Director of Games
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Hey there Folks,
Due to a small error, I am in need of one more volunteer to help run Fight Club on Friday, from noon till 5pm. You must be capable of running Pathfinder, possess a vast well of cruelty, and burn with the desire to deal pain to others.
Apply to this thread and try to impress me with tales of your cruelty. One post per applicant please. I will pick an assistant on Monday.
You will be rewarded.
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
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Cruelty, eh? My wife (and many others) have said that I am the most ruthless GM they know, for the following reasons (and many more I won't list for the sake of space):
I had no issue letting a character who fell unconscious from fire damage during the battle with Palaveen in the Council of Thieves Adventure Path burn to death while his companions were overwhelmed fighting the boss. We added one charred PC corpse to the loot for that session.
During the first Shadow battle in the Asmodean Knot the foul undead conveniently picked the lowest strength characters as their targets. One PC had to be carried away even after the party expended all of their Lesser Restoration potions . . .
I run evil cleric NPCs as ruthless, psychopathic monsters; when fighting a goblin shaman a new group of players was mortified when the shaman focused his attention on the downed PC by casting 'Death Knell' with a wicked goblin-toothed grin. For some reason they were even more horrified when the shaman cast it again on the second downed PC . . .
Stealthy enemies are meant to fight dirty; hit and run tactics are just the beginning. As soon as the players think they are safe and the party cleric moves to 'neutralize poison' on the poisoned target, that is the moment the assassin's death attack held action is released.
New players are warned away from my games on reputation alone. I had no objection to the invisible lich blasting a cone of cold when the entire group of 8 PCs were walking down a narrow hallway. Three PCs dropped dead before the initiative dice were even rolled. The rest remembered to take the time to heal between every encounter from then on . . .
As an aside, Jason you are my *hero* for coming up with a system that is both balanced and fun to play. The future of tabletop gaming was decided by your pen, and I'd absolutely love the opportunity to learn from the master.
::grabs some popcorn and takes a seat to watch the drama unfold::
::munch, munch, munch::
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Well, I killed 67 characters during the first AP from Dungeon magazine... and I've killed 7 so far in my Undermountain campaign...
My spellcasters live by the motto of "Throw the biggest spell first,"
I kill stupid players (wow, that sounds kinda harsh)... How about, I have no pity on players to play stupidly. Seperate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
I'll be playing this event. Is it hard to switch over to running?
Edit: Oh, and my PFS players have titled me "Killer GM", though I've only killed two characters, both who were raised from the dead after the game ended.
The more I read, the more excited I get that I'm participating in this event.
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My players scold me atn the mere mention of The Glutton or his Underground Carnival. This dungeon crawl began with a plaque warning that every inch of the carnival was double-edged knife. "Double-edged knife" was an explosive rune. The handle on the first door was strung to a crossbow, loaded with a poison bullet and aimed at a prisoner. Later they found themselves fighting in a room with sinking floor tiles. Each of those tiles was the top of a pillar line up with the exposed innards of an innocent bound to the floor. Finally, to win the chance to face The Glutton, they had to win a fight to the death against another adventuring party, good of alignment, whose leader was there to save his sister. Killing the other party would have been enough, but for each fallen adversary they placed in a vortex to the elemental plane of fire, a dead ally (other than those incinerated) would be resurrected.
Then I put them through hell. Edward Blackheart the first, terribly evil long dead great grandfather of the party warlock had run a coup in hell and won command over the third layer. He used his infernal connections to terrorize the material plane and the PCs specifically. They were forced to hunt him down where he lived. One of the party died, dropped into the river Styx, which had such a thick cover of flies over it his body could not be retrieved. And yet somehow Edward the first managed to do it for when the PCs faced him, he wore a codpiece made from the face of their dead friend.
I'm usually a benevolent GM, sincerely rooting for the PCs to succeed. But every now and then I feel the urge to be evil. And wow am I good at being evil.
I'm playing in it, but I'd be happy to give up the slot if you need some help...
Previous acts of cruelty;
I masqueraded as Mrs. Fishy on the boards and usurped Mr. Fishy's water hole for about a week while he was away.
I regularly awaken my fiance with volleys of automatic nerf gun fire. She's taken to stockpiling weapons on the night stand.
I ran Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (3.0) by the book. 8 character deaths before the end of the first dungeon, but all of them fair.
One time, I spun a friends bunny around in circles for a full minute, then slapped my hands behind its ears so it paniced and ran into the wall...three times.
I chase my friends cats. He has hardwood floors, the cats have long fur and a poor turning radius... so I refer to it as "biological swiffer-time"
I lip sync "when I think about you I touch myself" and blow kisses to people at traffic lights.
I tear the heads off all but one of the peeps in a package, then fasten them onto the final one, crying out things like "Hail Hydra Peep!" and whistling music from Jason and the Argonauts while assaulting my guests.
I regularly run Call of Cthulhu. In one scenario, the players rushed to the aid of a burning dirigible...every succesful heal check on a burning body produced an additional threat later on.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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1) Skullcrusher-ogre dire werewolves...with barbarian levels
2) War-troll fighter with armor of acid resistance
3) zombies made with casks of nails, glass and black powder crammed into their chest cavities.
4) I have been known--on occasion--to tell my group that there are nachos for game night...when-there-are-NONE!
Cruelty is an ON and OFF the table job, gentlemen.
Cheers!
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1) Skullcrusher-ogre dire werewolves...with barbarian levels
2) War-troll fighter with armor of acid resistance
3) zombies made with casks of nails, glass and black powder crammed into their chest cavities.
