Did You Ever Have a Group Disintegrate and Start Killing Each Other?
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Bloosquig
First Post
Many times but thats what you get when you put a bunch of close friends who happen be trash talking high school boys together.
Two that stick out in my mind are the time when we all got random characters. One of us had a slightly overpowered melee half-ogre monstrosity which instantly caused a rage of jealousy from my melee loving friend who got stuck with a halfling rogue. A couple sessions into this campaign the rogue ends up using one of the crystal shards we're trying to assemble and impaling my third friend in the forehead with it since he knows he can't take the ogre. A short while later and several player's down we agree to can the campaign.
The second was in a campaign that had been ongoing for a while. After we find a cave full of wondrous magical items we realize that one person is going to be left out of the awesomeness so I throw myself on the "no cool item for you" grenade. This would have been alright but my friend (the same halfling rogue from above incidentally) keeps rubbing in the item I gave up that he's using and the rediculous amount of damage he's doing with it. I finally break down and secretly burn the parties mansion down with oil. Ironically they think it's from NPC's and eventually a short while later the party fractures and we have a campiagn ending fight between the two factions.
That's certainly not ALL the stupidness we caused but those are the big winners lol.
I eventually made a campaign that I aptly named Assassins which involved them all being assassins trying to kill one another. Best campaign we ever had.
Two that stick out in my mind are the time when we all got random characters. One of us had a slightly overpowered melee half-ogre monstrosity which instantly caused a rage of jealousy from my melee loving friend who got stuck with a halfling rogue. A couple sessions into this campaign the rogue ends up using one of the crystal shards we're trying to assemble and impaling my third friend in the forehead with it since he knows he can't take the ogre. A short while later and several player's down we agree to can the campaign.
The second was in a campaign that had been ongoing for a while. After we find a cave full of wondrous magical items we realize that one person is going to be left out of the awesomeness so I throw myself on the "no cool item for you" grenade. This would have been alright but my friend (the same halfling rogue from above incidentally) keeps rubbing in the item I gave up that he's using and the rediculous amount of damage he's doing with it. I finally break down and secretly burn the parties mansion down with oil. Ironically they think it's from NPC's and eventually a short while later the party fractures and we have a campiagn ending fight between the two factions.
That's certainly not ALL the stupidness we caused but those are the big winners lol.
I eventually made a campaign that I aptly named Assassins which involved them all being assassins trying to kill one another. Best campaign we ever had.
Mine was an Evil group. There was a monk, a cleric a druid a rogue and a mercenary fighter (which was the only neutral character in the party).
They're doing relatively well until they faced a paladin who's much stronger than them... and then the party started to freak out.
Rogue ran away in fear.
Paladin convinced the fighter that he could still be redeemed and do good, and the player helped the paladin defeating the other PCs...
On the next campaign they all coincidently (or not) made good characters.
They're doing relatively well until they faced a paladin who's much stronger than them... and then the party started to freak out.
Rogue ran away in fear.
Paladin convinced the fighter that he could still be redeemed and do good, and the player helped the paladin defeating the other PCs...
On the next campaign they all coincidently (or not) made good characters.
Halivar
First Post
I've had many, many near-misses. There was a dice-pool sci-fi game in which I had (by means of my superior ranks of charisma skills, such as leadership) managed to acquire captaincy of a large (err... the largest) capital ship, and a full crew complement. I thought this would be a great boon to the party.
Instead, there was great resentment towards myself, not just as a character, but as a player. They thought I was being bossy (I ordered NPC's around all day, but never once did I order a PC). I began to suspect my fellow players might be plotting my death, so I put some plans into place. I would later learn that the other players at the table were, indeed, plotting my death by killing me in my quarters while I was asleep. What they didn't know is that I surreptitiously modified the corridor to my quarters to become an death-trap killzone with laser turrets, missiles, and atmosphere evacuation.
The night they'd planned on striking, the BBEG's showed up and started nuking planets. So, instead of TPK'ing by intra-party fratricide, we TPK'd when I rammed my ship into the alien mothership.
And a much better time was had by all.
