Player Character Deaths
- Thread starter Drake Farstrider
- Start date
hmmm.... I\'d still say, that to get few good laughs out of players getting themselves killed in combat - even a real easy one - try playing The Riddle of Steel 
Especially if you take a group of players used to just rushing into every combat head-first, and with no thought of covering each others back-sides (a group used to D&D 3.5 ought to work good here - no offence... well not a lot at least ).
We use the rules in a campaign in the Warhammer world - even though our norse fighter (conan-inspired) have been in the campaing since the start, he only recently aquired some armour - and armour is what keeps you alive in combats, along with toughness - but then again - this is also the fighter that cleaft(that right?) 3 orcs in 3 strikes, though he each time got his sword stuck in the bugger...
Only bad thing here would be, that we still rushes headlong into combat - not smart at all!!:duh: - but I guess that only goes \'till someone dies horribly fighting some puny goblin or peasant... and if it\'s the norse guy - my dwarf\'ll scream and run away! (though I still don\'t know how GW-dwarves can run? they have no legs )
Another good way of showing the players that they are indeed not invincible would be this little trick my brother told me - he used/uses it alto for Rolemaster, and I\'ve used it a few times for MERP myself.
When the players enter a forest, let them walk along \'till they feel real secure, describing how peacefull it is, with birds singing and what-nots... then throw a boar at \'em!! (aim that homing-boar at the player looking to give the most trouble in combat - lousy trick, I know, but otherwise they might just kill it a bit to fast to get any fun from it, let alone teach them this valuable lesson...). Boars in MERP and RM are really nasty - they are still killable for a lvl 1 party, but it puts up quite a fight! Double crits anyone? Tusks from hell and all :flame: - the players ought to get out of it alive, though they should still be pretty beaten afterwards.
That way you have achieved a few things - the players should now be aware that they are in fact mortal even though they are the \"heroes of the tale\", they know now that it\'s not only the magical beasts that are the dangerous ones, and, last but not least, they\'ll never trust you again when they enter a forest lol
Especially if you take a group of players used to just rushing into every combat head-first, and with no thought of covering each others back-sides (a group used to D&D 3.5 ought to work good here - no offence... well not a lot at least
).We use the rules in a campaign in the Warhammer world - even though our norse fighter (conan-inspired) have been in the campaing since the start, he only recently aquired some armour - and armour is what keeps you alive in combats, along with toughness - but then again - this is also the fighter that cleaft(that right?) 3 orcs in 3 strikes, though he each time got his sword stuck in the bugger...
Only bad thing here would be, that we still rushes headlong into combat - not smart at all!!:duh: - but I guess that only goes \'till someone dies horribly fighting some puny goblin or peasant... and if it\'s the norse guy - my dwarf\'ll scream and run away! (though I still don\'t know how GW-dwarves can run? they have no legs
)Another good way of showing the players that they are indeed not invincible would be this little trick my brother told me - he used/uses it alto for Rolemaster, and I\'ve used it a few times for MERP myself.
When the players enter a forest, let them walk along \'till they feel real secure, describing how peacefull it is, with birds singing and what-nots... then throw a boar at \'em!!
(aim that homing-boar at the player looking to give the most trouble in combat - lousy trick, I know, but otherwise they might just kill it a bit to fast to get any fun from it, let alone teach them this valuable lesson...). Boars in MERP and RM are really nasty - they are still killable for a lvl 1 party, but it puts up quite a fight! Double crits anyone? Tusks from hell and all :flame: - the players ought to get out of it alive, though they should still be pretty beaten afterwards.That way you have achieved a few things - the players should now be aware that they are in fact mortal even though they are the \"heroes of the tale\", they know now that it\'s not only the magical beasts that are the dangerous ones, and, last but not least, they\'ll never trust you again when they enter a forest lol
Drake Farstrider
New member
Well I expect to have some PC deaths here in the next few months as I am about to run my group through the Undermountain.
Wish me luck.
Now I got to go read the damn thing.
Wish me luck.
Now I got to go read the damn thing.
Originally posted by Drake FarstriderWish me luck.
Good luck then
And just remeber that it\'s even more fun, and a ton more rewarding, to maim the PC\'s horribly, and let them survive by a hairs breadth (gahh! I don\'t even think that expresion should be translated from danish - any english ones that hit home more precisely?), so they get that feeling of just being lucky they are still alive
This shouldn\'t be done to often of course, lest the players get used to it, and end up beliving they are imortal or some such - maybe just stick with the maiming, and the occasoinal losing of limbs - just for laughs lol
N
NecroN
Guest
A couple
Darn forgot this forum doesn\'t show the previous posts below.
