Brian Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-08-12 03:53 pm
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-08-12 03:53 pm
Entry tags:
Blood on my Hands
I killed a Player Character earlier this month - John's Transformed Rat "Han" in the last session fo the House of the Dragon game. That marks my first PC death since ladegard 's Ork Elementalist died in The Wonders of the Northern Woods back in 2000. Previous to that the last PC death was panzerschrek 's Diviner in the Shandamir War back in 1991. That means either a) I kill a PC once every 8.5 years of b) the interval between PC deaths is shrinking at 1 year per iteration. That means I'll be an absolute TPK GM when I turn 65.
ladegard 's Ork Elementalist died in The Wonders of the Northern Woods back in 2000. Previous to that the last PC death was panzerschrek 's Diviner in the Shandamir War back in 1991. That means either a) I kill a PC once every 8.5 years of b) the interval between PC deaths is shrinking at 1 year per iteration. That means I'll be an absolute TPK GM when I turn 65. I'm using this as a reason to analyze how PCs die in my games. I tend to run systems that make the characters pretty tough, giving players time enough to realize that they are in over their heads and fall back (perhaps dragging their badly wounded comrades along). More often big fights end with the opposition defeated or driven off but with many of the party hanging on by a thread. Such endgames make it clear that they have just won by the skin of their teeth, maintaining the sense of tension that comes with having the risk of dying - even if death doesn't happen that often. The flip side to this is that when the circumstance and dice dictate that someone should die, they die.
In this most recent case Han's death was the result of a series of bad die rolls and narrative decisions.
1) He botched an otherwise easy stealth roll, precipitating a fight over which the PCs didn't have as much control as they wanted.
2) He raised the ire of the prime enemy leader, who my notes indicated would start with his big power move to show how tough he was, taking a lot of damage early on.
3) He was knocked into an isolated area in the field of battle - the enemy leaders' tent - purely out of dramatic narration when someone scored a solid hit on him.
4) His allies badly wounded the enemy second in command but then broke off engagement with her; so she logically decided to flee, running to her tent to recover her key magical artifacts. She didn't know Han was there, and he decided to ambush her since she was wounded. While he won this got him even more wounded and he was now inches from death. But he snatched up the enemy's artifact and prepared to flee.
5) The rest of the PCs had fled the field of battle, leaving the other enemy leader to stalk back into his tent to check on his artifacts. Han had a split second to hide and….
6) The dice failed him again with another hideous botch on his stealth roll. The enemy leader then critted on his attack, skewering poor Han on the spot.
If I hadn't described the spinning back kick as knocking Han into the enemy tent, if Han hadn't flubbed two die rolls, if he hadn't made himself the target of the big bad, if if if. Everyone agreed that the death was right and proper - both by the rules and in a narrative sense - and since it was John's secondary character I didn't have a player sidelined for the end of the last session.
The previous character death - Lagedard's ork Harrik - was similar, with the PCs making a series of bad decisions that left them in the worst part of the dungeon woefully unprepared for what they were facing. Harrik's death was at least heroic, with him sacrificing his life to save his allies. Like Han, Harrik died in the last session of the game, but in his case it was in part because Harrik's death took the wind out of our sails for a "book 2". The PCs had won, evil had been vanquished, and all the loose ends were tied up, but we could have done more with the characters; with Harrik gone that became less likely and is now vanishingly remote.
The earliest of these, panzerschrek's Diviner Tyrgoth Loreseeker, was not nearly such a good death. The Shandamir War was AD&D 2E game focusing on a military unit in active battle. Tyrgoth was in a noticeable position on a hilltop facing a force that (unbeknownst to them) had an enemy cleric with Call Lightning. Wrong place, wrong time, low HP PC vs. high damage attack. I was running the game withbalsamicdragonas a co-DM and I don't remember now if it was me or her who pull the trigger on this one. I think it was a valid decision, but I'm not sure it was a decision I would make today. In a narrative sense it worked: it was a wartime game so Tyrgoth's death drove home the random brutality of war; mourning him gave the PCs a hook for some emotional depth over the remaining 3/4 of the game; Panzerschrek's new PC - Jherig Wyndward the roguish Abjurer ships captain - was substantially cooler than Tyrgoth. All true, but the absolute suddenness of the death still grates 17 years later.
In this most recent case Han's death was the result of a series of bad die rolls and narrative decisions.
1) He botched an otherwise easy stealth roll, precipitating a fight over which the PCs didn't have as much control as they wanted.
2) He raised the ire of the prime enemy leader, who my notes indicated would start with his big power move to show how tough he was, taking a lot of damage early on.
3) He was knocked into an isolated area in the field of battle - the enemy leaders' tent - purely out of dramatic narration when someone scored a solid hit on him.
4) His allies badly wounded the enemy second in command but then broke off engagement with her; so she logically decided to flee, running to her tent to recover her key magical artifacts. She didn't know Han was there, and he decided to ambush her since she was wounded. While he won this got him even more wounded and he was now inches from death. But he snatched up the enemy's artifact and prepared to flee.
5) The rest of the PCs had fled the field of battle, leaving the other enemy leader to stalk back into his tent to check on his artifacts. Han had a split second to hide and….
6) The dice failed him again with another hideous botch on his stealth roll. The enemy leader then critted on his attack, skewering poor Han on the spot.
If I hadn't described the spinning back kick as knocking Han into the enemy tent, if Han hadn't flubbed two die rolls, if he hadn't made himself the target of the big bad, if if if. Everyone agreed that the death was right and proper - both by the rules and in a narrative sense - and since it was John's secondary character I didn't have a player sidelined for the end of the last session.
The previous character death - Lagedard's ork Harrik - was similar, with the PCs making a series of bad decisions that left them in the worst part of the dungeon woefully unprepared for what they were facing. Harrik's death was at least heroic, with him sacrificing his life to save his allies. Like Han, Harrik died in the last session of the game, but in his case it was in part because Harrik's death took the wind out of our sails for a "book 2". The PCs had won, evil had been vanquished, and all the loose ends were tied up, but we could have done more with the characters; with Harrik gone that became less likely and is now vanishingly remote.
The earliest of these, panzerschrek's Diviner Tyrgoth Loreseeker, was not nearly such a good death. The Shandamir War was AD&D 2E game focusing on a military unit in active battle. Tyrgoth was in a noticeable position on a hilltop facing a force that (unbeknownst to them) had an enemy cleric with Call Lightning. Wrong place, wrong time, low HP PC vs. high damage attack. I was running the game with
balsamicdragonas a co-DM and I don't remember now if it was me or her who pull the trigger on this one. I think it was a valid decision, but I'm not sure it was a decision I would make today. In a narrative sense it worked: it was a wartime game so Tyrgoth's death drove home the random brutality of war; mourning him gave the PCs a hook for some emotional depth over the remaining 3/4 of the game; Panzerschrek's new PC - Jherig Wyndward the roguish Abjurer ships captain - was substantially cooler than Tyrgoth. All true, but the absolute suddenness of the death still grates 17 years later.