Instead, there was great resentment towards myself, not just as a character, but as a player. They thought I was being bossy (I ordered NPC's around all day, but never once did I order a PC). I began to suspect my fellow players might be plotting my death, so I put some plans into place. I would later learn that the other players at the table were, indeed, plotting my death by killing me in my quarters while I was asleep. What they didn't know is that I surreptitiously modified the corridor to my quarters to become an death-trap killzone with laser turrets, missiles, and atmosphere evacuation.
The night they'd planned on striking, the BBEG's showed up and started nuking planets. So, instead of TPK'ing by intra-party fratricide, we TPK'd when I rammed my ship into the alien mothership.
And a much better time was had by all.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Not since high school in the early 80s, but back then it was virtually de rigeur. Heck, I can't think of any high school campaigns when we didn't end up with interparty combat of some sort. I almost quit D&D when another player (playing a 1e anti-paladin from Dragon Magazine) killed and looted my character every week for four or five weeks running... except for the week when mind flayers killed me first.
*sob*
*sob*
Rel
Liquid Awesome
It's happened in a number of games that were designed to be adversarial from the outset (mostly back in our much younger years but once in an "All Evil" campaign too). The only other time was several campaigns ago...
We were fighting these bad guys who could assume human form but were, in fact, lizard dudes. We knew this because when you killed them they resumed their lizard form. We began one of our sessions in a corridor inside an enemy lair when it suddenly "clicked". I told the GM, "I've got this figured out!" The rest of the conversation went like this:
Me (Halfling Rogue): "I stab the Barbarian."
Both other players and GM: "WHAT?!"
Me: "I figured it out. He's one of THEM! I stab him. I hit...AC 24 for, I assume he's flat footed yes?, 16 points of damage."
Both other players and GM: "WHAT?!"
Me: "16 points of damage."
GM: *regains a bit of composure* "Um...roll initiative I guess."
Me: "22"
Barbarian Player: "CRAP! I got a 14"
Cleric Player: "I rolled a 3 so that's a...3."
Me: "I Sneak Attack him again with my dagger! Sweet! A 19! That's a crit threat! Confirmed for...23 points of damage!"
Barbarian Player: "*(&$&! You just put me unconscious!"
GM: "Your turn, Cleric."
Cleric: "I move over to the Barbarian and make a Heal check to stabilize him. I got a 17 so he's stable."
GM: "Ok then we're back over to you, Rogue. Care to explain yourself?"
Me: "I coup de grace the Barbarian."
Everybody else: "WHAT?!
Barbarian: "You (&(*&%$ing bastard!"
GM: *desperately trying to keep his cool* "Well...the Cleric gets an AoO on you! Coup de grace draws an AoO!"
Cleric: "Um...ok...I hit a 19."
Me: "My AC is 21! So I do...19 damage. He's dead, right?"
Barbarian: "I'm )(*^&*^ing dead! That's just great!"
GM: *Stares at me blankly*
Me: "Stand down, Cleric. In a moment you will see who the true traitor is!"
Everybody else: *stares at me blankly*
Me: "So does he turn into a Lizard dude?"
GM: "NO!"
Other Players: *stare at me blankly*
Me: "Well give him a minute. Sometimes it takes a minute, right?"
GM: "NO!"
Me: "No?"
GM: "NO!"
Me: "Hmm...I was SURE I was right about this."
Barbarian Player: ")(*^&^&ing great!"
Whole Group: *sits in silence for a minute*
Barbarian: "Hey, GM, what's today's date?"
GM: *Glances at watch* "It's April firs...YOU BASTARDS!! YOU )*()^%$ing BASTARDS!!"
Everybody But GM: *rolling on floor crying with laughter* "Did you see his face? Oh my GOD, his face!! *inability to talk due to laughter*
That's what happens when the GM shows up late to the session and you have time to talk with your fellow players (whom, I must admit, were DAMN fine actors!).
We were fighting these bad guys who could assume human form but were, in fact, lizard dudes. We knew this because when you killed them they resumed their lizard form. We began one of our sessions in a corridor inside an enemy lair when it suddenly "clicked". I told the GM, "I've got this figured out!" The rest of the conversation went like this:
Me (Halfling Rogue): "I stab the Barbarian."
Both other players and GM: "WHAT?!"
