R.I.P Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue

Well, it finally happened.

After GM’ing for almost four years on and off through several games, the inevitable finally occurred:

I killed a Player Character.

Now, before I get into the hows and whys, let me first explain my position on PC deaths: I’m not a fan of killing off PC’s. See, I’m from the school of thought that, if a player spends the time and effort in rolling up a character and making up an interesting and cool back story then for them to die in the game requires one of two things to happen:

One, they do something despite me advising strongly against it.

Example:
Me: “You find what looks to be a temple. It appears to be holy ground and the resting place of heroes. There are several sarcophagus in the room with carvings along the side depicting the heroic exploits of these soldiers. It appears no other evil has touched this place.

PC: Screw it! I’m going to rip off one of those coffin lids and find me some treasure!

Me: Uh…these were good soldiers who died defending the realm against evil. Don’t you think they deserve some peace?

PC: Not as much as my ass deserves a sweet magical item! BOYAH!


Two, they just do something outright stupid.

Example:

PC: So, I think this guy is the villain.

GM: Why? He’s give you no reason to think this. He’s done nothing but help the team, and is even standing watch in the infirmary over your fallen comrade.

PC: Whatever. He’s evil and I’m not going to stand around until it’s too late to stop his evil ass.

GM: So what are you going to do?

PC: Strap ten grenades to my body, run in the infirmary and bear hug him. Then pull the pin.

GM: IN THE INFIRMARY!?!? LIKELY KILLING ALL OF THE INNOCENTS INSIDE!?!?

PC: I’m not worried…I’ll use the Force to shield myself from the blast.


So…you get the picture. I WON’T let a good PC die because of a crappy roll of the dice. The name of the game is FUN…and losing your PC (unless you have it coming to you) simply isn’t fun, not for me, certainly not for the players.

But damn it can be dramatic.

So, this last weekend I was running my group’s D6 Fantasy campaign “Champions of the North” and things had taken a downward turn for the group.

Two thirds of them were in prison for killing a couple of orc thugs a month earlier while in town before they went on a dungeon crawl. Upon returning to town they were arrested, put on trial and sentenced to death. Turns out the local crime syndicate decided to use them in the main event of the newly built arena, so they could line their pockets with gold at the minor expense of two of their orc footsoldiers.

So, we’ve got two PC’s stripped down , fitted with raiment’s and shoved into the arena to fight for their lives in front of this bloodthirsty crowd. I decided to throw two massive Wood Trolls at them (and in D6 Fantasy, trolls are mean, nasty, TOUGH sumsbitches, and with my own modifications NOT some panty-waists that run at the first glimmer of sunlight)… but there were weapons to be had and even a way to escape…the PC’s merely had to find the correct loose sewer grate that led to the underground tunnels. The game plan they came up with was to split up…forcing the trolls to divide their efforts…not a bad plan.

The two PC’s were a Battlemage Moonelf named Cirith Moonshadow and the other, a half-elf Bard named Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue (quit your snickering out there, I can hear you!).

When the Trolls were released the PC’s did a good job initially of holding their ground, with Arol dodging and weaving, trying sewer grates and just barely staying out of his Wood Troll’s reach. Cirith was lucky enough to find her magic sword on her first attempt (see, weapons were arrayed in covered alcoves along the arena walls…they were completely random and the local mages guild, who needed Cirith alive, had planted her weapon “The Troll Slaying Bastard Sword of Aundair” among the available weapons-and I’ll be damned if the player, Elfgirl, didn’t draw the freaking sword on her first try…a 1 in 23 chance…go figure)…

So, seeing that this battle was likely to end pretty quickly (barring some catastrophe), I moved my guys in for the kill, just to make things remotely interesting and challenging ….Cirith’s troll of course became sushi thanks to her magical weapon….Arol (who was being played by Country Girl)…well…Arol had some bad luck.

See, Arol was doing fine dancing around, trying the sewer grates for an early exit, and so on…but upon dodging out of the way of his adversary a second too late, the Troll managed to catch Arol just right and land a hit…

Here’s where it gets interesting.

