Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
This is really powerful. I hate the "lonely player" syndrome as well, but knowing that they would be out kept the group REALLY focused.Wraith Form said:I'm thinking you don't. That's why it's so nerve-wracking both in and out of character when you yank (sorry, 'draw') a jenga block. The player is basically done, unless the referee wants to have the player run NPCs.
That being said, the best way to hedge it is to turn that character into "the guy everyone knows is gonna get killed." They become the Mean Janitor In The Basement, or the Girl With No Bra; the characters who you know are going to die, but you're just not sure when. This allows them to still play, but they don't catch any lucky breaks. they won't see the clue, they will be the one to get blamed when something happens, and they KNOW that sooner or later they have an appointment with death. Wondering when it's going to occur is equally nerve-wracking.
In game terms, this is referred to as "Dead Man Walking." The character is no longer allowed to make any pulls for any reason. Thus, he can't successfully do anything beyond his own capabilities, and he won't be able to avoid trouble easily. Sooner or later, when the story demands it, he'll go down screaming.
This seems to work really well for me. It keeps things stressed, doesn't invalidate the importance of the tower, gives the GM an easy target when they do want to ace someone for story purposes, and best of all keeps the player playing! But the penalty of not being able to pull is a huge deterrent, and so doesn't make this an enviable condition.