Ever gotten 'emotional' over a game event?

[caudor]

I'm a bit hesistant to start this topic, but what the heck...

Two nights ago I was DMing a great game in which (near the end of the adventure), a loyal NPC friend of the PCs sacrificed his life in order to save the entire party. It was the stuff movies are made out of. I didn't plan it this way; it is just how the adventure played itself out (and was generally in line with the NPC's personality and the unfortunate situation).

A strange thing happened...while describing the scene in which the NPC died, I almost got choked-up. I didn't plan this either. Up until the event took place, I had no special attachment to the NPC. I try not to get attached to PCs either.

Anyway, I think I was able to cover the sudden rush of emotion I felt and move the game on. However, I was surprized that I was so wrapped up in the adventure that the demise of an NPC would impact me like that.

Anyway, I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Have you ever been caught by a surprize rush of emotion during game play as a DM or player? Or are you always detached emotionally from the action?

 

[mseds99]

wow

Dude,

you must role-play way better than I could ever dream of! My usual performces of a situations like that would usually end in mockery by my players, which would completely justified considering my acting skills! So, to answer your question, definately not, though I think it pretty cool that you can immerse youreself that deeply.

mseds99

 

[Sakzilla]

As a GM I have become enraged at a rules' lawyer trying to hijack my game (I'm talking the mad, yelling, neck-vein bulging kind of enraged), but never the weepy emotional kind. We even had a guy sacrifice his PC to buy the party escape time - he jumped on top of a wounded beholder and tried to stall it. We still talk about it as one of the best, most revered moments in the game. But no tears have flowed. (we're evil anyway )

 

[SpringPlum]

Oh yeah I've gotten emotional in a game before. In the first major, epic, 50-game series that I played in, one of the PC group's mentors died. He was a high level NPC that had led our group to become the heros that we were. very father-figure-ish. It was very sad and tragic and most of the players got pretty choked up. Very inspiring.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Yep, this happened to me recently while DM'ing, when the wizards faithful familiar died - the player did such a good job of displaying his sorrow at losing his faithful friend that I could feel the emotion of the moment. It is the last but one entry in my storyhour - why not follow the link in my sig and read it now

 

[caudor]

Thanks for the feedback. It is good to know that I'm not the only one that has ever gotten choked up during play

I must say it was one of the more rewarding game I've run, and the players really seemed to soak it up too. In fact, one player did mention something about having something in his eye

I would not claim to be a great DM by any stretch, but I must have done something right during that particular session. The goal was just to have some fun and we sure did that. I've certainly had my share of games that yielded yawns.

Anyway, it just got me wondering if this situation was typical or atypical for a group. I suppose it mostly boils down to the group's mood and style of play. Thanks again.

 

[Cedric]

I'll just second those saying that they've gotten emotional in games before. There have been a few times, when someone either came through or didn't make it through in a tense situation that myself or other members of the group have gotten emotional.

It goes both ways though...once our entire group, except for me, the thief, was down and bleeding on the ground. They were all at anywhere from -2 to -6 hps.

The only opponent left alive was a Vrock (2nd ed game). I didn't have a weapon that would hurt it, so my thief picked up two weapons he was not proficient with off the ground.

A few rounds went by to no avail...and I was down to just one hp...and we knew the Vrock was hurt bad, but he wasn't yet at the edge of death...like I was.

Well...I won initiative and rolled to hit...I rolled a 20, which is actually what I needed to hit the Vrock, because of my non-proficiency penalty. We cheered some..but the gm confirmed that I could not kill it in one hit, so I did damage, it was close to max damage.

Then I rolled again to hit with my off hand. Once more...I rolled a 20, this time I did enough damage to put it down and immediately started binding wounds.

Now that was an emotional moment....

Cedric

 

[MThibault]

I dunno, nothing like losing a real loved one or anything like that.

But there was one event that called up emotions that were akin to finishing a great novel.

After playing a 2e campaign for nearly 6 years there was a near total party kill. My character and one other (Lyra the thief) survived. But we decided to call the campaign to a close because we just couldn't imagine our characters going on without the others. There was a definite sense of loss. I was truly attached to the other players' characters.

That was a long campaign with many memorable moments. I think it made the DM a bit self-conscious about starting another campaign, he set himself up with a tough act to follow. He's only done a couple short campaigns since and left the DMing mostly to others.

Cheers

 

[Felix]

Emotional? You decide.

My PC, a forsaker, contracted lycanthropy. After the session I contracted it I talked to the DM about going with it; whether or not my character could do the change. I liked the munchkin aspects of the werewolf, and thought I'd keep the template and seek a way to control my CE tencancies during the full moon.

Enter new player and his PC, a cleric. My character lets him know right off the bat that any spells cast upon me will not be seen as favors (re: forsakers don't like spells). We go adventuring to cure a town of lycanthropy. And we discover that I have the disease. So we look for ways to get around this, but I won't let cleric and his scrolls near me to provide a solution.

Time passes and we meet up with the Werewolf protogenetors, who are Good beings. They say that for the party to succeed in our mission, one of us needs to change to a hybrid wolfman. We say "ok". They cast a spell and I change into hybrid form, becoming CE. I'm hungry and eat my horse.

A second spell is cast, of the "Calm Emotions" variety. My werewolf sits there peacefully with a contented look on his face. Nobody does anything, waiting for something to happen. Then the cleric rushes up and casts remove curse on me. My character gets pissed becasue he still doesn't like having spells cast on him (forsaker) and growls. My party attacks me. I start beating them up.

Until the end of that round when I am cured of the curse of lycanthropy thanks to the cleric's spell. I'd wanted that for the future of my character, and it's frustrating expecially as now we don't have a werewolf to use to complete the mission. Long story short, I purposely contract lycanthropy again to save someone else from having to become a werewolf, "my repsonsibility" and all that.

We go do the mission. Yay, a success. I do what I need to do, and the party attacks me anyway. (I was in hybrid form and CE again. But still doing the mission. Sigh. Misunderstood.)

During the mission, I leaned over to the new player and said "hey man, no worries about the scroll business, but I kinda want to keep the lycanthrope template, so could you help me out here a bit?" I thought, well, that's that.

Then we saw the werewolf protogenetors again. They said good job, and cast a spell on me. (This spell removes the curse part of lycanthropy, but not the template. Basically, I get werewolf powers and an ECL, but I have to walk a paladin's tightrope of staying Good. Commit an Evil or Neutral act and I immediately turn CE and NPC. That kind of spell.) My character passes out. (The DM hands me a note saying "you can choose the template, or have the curse removed althgether")

The elder werewolves say "He's cured", the cleric says "I cast Remove Curse".

GGGAAARRRRR! Maybe it doesn't seem it, but it was frustrating to have a player try to stop the character progression the DM and I had worked out. Especially a new player at that.

 

[tonym]

The only opponent left alive was a Vrock (2nd ed game). I didn't have a weapon that would hurt it, so my thief picked up two weapons he was not proficient with off the ground...
Cedric

Wow--the party is down, bleeding, except for the Thief...and he picks up two weapons he isn't proficient with...to fight against a DEMON...and you roll TWO 20s! And kill it!

Awesome!

I'm on the edge of getting emotional over THAT right now.



Tony