character death

[flykiller]

have you ever lost a character in a game? if so, how did it happen?

the only character I have ever lost was a one-shot game traveller character. end of successful mission, fleeing in two airrafts, final parting shot by npc was rpg that hit airraft fuel tank, vehicle destroyed and all aboard killed.

 

[ffilz]

Lost one several weeks ago. I was helping test the gunner-interact program on a yacht under construction when an kidnapping of the owner occurred. I tried to prevent the kidnapping and was killed in action.

I hear the pirate captain I was working for (who had loaned me to the noble) has offered a reward...

Frank

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

A group of us were driving in an underground tunnel. My character was snoozing in the back seat of the large open-roof jeep when huge beasts ambushed us. One landed on top of me and proceeded to cut me to shreds before I could wake up.

 

[aramis]

have you ever lost a character in a game? if so, how did it happen?

Many, many many times.

Last one was two weeks ago - the 2nd of Sept -
Running DT&T , my daughter's fairy joined in melee.... and got majorly squshed. Sent -10 on Con in one massive hit.

I don't hesitate to kill PC's. In any game. If it makes sense in the situation, and the dice say so, dead PC.

 

[pendragonman]

Many, many many times.

Last one was two weeks ago - the 2nd of Sept -
Running DT&T , my daughter's fairy joined in melee.... and got majorly squshed. Sent -10 on Con in one massive hit.

I don't hesitate to kill PC's. In any game. If it makes sense in the situation, and the dice say so, dead PC.

I am wondering if this is part and parcel of being a gamer since the mid 70's. When I am in games run by younger (20-30 year olds) they seem to actively avoid killing a character. Like role playing is only about sunshine and rose for players.

Similar to Aramis, I have no issues killing characters for doing things they that should get them killed. I personally had my first character death less than six sessions into my very first game. First edition D&D and at 3rd level I charged a black dragon by myself. There was nothing left to bury, acid dissolved everything.

 

[aramis]

I am wondering if this is part and parcel of being a gamer since the mid 70's. When I am in games run by younger (20-30 year olds) they seem to actively avoid killing a character. Like role playing is only about sunshine and rose for players.

Almost all my players are under 30 at present.

That characters can die is a selling point... at least for low-level play.

 

[flykiller]

A group of us were driving in an underground tunnel. My character was snoozing in the back seat of the large open-roof jeep when huge beasts ambushed us. One landed on top of me and proceeded to cut me to shreds before I could wake up.

oo, that's harsh. is that how the game normally ran? did you simply take over an npc and carry on, or was introducing another pc a game event? were you trying to get rid of the character or did the referee simply roll, "where does it go? oh hey, it lands on YOU!"?

I have no issues killing characters for doing things they that should get them killed.

that's one approach. but the above player character wasn't doing anything excessive.

I tried to prevent the kidnapping and was killed in action.

is that just how it turned out, or was it a "die with honor" situation, or did the situation develop into something more than the pc could handle, or did you roleplay the pc appropriately despite you knowing the pc could not succeed?

 

[Silverhawk]

Ahhh, the death of my PC. Lots of memories there. Some very cheap and undeserved others heroic and enhanced the story. I think that in game character death is something that has to be handled carefully.

There have been a couple of times where a player deserved to have a cheap death of his character. These have been players who aren't working for the common goal or are actively engaged in trying to control the game rather than cooperate with the rest of the group.

But there have also been a couple of times where the player has been involved in working for the goal and everyone is having a good time but the dice or situation is such that the character is dead. This happened to me once and the GM allowed me the following session to bring in the dead PCs twin brother rather than have me spend another hour to roll up another PC.

 

[Bob Weaver]

I mostly referee these days, and all of my players are 18-, it's my kids and their friends. I have warned them that character death is a possibility but I find that in the clutch, I wimp out and fudge the results. So far, despite playing GURPS, Twilight:2000 and Star Wars, no one has had a PC even critically wounded. We're beginning Traveller this weekend, and I will once again remind them that PCs can die, and not just in character generation.
I'm trying to set up more situations in which significant NPCs die to remind them of the danger level, but perhaps this is the game in which a PC shuffles off this mortal coil.
My hope is that no one goes off the rails or wants to quit the game if their PC snuffs it. Any suggestions on how to manage the grieving process?

Best Regards,
Bob W

 

[flykiller]

the GM allowed me the following session to bring in the dead PCs twin brother

perhaps each character could be backed-up by a few clones in lowberth, just update the brain's neural links and presto! a new but identical player character. but that seems like cheating.

Any suggestions on how to manage the grieving process?

get them used to it?

I find that in the clutch, I wimp out and fudge the results.

the biggest cause of this is the referee doesn't want the group to lose the capability of engaging with the scenario and thus waste all the time the referee put into setting it up. if you can make peace with this then you'll stop fudging the results.

