Michael Orton wrote: >Killing a PC is a very significant step to take. I know. I've spent too long playing in games where PC death was very rare, (unless someone drew from a Deck of Many Things at first level, and drew Death) >I haven't looked at the precise situation, but the question which you have >to be sure of the answer to is "Is it a fair kill?". > >It is only a fair kill if the player >a) had fair warning that the character was heading into mortal danger; >b) was aware that the game meta-rules includes that PCs can die. > >Now it seems from your posting that clause (a) was satisfied becuase two >other PCs worked out it was time to cut and run. Agreed. I was pretty sure I'd made the danger of the situation clear But as GM I see the 'big picture', and it's easy not to realise that the players don't know what you know, especially when some players only read the threads their characters are involved in. >The problem arises with clause (b). Some players assume that PCs are >indestructible by default, especially if they are thinking in terms of "high >action" films (or occsionally books). They see it as the GM's job to find >a way for the character to survive absolutely any situation, and for some >genres indeed this is the case. One has a high level of confidence from >before the opening credits that certain characters, such as James Bond, will >survive to the end of the film. When death seems certain you simply cut to >the standard "certain death trap with obvious gaping hole in it" scene. I'm not a big fan of that kind of gaming (or of that kind of movie). Once players know they're indestructable, they'll start taking advantage of the fact, like the high-level DnD fighters jumping off 200' cliffs because they know they've got enough hit-points to survive the fall. >Is this what the player is expecting? If so you have to do some serious >negotiating. You can kill PCs in this sort of world, but not with a simple >you're dead message. They have to go out in glory. I think the problem is I've never made the 'social contract' explicit enough. [Snip] >As far as I can see you have these options: >1) negotiate a suitable death scene with the player and write a new PC into >the plot >2) alter-reality - rule all PCs fled > (standard mechanism is the jump cut to "PC wakes from nightmare") >3) alter reality - another escape route exists and force the PC to use it >4) alter reality - the situation never was as dangerous as it might have >seemed I've gone for option (5), about which I will not say in case any players are reading this. -- Tim Hall, http://www.kalyr.com "It's a fine line between stupid and clever" - Spinal Tap ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
