Victory *and* death: Would you enjoy this?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not only am I OK with it, I did it when my group played Q1 back in the good old days. I put myself at ground zero for a spell that would wipe out a whole mess of demons -- and me -- but allow the rest of the group to confront (and ultimately defeat) Lolth.

Gandalf facing off against the Balrog to allow the Fellowship to live is both iconic and resonant.

 

[Wik]

Yeah, those moments are awesome, and I love 'em. But, if I were gaming in a situation where I felt like that moment was ENGINEERED.... I'd be miffed.

 

[Odhanan]

Note that the following assumes that you're the type of player who enjoys story-arc-intensive campaigns. If not, this question probably isn't directed at you.
(...)

I personally think your premise just cuts off the whole interest of the thread. Any player who enjoys story-arc-intensive campaigns would by definition love to sacrifice his character in the end of the campaign, IME.

Therefore, you'd have a majority of positive answers, obviously.

Personally? No, I wouldn't mind to see my character die at the end of the campaign while the world is saved, not at all! It makes the whole campaign worthwhile in my eyes, actually, because this means there was/is a real possibility of failure or loss, which makes choices and tactics relevant.

 

[Corsair]

If it was completely scripted than I wouldn't enjoy it as much.

What he said.


Also, my experience may be different from others, but it seems that very often the whole party escapes, or they all die to a TPK. I've never seen a time where one player said "You all run, I'll hold the door!" and the rest of the party didn't either 1) FORCE that player to come along some how, or 2) All decide to stay and have a TPK.

I suspect that option #2 is because players can't stand Mr. Heroic getting all the glory.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I'm fond of these on both sides of the table. In the last two campaigns I was in, my character died at the campaign's climax, and it was -great-.

On the DM's side of things, I prefer to hang the choice of sacrifice in front of the PCs as a possible way for them to resolve the Big Problem. Forcing it would be kinda lame, and besides, it's more fun when a player -chooses- to sacrifice their character to accomplish something bigger.

Of course, it's -most- fun when they sacrifice themselves, and the Problem still remains. Eheh.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

If I knew in advance that the DM was going have such a pre-written ending, sure. Or that the DM expected such character sacrifices (not just at the end), sure. Or if that was our regular playing style, sure.

If it's just a "regular" game and the DM throws a pre-scripted ending at me. No. Or throws a "choice" at the party/character that isn't really a choice. It may work on tv or in movies (think Buffy, season 5 finale), but I wouldn't enjoy it if it were sprung on me without warning in a game.

I pretty much agree with Rodrigo Istalindir and Glyfair. And Kunimatyu. And Wik. And vegepygmy's story is fantastic. If the PC really has a choice, it's a great ending.

 

[Aeric]

My all-time favorite fantasy game ended with my character dead and the BBEG alive but wounded. He was forced to retreat with his army back into his own little realm. It was a great, dramatic ending, and I was completely satisfied with it. Of course, the campaign was rather grim and my character had lost almost everything he cared about by that point, but at least he died knowing he made a difference. And in the last scene of the game, he had a place of honor at his god's table, so it was a happy ending after all.

 

[Gold Roger]

As long as it's the logical conclusion of the things that came before, I'd love it.

Actually, I already played through such an ending. Our group was a military "special team" in a postapokalyptic game and in the last session we died to the last one destroying the hold of alien invaders over one certain area of the world. The game was heavily railroaded, inflexible and we wheren't anything but pawns in some other guys plans, but I still enjoyed that last session. At least we knew we where true heroes at the end. The DM gave up on mastering after that campaign.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I could live with it.

But personally I like to play characters for a long long time (I have one that has been played for over 15 years). So I would of course love to see the character come back someone for the next yearlong (or longer) game, that is the sequel or something.

 

[Ibram]

That sounds like a great way to end a campaing or retire a character.

Think 13th warrior or some such...