Standing Your Ground

This anecdote was from many years ago (mid 1980s). I was a Player, not the DM.

We came to the strong gate of the tall, iron fence surrounding the evil castle’s grounds. As we open the gate, we hear the baying of probably large wolves coming from the forest around us (on the outer side of the fence). We stop. After a minute, we see the large forms of many dire wolves moving through the trees, slowly getting closer. We go into combat mode and ask for initiative.

The DM stops us and asks, “Why don’t you just go through the gate and close it?”

We Players, “. . .”

The DM, exasperated, “The wolves are just atmosphere to get you through the gate. Geez, guys.”

The adventure was the original Ravenloft, and the sounds of the approaching wolves were supposed to drive us on, into the adventure with a heart-pounding beginning. But we were not rushed by the sounds of the wolves in the distance. We were not frightened by the sounds of them getting closer. We were not moved by seeing them coming into sight. We were going to fight. The DM could have added more wolves; to really show that we shouldn’t stand our ground, but that could easily have just turned a atmospheric scene into a killer encounter. We had a way out of the encounter, right there, but we chose to take on a dangerous challenge for no reason.

I’ve seen similar scenarios, with all kinds of DMs (myself included) and all kinds of Players (myself included), through many, many, many years. Unless the Players have several minutes to think about how they are going to approach a living challenge, they almost always chose to fight – even when they have an obvious way out. And I’ve seen total party kills result from such behavior.

It’s a frustrating phenomenon for a DM. Heroes in books and movies often run from, hide from, and avoid unnecessary or dangerous fights. Why do RPG heroes always choose to fight? I don’t have an answer, myself. I just have enough evidence through more than a couple decades experience that this is apparently nothing new, and not rare. I’d love to know the psychology behind this.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com