2011 PC Bodycount Thread

[ffy]

For us the RPG season started again at the end of September and we have been having weekly games. In our 4e D&D campaign (which I DM) the fallen are thus far:

* a Shifter Wizard, who came back as a Revenant Wizard, as the resurrection spell was botched by a drunk slavic shaman (he was scouting ahead, being the only one with any semblance of stealth capability; after seeing that the room was empty he climbed up on the statue of a horse and called for the rest of the party - this was a bad move, as the pack of dogs guarding the mansion they were robbing found him and ripped him to pieces)
* a Dragonborn Ranger, who rerolled as a Warforged Barbarian (he decided he was tough enough to trigger and tank a never-before-seen magical trap - his miscalculation cost him dearly)
* a Dwarf Hybrid Shaman/druid, who rerolled as Human Cleric (he thought he would be safe as the person bringing up the rear in tunnels infested by goblins and spiders - they forgot about the side passages they had passed along the way)
* a Shadar-Kai Avenger, who was resurrected (with a geas) after a session-long sidequest (he engaged a boss monster in single combat, sure that his friends would be able to help him next turn - his friends however got tangled up with swarms that immobilize on hit and none of them managed to avoid getting hit)

The only party member to not die yet is the Human Paladin. He is, however, quite sure that it will happen soon enough. I tend to have a knack for rolling multiple crits in a row

We also did one-shots of Deathwatch and Gamma World. In Deathwatch everyone would have died, had it not been for one of the characters burning all his fate points to sacrifice himself in order to secure escape for the rest, and to ensure mission success. In Gamma World one player managed to die 3 times. After his 2nd death in order to save time (and printer toner!) I allowed him to go back to his first character, so he wouldn't have to roll up a new character. Let me tell you, that character of his sure liked landmines.

 

[Jon_Dahl]

* Dwarf Rogue 8/Duelist 1 CN - Greyhawk-campaign.

So this guy decided to play "a thief" in a way that none of us want it ever to be played...
In last session PCs had heard that a long-time NPC patron was deadly sick (dying from old age). Session ended when he whispered that PCs should look after his nephew (who would inhehir his mansion) after he's gone and they would be rewarded with a great secret... Players gave their word and left.

So PCs were drinking in tavern and then the party rogue decided to go back and ransack the place! He got this idea just few hours after giving his word to the dying man... So the rogue went, climbed over the wall surrounding the mansion and found a secret door inside the building. He survived a Black Tentacle trap and after that he encountered a Janni who had stayed there in the cellar to mourn over his friend's death (he was originally called via Lesser Planar Ally but then the Janni became 100% loyal to his friend). Actually the 9th-level PC lost the duel to a Janni of just mere CR4! That dwarf was completely annihilated after the rest of the group sat through his one hour of solo-run... Can't say that I'm sorry! Rest of the session was pretty messy also...

 

[Reynard]

Do Familiars Count?

The demise of the evoker's owl familiar was swift yet painful in the maw of a hungry vesh. Perhaps it should have stayed out of melee.

 

[Reynard]

I have but one session left for the year: a December 31 Moldvay Basic open table at the FLGS. It should provide plenty of thread fodder.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Not too many dead PCs for me this year - one near TPK for a Fallout game. Only one actual fatality (from a Lepus Atrox i.e. Vorpal Bunny). But another two rounds would have seen the whole team go down. Lots of folks in negatives, only two out of six still standing.

Several in the playtest of a Pathfinder campaign based on the French & Indian War. A whole lot would have been changed had Ultimate Combat been out. (This was when I realized that Witch had become my de facto standard for NPC spellcasters.)

A few when showing the folks who were running a pagan retreat what gaming was about. I had run games at two of the retreats, and they were curious about why I had been requested as a GM. They were surprised that I let PC death happen.

Two at the retreat itself, one in each of the games.

The pagan retreat this year was very, very strange. I have never had a naked player sit in my lap before. Nice girl, but she startled the crap out of me. For my part, I confused the crap out of her by not visibly reacting. (Inside I was going 'whaaa?!' I was too confused to realize that it was supposed to be a seduction.) This happened between games, during lunch. Not a stranger, but not someone that I expected to have sit in my lap.

Two deaths at the climax of the steampunk/gargoyles game.

One in the Teens game, drowned while fighting a hag.

You know... putting it all down like this... I had a lot of PC deaths this year! I killed a dozen characters! One or two at a time, not many in any one campaign, but, wow! That would have been two TPKs if they had all happened in the same adventures!