Me: "I figured it out. He's one of THEM! I stab him. I hit...AC 24 for, I assume he's flat footed yes?, 16 points of damage."
Both other players and GM: "WHAT?!"
Me: "16 points of damage."
GM: *regains a bit of composure* "Um...roll initiative I guess."
Me: "22"
Barbarian Player: "CRAP! I got a 14"
Cleric Player: "I rolled a 3 so that's a...3."
Me: "I Sneak Attack him again with my dagger! Sweet! A 19! That's a crit threat! Confirmed for...23 points of damage!"
Barbarian Player: "*(&$&! You just put me unconscious!"
GM: "Your turn, Cleric."
Cleric: "I move over to the Barbarian and make a Heal check to stabilize him. I got a 17 so he's stable."
GM: "Ok then we're back over to you, Rogue. Care to explain yourself?"
Me: "I coup de grace the Barbarian."
Everybody else: "WHAT?!
Barbarian: "You (&(*&%$ing bastard!"
GM: *desperately trying to keep his cool* "Well...the Cleric gets an AoO on you! Coup de grace draws an AoO!"
Cleric: "Um...ok...I hit a 19."
Me: "My AC is 21! So I do...19 damage. He's dead, right?"
Barbarian: "I'm )(*^&*^ing dead! That's just great!"
GM: *Stares at me blankly*
Me: "Stand down, Cleric. In a moment you will see who the true traitor is!"
Everybody else: *stares at me blankly*
Me: "So does he turn into a Lizard dude?"
GM: "NO!"
Other Players: *stare at me blankly*
Me: "Well give him a minute. Sometimes it takes a minute, right?"
GM: "NO!"
Me: "No?"
GM: "NO!"
Me: "Hmm...I was SURE I was right about this."
Barbarian Player: ")(*^&^&ing great!"
Whole Group: *sits in silence for a minute*
Barbarian: "Hey, GM, what's today's date?"
GM: *Glances at watch* "It's April firs...YOU BASTARDS!! YOU )*()^%$ing BASTARDS!!"
Everybody But GM: *rolling on floor crying with laughter* "Did you see his face? Oh my GOD, his face!! *inability to talk due to laughter*
That's what happens when the GM shows up late to the session and you have time to talk with your fellow players (whom, I must admit, were DAMN fine actors!).
Like a lot of folks have mentioned, player-killing was pretty standard fare as a kid. What brother doesn't want to off his brother? What thirteen-year-old doesn't want to be acknowledged as the alpha male?
This is largely my impression of what "old-school" D&D is all about. I think it's quite approrpriate that in the Munchkin card game, the Thief class only has abilities that harass other player-characters, rather than anything that can help him beat a monster.
This is largely my impression of what "old-school" D&D is all about. I think it's quite approrpriate that in the Munchkin card game, the Thief class only has abilities that harass other player-characters, rather than anything that can help him beat a monster.
The Little Raven
First Post
In a year-long campaign I ran, I had a build-up to an encounter with a powerful spellcaster who was creating mutant beings in order to take over a valley. The party fought their way into his castle, and while most of the party was holding off the mutant swarms, the party's wizard goes into the villain's study and proceeds to make a deal to sell out his friends for training in arcanobiology.
The room turned so cold, I actually shivered.
The room turned so cold, I actually shivered.
Dragonblade
Adventurer
Many of our high school campaigns ended in interparty destruction. Or at least betrayal that resulted in destruction.
Two of the most memorable moments were in 1e/2e when the party was exploring a lich's tower that was supposed to be vacant only to encounter the lich returning from a planar journey of some kind. We tried to fight for a couple of rounds but he dropped one of the PCs quickly with his paralyzing touch. The rest of the party fled down a corridor that ended at a locked door. The rogue starts picking the lock and then the rest of the party stands and fights to give him time. While we are fighting the lich, the rogue opens the door, runs through with all the party treasure sacks, and then locks it again from the other side, leaving everyone else to die.
We are screaming, "Open the door!!" while the rogue's player tells the DM he is putting contact poison on the lock in case anyone tries to open it, then he flees out of the tower leaving us to die. We do all die at the ends of the lich. Even the DM was kind of mad because he had intended for the party to escape.
