"Kill a PC' Week! (was weekend)

[genshou]

I skipped this one, because the only game I'm running is my Story Hour, and as it's a single-player game, the campaign would take a drastic turn with the only PC dying a low level.

And for what? What benefit would I get out of doing this? Better question yet, how would it make my player enjoy the game more?

If I was playing a standard dungeon-delving game with 4 or more PCs, I might. But stylistically, why encourage being excessively hard on the PCs? The GM and players should not have an adversarial relationship.

 

[Slobber Monster]

If I was playing a standard dungeon-delving game with 4 or more PCs, I might. But stylistically, why encourage being excessively hard on the PCs? The GM and players should not have an adversarial relationship.

A collection of possible reasons why some of us enjoy this:

The ones left alive have a greater appreciation of their good fortune.

Danger is *real*. Failure is possible. Players do not get the feeling that their success is inevitable, therefore their actions and decisions matter.

Death is part of the game contract. The players, accepting this, see death as part of a character's story arc. Heroes who fall in battle are remembered and honored. Creating new characters is a fun process which helps rebound from the loss.

The players and DM enjoy their adversarial relationship. The players trust the DM to be fair and reasonable about his side of it. The DM understands that if he isn't, people will go find another DM. The players appreciate it when the DM throws up a good challenge while staying within these boundaries.

 

[genshou]

A collection of possible reasons why some of us enjoy this:

The ones left alive have a greater appreciation of their good fortune.

Danger is *real*. Failure is possible. Players do not get the feeling that their success is inevitable, therefore their actions and decisions matter.

Death is part of the game contract. The players, accepting this, see death as part of a character's story arc. Heroes who fall in battle are remembered and honored. Creating new characters is a fun process which helps rebound from the loss.

The players and DM enjoy their adversarial relationship. The players trust the DM to be fair and reasonable about his side of it. The DM understands that if he isn't, people will go find another DM. The players appreciate it when the DM throws up a good challenge while staying within these boundaries.

That's the first decent explanation of this I've ever seen someone give! Well done.

I just don't buy into the "Ok everyone! It's time for you to go kill a PC for no other reason than the fact that it's 'Kill a PC week!'" spiel. Having death be a part of the game is fine, and I certainly leave no slack in that regard. I just don't feel the need to kill without a reason. That's why I made the comment about an adversarial relationship. Risk is fun, and so is making a character. But I reward my players for investing in their characters, so this idea would go against the grain in my gaming groups.

In fact, if I killed a PC just for this event and then posted here to gloat about it, and one of my players found the thread... I'd not just have my game called. I'd be out of the group.

 

[Reynard]

I just don't buy into the "Ok everyone! It's time for you to go kill a PC for no other reason than the fact that it's 'Kill a PC week!'" spiel. Having death be a part of the game is fine, and I certainly leave no slack in that regard. I just don't feel the need to kill without a reason. That's why I made the comment about an adversarial relationship. Risk is fun, and so is making a character. But I reward my players for investing in their characters, so this idea would go against the grain in my gaming groups.

The truth is that I tend to be very easy on my players, even if I generally do a good job of hiding it. Character deaths are not particularly common.

However, I do not buy into the idea that a character death must be 'dramatically appropriate', or even worse, planned. I am a firm believer that the 'story' of an RPG happens after the fact, not during prep or even as the DM unfolds the plot. When everyone is kicking back and talking intensely about how awesome it was that Bob the Fighter got massacred by a horde of dire weasels is what makes the story, and makes the game memorable.

 

[shilsen]

The PCs in one of my Eberron games are probably going up against a minotaur with class levels (who will have a little backup) very shortly. I'll be running the game tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure if they'll get to the minotaur this session. I statted him up and I think there's a fair chance that someone will bite the dust. Luckily it won't be permanent, since I allow a usage of action points to avoid that, but it's the thought which counts

Just to report on the above, I had the session today. Five 6th lvl PCs, with one slightly tougher NPC and four 4th lvl NPCs, went up against a CR 8 minotaur and a CR 8 troll. By the end of the fight, three PCs were dead (though, as mentioned above, they got better ). More importantly, it was a darn fun fight, with some interesting actions and climactic dice rolls.

 

[genshou]

However, I do not buy into the idea that a character death must be 'dramatically appropriate', or even worse, planned. I am a firm believer that the 'story' of an RPG happens after the fact, not during prep or even as the DM unfolds the plot. When everyone is kicking back and talking intensely about how awesome it was that Bob the Fighter got massacred by a horde of dire weasels is what makes the story, and makes the game memorable.

I never meant that PCs should only die when I deem it an appropriate moment to create 'story'. I only meant that I would never deliberately kill a PC without good reason (e.g. just because someone on a messageboard decided that it's 'Kill a PC Week' is not a good reason, ergo it's not going to happen in my games).