The Auld Grump, the blood! The blood! Will my hands never come clean?

 

[Swedish Chef]

The pagan retreat this year was very, very strange. I have never had a naked player sit in my lap before. Nice girl, but she startled the crap out of me. For my part, I confused the crap out of her by not visibly reacting. (Inside I was going 'whaaa?!' I was too confused to realize that it was supposed to be a seduction.) This happened between games, during lunch. Not a stranger, but not someone that I expected to have sit in my lap.

Details! And pics!

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

In our Pathfinder Serpent Skull Module thus far:

Our Wizard died - a bit of background, he dropped out of the game and we had another player running him for the last two sessions. This past session he died to a bunch of cannibals who took us all down to -hps. Four of the other members were stabilized by the cannibal witch and then the cannibals took us back to their village tied up and knocked out. Our druid made it out alive and hid, then followed the cannibals and prisoners back to the village and saw the cannibals EAT the wizard.

Things looked pretty dire in the combat with us dropping like flies. Not sure what's going to happen in a couple of weeks when we play again, I wouldn't be surprised if we all ended up as food for the cannibals, then we'd have to roll up new characters!

 

[Joshua Randall]

In a Living Forgotten Realms adventure.

(PC deaths are extremely rare in LFR, at least in my local games.)

Marcel, human rogue

We were fighting against an evil sky-ship captain near the earthmote called Yaulanza. Marcel bravely moved into melee with the evil captain, who was doling out huge chunks of damage thanks to being built as an NPC rather than a monster.

My PC, a warlock with various teleport powers, offered to teleport Marcel out of harm's way. (Specifically, I would have teleported to swap places with Marcel, then used another power to teleport myself 3 squares away.)

"Nah, I'm good," said Marcel.

Evil ship captain crits Marcel. And this was a full-fledged 4e crit with magic weapon dice. Over 90 damage. Marcel drops to negative bloodied.

Marcel is dead.

R.I.P.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Details! And pics!

Heh, not many details, no pics.

She was interested, had actually talked about it with some of my players - who neglected to tell her that I have been seeing the same girl for twelve years now. (A married couple of gamers, they have met Jackie, but for some reason they don't see me having a nongamer as a girlfriend.)

The girl in question was working at Borders, and was stressed by seeing her job go away.

Nevermind that I am am half again as old as her - she is half-plus-seven, but only barely. She is also tiny - I swear that I can hold my arm out straight and she could walk under it, maybe ninety pounds, sopping wet. Makes the age difference more noticeable. (I have enough difficulty being eight years older than Jackie, I don't want to feel like a cradle robber.)

The fact that I only found out afterwards that it was a seduction attempt, on the other hand, is something I find hilarious - takes a special talent to miss a seduction attempt when it sits naked in your lap. Twice.

I just assumed that she was trying to freak the 'dane. I am not all that much of a mundane, so, I didn't really freak.

If I'd known why she did it then I would have freaked!

It took me a while to screw up the courage to tell Jackie - she on the other hand started laughing immediately.

Since then I have been to her circle twice, it had been over a decade since the last time.

Just been a weird year all 'round.

A few months ago I was given a sock (a white, ankle length sock) by a crow that seems to have taken a liking to me. Talkative bird, with a whole menagerie of sounds, it likes my shoulder. If you have ever had a crow caw six inches from your ear, then you know that they can be loud!

It had used me for a perch a couple of times before I tried petting it. I figured 'hey, what's the worst that can happen? It tries biting me or giving me a peck?' Turned out that the worst it could do was sit there, happily, for twenty minutes while I pet it and people point and go 'look at the guy with a crow!'

Every week or so it seeks me out. Once it smelled of cinnamon and sandalwood, so I am not the only person that it visits. The time I gave it a bit of burger it flew off, and returned with the sock. I still have the sock, can't throw it away, it's a present. I gather that this kind of behavior is something that started recently with urban crow populations.

It did not like Jackie (my Jackie is a country girl), but got along fine with the girl from Borders - she calls it my familiar.

The Auld Grump, if the crow was all forbidding and ominous I could look so cool. Instead it acts like a clown, and makes me look ridiculous.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Nice thread!

I have two DM kills this year, both recent, both from the same 4e campaign.

Kara, Daughter of Emania (Paladin 1) - Death by negative bloodied before her initiative even came up.

Gretchen Thalmasdottir (Hunter 3) - Death by negative bloodied. MV orcs can be nasty.

We might get in another session or two, but I expect mostly RP, so I doubt there will be any more deaths.

I have not lost any of my own PCs this year.