Stupid player decisions + bad dice rolls = dead PC

[Rel]

Standing by and NOT providing assistance in an emergency is a criminal offence in Sweden. I believe (but do not assume to know) that providing assitance without proper medical training in the US can get you in the wrong end of a liability case.

Just standing by and gawking is somethng I'd hope is just a modern large city phenomenon, due to the expected arrival of the ambulance. Then again, there is the tale of the good Samaritan, which goes to show how old racial prejudice is.

Indeed, New Jersey and Sweden are ideological worlds apart, but then again so are New Jersey and almost anywhere.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of the "intrepid maid" saving the character's life. The idea of a powerful PC owing their existence to a maid at an inn has a certain appeal:

PC - "Good woman, I owe you my very life. How may I repay your act of kindness?"

Maid - "Well, you could start by leaving a decent tip for a change. And I could use some help emptying the third floor chamber pots as well."

It could be a lead in to an entire adventure in the city sewers...

 

[Buttercup]

Oh, I don't dismiss the idea of an intrepid maid outright, but I think one would have to be careful with it, lest you come across as using deus ex machina (maidus ex machina?). Now if the party had seen the maid being ill treated by the villain earlier, groped and then stiffed, for example, and on top of it, if the PC in question had come to the rescue of the maid, ("Unhand her, sir! Gentlemen do not ill treat innocent serving maids!") then if the maid happened to help out the PC later, it wouldn't stretch credibility so much.

But I guess I sort of like it if the party feels that they are completely alone. Fear focuses the mind wonderfully, I find.