A Leap over Boiling Lava onto a Flying Wyvern

[Dannyalcatraz]

I can almost hear Simon & Garfunkel singing...

Jump on silly rogue,
Jump on high
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way

...See how he flies
but he missed his grip
he's holding on for life...
Like a leap over boiling lava
onto a wyvern's back
Like a leap over boiling lava
onto a wyvern's back

 

[Celebrim]

Ahh, one of those Luke Swings Over the Chasm moments. I can just here the theme music swelling in the background.

 

[Wik]

In situations where the PCs do something cool "do or die", and they fail, I plainly offer up a "you can make a second roll at a high DC. If you take a decent penalty, it's a medium DC. If it's a very big (ie, more than one encounter, perhaps permanent) penalty, it's a low DC. Otherwise, you're dead".

In this case, the rogue's player would still land on the back and take damage (high DC, acrobatics, takes a little damage), grab onto the tail (medium DC, hit automatically by the wyvern's poison attack), or be grabbed out of the air by the wyvern's jaws (low DC, auto crit from a major attack method, and character develops a limp for the rest of the day).

 

[The Shaman]

Not that the story in and of itself isn't awesome and full of daring-do that I love. But huh... hearing the mechanics of it and how the GM did the whole 'roll to see if you hang out' second chance bit... well let's just say it doesn't tickle my fancy.

Yeah, that was my reaction as well: "Okay folks, it all comes down to this! . . . uh . . . no, it really all comes down to this!"

If drama is the goal, that sticks a fork in it, in my opinion.

Now if the referee wants to break it up into different rolls - say a roll to hit the wyvern and a roll to hang on - I've got no problem with that at all. In fact, that's a bit closer to my favored approach. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a thread on some rpg board complaining about the referee requiring that the player "roll to fail."

In any event, for me spectacular failure can be just as entertaining as spectacular success. The impact against the wyvern's back, hands desperately scrambling for purchase on the scaly hide, a violent twist, and that sick feeling as grasping fingers find nothing but air . . .

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That about describes the demise of my Half-Orc bounty hunter (Ranger)...

He busted through a door, only to find that on the other side was a narrow ledge overlooking a chasm. I rolled a 2...couldn't slow down...rolled a 4...couldn't stop his momentum...

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAMMmmmmmnnnnniii-*splat*"

 

[Derren]

And thats a fine example of why I get less and less interested in RPGs nowadays.
Instead of doing this thing because it fits the character and the situation demands it, he did it "because its cool". And many newer RPGs cater to this "coolness over immersion" thinking.

And as exhibit one, ladies and gentlemen, the quintessential example of a threadcrap. Please read this, then use it as an example of how not to post. ~ PCat

 

[FireLance]

And thats a fine example of why I get less and less interested in RPGs nowadays.
Instead of doing this thing because it fits the character and the situation demands it, he did it "because its cool". And many newer RPGs cater to this "coolness over immersion" thinking.

IMO, one of the key attractions of RPGs is not "immersion over coolness", but "immersion into coolness".

Naturally, YMMV.

 

[Wolf1066]

Instead of doing this thing because it fits the character and the situation demands it, he did it "because its cool".

And if doing something because {it is/would be} "cool" is in-character?
I would not mind at all if that's the way the character is always played. If it was a major break from the character's normal way of doing things and obviously only suggested because the player saw some means of grandstanding in the current situation, I'd be disinclined to let it pass.

Going by what TarionzCousin has said about the player, I'm getting the impression that that's how he routinely runs his characters.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Going by what TarionzCousin has said about the player, I'm getting the impression that that's how he routinely runs his characters.

Correct. The guy loves to play rogues, and this rogue in particular is always doing crazy stunts.

 

[Fifth Element]

And thats a fine example of why I get less and less interested in RPGs nowadays.
Instead of doing this thing because it fits the character and the situation demands it, he did it "because its cool". And many newer RPGs cater to this "coolness over immersion" thinking.

As stated above, it fits the character. Obvious threadcrap is obvious.