See…when we played Star Wars D6 it used the “Wound Level” system…which to me was a very archaic and abstract way of determining how bad off your character was injured. Instead of hit points or body points, you had “wound levels”…and I hated it. I think it failed to really capture the visceral reaction necessary to convey how bad you just got f***ed up. So, instead of seeing your hit points drop by half you get a lame “Well, you’re Wounded x2”.

Woooo! I really felt THAT!

See, like I said, it just seems to lack the appropriate “zing” that a body point system does.

So, when the newer D6 products rolled out a body points-based damage system, I did backflips.

Now, when you take damage, you actually have a solid idea of how bad your ass just got kicked. It’s great, I dig it and more importantly, it lets players know just how bad off they really are, rather than telling them… “oooh…you really hurt…wow, boy do you hurt…”


So…back to the action…..

Arol has 35 body points.

The Troll connects on his hit, using claws as big as daggers….

And does 34 points of damage.

The players freak as Arol’s midsection gets ripped from his body and flies unceremoniously through the air to splat against the arena wall.

So, as a GM here’s my dilemma.

Arol has a healing potion (don’t ask how he smuggled it in, his name is “Sweet-Tongue” so do the math)….anyway, do I let Cirith make her way over to him, fight off the slaughtering troll and save Arols life?

Or do I do something memorable, something dramatic, something that the group will remember for years to come?

Yeah, I went ahead and killed his ass.

With Arol having only one body point left, Cirith, having taken her troll out of the fight, scrambles, sword in hand, to get to her fallen comrade, who has dropped to his knees, his intestines spilling into his hands as rain pours from above into the arena and as lightning crashes and thunder fights for supremacy over the roar of the crowd…and as Ciriths stumbles and scampers along the wet ground, the troll, an evil grin on his face, draws back, and as Arol looks up, disbelieving, razor sharp claws slice through the air-and his neck- sending his head spinning off into the darkness.

DRAMA!

So that’s how it happened at the table.

Country Girl sat there stunned as I asked her to hand over her character folder and gave her the rulebook to decide what kind of character she wanted to play next. To her credit she accepted it with dignity…didn’t argue or protest and got on with planning her future PC.

The other players moved on as well, with Cirith returning the favor and beheading the killer troll and escaping the arena and Borrax (the teams Dwarven tank) infiltrating the prison and retrieving the teams gear…still, for the next several hours I tried to make Country Girl feel better abut the situation, telling her the new PC might be more fun to play, that it wasn’t her fault, that the troll just got a great roll…you could even tell the other players were still coming to grips with it.

It was an emotional time.

So…the remaining two heroes, Cirith and Borrax finally rendezvous, Cirith reveals Arol’s demise and as both board a ship to escape the town, they go about the grim business of dividing up their fallen comrades goods…

And come across the Mirror of Resurrection Arol found in the dungeon they’d recently visited.


HA HA!!!!!!!!

Stunned and surprised, Cirith uses her arcane knowledge, figures out how it works and smashes it against the floor…the mirror shatters and a flash and puff of smoke later, and a naked shivering Arol Flynn is resurrected right there in the middle of the cabin.

See, what makes this ALL the more sweet is that NONE of the players remembered the mirror! They actually sat there for several hours thinking I had just killed a PC (which technically, I had)…but I remembered the mirror, and knew that barring anything unforeseen they would come across it after the rendezvous and that Arol would rise again.

It’s times like these that makes all of the work and effort worthwhile.

Snacks for the game: $10
Miniatures and props: $10
Convincing a player you just killed off their character for good: Priceless.

Oh, and as a treat for you all, here are two pictures of the Champions of the North. The first is their starting “look” for the game…bright colors, very heroic…Arol Flynn Sweet-Tongue, Borrax Ironhouse and Cirith Moonshadow…. feel free to click for a higher resolution image!



























And the second pic is of the heroes on the run from the law and heading into darker, more sinister territories….












Oh, and some of you may be wondering why Borrax is sporting a thick black beard and shaggy mane of hair in one pic and not in the other.

Well dear readers, that is another story all together.....