Killing conflict

[Worldfire (Oh Seung Han)]

1. If players have set their goal to “kill the foe” on the conflict but lose, does “Death and Killing” rule (p.121~124) apply to PCs even if the foe doesn’t set his goal to kill guardmice?

[shark_bone (Devon Kelley)]

When a character, whether PC or NPC, wins a Conflict, they achieve their goal. If they didn’t set a goal of killing the other side, I would not kill the other side. The Conflict Goal is all important. The rules do say

"A character or his opponent may only be killed as part of the goal of a conflict. You’ve got to tell your opponent outright that you’re trying to kill him."

If the patrol’s opposition didn’t say that they’re trying to kill the patrol, don’t kill the patrol.

[kendesign (Prevail)]

I think they place themselves at risk of death if they harbor the intent to kill. However, there are some key things to consider.

I just want to express thoughts on one key thing, which is the manner in which they phrase the Goal of the Conflict.

If they state the goal like, “We’ve got to stop others from suffering by killing this enemy.” Or, if the paraphrase is something like protecting the greater good. I certainly wouldn’t consider a death among the patrol mates even if they lost without compromise.

If they state a goal like, “We’ll kill this enemy or die trying.” Or, if the paraphrase is something more like, “die trying, without thought of safety,” or such as that, well, that gives some indication the player(s) feels the scene is of such import that I might consider trading death among the patrol in case of win or lose with some sort of compromise.

My reasoning is that they’ve outlined the intent of the entire scene in the Goal.

There are other key factors, such as the opposition they are facing, the nature of the Conflict, the action-by-action narration. Each might provide distinct considerations. And, there may be many key factors that influence the table chatter at time of Compromise.

I feel in this way, there is more empowering choice given to the player(s) to shape the scene by reminding them the phrasing of the Conflict Goal could determine the risks and outcomes included in Compromise.