redrick
First Post
You're a GM. It's your job to create a world of risk and danger for your PC's. Sometimes, to support the constant illusion of risk, you have to enforce the reality of risk. Sometimes, you just have to do bad things to Player Characters. But you're a nice GM, and afterwards, you just feel awful. Especially if your player really, really liked his PC. I'm worrying less about running a good game, and more about getting a good night's sleep after a TPK.
So, what are the things that happened in your game world, (because you made them happen, you cowardly GM hiding behind the autonomy of your made-up world and its made-up NPCs!), that had you tossing and turning the whole night?
Here's mine from last night, from X2: Castle Amber.
[sblock]The characters sat down to a ghostly feast. Initially, they were expecting the 24 ghostly figures in the room to pose some sort of physical threat, but when they determined that the ghosts were completely uninterested in them, they hoped that maybe some piece of the castle's mystery would be revealed to them during dinner, so they took their seats at places bearing their name tags.
After a moment, some food was brought out. Some characters declined to eat, some characters only tried some of the food. Some saves throws were made. Nothing happened. New food was brought out. Some characters tried it. The GM rolled some dice. Each character permanently lost 2 points from one stat and gained two points in another stat. One character lost points from a prime stat and gained points in a non-essential stat. Character grew enraged and tried to go on a murderous rampage.
Another character got very drunk.
No other mysteries were revealed. The ghosts all went home.
[/sblock]
I ran this encounter pretty much straight out of the adventure, but, I couldn't help but go to bed feeling like I'd done this player dirty. He puts so much good-natured time and effort into crafting his characters. I respect that. I couldn't be bothered if I were a player, but, to each his own.
Please share your stories of times you actually felt bad for what happened to your players.
So, what are the things that happened in your game world, (because you made them happen, you cowardly GM hiding behind the autonomy of your made-up world and its made-up NPCs!), that had you tossing and turning the whole night?
Here's mine from last night, from X2: Castle Amber.
[sblock]The characters sat down to a ghostly feast. Initially, they were expecting the 24 ghostly figures in the room to pose some sort of physical threat, but when they determined that the ghosts were completely uninterested in them, they hoped that maybe some piece of the castle's mystery would be revealed to them during dinner, so they took their seats at places bearing their name tags.
After a moment, some food was brought out. Some characters declined to eat, some characters only tried some of the food. Some saves throws were made. Nothing happened. New food was brought out. Some characters tried it. The GM rolled some dice. Each character permanently lost 2 points from one stat and gained two points in another stat. One character lost points from a prime stat and gained points in a non-essential stat. Character grew enraged and tried to go on a murderous rampage.
Another character got very drunk.
No other mysteries were revealed. The ghosts all went home.
[/sblock]
I ran this encounter pretty much straight out of the adventure, but, I couldn't help but go to bed feeling like I'd done this player dirty. He puts so much good-natured time and effort into crafting his characters. I respect that. I couldn't be bothered if I were a player, but, to each his own.
Please share your stories of times you actually felt bad for what happened to your players.