GENERAL DISCLAIMER:
>Russell Jones does not promote party killing.<
The party of guys I'm running is about to head for the observatory to confront Filge; that is, they WERE before three of them DIED!!
MUA-HA-HA!!
Every DM has their own special D20, and mine has been dubbed "PC Killer" due to its uncanny ability to roll 20s like no-one's business. Despite what people tell you, it is one of the most viscerally gratifying moments as a DM when you off members of a party. It's even BETTER if you get more than one in the same combat. And if only one squeaks away to tell the tale, so much the better.
Plus, it was all their fault! Well, mostly their fault...
First Casuality: The CN human fighter/rogue had just found a Large +1 katana in the metal ball pit right outside the True Tomb (and before you comment, I had just bought Weaps of Legacy). It didn't help him though; when they made it inside the TTomb, he got walloped by not one, but TWO criticals in a row from one of the Wind Guardians. Current status; in Allustan's meat locker.
Second and Third Casualties: The remaining three PCs dumped Alastor's body and found the thugs in the Feral Dog. The NE wanna-be-blighter druid split off from the group to skin the baby bugbear, while the LE Favored Soul of Hextor and LG Tiefling Warlock (don't ask) confronted the toughs. After hearing many not-so-subtle hints that the guys were itching for a fight, the Hextorian tosses the scrap of their comrade's arm with their tattoo on it onto the table.
Violence ensues.
First round of combat; Hextorian critically misses. Kullen the half orc rages and critically hits. For 46 damage. The warlock runs all over the tavern trying to get away, and the druid shows up. Two rounds later, the orc crits again for 55 damage on the druid, and things are looking bleak. All the dead players at the table are now rooting for Kullen, and the warlock is turning pale. The half-orc falls to several well-placed fatigue fogs, and the 'lock cuts his thumbs off, finding out where the Land's bodies are, then runs away.
The best part; the players loved every minute of it! The Hextorian and blighter wanted to play evil characters, but when I explained to them that no one was coming to raise their bodies, they changed alignments for their next characters in a hurry. Up until this point, everyone in my sessions had played a niche character; everyone wanted to try being evil, wanted some new combination of classes, or wanted to be the drow. Now that they've witnessed their own mortality (two of them had never had characters die before in straight combat...in seven years of gaming!), they're more willing to put survivability as their top priority. They want to work together and work in the system now; it only took three of them dying to do it.
DMs should not shy away from being brutish, harsh and painful to their PCs. The world of an adventurer is harsh; it's not all XP and roses. Sometimes what a difficult group of players needs is just a good Total Party Kill. Or at least a near-miss.
Of course, DMs should NEVER take that advice unless they know the people they're playing with VERY well; these guys had been friends for four years, so they knew I wasn't being stupid or vain. The same could not be said for another DM they played with, who killed off characters just because they weren't following his storyline exactly or his version of "The Rules". As a DM you should be friends first, a gracious host second, and a DM third. Make sure they're having fun; and sometimes, a little death can be REALLY fun :)
GENERAL DISCLAIMER:
>Russell Jones does not promote party killing.<The party of guys I'm running is about to head for the observatory to confront Filge; that is, they WERE before three of them DIED!!
MUA-HA-HA!!
Every DM has their own special D20, and mine has been dubbed "PC Killer" due to its uncanny ability to roll 20s like no-one's business. Despite what people tell you, it is one of the most viscerally gratifying moments as a DM when you off members of a party. It's even BETTER if you get more than one in the same combat. And if only one squeaks away to tell the tale, so much the better.
Plus, it was all their fault! Well, mostly their fault...
First Casuality: The CN human fighter/rogue had just found a Large +1 katana in the metal ball pit right outside the True Tomb (and before you comment, I had just bought Weaps of Legacy). It didn't help him though; when they made it inside the TTomb, he got walloped by not one, but TWO criticals in a row from one of the Wind Guardians. Current status; in Allustan's meat locker.
Second and Third Casualties: The remaining three PCs dumped Alastor's body and found the thugs in the Feral Dog. The NE wanna-be-blighter druid split off from the group to skin the baby bugbear, while the LE Favored Soul of Hextor and LG Tiefling Warlock (don't ask) confronted the toughs. After hearing many not-so-subtle hints that the guys were itching for a fight, the Hextorian tosses the scrap of their comrade's arm with their tattoo on it onto the table.
Violence ensues.
First round of combat; Hextorian critically misses. Kullen the half orc rages and critically hits. For 46 damage. The warlock runs all over the tavern trying to get away, and the druid shows up. Two rounds later, the orc crits again for 55 damage on the druid, and things are looking bleak. All the dead players at the table are now rooting for Kullen, and the warlock is turning pale. The half-orc falls to several well-placed fatigue fogs, and the 'lock cuts his thumbs off, finding...