But in a brilliant bit of counter betrayal, my wizard who secretly had an invisible imp familiar, regenerated back to life and escaped after the lich had left (the DM ruled that the regeneration granted by an imp to its master would function like a ring of regeneration and even bring me back from death). This was all done through secret note passing so no one but me and DM knew that my wizard had lived and escaped.
Next session, everyone had made new characters and were deciding whether to add the rogue who escaped from the prior party into their new group (players did a good job of role-playing their characters without previous knowledge of the betrayal).
Then suddenly my wizard shows up and disintegrates the rogue for his betrayal. It was awesome! Even the rogue was like, "But, you should be dead!" It was a classic revenge scene, like out of a movie. I happily retired that character after that.
The next classic bit of interparty fighting happened in a Dark Sun game that I was DMing. Two of the players hated each other. One was playing a treacherous rogue (the same player from the prior story, big surprise there) and one was playing a half-giant gladiator (the DM from my prior story, who still bore a grudge at the unstable rogue player for messing up his prior campaign). The rogue was his typical treacherous self, constantly stealing from the party, pocketing treasure while the rest of the group was fighting and so on. There was already some thought of him getting booted out of the group.
So in one portion of the published adventure, I think it was Black Spine, the party frees a mind flayer from magical stasis, but they don't know what is because they aren't normally found in Dark Sun. The flayer quickly dominates the half-giant (2e psionic rules) and commands him to destroy the party.
"With pleasure, master," the half-giant's player said with an evil grin and immediately attacked the rogue and pretty much wiped the floor with him. The rogue's player was pissed but the half-giant player thought it was great.
Suffice it to say, the rogue player hasn't gamed with us in over 10 years.
Two of the most memorable moments were in 1e/2e when the party was exploring a lich's tower that was supposed to be vacant only to encounter the lich returning from a planar journey of some kind. We tried to fight for a couple of rounds but he dropped one of the PCs quickly with his paralyzing touch. The rest of the party fled down a corridor that ended at a locked door. The rogue starts picking the lock and then the rest of the party stands and fights to give him time. While we are fighting the lich, the rogue opens the door, runs through with all the party treasure sacks, and then locks it again from the other side, leaving everyone else to die.
We are screaming, "Open the door!!" while the rogue's player tells the DM he is putting contact poison on the lock in case anyone tries to open it, then he flees out of the tower leaving us to die. We do all die at the ends of the lich. Even the DM was kind of mad because he had intended for the party to escape.
But in a brilliant bit of counter betrayal, my wizard who secretly had an invisible imp familiar, regenerated back to life and escaped after the lich had left (the DM ruled that the regeneration granted by an imp to its master would function like a ring of regeneration and even bring me back from death). This was all done through secret note passing so no one but me and DM knew that my wizard had lived and escaped.
Next session, everyone had made new characters and were deciding whether to add the rogue who escaped from the prior party into their new group (players did a good job of role-playing their characters without previous knowledge of the betrayal).
Then suddenly my wizard shows up and disintegrates the rogue for his betrayal. It was awesome! Even the rogue was like, "But, you should be dead!" It was a classic revenge scene, like out of a movie. I happily retired that character after that.
The next classic bit of interparty fighting happened in a Dark Sun game that I was DMing. Two of the players hated each other. One was playing a treacherous rogue (the same player from the prior story, big surprise there) and one was playing a half-giant gladiator (the DM from my prior story, who still bore a grudge at the unstable rogue player for messing up his prior campaign). The rogue was his typical treacherous self, constantly stealing from the party, pocketing treasure while the rest of the group was fighting and so on. There was already some thought of him getting booted out of the group.
So in one portion of the published adventure, I think it was Black Spine, the party frees a mind flayer from magical stasis, but they don't know what is because they aren't normally found in Dark Sun. The flayer quickly dominates the half-giant (2e psionic rules) and commands him to destroy the party.
"With pleasure, master," the half-giant's player said with an evil grin and immediately attacked the rogue and pretty much wiped the floor with him. The rogue's player was pissed but the half-giant player thought it was great.
Suffice it to say, the rogue player hasn't gamed with us in over 10 years.
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