Are you a killer DM?

[fenzer]

I consider myself a reasonable DM. One who is fare and true to the rules of the game. I am one of those who does not fudge die rolls. I am a believer in fate/karma, whatever you want to call it. So why is it then that over the last three years I have only killed off one character? And he did it himself - fell off the bridge in the Fordge of Fury. Am I a softy? Is it tactics? Are my players just that good? What?

Reading the story hours like I do, I get the feeling that I have a low kill count compared to other DMs. It's been almost two years since that poor chap fell off the bridge and I have never TPK a party in my DMing history, about 20 years.

What is your kill count as a DM? How often does a character die? How do your players react to loosing a long standing character? Is this an issue or no big deal?

 

[Gunslinger]

In the last 6 months I have lost 5 characters(total) to two of my DMs. I can't even imagine what playing for 20 years without losing a character would be like.

 

[Sejs]

In the last 6 months I have lost 5 characters(total) to two of my DMs. I can't even imagine what playing for 20 years without losing a character would be like.

Painless.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm trying, I'm trying... but in yesterday's session, I ran three combats, two of which were fairly tough in my opinion - but still no PC has died.

I blame the GURPS rules system. Everyone claims it is lethal, but that just doesn't work that way in practice. I mean, how many Skaven assassins do I have to send in before they kill a single PC?

 

[Darkness]

My longer campaigns (as opposed to the many, many one-shots that I've done instead over the last couple years ) tend to have quite substantial body counts.

However, that's more due to my players than to myself.
See, most of our casualties tend to fall into one of two categories:
a) Intra-party violence
b) Careless actions that lead to the character being wanted by the authorities - and wanted badly (which then leads either to the character's ultimate demise while resisting capture, or to the player realizing that his character has no chance - and creating a new character)

Of course, in D&D, quite a few PCs tend to get killed by monsters, traps, etc., too.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Hm... In a year of playing, I've had about 15-20 or so PC deaths in the game. I lost count. I guess that would make me a killer DM.

One particular Barbarian got held, Coup De Grace'd, brought back to life, held, removed paralysis, Coup De Grace'd again, and then came back as a Monte Cook templated Ghast to attack the PCs, got turned and then died. That was particularly bad.

One party had a Wizard who kept getting killed. (When you name a PC "Slayne", the other PCs are going to ask if your last name is "Again..." if you get killed too many times)

On occasion, it's been poor party planning, on occasion, it's been the killer module (Temple of Elemental Evil and then Queen of Lies). No wonder they didn't feel like playing Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Darkness]

Hm... In a year of playing, I've had about 15-20 or so PC deaths in the game. I lost count. I guess that would make me a killer DM.

Depends. How often do you play - once a week? Twice? Twice a month?

 

[fenzer]

Well, that's the kicker. I am running my party through RttToEE right now. They are on their way to the mines so maybe things might change.

Gunslinger, let me clearify. It has not been twenty years since I have killed a character. My time frame goes back to about a year before 3rd edition came out. That's the time my current group came together.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Depends. How often do you play - once a week? Twice? Twice a month?

Once a week per group. Two groups, running through pretty much the same series of adventures.

 

[maddman75]

I'm a killer DM. At the request of my players. I'll kill your character as soon as look at him if he puts himself in harm's way. We roll dice in the open, and we use the instakill double 20 rule. Only no confirmation, its all luck. Two twenties in a row and you're freakin dead. Again, this is at the request of the players.

So don't feel bad for offing a few characters in a few months. I had one guy that until recently lost a character every game, at least. Another had several characters executed by the party. And I'm not as bad as the old 1e DM we had - he said he felt like he was slacking off if at least one PC didn't die each game.

As I heard recently on another board
"DM, what is best in life?"
"To destroy the PCs, to see their character sheets pile before you, to hear the lamentations of their players."