Player Character Deaths

[Caradhras]

Dark endings are far more memorable.

I ran a looong AD+D campaign (original edition)where the chars got eventually to virtual demi-god status (lvl18 etc) and were effectively unplayable. Therefore, as the mythos of their world was Norse, they ended up fighting in the last battle of Ragnarok alongside their Gods against the evil Gods and their minions. All died heroic deaths :P

[Targan]

Therefore, as the mythos of their world was Norse, they ended up fighting in the last battle of Ragnarok alongside their Gods against the evil Gods and their minions. All died heroic deaths :P

Cool. Nicely appropriate.

[headquarters]

fight for survival

I have sympathy for both views - but in the end I guess PCs have to go out hard.

If not , the challenge is sapped as someone said , and my energy as a GM as well.

The tree of a good campaign has to be replenished by the blood of PCs and NPCs from time to time..

But rather than fudge ( been there done that ) ,just level th eodds by attacking them with a squad rather than a platoon etc .

Then when they face overwhelming odds it should tense them up nicely .

I have a conundrum with General Pains char- they are so long in the campsign setting that killing them will be a sad session indeed.

But rather one sad session than 100 boring ones.I have to play for something in a way ...

Gen Pain - if you go you go..you should count yourself more than lucky to have made it this far..more than 30 sessions..its a record of sorts.

next one up - I say he fights cunningly and bravely or he dosent make it .

pLus a bit of luck of course

[General Pain]

I have sympathy for both views - but in the end I guess PCs have to go out hard.

If not , the challenge is sapped as someone said , and my energy as a GM as well.

The tree of a good campaign has to be replenished by the blood of PCs and NPCs from time to time..

But rather than fudge ( been there done that ) ,just level th eodds by attacking them with a squad rather than a platoon etc .

Then when they face overwhelming odds it should tense them up nicely .

I have a conundrum with General Pains char- they are so long in the campsign setting that killing them will be a sad session indeed.

But rather one sad session than 100 boring ones.I have to play for something in a way ...

Gen Pain - if you go you go..you should count yourself more than lucky to have made it this far..more than 30 sessions..its a record of sorts.

next one up - I say he fights cunningly and bravely or he dosent make it .

pLus a bit of luck of course

hmmm...this does not look good....I have a bad feeling.....

23 days to next session......

Luckily I'm gonna GM my Merc Campaign.....gonna be som serious hurt the next time...the time for punishment has arrived.......ohhh..did I "say" that out loud.....forget about it...it's gonna be the normal stroll in the park ....you know the park with the vengeful assasin squads, minefields, drugoverdoses, medical resaearch, backstabbing,snipers nests,mishaps of unspeakable nature, drownings, flamethrower accidents, flat tires, chemical spills, skin burns, knifefights, broken bones, loss of hope and a whole bunch of cash to the survivor....I mean survivors....or do I

[Marc]

As it has been said before, the risk of loosing the character must be a clear and present danger. As a general assumption, if the player feels the risk for his/her character, he/she will act consequently. The player will take precautions, or not, at his/her own choice. But in a somewhat unspoken agreement, if the general background depicted by the GM is a dangerous or suspicious one, the player assumes the risk and the consequences of any future actions and plans in that background. Doing this, in my opinion, the impact of an eventually dead is softened.

Of course all those absurd and arbitrary deaths which are so abundant in any conflict must be avoided. A paratrooper drowned in a well after a Catastrophic Failure in the Parachute check and before the beginning of the mission could be very realistic. But its a role reserved for a NPC.

While running a game as a GM, I dont fix the dice rolls that put I danger character lives for the simple reason that I would be very disappointed, as a player, if I noticed that all my heroic deeds and all those escapes from a certain dead are a trick of the GM.

The players must rely on the fact that the GM is acting consequently to the rules and to the roles of the NPCs. In that way, when the character manages survive another difficult situation the player could feel satisfied and sure about his/her merits. And any death in the group (thought sorry by both the players and the GM) only contribute to increase the sense of the epic among the survivors.



BTW.Tomorrow I have a T2K roleplaying session, as a GM, with the group that is recovering the bargues of Torun in "The Wild Bunch" way. http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=873

The players knew the risks of their and voluntary assumed them. Most probably tomorrow some of their characters will die. But, who am I to steal them a moment of glory