Failing better

Analyzing how bad rolls can reveal character instead of forcing us to roll up a new one.

Dice are pitiless gods who care naught for the wants and woes of our characters. That’s our job as players. We interpret meaning from the dice as soothsayers casting stones in the shadow of menhirs. We also just want to keep playing a game even after a critical DEX save against flaming death fails critically.

Sometimes characters fail and there’s just no sensible way to avoid killing them off. That kind of gravity is thrilling for me as a player. I like knowing my decisions have consequences.

The gods were no less merciless in my solo Cairn campaign. Especially in Chapter 5, critical failures had critical consequences — so many, that I started to think more deeply about what a critical failure means in an RPG.

The character’s goal isn’t to avoid death — that’s my goal for them, so I can keep playing.

The character’s goal is to keep fighting. They have to overcome, to survive, to fight again so they can achieve their own goal. Vengeance. Glory. Riches — whatever they’re fighting to achieve.

If a critical failure can reveal my character more, why make my gaming less?

And that’s how I’m starting to conceptualize critical failures. They may mean death, but they can also mean the character’s goals are delayed or denied. They’re not only missing a STR check, but missing it in a way that’s diametrical to their goals. What happens next — how this critical failure changes them — is where they reveal their true character and their real heroism.

I’ve noted some broad explorations below along with some famous examples. Some of these, I find, overlap and even build on one another. Those characters who suffer physical trauma are often affected emotionally; some are grieving and externalize their grief…violently.

And that makes them fail better.

Strength & Dexterity

Something breaks, snaps, or rips — permanently. Magic might help, but they must find a way to overcome their own body now. The new paradigm reminds the hero they are only mortal. Cut off a finger, crack a skull — close an eye to open their mind.

• Famous failures: Jezal dan Luthar, Gandalf the Grey, Arya Stark, Furiosa

Constitution & Charisma

Their inner fire is quenched, their outward persona ruptured. Shadow, sickness, or stigma have transformed their core being into something new, and those around them will never let them forget what they’ve become or what they’ve lost.

• Famous failures: Sand dan Glokta, Gollum, Daenerys Targaryen, Moiraine Damodred

Wisdom & Intelligence

They’ve seen too much and now must accept something antithetical to their worldview. Maybe it’s about their own humanity; maybe it’s about the black between the stars, but they can’t unsee what’s looking back from the other side of the abyss. PTSD and phobias develop, countered with superstitions and self-medication.

• Famous failures: Logen “Ninefingers,” Frodo Baggins, Sansa Stark, Scarlett Witch

This doesn’t mean my characters have plot armor now. Bad decisions will result in deadly consequences.

It does mean, though, that bad decisions might result in more compelling consequences. And that my characters might become heroes instead of haints.