Players hate running away.
Dungeon Masters, if you create an encounter that relies on the party fleeing an enemy whose power vastly outranks their own…
Be prepared for them to stand their ground. I've made this mistake myself in the past, and the players just end up feeling cheated.
Better to have a villain make an entrance and escape—teleporting, flying, or collapsing a chamber—than to expect a collection of heroes to turn tail and run!
— Justice Armonsters 🎃 (@justicearman) August 17, 2021
There was a moment in a past campaign where the party probably had no more than 50 hit points among the 5 of them and were surrounded by storm giants.
The paladin, who was at death’s door, leaned on the hilt of his sword and said something to the tune of “what else ya’ got?” I think the party has only fled twice in our nearly 5 years of gaming together.
Once was in a dungeon because they were in between fights and tapped out on resources.
The other was a demilich who dropped half the party with its howl in the first round. (They came back later.)
— Justice Armonsters 🎃 (@justicearman) August 17, 2021
Yep. The better plan is to have something else they care about that requires them to go elsewhere to protect it. Adventurers have notoriously low survival instinct. It’s also that RPGs like DnD tend not to work well for fleeing. Initiative and the way movement works all make fleeing practically difficult to achieve.
— AlphaSCREAM (@Alphastream) August 17, 2021
Worked better in early editions with group initiative.
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) August 17, 2021
I think you’re right, unless the encounter is designed to have you run away up front. If the challenges presented are “how will you escape” instead of “you are outmatched”, I’ve had a lot of success in getting players to flee. Basically you have to build a running-away-encounter
— Taymoor (@DarkestCrows) August 17, 2021
The issue I’ve run into is there’s a window to effectively retreat without losing anyone when you’re overmatched, or things just turn against you. If you wait too long you won’t be able to bail without leaving someone behind, and that point you’re all in. Agreed. In organized play we often have special rules such as, “if everyone agrees to flee, x of you must leave the map and then you all flee.” Or, the leader calls it and steps off. It breaks immersion, but it works.
— AlphaSCREAM (@Alphastream) August 18, 2021