Make a Death Save!​
Dungeons & Dragons has all the time struggled with holding gamers engaged when their characters are knocked unconscious. When a personality is asleep or unconscious (by alternative or misadventure), the participant successfully loses management of their character. In a recreation the place gamers use these treasured rounds to attempt to do one thing, something, having your character incapacitated might be actually irritating.
It’s not simply in tabletop video games. For viewers, watching a personality’s perspective fade to black is just not one thing we dwell on for lengthy. Inevitably, that perspective shifts. It generally is a flashback, a flash ahead, a prophecy, or a second of perception, however no matter it’s, I discover these media tropes an effective way to maintain gamers engaged with the sport. And in the event that they study one thing in regards to the world whereas they wait, even higher.
All of those choices require some work forward of time. I like making a file of digital index playing cards for every character so I’m prepared when the inevitable occurs. Being knocked unconscious occurs extra typically at decrease ranges when characters are squishier, so this type of prep is extra necessary early in a marketing campaign. It is also more durable to do at first, as a result of the gamers might not have fleshed out their characters almost as a lot.
As characters achieve expertise and develop into extra highly effective, being knocked unconscious could also be a much less frequent incidence. But there are different alternatives to make use of these visions via elven trances, the dream spell, and simply common desires.
Near-Death Clairvoyance​
In idea, the character is numb to the occasions round them. They can not expertise what’s taking place and thus do not know what is going on on whereas they’re out. In apply, it isn’t notably enjoyable to order a participant out of the room till they’re awake once more, except there’s one thing else for them to do (get snacks, play video video games, and so forth.). For essentially the most half, this implies gamers know what occurs whereas they’re unconscious. You could make this a proper a part of the sport by describing it as near-death clairvoyance, however even should you do not, that is the default expertise for many D&D video games. Even then, it is nonetheless one thing that may be tweaked. Can they witness issues others cannot, like ethereal or invisible creatures (like how Frodo sees the ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings)?
My Life Flashed Before My Eyes​
This is the second best sequence for a Dungeon Master to create as a result of it already occurred, however it’s the commonest trope in fiction. Sometimes, it is remembering an occasion that occurred, however with a special interpretation of the occasions (that villain was faking his wounds!). Alternately, it may be some a part of a personality’s lore that by no means got here up earlier than (“so THAT’S why I’m afraid of the sound of crackling hearth!”).
Adventures in Comaland​
Unlike the above sequence, the character performs out the occasions in actual time in an try to flee unconsciousness. This will get sophisticated as a result of it basically splits the celebration, however it offers the participant extra company. With every demise save (or lack of hit factors, relying on what version you are enjoying) the character navigates via one other stage of their demise expertise. If they succeed, they get up — whether or not or not that performs out utilizing the sport’s common dying mechanics or if they simply get up by fixing a puzzle, preventing a monster, and so forth. is as much as the DM. Alternately, their rolls within the waking world decide the tip outcome (fail thrice and the monster wins in Comaland). It will also be as mundane as speaking to an ancestor and grappling with an issue, with some form of epiphany granted when/if the character wakes up.
Dreaming of Things to Come​
Instead of a flashback, this imaginative and prescient gives hints and clues in regards to the future. It might be symbolic, or it may be particular to the journey itself, and even far-reaching occasions within the marketing campaign. These are the best to create as a result of they’re untethered from what occurred earlier than. The DM could make up no matter is sensible for the journey on the time. That stated, there is a restrict to how lengthy these pre-written desires might be helpful in the event that they’re prophecies of near-term occasions.
All of this takes work, however by making ready forward of time it retains the sport participating and offers gamers of unconscious characters one thing to do. They additionally have a tendency to recollect it when their life is on the road, an effective way to nudge gamers into caring extra about your world’s lore.
Your Turn: How do you handle the play expertise of unconscious characters?
