I was wondering what happens in asymmetric conflicts? In the example from the book there are the players (might 3) against a dragon (might 6). The players can only flee, what happens if the dragon wishes to kill them? Is there some difference in might where a non-Kill conflict can result in this? In say a might 3 vs might 3 Flee conflict can one side decide that if the other side is caught that they are slaughtered? Or is death only an outcome in a Kill conflict and all other conflict types basically are ‘safe’ for players to engage in?
This one confused (confuses?) me, as well. I still feel this might not have been the best example.
So, as I understand it, the dragon will never be in a Kill conflict with the PCs, so the dragon simply can’t kill the PCs unless they happen to be Injured, in which case, anything could potentially kill them.
Well, maybe not exactly. Perhaps a kobold still can’t kill you if you’re injured, but the act of fighting the kobold might, like if you aggravated your wounds or fell unconscious and got murdered or something.
No, if the dragon kills you, there’s just no conflict … if you try to stay and fight to the death no matter that you can’t kill the dragon , you just die. :). The same way kobolds actually can kill you as long as you just stand there and let them, but couldn’t if you actually expend the effort to stop them.
They way I understand it, if the dragon wins the conflict, the characters fail to flee. They find themselves cornered or in a dead end, in a position where they are at the mercy of the dragon. If the GM is feeling sufficiently evil, the dragon can just breath a bit of fire and kill them without even raising a claw, unless a compromise prevents this. (Alternatively he can do with them whatever else he feels like. Who knows, dragons are weird.)
GM: You step in the cavern, it smells heavily of brimstone and is several degrees warmer than the long corridor you were just in. There’s a soft thud behind you, and when you turn around a huge red dragon slips off an overhanging ledge and interposes itself between you and the exit. “It’s not often that my meals come to me on their own accord.” It hisses. What do you do?
The players can then decide what they do and that defines the conflict. If they do nothing then they are lunch, no conflict needed.
Edit: And the normal rules for that conflict apply. As such the dragon won’t kill the players if they flee and lose, but things probably won’t look good for them.
And you’re missing a whole lot of the game if you’re looking at a dragon and saying, “I can’t kill it, so there’s nothing I can do. This sucks!” There’s a whole lot more you can do just using the basic conflicts, without even inventing a new one.