Have you ever tried to make a villain / monster's death really sad?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I think it would make sense to do so if they are a really tragic villain to start with.


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Back in AD&D 2nd Edition days, one of my players was a Ranger who left her homeland to escape the abuse of her fiancé, another Ranger named Darrin. About 5 years into the campaign (in real time) he showed back up, seemingly changed for the better and begging her to come back home with him. After a few days of this the abuse began again so she ordered him to leave her alone and never come back. He did, but not before telling her, "We will always be together."

Fast forward a few months or so in real time and in an adventure the party had broken into a long-sealed tomb and were beset by a pack of ghouls. Just as things began to look their bleakest, her old lover came charging in and fought his way to her side, telling her to take her wounded companions and get out. He'd hold them back. The last time she saw him he was overwhelmed and buried under a pile of ravenous undead.

Now, fast forward a little over a year in real time, and the heroes here rumors of some undead creature roaming the country side with a pack of ghouls at its side. When they encounter the monsters, her old lover, Darrin, who had become a wight (no need to go into the cut scene here) and once again told her they would always be together "if not in life, then death" and attacked her, draining one of her levels before she could kill him once and for all. The player literally broke down in tears and we had to pause the game for a few minutes. I didn't expect her reaction and I apologized but she said not to worry about it because the whole arc had been perfect and she was really moved by the emotional tension that had built up.

That's probably my favorite memory from my gaming career.


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I've never tried for a specific emotional effect, I want to get the game back into the players hands as much as possible so the scene setting for a real tear jerker just isn't going to happen.

I've also never seen it done terribly well, either the pacing is clipped so I'm not ready to care about the villain/monster before their tragedy, or it's done very campy, or it's been the DM doing his own little thing with the NPCs in a way that doesn't involve the players in the emotional scene.

Cal's scene sounds well paced and engaging, very well done. It's good to hear it's possible, but I doubt I could pull it off.


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in writing you have to make the reader care (be invested/sympathetic) before you off a character... otherwise you risk it becoming comedic or sarcastic rather than tragic.
If you just portray sad scenes I don't think you'll get a lot of buy in.
I'm sure you could re-scene a shakespeare tragedy or do F. Herbert's Soul Catcher.

The problem here is how do you make the head villain sympathetic to your readers/PC's? There needs to be that emotional connection to evoke the right sympathetic emotional response.

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