Character Death and The Rest of the Night

[librarius_arcana]

There's always an NPC for the Player to play, because if there isn't one with the party, it can be introduced.

yeah but if you let him play the baddie it much more unpredictable,
and now they have a live dedicated player

 

[ThirdWizard]

yeah but if you let him play the baddie it much more unpredictable,
and now they have a live dedicated player

I worry about that a bit. I know my group is mature, but having one player actively trying to kill the others in game after his own death seems a bit worrysome to me.

 

[librarius_arcana]

I worry about that a bit. I know my group is mature, but having one player actively trying to kill the others in game after his own death seems a bit worrysome to me.

No the word you're looking for is a "challange" lol
the players won't expect it,

 

[Reynard]

I was too vague. Or too specific. I can't tell.

Anyway, what I was wondering was what do you do with those 2 hours of the session that remain, assuming that getting back into the game with a PC of any sort -- see my OP -- is out of the question. Go home? handg out and watch? Read?

If you are the DM, what do you do when you've got a player who is out of the action for what looks to be the rest of the session? let him sit there like a lump? Engage him somehow?

Or if you are another player, who still has a live, active PC to worry about, but your friend Bob is stuck twiddling his thumbs?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Anyway, what I was wondering was what do you do with those 2 hours of the session that remain, assuming that getting back into the game with a PC of any sort -- see my OP -- is out of the question. Go home? handg out and watch? Read?

Generally, I don't run dungeons and favor urban adventures, and if someone dies, its time to leave the dungeon and head back to civilization instead of go on (unless things are really bad). So, this situation wouldn't come up in my games. Plus there are NPCs who adventure with the party, and the PCs hire other NPCs for specialty jobs.

 

[Dross]

I was too vague. Or too specific. I can't tell.

Anyway, what I was wondering was what do you do with those 2 hours of the session that remain, assuming that getting back into the game with a PC of any sort -- see my OP -- is out of the question. Go home? handg out and watch? Read?

If you are the DM, what do you do when you've got a player who is out of the action for what looks to be the rest of the session? let him sit there like a lump? Engage him somehow?

Or if you are another player, who still has a live, active PC to worry about, but your friend Bob is stuck twiddling his thumbs?

I personally do not like Dues Ex Machine situations (and lets face it, if you have the threat of being a lump for a couple of hours, maybe you will be a bit more careful). Also not having to make a decision about what to do strait away allows you to decide what you want to do (resurect or new PC).

As a player of the dead PC I try to make myself useful. Initiative orders, round counts, miniture mover rules-looker-uperer , anything that makes the game run smoother/quicker. Will run NPC/PC follower/familiar/etc as needed (as most of the time this is just rolling dice anyway).

As a DM try to give the person something to do.

As a player of a still alive PC, it depends on the player. I've offered my animal companion for them to play.

The most appropriate thing I think is to have a two minute break for the player/DM/group to discuss and decide what they want to do (even if it does end up as a Dues Ex Machine situation :\ ).

 

[Rabelais]

This happened in our last game session. Our resident power gamer took over running the BBEG. Sweet Baby Jebus... It was nearly a TPK. My advice is get the dead guy rolling up a new character pronto.

 

[librarius_arcana]

I was too vague. Or too specific. I can't tell.

Anyway, what I was wondering was what do you do with those 2 hours of the session that remain, assuming that getting back into the game with a PC of any sort -- see my OP -- is out of the question. Go home? handg out and watch? Read?

If you are the DM, what do you do when you've got a player who is out of the action for what looks to be the rest of the session? let him sit there like a lump? Engage him somehow?

Or if you are another player, who still has a live, active PC to worry about, but your friend Bob is stuck twiddling his thumbs?

Well just let him Co DM, there are so many points in a game to get involed, it would be silly not to,

(just of the top of my head) you could let him be a more realistic and subtle ghost,
After he dies let him read anything he wants to do with the game currently being played

Then allow him to only say something like "five" words (and only five total) to the rest of the team, (either via spooky cryptic messages in person or via dreams) the party can't ask the ghost anything until after he has already talked to them (which will use up words,)

And then tell the ghost player to be wise in what is said, and to choose carefully when,

If he's clever he could help the team and still be involed in the rest of the game

 

[librarius_arcana]

This happened in our last game session. Our resident power gamer took over running the BBEG. Sweet Baby Jebus... It was nearly a TPK. My advice is get the dead guy rolling up a new character pronto.

But thats the whole point of the challange, and the fun

 

[Menexenus]

Here's the scenario: you have a regular 6 hour session of an ongoing campaign. Four hours in, in the middle of an adventure where the party is heavily involved and not able to stop what they are doing, a character bites the dust hard. Assume there's no immediate access to ressurection or the like, and no NPCs/mounts/familiars to hand to the fallen PC's player. There's two hours of game session left. What do you do...

...if you are the player of the slain PC?

...if you are another player?

...if you are the DM?

If I'm the player and the group is still in the middle of combat (and not likely to finish significantly before the end of the session), I would probably go home. With a pregnant wife at home, I can't justify sitting around twiddling your thumbs and cheering on my fellow players.

If I'm another player and I have a cohort, I offer the player who lost his character the opportunity to play my character's buddy. If I don't have a cohort, then I can only commisserate with the player that it sucks to die.

If I'm the DM, I could offer the player an NPC to play. It's best if there is an NPC good guy available. But some players (with a heaping case of schadenfreude) probably wouldn't mind playing an NPC bad guy.