GMs are sub-standard dungeon designers

[fireinthedust]

Blast! I would have killed at least one of them, but my roup uses Action Points as a wild card: you can re-roll a save, or take an additional Standard Action. (EDIT: I just ran the game an hour before posting this)


The group was at the final boss: a pack of ghouls led by a 6th level Ghoul Monk, with three fire-throwing fiends on pillars throughout the room. Two of them were paralyzed, THEN SUDDENLY they remembered their Action Points: rerolled paralysis saves, made them both. Then the Cleric used Channel Energy, wiped out the extra ghouls, wiped out two fo the fire-chuckers, and nearly got the big boss ghoul. Then everyone ganged up on the boss ghoul.

I almost had them!

The only damage they've got is that one character has Mummy Rot, and another has Ghoul Fever. The Cleric is only level 4 after this fight, and I don't know if she can help either PC.

However: the game is E6, and the setting is therefore E6. Ergo, I don't know if they can find a 6th level cleric in time before either disease kills them. It's not like they're anywhere near a city with a big Temple (in theory an elder cleric in a big city could be higher than 6th, or otherwise access proper curative prayers).

So no one suffered an instant-die, but I could get two deaths over time. Does that count?

 

[Reynard]

Well, there's your problem: you're relying on monsters to do your dirty work for you.

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

Room III- Empty room... Door on opposite wall
Standard Pit Trap in front of door...
Door is a mimic that falls in on top of the hapless character.


20' Stairwell Down- Trap:
1/2 way down, trap sets off a grease spell 10- feet behind the lead character.

Random Passage- Encounter: an old man with 7 golden canaries flying around his head. (Sorry. Random 1ed Bahamut moment)

My personal favorite that I killed a character that was getting too big for himself (and annoying the group):

Smokey Archway- Other side is a (wizards lab/temple/sword training room/etc)...
There is a single familiar looking (demi)human using the room properly. It is one of the characters when (s)he was 13. The character is not evil, just brash and annoying. Any physical damage kills the creature (and by default) the character.

 

[Umbran]

You're probably not playing the same game they played.

The GMs of Old weren't playin' games. Killin' characters was serious business!

 

[Crazy Jerome]

My favorite is the obviously deadly magical trap guarding what is surely a great treasure. So obviously deadly, that the party decides not to mess with at all, and leaves a perfectly good treasure in the dungeon--protected by magical glitter. No one dies, but later they see an NPC with that treasure, and put two and two together.

Traps can kill a character, but losing treasure in the manner can kill a character's soul.

Of course, if you do this enough, eventually they get greedy, and decide to go after such a treasure, knowing full well that this is playing Russian Roulette with a six shot revolver and five loaded bullets. This can sometimes lead to a dead character.

 

[Zhaleskra]

I once began designing a "mega dungeon" that made no sense whatsoever, in the real world or the game one. Being run fully on Rule of Cool/Gross, I gave up when I decided "Stop it! Stop this Dungeon! It is getting far too silly!"

 

[Reynard]

I once began designing a "mega dungeon" that made no sense whatsoever, in the real world or the game one. Being run fully on Rule of Cool/Gross, I gave up when I decided "Stop it! Stop this Dungeon! It is getting far too silly!"

There's a fine line between surreal and silly. A dungeon in Faerie can tread that line while still being extremely deadly, as can an expedition into the mind of a dreaming mad god.

 

[Mark CMG]

The GMs of Old weren't playin' games. Killin' characters was serious business!

Their wide grins threw me.

 

[jmucchiello]

but should I put RL game deaths there, or just pbp ones?

You mean face 2 face, right? f2f game deaths, not real life game deaths. I mean, how many players die during game? GMs killing their players get more than just a bad reputation.

 

[Dice4Hire]

So if GMs are sub-par dungeon designers, then let's gt all the Paizo, WOTC and 3PP designers to stop PLAYING, so their products will be better. We can gt better stuff practically overnight!

That is what the OP is saying, right?