. If it's all darkness no matter what, it will drown any enthusiasm your players have in relatively short order.

Happily For Now Vs. The Ever-Present Threat

About a decade or so ago I was just getting started in my career as an author, and one of the only clients who'd work with me without a publishing history were smaller romance houses. A lot of them had requirements that stories had either an HEA or HFN ending... Happily Ever After, or Happily For Now. While we all know what the former means, the latter meant that while there might be storm clouds on the horizon and issues left unsettled, the couple had overcome adversity and had found their way into each other's arms for the time being.

For RPGs (and particularly for horror RPGs) we can use the same framing. VEA or VFN... victorious ever after, or victorious for now.

We won... but at what cost?

This ties into the Ever-Present Threat that is part of so many RPGs, but particularly those in the horror genre. Whether it's the Wyrm in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the True Fae in Changeling: The Lost, or the Great Old Ones in Call of Cthulhu, these games often have antagonists who can't be decisively beaten. You can't just shoot them in the head, stab them in the heart, or recite an ancient spell to slay them... these threats are amorphous. They are beyond the ken of mortals. They often pre-date mankind, and will continue to exist long after its demise. They are perils the likes of which the heroes, whatever their powers, cannot hope to ever destroy.

But that doesn't mean those heroes should be denied their smaller victories. That they cannot carry the battle today, even if that does not win the war. That is key to making this whole story work.

Take Call of Cthulhu for example. The players cannot kill Cthulhu. They cannot snuff out Yog-Sothoth. The idea they could even wound a creature like Nyarlathotep is unthinkable. But that shouldn't be the definition of victory in those cases. Because there are things the players can do, and that will make a difference for the time being. They can stop the ritual meant to take place during the planetary alignment, for example, rescuing sacrifices and ensuring an enemy cult has to wait another 85 years to try again. They can kill a wizard who's been stealing bodies to try to become immortal, ending his spree of murders. They can ferret out agents of the Mi-Go and either destroy them, or drive them off. They can ensure that dangerous artifacts are placed somewhere safe, or that deadly grimoires are burned to ashes so no one can learn the dread knowledge within them.

Players can achieve lowercase "w" wins in these games. Not only can they, they should achieve them in order to keep their spirits up. To keep them ready for the next challenge, and interested in the next session, the next mystery, etc. Because while there will always be another monster in the dark corners of the earth, or another dark cult trying to renew an ancient pact, there should be things they can achieve. Things that will allow them to be victorious for now... but tomorrow there will always be something else.

You Need Light To Make Dark Shadows

Have you ever been in a game where you had to deal with an NPC who was just all around unpleasant? A nasty person who had no redeeming qualities, and who you would gladly kick down a flight of stairs if you could get away with it? Imagine that NPC being bitten in half by a dragon, and the Game Master expecting the party to be sad about it. It just doesn't work, because that's not the emotional tie that was created. In order for that death to be meaningful and impactful that NPC would have to be friends with the PCs. They would have to feel protective of them at best, and to actually like them at the very least.

The same thing happens when it comes to the balance of hope and grimness. Because if players experience nothing but frustration, with victory always being snatched out of their grasp, that's going to kick sand onto the fire of their enthusiasm. You need to feed that fire with little victories, and to show them that they can win. Because the potential to fail only means something if it isn't the default state... if you had a legitimate chance to grasp victory, but you failed.

More GM Advice

If you liked this and you want to see more, check these out:

- 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master: Pretty much what it says on the tin. This supplement collects some of the best GM tips and tricks off this blog and presents them in a simple, easy-to-utilize fashion... useful for any game!

- Why Game Masters Should Understand Dread, Terror, and Horror: Speaking of running better horror games, this post was surprisingly popular. It illustrates the kind of specific language that can make a horror game more enjoyable, and examines various concepts from different angles.

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What Are Your Victory Conditions?

When you sit in the DM chair there are all kinds of problems that you have to deal with. You've got to decide how many orc raiders is too many to throw at a second level party, you have to balance the machinations of the scheming duke and his secret necromantic rituals, and you need to make sure the swag you're giving to your players won't be enough for them to just one-shot every threat they come across. You need to maintain the lives of the NPCs in town, you have to check your players' math, and a thousand other little things.

However, if you notice that your encounters are starting to feel a bit samey, there's one thing you should try; alter your victory conditions.

Ummm... they're running away... did we win?

What Are Your Victory Conditions?

The party comes upon a dark ritual, and they know if the cultists are allowed to complete it, that it will release a powerful fiend whose been bound for millennia. However, before you ask them to roll initiative, it's important to make sure you've made it clear what the goal is. Is it to stop the ritual from happening? Is it to slay the leader, whose bloodline is required to turn the key in the fiend's lock? Is it to free the sacrifices? To destroy the tome where the ritual is recorded? Or is it to just crash in and keep hitting things until there are no more things left to hit?

As I mentioned back in 3 Ways To Spice Up Combat in RPGs, one of the biggest reasons players get bored with what should be some of the most exciting parts of the campaign is that it turns into a game of burly bastard back and forth. You run up to the bad guy and start kicking their shins, they kick your shins on their turn, and you continue kicking until someone falls over.

Even if you started the fight with some really big boots (in the form of a big magic sword, or tricked-out metamagic spell), that's going to get boring if it's the only thing you do.

Shamblers? Sigh... right, called shot to the head...

One way to avoid this shin-kicking is to give your players a different set of victory conditions other than, "kill everything in the room, and loot the bodies."

What should those victory conditions be? Well, that depends entirely on your game, your players, and what they're trying to accomplish. For example, are they escorting a diplomat? If that's the case then they'd likely want to avoid fighting bandits, wandering monsters, etc. This could turn fights into running battles, allowing things like stage coach chases, or attempts to foil assassination at important events. That would allow the meat shields to stand by in sunglasses checking IDs for people who want to meet their charge like a pair of medieval bouncers, but it would also give the characters with detect poison an important role in making sure none of the canapes are deadly. The socialites could run interference, looking for people who are suspicious in the crowd, and trying to detect threats before they're found, etc., etc.

It isn't about killing all the bad guys. It's about ensuring your charge lives through the evening.

There are dozens of scenarios you could use. A siege isn't about how many of the enemy you kill; it's about how few of them you allow inside. If you can rescue the hostages without a single weapon being drawn by sneaking inside, well, you still got them out safely. If you are in prison, then the key is escaping, not killing a whole bunch of guards. If there is a reason the town is being raided by a band of orcs, find out if you can resolve the situation through a means other than slaying the whole tribe. Who knows, a peace treaty for mutual protection might be a possibility.

Change the victory conditions, and you'll get your players out of the same old rut they've been stuck in. Guaranteed.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday, even though it's going up on a Tuesday. For more unique gaming content from yours truly, check out my Gamers archive, or take a listen to Dungeon Keeper Radio to hear our skits, DM advice, and world building. If you want to stay up-to-date on all my latest releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to support Improved Initiative, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page and leave a little love in my cup. All it takes is $1 a month to get some sweet swag from yours truly as a thank you.