D&D 5E Tear-jerker moments in campaigns

[transtemporal]

As a disclaimer, I get the sense through my experience in and out of game that I’m more “emotional” than most men. More specifically, I’m comfortable exploring emotional spaces and easily give myself permission to be moved at particularly poignent moments in music, movies, etc. That being said, because my disposition necessarily impacts the degree of my emotional experience, it’s an entirely valid answer to say, “It’s just a game that I play with my friends to have fun. I’m not emotionally moved by what happens in D&D”.

In some ways, the emotional parts in RPGs are more memorable than books, songs or movies because they develop organically and sometimes you don't anticipate how affecting it's going to be.

In a recent adventure the party encountered a crypt with the revenant of their former king, cursed into undeath by an evil priest. The king still had his faculties and memories and was pretty determined to thwart the priests directive to kill anything that entered the crypt. Given our group are a "shoot first and ask questions later" kinda bunch, I figured they'd simply charge the undead king before he had a chance to speak (which would've been a hard fight as they'd just fought a bunch of drow). Instead, they decided to talk to him wherein the king expressed his regret for the foolish actions that had led them to the current situation and gave them the final clues that tied up the mystery of his disappearance. So when it came time to destroy him, they got a bit choked up about it. Completely unexpected. Cool moment though.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Well, not as a player...but as a DM. I was RP'ing an NPC in a 1e game where i was running "Slave Lords".

(SPOILERS!!!)

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Ok. So the PC's were in some town east of Homlett, iirc. There, they set up for a few days, getting to know the locals and waiting for a meeting with "Dame Gold" (I think that was her name...it was about 25 years ago). Anyway, my girlfriend at the time (I married her) was playing a ranger named Killashaundra, and the stable boy at the inn had become 'smitten' with her. He was a year or two younger than her, but he didn't care. Killashaundra was also a bit infatuate with him. They had picnics, long talks at the inn, and even gone shopping at the weekly bazaar or some such thing.

This RP'ing was over two or three sessions (which were about 9 hours a piece at the time). Anyway, Killashaundra saw he was getting a bit too attached, so she tried to distance herself from him. Dame Gold showed up, they agreed to help her, and were setting off the next day. Well, the stable boy noticed her riding out of town...he ran as fast as he could. He yelled for her, and she heard, but Kil decided to pretend not to hear thinking it was 'easier' this way. He caught up to her.

This is where it gets good! He started pleading with her to stay. She said she had a duty to keep her word to Dame Gold. He begged and begged. She tried to come up with all kinds of excuses. ... It was at this time that I started to get a bit choked-up. Of course, this caused my GF to start to get all teary-eyed. She role-played so well I was crying and could barely get the words out of this poor, love struck stable boy! Of course, me crying got her crying...and everyone else at the table was fighting back tears and didn't say a word (because they all had big frogs in their throats and couldn't). The stable boy pulled out a ring and asked Killashaundra to marry him. BOOM! Not a dry eye in the house. The other girl at the table started to cry (as quietly as possible), and that was the last straw for my GF. She choked out a love-torn "NO! I...I...I can't marry you! [insert sporadic anger, frustration, devastation through sobs]". She stated she quickly turned away and started to ride off...and I, as the poor stable boy, cried out "I'll wait for you! I love you Killashaundra! I will wait for you! PLEASE come back to me!".

We took a break after that to gather our 20-something blubbering selves. There have been other high-emotion times in my 37+ years of DM'ing...but that one really gets me. The fact that we were boyfriend/girlfriend probably helped us RP so well, but man...talk about emotional!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[guachi]

Would have been awesome if, after she turned you down in game, you pulled out a real ring and asked her to marry you.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Would have been awesome if, after she turned you down in game, you pulled out a real ring and asked her to marry you.

heheh...a bit too soon, me'thinks. We started going out/dating during our high school prom dance. I had had my eye on her for a few months at that point, and figured I may never see her again...so I pretty much pestered her to dance all night long. I asked her for her phone number at the end of the night. She wouldn't give it to me. So I deduced her last name by looking at all the names of the graduation class that we had on a tee-shirt (yeah, couldn't remember it...hey, she was a smoken' hot 17 year old red-head, sue me!). Gave her a call the next day. That was 1989 and the rest, as they say, is history. We've been together for 28 years and married for the last 18. I don't see that changing any time soon.

^_^

Paul L. Ming