Aha! But you promote hpk! : )
My players sometimes complain but enjoy the fact they have never had a part over 13lvl and only one character reach 17th level. They see it as a challenge. The best TPK I had was running Queen of the Spiders in a FR campaign. The Balor beheadeded 3 PCS in a row and the Vrock kept using telekinesis to slam the other into a brick wall until he was mush.
I agree it is enjoyable to kill the the min/max munch characters the most. They plan out their whole progression and think that they are invinceable, and they usually are to a point but the good ole "PC killer" dice always wins in the end.
My players sometimes complain but enjoy the fact they have never had a part over 13lvl and only one character reach 17th level. They see it as a challenge. The best TPK I had was running Queen of the Spiders in a FR campaign. The Balor beheadeded 3 PCS in a row and the Vrock kept using telekinesis to slam the other into a brick wall until he was mush.
I agree it is enjoyable to kill the the min/max munch characters the most. They plan out their whole progression and think that they are invinceable, and they usually are to a point but the good ole "PC killer" dice always wins in the end.
13th level? Sounds pretty high to me. I remember one 2nd ed. campaign where my party reached 10th or so before they split up in the Underdark and got picked off one by one (in the Night Below adventure). In 3rd ed. 6th level is the record. Maybe I just need to play more D&D!
I had to retire my red PC Killer d20 after I killed the same player (the party's cleric) three times in one game session, each time he died, he had to make a new character. Now I only use those dice when I'm a PC.
All my dice just roll 1s and 2s. Oh, wait... Those are coins.
My PCs kept rolling great saves vs. the lurking strangler's eye attacks, but they kept rolling absolutely horrible spot checks, so they never saw the bugger until it started to strangle a subdued NPC in the party. I thought that was going to be a tpk.
No DM should be using a die that rolls lots of 20s. I have one, but it only gets rolled as a player. As a DM i use a nice green d20 that rolls absolutely random.
If your players are Min/Maxing, annoying, or unlikeable to the point that you want to see them killed, then you should dump them and find better players.
(Or play HackMaster where it's DM vs. Players. Just my philosophy, different strokes for different folks and all that).
thats the real reason for a DM screen. Not for the tables...not for the neat wrap around art, but to hide a crit roll when you don't want a party member to bite it. OR when you do want a party member to die...behind a screen a 1 hits just like a 20
True...very true :)
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Very true, in the last campaign I had an orange D20 that was:
a) Very noticeable and readable even from a distance.
b) Came up with 19 to 20 a shocking amount of the time.
The dice managed to kill a halfling rogue three times in a row, in Heart of Nightfang Spire, but she was a bit daft as well. In fact, if I recall everyone died at least once, even those that started with new characters (there where two of those). In total about 9 deaths, all the way up to level 21. It was probably a killer dice :) I was going to run a Chi squared test with it prior to runing RttToEE, but the players saved me the bother by stealing it and throwing it in the sea. I still occasionaly bemoan it's loss when they get cocky :)
Now I use DM shields. I Paizo's 3.5, D&D 3.0, D&D 3.5, FR and I just ordered the new Eberron one. Always get a big bonus to my AC :) Otherwise I lounge on the floor and roll under the living room table. Half the time I can't even read it :)
Regarding dice honesty even though I have run for 20 years I never really bought into the "let the dice be as they fall". If players want an un-fudged game they should hire someone whom they pay to be bored, buy all the books and miniatures as well, or play a computer game that doesn't care whether everyone enjoys the game or not. I think Monte Cook wrote an article on this in Dragon fairly recently, I remeber reading it and being bit's of all of them but primarily a story weaver.
I think that's just because Heart of Nightfang Spire is the death mod to end all death mods. I'm not counting Tomb of Horrors because I haven't played it, but HoNS was the most brutal party-raping I've ever seen in my gaming life. It got my party so depressed we stopped playing the entire campaign!
I think that's just because Heart of Nightfang Spire is the death mod to end all death mods. I'm not counting Tomb of Horrors because I haven't played it, but HoNS was the most brutal party-raping I've ever seen in my gaming life. It got my party so depressed we stopped playing the entire campaign!
What happened? Poor planning on the PCs part? Did the PCs die off right at the beginning of the module?
Regarding dice honesty even though I have run for 20 years I never really bought into the "let the dice be as they fall".
But you can't let the players know you fudge the rolls, or else there's no thrill of victory or fear of defeat.