I will once again remind them that PCs can die

perhaps you can ease them into it with a major injury and/or loss of limb and/or a physical stat permanently reduced to 2. pain killers and high-tech medical support may allow the character to continue on (in the immediate encounter and further on into the game) in a reduced role, but the game effects are permanent.

 

[pendragonman]

perhaps each character could be backed-up by a few clones in lowberth, just update the brain's neural links and presto! a new but identical player character. but that seems like cheating.

Actually, that sounds like Paranoia. The computer is your FRIEND!

 

[kilemall]

perhaps you can ease them into it with a major injury and/or loss of limb and/or a physical stat permanently reduced to 2. pain killers and high-tech medical support may allow the character to continue on (in the immediate encounter and further on into the game) in a reduced role, but the game effects are permanent.

I have those medical rules partially to be able to describe their wounds that makes it less a 18 point wound and more personal and painful, plus plenty for the medics to do.

Those rules have some brutal recovery aspects including the permanent stat loss (less then complete recovery). Reread the JTAS article, those were even tougher.

 

[welsh]

I remember my first death fondly: first ever Traveller session. The referee gave us a scenario where we were ambushed without warning. My character was hit in the first volley and the dice were not kind....

In that case, the ref realized that he had set up a scenario that basically handed out instadeath to the players, and fudged it. Good choice, IMO: inescapable situations that kill characters just suck the fun out of it. But on the other hand, players own their choices. There's no risk in risk-taking unless it's risky.

 

[flykiller]

I remember my first death fondly

(laugh)

character death frequency
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=36901

 

[Bob Weaver]

Any suggestions on how to manage the grieving process?
Answer:
get them used to it?

Well, this evening's session continued the boy's quest to find and rescue the missing/kidnapped Space Princess. They met some local retired soldiers who now run a vehicle repair shop, and made fast friends with them. So it came as a shock when, in their joint pursuit of the kidnappers, their NPC buddies got shot out of the sky by a missile. All were injured, and two of them died. The Princess' bodyguard died too.

So my boys have yet to experience character death, but now they've experienced significant NPC death, and they are SUPER motivated to get on the trail of the kidnappers, get the princess back, and dish out some righteous payback. This might also be a good time to have a talk about revenge and its destructiveness. All in all, a good roleplaying session.

Best regards,
Bob W

 

[flykiller]

are SUPER motivated to get on the trail of the kidnappers, get the princess back, and dish out some righteous payback.

death in a just cause is a good way to manage the "grieving process".

This might also be a good time to have a talk about revenge and its destructiveness.

or a good time to see it.

 

[khadaji2002]

My first character death was in AD&D (yep, I'm that old ). Ranger swimming in water, protecting other character from eels. Eel gets critical hit. Dead ranger. Great story. The DM didn't nerf the combat. He *did* allow a 1st level cleric to read a reincarnation scroll.

That's how I would handle it. If the death is in character and moves the story along, absolutely allow it. The greatest RPing stories come from those types of situations. If the story allows, bring the character back with some long-term penalties (my ranger went from half-elf to human, based on the open and strict roll on the incarnation chart). We laughed and told that story to every new player that joined our group for years.

 

[Straybow]

Back in the day, lost more D&D characters than I can remember. Four in one campaign (one was named John and died via giant scorpion attack, the last died sacrificing himself to allow the rest of the party to escape a group of trolls) before I got a character to survive to 2nd level.

Had several Travellers die in chargen. We started reinterpreting "survival" to mean "still in service with all significant limbs and organs intact." Failure meant partially disabling injury of some sort and end of service.

 

[Bob Weaver]

It's happened at last.
Over the weekend, in only the second session of our new Traveller game, one of the PCs took the dirt nap. Not that the PC knew it, he died from failing the Low Berth recovery roll. All he needed was to roll at 3 to make the 5+ threshold (DM for medical care) but the player threw snake eyes.
The player, one of my sons' friends, seemed to take it in stride pretty well. This might have been the best way for a character to die at the outset; it reminds everyone of the dangerous nature of the Traveller universe, and we had a new character for him in a few minutes, so not even a loss of continuity.

 

[JimMarn]

After about three games of AD&D, my siblings told me I could do better so I started a game world in that. Lots of character deaths. Sometimes they got in over their heads, ignoring the warning signs, and got reduced to one NPC and one player character. But those two managed to kil the lich and got the rest resurrected. Having dragon bones to sell for magic spell components helped greatly. I mean, if you see a dragon chained to the floor... it must be someone's pet. Would have been wise to run away, but they didn't.

First Traveller character death was in chargen, and then the replacement was killed because none of us realized the plants on the starship harboured a mutated form of rabies.

I went rather easy on my players for AD&D character death, they could make ghod calls ( max of two per death), and resurrect scrolls, etc. Some still didn't make it.