Is it O.K. for the DM to kill a character when the player isn't there?
- Thread starter Pendragon67
- Start date
Imagicka
Explorer
Greetings...
Well, barring any extenuating circumstances, such as the death was pending in the previous game session (ie. the death trap), or was pre-discussed and agreed upon.
No. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ever kill off a character when the player isn’t there. Even in situations where their is prior understanding, I still will shy away from it.
I don't know about your game, but when there is even the hint or rumour of food. Especially pizza; the game stops.
*Ding Dong*
GM "Get the door, it's Dom... who am I kidding? It's Pizza Hut!"
I don’t know what you call it in your game. But I’ve heard it called ‘Going to McDonald’s, Going to the General Store, Watching the Horses, Protecting Base-Camp, Praying at the Temple.’ -- Like Olaf, I just call it The Somewhere Else rule. I’ve always house-ruled it that whenever a player isn’t there in person. Their character will usually find someplace safe to hang out while the rest of the party goes off to do their thing.
I just recently got to watch 'The Gamers' by Dead Gentlemen Productions. I was amused by the fact that John's character, the barbarian would be standing around doing nothing, while his character wasn't there, and the NPCs would just ignore him.
Well, barring any extenuating circumstances, such as the death was pending in the previous game session (ie. the death trap), or was pre-discussed and agreed upon.
No. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ever kill off a character when the player isn’t there. Even in situations where their is prior understanding, I still will shy away from it.
I don't know about your game, but when there is even the hint or rumour of food. Especially pizza; the game stops.
*Ding Dong*
GM "Get the door, it's Dom... who am I kidding? It's Pizza Hut!"
I don’t know what you call it in your game. But I’ve heard it called ‘Going to McDonald’s, Going to the General Store, Watching the Horses, Protecting Base-Camp, Praying at the Temple.’ -- Like Olaf, I just call it The Somewhere Else rule. I’ve always house-ruled it that whenever a player isn’t there in person. Their character will usually find someplace safe to hang out while the rest of the party goes off to do their thing.
I just recently got to watch 'The Gamers' by Dead Gentlemen Productions. I was amused by the fact that John's character, the barbarian would be standing around doing nothing, while his character wasn't there, and the NPCs would just ignore him.
Jolly Giant
First Post
In our group, if a player is absent, the rest of the group take shared custody of his character, and that character can die just like any other. However, we tend to play that character a bit more carefully and keep him more in the background than usual. While we don't consider it unfair per se, it is nevertheless a bummer for a player to have his character killed while he's not controlling the character himself.
Even so, characters have been killed while their players were absent. Not often, but it has happened. But then we rarely play without everybody being present either.
Even so, characters have been killed while their players were absent. Not often, but it has happened. But then we rarely play without everybody being present either.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Depends on the social contract of the group. To put it bluntly, no risk, no reward.
If a player expects his character to be present during a session they are not, theyn they can gain XP and can die.
The DM did NOT kill the player. Well, maybe if you have an adversarial DM gunning for them, btu that's a different issue. The DM is a story teller, adventure/plot/world/NPC designer and an adjudicator. They set up a challenge, and then run it fairly. If a character dies, a character dies. Regardless if the player is there or not.
To put it another way, I'm not about to reward a player for not showing by making their character unkillable. I feel that way as player or DM.
Now, player can't make it, tells the DM to write him out for a session - I've got no problem with that. No risk, no reward. It may harm down the road if a player misses a bunch of sessions and is a level or more behind, so I don't want to play in a game with a regular absentee player, but RL happens and comes first.
Good luck,
=Blue
If a player expects his character to be present during a session they are not, theyn they can gain XP and can die.
The DM did NOT kill the player. Well, maybe if you have an adversarial DM gunning for them, btu that's a different issue. The DM is a story teller, adventure/plot/world/NPC designer and an adjudicator. They set up a challenge, and then run it fairly. If a character dies, a character dies. Regardless if the player is there or not.
To put it another way, I'm not about to reward a player for not showing by making their character unkillable. I feel that way as player or DM.
Now, player can't make it, tells the DM to write him out for a session - I've got no problem with that. No risk, no reward. It may harm down the road if a player misses a bunch of sessions and is a level or more behind, so I don't want to play in a game with a regular absentee player, but RL happens and comes first.
