As a storyteller, you want your players to succeed. You want them to experience the full story, defeat the villain, claim the prize, and save innocent lives that would have been lost without their intervention. But if the journey is too easy, players become passive observers rather than active participants. Hardship, adversity, and meaningful choices are essential. Without the real possibility of failure, victory loses its impact.
The moment players realize their actions carry no real consequences, they lose the incentive to think strategically. Instead, they’ll simply charge through the plot in the most straightforward way possible. By ensuring that choices matter and failure is a real possibility, you create a more engaging and rewarding experience.
This raises a few important questions that I will address:
How do I communicate to my players that their actions have consequences?
How can I allow my players to fail in a way that doesn’t just result in a total party kill?
What are alternative win/failure conditions?
1. Communicating Consequences to Players
I use a three-fold approach to ensure players understand that their choices matter:
Establish Expectations in House Rules
I make it clear from the beginning:
“I will kill your character. If you do something foolish or push a no-win situation, your character may die. Running away or surrendering are almost always options.”
This direct statement sets the tone for how I run the game. Players should know that actions have weight, and reckless behavior can lead to real consequences.
Reinforce It During Session Zero
The pre-game discussion, Session Zero, is where I emphasize that consequences go beyond just character death. Player choices affect NPC relationships, party reputation, and the world itself. I make it clear that if they mistreat an NPC, that NPC will remember. If they make enemies, those enemies will react accordingly.
Demonstrate Consequences Early in the Campaign
To drive the point home, I include an early decision where both choices have meaningful consequences. For example:
Option 1: Rush to stop the villain from escaping, preventing future destruction.
Option 2: Stay to protect a vulnerable town from an impending attack.
In most cases, players choose to chase the villain—after all, stopping them for good seems like the “right” decision. But that leaves the town undefended, and they will see the fallout from that choice.
If they choose to defend the town, they will save lives, but the villain remains at large, forcing the townspeople to consider abandoning their homes out of fear.
Either outcome reinforces the idea that their decisions matter. There is no “right” or “wrong” choice—only choices with consequences.
2. Allowing Players to Fail Without a Total Party Kill
Not all failure has to result in death. The most common “win condition” in combat is an all-or-nothing approach—if players don’t defeat all enemies, they die. But survival doesn’t have to be the only objective. Here are a few ways to handle failure more dynamically:
Timed Challenges
Instead of requiring players to eliminate all enemies, they must survive a certain number of rounds while completing a goal—escaping a collapsing dungeon, holding off reinforcements, or fending off a superior force until help arrives.
Failure doesn’t mean death—it could mean capture, losing a valuable ally, or having to retreat with severe injuries.
Moral Dilemmas
Sometimes, “winning” comes at a cost. Players might be able to defeat their enemies, but doing so could result in collateral damage—innocent lives lost, a town burned, or a powerful faction turning against them.
Victory at too high a cost might feel like a loss, forcing players to think beyond just swinging their swords. Sometimes, the best choice is to negotiate, flee, or accept a setback.
Partial Victory
Instead of requiring players to win outright, design encounters where the true objective isn’t just survival. Examples include:
Protecting a VIP – Even if the party loses the fight, if the target escapes safely, they have succeeded.
Retrieving an artifact – Players might fail to defeat the enemy but still secure the objective.
Sabotaging an enemy stronghold – The party may be forced to retreat, but if they complete the sabotage, they’ve still accomplished their goal.
By including these alternative conditions, failure doesn’t always mean death—it means setbacks, new challenges, and evolving stories.
3. Alternative Win/Failure Conditions
Not every challenge should hinge on a single dice roll. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was:
“Never make a player roll for something they must succeed at.”
If the only way out of a room is by picking a locked door, and the rogue fails their roll, what happens? Do you just stop the game? Instead, consider:
Auto-Success with Consequences – The rogue picks the lock, but it takes too long, and guards arrive.
Alternative Solutions – Maybe they can break the door down, find another exit, or bribe someone for a key.
Fail Forward – They open the lock but set off a silent alarm, creating a new challenge.
Failure should move the game forward, not halt progress. The goal is to create an engaging experience where failure is a stepping stone, not a dead end.
Final Thoughts
Success is only meaningful when failure is a possibility. By reinforcing consequences, offering alternative outcomes, and designing challenges that allow for meaningful setbacks, you create a game world that feels alive. Players will think critically about their choices, knowing their actions truly shape the story.
Failure isn’t just about losing—it’s about adapting, learning, and making each victory feel earned.