@ Godlikebuthumble. Being on your last clone is scary because you won\'t be able to play such a fun game anymore.
@ Mick and others talking about Undermountain. If you check the Wizards site they note that they will be publishing all new undermountain material soon. The big focus at GenCon this year was on The Realms and their return to prominance. Also good to note, \"We want to put the Dragons back into Dungeons and Dragons\"
Darn forgot this forum doesn\'t show the previous posts below.
@ Godlikebuthumble. Being on your last clone is scary because you won\'t be able to play such a fun game anymore.
@ Mick and others talking about Undermountain. If you check the Wizards site they note that they will be publishing all new undermountain material soon. The big focus at GenCon this year was on The Realms and their return to prominance. Also good to note, \"We want to put the Dragons back into Dungeons and Dragons\"
Drake Farstrider
New member
Yep got that box set as well Mick and the 3 downloadable adventures on WOTC\'s site.
The way I see it I gots me years of gamming material.
:flip::bouncy:
:bouncy::flip:
The way I see it I gots me years of gamming material.
:flip::bouncy:
:bouncy::flip:
Godlikebuthumble
New member
The world needs scarier dragons. Although the 3rd edition of Realms of Arcania (Not sure about 4th ed.) was a really spiffy system (especially magic!), the dragons were a laugh.
A buddy of mine actually went through this scenario a couple of times:
The biggest, baddest \"named\" Dragon in the world. Attacking him: Five Armoured Warhorses. Result:
After ~14 Rounds of Combat, the Dragon was dead, the horses beaten, but alive and now free to loot and be called \"Dragonslayers\". lol
A buddy of mine actually went through this scenario a couple of times:
The biggest, baddest \"named\" Dragon in the world. Attacking him: Five Armoured Warhorses. Result:
After ~14 Rounds of Combat, the Dragon was dead, the horses beaten, but alive and now free to loot and be called \"Dragonslayers\". lol
Drake Farstrider
New member
Thats not good. Dragons should be a near death experience for pc\'s.
vincegamer
Active member
never had a huge death toll, but I had one player who got his character killed just about every other session.
He just loved making new characters so his old one would do something incredibly dangerous/stupid.
He just loved making new characters so his old one would do something incredibly dangerous/stupid.
Drake Farstrider
New member
I have a player that is simailar. He is always making new characters and about every 6 months or so he gets borred with the character he is playing and wants to play a new one.
darkartminiatures
New member
Cyberpunk: My first character Joe the Nutter got his head blown off with a AMT2000. Nice
merp: My dwarf was beaten to death by wraiths whilst everyone else ran away.
d&d: My assasin got wasted by a shambling mound in one round.
Lorfr: My scorpion bushi got mauled by a dog when i fell from a rooftop.
I suppose I\'ve been quite lucky really
merp: My dwarf was beaten to death by wraiths whilst everyone else ran away.
d&d: My assasin got wasted by a shambling mound in one round.
Lorfr: My scorpion bushi got mauled by a dog when i fell from a rooftop.
I suppose I\'ve been quite lucky really
Hieronymus
Member
We\'d rarely lose anyone in AD&D. We\'ve lost entire parties playing Traveller a bunch of times, usually while in space. There were a couple of jump mishaps, like trying to jump into hyperspace while still actually being ON the planet or jumping with improper fuel. We ran afoul of Imperial patrol ships while fleeing local jurisdictions on more than one occasion and got blown up with missles and slammed into asteroids a few times. There were loads of deaths from combat, too.
But I think the most memorable death I had was when a Scout character of mine, Murphy, was beaten to death by a mob of tourists while he was trying to incite a group of pacifists to riot.
But I think the most memorable death I had was when a Scout character of mine, Murphy, was beaten to death by a mob of tourists while he was trying to incite a group of pacifists to riot.
Joey joe joe
New member
I\'ve witnessed a couple of good ones in my time....
The only time one of my characters has died (in 4 years of gaming) was when the party\'s fighter was possessed and turned on him.... he was a mage on low hit points.
And it\'s definitely not a good idea to go plane-wnadering by yourself at level 10 as one of my friends did. Every one of his characters has died, some twice.
And another friend was taunting a high-level elf ranger (about 16-17), so in one round he got hit in the chest with 4 arrows. He was a level 3 rogue with low hit points at the time.
The only time one of my characters has died (in 4 years of gaming) was when the party\'s fighter was possessed and turned on him.... he was a mage on low hit points.
And it\'s definitely not a good idea to go plane-wnadering by yourself at level 10 as one of my friends did. Every one of his characters has died, some twice.
And another friend was taunting a high-level elf ranger (about 16-17), so in one round he got hit in the chest with 4 arrows. He was a level 3 rogue with low hit points at the time.