4) I have been known--on occasion--to tell my group that there are nachos for game night...when-there-are-NONE!
Cruelty is an ON and OFF the table job, gentlemen.
Cheers!
If you think that's bad...
And sometimes I spell rogue rouge just to piss people off.
I would be perfect for this job if I weren't already killing off people's favorite Society characters in the other room.
It was 1979 and I was 9 years old. I went to my friends house because he had gotten a new game. It was a red paperback book with some funny shaped dice (oddly there was not even a board much less playing pieces). It had pictures of wizards and elves and reminded me of my favorite TV show, The Hobbit. His parents had helped him decipher the rules and so he showed me the basics.
Because my friend wanted to play an elf, he pronounced that I should be the Dungeon Master. So while he drew his character (much more important than actually rolling him up), I created the dungeon. From the example dungeon, I knew it had to have pits. Also, I wanted skeletons (because of the cool picture and it reminded me of the fight in Jason and the Argonauts) and goblins. Finally it needed an evil wizard. I drew this on graph paper and wrote what was in each room on the paper inside the lines of the room.
My friend, we can call him "Brad", bypassed the pit (climbing down and up the other side, I hadn't gotten the "hidden pit" thing down yet) and ended up fighting ten skeletons that were hidden in pillars. Due to a technicality (we didn't understand that spells could not be cast at will, all day) he survived, only to be beset by a troop of goblins. He was down to one hit point, so he ran. The goblins gave chase and he tried jumping across the pit but didn't make it. He argued that he should be able to stick his dagger in the far wall and thus not fall and take damage. I agreed and the goblins captured him. The goblins marched him, manacled, to the wizard, who (and we played this, roll by roll), whipped him, slowly, to death. He cried and crumbled his painstakingly drawn elf. I remembered walking home that evening thinking what a wonderful game it was and how I could sucker him into rolling up another character.
Since that time, I have killed uncountable numbers of characters, some memorable, nuked into nothingness by a broken staff, others, simply an "oops, you fell" sort of thing ("blue! no yellow - Aaaagh!"). I have run campaigns where any living thing that dies comes back as a ghoul or worse. "Don't kill him!" They would yell. Healing the blackguard they were fighting because they feared him too wounded to take another hit without dying outright. I ran Savage Tide with nary a fudge - I played the song from the movie "The Thing" when they found themselves on the Sargasso. "The Mother" is still talked about in hushed tones.
Now, when I DM, the players show up with a frightened energy, each looking at each other - "Will it be you tonight? Or me?" They roll randomly to see which character shall walk ahead - a sheen of sweat marking their brow, tapping away like blind men with their 10 foot pole.
Over the years, I have become adept at spotting the weak ones (player characters, hah) - You know who they are. Un-maxed. Friendly. Asking questions about the rules. I smile at them and put them at ease, answering every question they ask. But none that they don't ask. You can almost see the experienced players move away from them at the table, their figures never within 10 feet. "A drowning man will pull you under as well if you get too close," they mutter. For such players, I attempt to make each death different and, somehow meaningful, so that they keep coming back for more.
I was called a killer DM before the term "Killer DM" was invented.
Some of my work:
- Here is a (somewhat fuzzy) picture of me, back in the day. You can almost make out the chart behind my shoulder. It reads "Adventurers Eaten". -> CLICK HERE
- A conversion I am working on, called A Paladin in Hell. If I can talk enough people into dying, er, playing it, I will run this Friday night at the Con. -> CLICK HERE
Some of the others above look promising as well. And, to be honest, I've never run (or assisted) a Fight Club (although my players still swivel their heads when someone mentions "Madtooth"). It'll be a tough choice, but that's what we Killer DMs do - Make the tough calls.
~D
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Well, I killed 67 characters during the first AP from Dungeon magazine... and I've killed 7 so far in my Undermountain campaign...
My spellcasters live by the motto of "Throw the biggest spell first,"
I kill stupid players (wow, that sounds kinda harsh)... How about, I have no pity on players to play stupidly. Seperate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
I'll be playing this event. Is it hard to switch over to running?
Edit: Oh, and my PFS players have titled me "Killer GM", though I've only killed two characters, both who were raised from the dead after the game ended.
Oh yes, and I once Auto-killed a player. He was surrounded by archers, told to disarm and disrobe to skivies. When he refused to remove the amulet from his NG God, he was given one more chance when told "or else". He said, "No, I worship a good God, they should recognize that and let me keep it!"
I asked him if he was sure, and he and he was. I took his character sheet and tore it in two in front of the entire group. "Make a new character," I said.
I did later explain that evil groups had been mascarading as good clerics for some time, and that the group surrounding him took no chances.
Man, that was a good campaign. Too bad I ended up slaughtering the entire party with waves of slaad, and a undead who cast greater dispel magic at will...
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I regularly run Call of Cthulhu. In one scenario, the players rushed to the aid of a burning dirigible...every succesful heal check on a burning body produced an additional threat later on.
Regular? REGULAR?!?
I move halfway around the world, and then you start up a regular came of Cthulhu?
Son of a...
I regularly run Call of Cthulhu. In one scenario, the players rushed to the aid of a burning dirigible...every succesful heal check on a burning body produced an additional threat later on.
Regular? REGULAR?!?
I move halfway around the world, and then you start up a regular came of Cthulhu?
Son of a...
Sorry man, I rediscovered my love of Cthulhu. Something about that special edge that fear brings to roleplaying just spoke out to me... it's fascinating how you can kill/maim/drive PC's insane and still having a coherent plot line in the setting... we can discuss more elsewhere though, I don't want to congest this thread :-) .