Good luck,
=Blue
Kastil
Explorer
Pendragon67 said:Again, I ask...
Is it acceptable for the DM to kill a character in the game when the player (for that character) is not at the session? Under what conditions should this be acceptable? I know it's the DM's game and they can do what they want and they are the final arbiter, BUT! Is this fair?!?! It seems to take the joy out of it. This recently happened to me with my character. I'm not sure what to think. Is he taking advantage of his role as the DM? Any thoughts? Thank you.
My rule as a DM is is this:
When your character is a lower level (let's say 5th or below) and you cannot make the session, I will put your character hibernate mode. They're immune.
The only time I will NPC a PC is when their involvement will adversely affect the outcome of the game. No cleric, no healing... TPK kind of thing.
I will always tell my players when the game has reached that point to let them know character death is possible. That being said, I would never put their characters in a position that would most certainly lead to death if they are not able to make the game. I generally don't like killing off characters but it has happened. ::evil grin::
Silver Moon
Adventurer
An age old question indeed. My first gaming group (back in the early 80's) had a rule that a character could not get killed if the player wasn't there. That led to a heated debate one night when two characters theoretically were killed but the player for one wasn't there. The player who was there argued "It's not fair that my character is dead at -11 hit points and he gets to live at -41". The DM and group concured and both characters were made still alive at -9. The following week (when the other player was there) that rule was changed.
Nebulous
Legend
I've only ever done that once, and that was long ago in 2nd edition when a player had a psionic character that was breaking the game. So we (me and the others) rejoiced when the character died and the player wasn't there. I think i might have rigged it, i don't recall.
now, years later and hopefully a somewhat wiser GM, i wouldn't do it. I'd find another way to nix the character and tell the player that the rules don't work and i can't let him continue using him. My judgement call.
now, years later and hopefully a somewhat wiser GM, i wouldn't do it. I'd find another way to nix the character and tell the player that the rules don't work and i can't let him continue using him. My judgement call.
rgard
Adventurer
Pendragon67 said:Again, I ask...
Is it acceptable for the DM to kill a character in the game when the player (for that character) is not at the session? Under what conditions should this be acceptable? I know it's the DM's game and they can do what they want and they are the final arbiter, BUT! Is this fair?!?! It seems to take the joy out of it. This recently happened to me with my character. I'm not sure what to think. Is he taking advantage of his role as the DM? Any thoughts? Thank you.
Yes, I would say it is acceptable, but I wouldn't normally do it as a DM myself. That said, my rule is that if the player does not show up for the session, then the character is not present. That way there is no issue.
Thanks,
Rich
Ruined
Explorer
This story comes up every year or so in my gaming circle. Many years back I had this happen to my long-term character in a WFRP campaign. I had to miss a session to go see my GF at the time out of state. The DM was a great friend, and ran some of my first games, so there was a lot of respect for his skills. I returned from my trip to learn that he killed my PC as a plot device during my absence. Needless to say, I was not happy and took a hiatus from the game.
I acknowledged that the character was a serious non-combatant (priest of Shallya, the major healing deity), and he had the character jumped alone by a skilled assassin. Had I been there to play, it could easily have been fatal given the brutal nature of WFRP. Then again, I had a few Fate Points stored for that kind of situation. Overall, it just felt disrespectful, given the amount of time I had invested in the game, and the fact that I was only out for one session. Luckily I had a strong friendship with the guy and eventually returned to finish out the campaign.
With that in mind, no, I won't kill PCs for players who are absent unless it's a TPK and they're trapped in some locale together. And really, if it's a TPK, that character is probably a secondary concern. If you drop out of my campaign though without plans of return, your PC is meat for the story.
I acknowledged that the character was a serious non-combatant (priest of Shallya, the major healing deity), and he had the character jumped alone by a skilled assassin. Had I been there to play, it could easily have been fatal given the brutal nature of WFRP. Then again, I had a few Fate Points stored for that kind of situation. Overall, it just felt disrespectful, given the amount of time I had invested in the game, and the fact that I was only out for one session. Luckily I had a strong friendship with the guy and eventually returned to finish out the campaign.
With that in mind, no, I won't kill PCs for players who are absent unless it's a TPK and they're trapped in some locale together. And really, if it's a TPK, that character is probably a secondary concern. If you drop out of my campaign though without plans of return, your PC is meat for the story.
