When DM, is it assumed they will win??

[garhkal]

As a gm, what is "in your perception" the % of success rate of players in game?

IE they take on 30 missions. How many times have they failed?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Tupteq]

It depends what you mean by success rate. My players "win" over 90% of their "missions", but if I took more details into account, then their success rate would be lower, maybe 70-80%. Usually because of situations when "mission" succeeds, but not all goals are achieved - collateral damage, main villain escaped.
My favorite complication is when PCs think they "won", but soon they figure out that their victory is only illusory because (choose one): their solution is only part of bigger problem, they were manipulated, there's a second goal that was hidden until now etc. Sometimes I'm leaving some clues, to let players figure out what may happen (and in such case, if they fail to figure it out, I may count it as their "loss").

[Quetzacotl]

In our case, it nearly always ends with the success of the players. At least with the current circumstances.
We, of course, had bosses that "came back", "escaped" and the like, as well as collateral damage, but at the end of the adventure or "mission" the situation is better for the players then it is worse. Unless it might be part of a greater campaign.

But well, players SHOULD succeed most of the time. It's a game, and everyone should have fun and as a GM, you're not playing agains the players but with them. So making adventures or "missions" so hard that the players often "lose" tends to be a real downer of the players and they won't like the game or might even stop coming to the sessions.

[Tupteq]

[Dromdarr_Alark]

There is no losing in my game. If the players do not succeed, then I use their failure as a way to make the game more interesting. They are very good sports and invite failure, because they know that it is just as rewarding as success.

Also, how many times did Luke and Han end up running away or getting captured? Wasn't the best movie the one where the main characters experienced utter failure?
_________________
"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[garhkal]

[Quetzacotl]

[garhkal]

Usually when i see people 'spout that they should win' that is a euphamism for they will win..
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Tupteq]

[DougRed4]

MY players "win" or are successful probably 75-90% of the time, though occasionally it is not a complete victory. They might not achieve all objectives, or accomplish everything they wanted to. But occasionally they have to run or feel they are outgunned. In the era we play in (early Rebellion) right now, it's essential that they feel the overwhelming might of the Empire, so it looms in the background over everything, even though right now they are feeling pretty tough with all of their successes. We've talked about (and they know) that if a Star Destroyer showed up, they'd all wet their pants and devolve into quivering masses of jelly.
_________________
Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Kytross]

My groups success rates starts off high and then drops quickly.

First I feed the players a few easy missions. Simple stuff to let the new players learn the system and let every one get familiar with their characters. During the first few sessions I let my players make changes to their backstory and on occasion I'll let them move a skill point or two around, especially if they realize a skill does not do what they thought it did. (Sneak & Hide are commonly confused) These are easy missions and I plan their adversaries to be mook criminals and pirates and other low level punks with the bosses being at their skill level, probably a little lower.

Once I've got a group up to speed on the system and the group starting to utilize synergy I start to up the difficulty of the missions and their success rate drops. Missions become harder and harder until my players are facing the full fury of the Empire. My players are happy if they succeed at their primary mission and escape with their lives. Usually they fail the primary mission and succeed in some other small ways. By the time Darth Vader shows up (10th-15th session) they should be smart enough to run away. If they're dumb enough to face him I have no problem letting Vader kill them. I do tend to be more lenient in a "noble sacrifice" situation. If I'm running an Empire campaign, which doesn't happen often enough, I switch out Vader for Skywalker or Kenobi, depending on the time period. I would love to use Rogue squadron in a TIE campaign, but no one ever wants to be evil.

My campaigns are more reminiscent of Empire Strikes Back more than any other films. The players are on the run and their enemies are everywhere.

The Rebel Alliance called it a win when they evacuated from Hoth. My players rarely get moments like blowing up the Death Star, but when they do they know it's a big win.

[atgxtg]

It depends on the game and campaign. For D6 Star Wars,I expect them to survive virtually all the time. While bad luck and bad decisions can result in some PC fatalities everything is written wither their survival in mind.

As far as success goes, the vast majority of adventures are written so that the PCs can succeed. Most of the time fairly easily. A few might prove really challenging, and a do through in the occasional "no win scenario" where the PCs can't really succeed, but can affect how badly they loose (i.e. Battle of Hoth. The rebels just weren't going to win the battle, but their actions will determine how many people or how much equipment they can take with them.)

And as other have pointed out, quite a few times the group achieves a partial success, accomplishing some goals but not others. Sometimes they even exceed expectations or achieve results that can make some goals unnecessary.

[vanir]

15%, not because they fail to adhere to my idea of the adventure very little, but because when they do which is often, they have an equally well thought out idea of their own scope of the mission, which I respect, the gaming setting is just as enhanced by it, the story thread is just as epic for it.

They don't stick to my plan, but they have a good plan they come up with themselves. That's a pass in my book.

In a current campaign they were actually flirting with the idea of venturing into the deep core in Yavin era chasing up some Intel on secret Imperial projects whilst only very low level Jedi. That was coming close to 100% fail
An NPC seems to have convinced them to hold off on that for a bit and develop some skills messing with Imperials at the fringes of their operations, for survival sake.

[DougRed4]

vanir, your players only succeed 15% of the time?!?
_________________
Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green