D&D General How do you honor fallen friends in your games?

[Stormonu]

Sorry for your loss.

I'm to the age that several of my players have now passed on (currently 3, not including non-D&D friends). For me, honoring them meant that their old characters have been woven into the game world as characters of lore akin to Mordenkainen, Bigby and the like. I also still have their old character sheets, in their hand writing (often with other hand-written notes) in archival folders.

 

[bedir than]

One of my party recently passed. We threw a big D&D party to celebrate his life. There were 3 tables + over a dozen observers.

In the games (two different campaigns) his character is taking over as our primary point of contact for running our bastions and/or as a quest giver. When the campaign I'm in is over that castle will be a ruins as the next campaign is 3,000 years later. Artok's Keep will always be a place of importance.

 

[aco175]

I lost one or two along the years, but never done anything in game to remember them.

Maybe name a tavern or inn after him. A place the PCs can go to unwind between excursions. He could be a legendary hero the pub is named after, where the patrons regularly toast his name for good luck before setting off on an adventure.

I was thinking this as well. Maybe the innkeeper at every inn they visit is named after his PC, or just one of the NPC in every inn. It might be a running thing if the barkeep is not named after him, then they go looking for the groom, or the stableboy, or the cook to find him. Might be a good hook for adventure.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Late Sunday night, I heard the news that my friend Dave had passed away. Dave was part of my original college group. We played together for many years. Life took us in different directions, but we kept in contact on Facebook.

In recent months, my original gaming group got back together for a "next generation" campaign. Dave was there for the first session, but couldn't make the second. Dave was really looking forward to the session we played on Saturday, but he never showed. We thought that maybe some emergency came up.

His wife, who isn't a gamer, has asked that we keep his memory alive in our games somehow, which we wholeheartedly said we would. We have a few ideas on that. I know he wouldn't want a lot of fanfare, though.

I know many of you have lost gamer friends, and I'm just curious what you have done to honor them in your games.

I have an innkeeper named and patterned after my best friend Robert, who passed away in 2018. Many of us have moved out of the area and game with different folks now (Robert was the glue that held our old group together), but those of the old crew who still play often include a similar NPC in their games, always a retired but larger-than-life adventurer. We were best friends for over 25 years, he even officiated at my wedding the year before he passed, and I still miss him and think about him almost every day.

Thanks for the opportunity to talk about him. His passing hit me very hard, and still hurts, but it's nice to think about him and how happy he would be for me now.

 

[Stormonu]

I lost one or two along the years, but never done anything in game to remember them.


I was thinking this as well. Maybe the innkeeper at every inn they visit is named after his PC, or just one of the NPC in every inn. It might be a running thing if the barkeep is not named after him, then they go looking for the groom, or the stableboy, or the cook to find him. Might be a good hook for adventure.

Or do the Morn thing from DS9 and have him be a customer that's always sitting at a "favorite table" or at the bar wherever PCs go (and perhaps have them raise a toast whenever the party returns from their adventures).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

World of Warcraft regularly adds NPCs and other memorials to some of their players or designers who've died.

A powerful NPC is an obvious choice, but even just naming a community or recurrent landmark that would make sense for Dave or his character would work. _____'s Rest as the name of the next campaign hub would be a fitting tribute, I think, depending on your group.

 

[haakon1]

One of my friends died of cancer in 2004. He was a big Stargate SG1 fan, and once when I was hanging out with him, we made a Stargate Marine character using Stargate d20. (In real life, he wanted to be a Marine but the cancer was discovered in a physical.)

The idea was to start a D&D campaign where his character landed in Greyhawk by Stargate accident, and on advice of high-level folks was trying to get to the Comeback Inn in Blackmoor Town to use its basement Stargate to get home. The other characters would escort him on this trek.

We played a little in conversation 1:1, never an actual game, he sold some of the Marine gear at a magic shop in Thornward to raise good for his trip, including camouflage netting and a night vision scope.

After he died, the actual campaign started, including two of his close friends (who had also never played D&D, but knew about the Marine character). They found his gear and bought it and used it.