All Failures are Not Catastrophic

The occasional adventure to save the world from immediate, irrevocable, and utter destruction is fine, but not every situation high-level PCs find themselves in should be an all-or-nothing proposition. After all, what happens to your campaign world—the one you put all that work into—if they fail?

The PCs have earned a little resiliency; if they fail in a task but manage to survive the attempt, allow the world to change for the worse, just a little, and then allow the party another chance to set things right. For example, if the player characters cannot stop an assassination attempt against an important NPC, such as a king or high priest, there should be a general cry of dismay among the people loyal to the slain individual. A dead king might also cause a valuable military alliance to break down, and the passing of the high priest could bring about a deity’s wrath.

Use failure to create additional opportunities for adventure as the PCs scramble to limit the damage.

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