Character Death

Back from a bit of a break this week, we'll be picking up on our Keep on the Borderlands campaign on Friday....the one where there was basically a TPK to close the previous session. I was thinking how important the threat and reality of character death is to a D&D game. I know that WoTC is pushing more story gaming and plot-armor for the characters these days, but the memorable encounters are those were death is a real and present threat.

My players would likely say that I am not a lethal DM, I always let the dice dictate the action in my games and since we've been playing 5th edition almost exclusively these past few years, there have only been a handful of times that character death was a danger. Those times though, were the most memorable.

Nothing sets the players on edge like watching one of the group get dropped. The 5E mechanic of allowing death saves makes it pretty difficult to actually die in these games, but the drama of letting the dice decide their fate in many instances is pretty fun. Everyone holding their breath as the D20 bounces across the table...

Some newer DM's will want to pull punches and lessen the blow on their players, but this is bad DMing...if your players walk into a deadly encounter, then make it deadly. You can't fight your way through everything in these games and sometimes running to survive is the best option. Your players will always remember that time that Joe's character fell into the pit of spikes or Sarah's character was consumed by the black pudding....and that's what playing is all about: having fun and a great story!

The Shadowvale Campaign (thoughts) part 4

So....the group arrives in Eldermere in search of The Book of the Shadowhorn. Upon arriving outside of the small village, the group notes the fires burning and general chaos. Something has already occurred, but before they can figure out what is going on. I launch them into an encounter...a group of zombies....now their heads are spinning, "what the hell happened here and what have we stumbled onto?"

So around this time, the group dynamic was shifting a bit. Two of the guys who were playing had some life changes that were forcing them to leave the group unfortunately and I was in the process of plugging those wholes since the group would be down to 3 people for a short time. Regardless, we ventured on...

Dispatching of the zombies, I next laid out the second the second phase of the encounter before the group could get their bearings. A dispatch of troops from the largest city in the area, Waterford, had arrived and now surrounded the group. The troops also had no clue of WTF was going on in the village, but seeing as how the PC's were the only living beings in site....they were persons of interest now.

The troops were led by one of the more important NPC's I had planned for the campaign, Calais. Modeled from my character from the MMORPG FFXI, he was a by the book, good-aligned and compassionate NPC that I hoped would be somewhat of a friend to the PC's as needed. 

Calais in all his FFXI glory

For now though, the PC's were surrounded and this group of guards wanted some answers, even though my players had none to give. I really like having these moral and somewhat unwinnable situations presented in my games. The players could run, give up, fight, lie....the players decided to comply and were disarmed and taken to the local tavern for questioning. Now restrained and in the presence of two guards, as the rest of the troops investigated the town, I gave the group a chance to escape...I was being somewhat of bad DM through this planned part of the campaign, I really hate being heavy handed. I prefer to rely on the random tables and players choices, but I wanted to force the players hands a bit here yet still get to the juicy pieces of this part of the encounter.

The players to their credit, took their first opportunity to escape. The guards reacted and to spread more chaos. I had zombies attack the troops outside which in turn set fire to the tavern that the group was held up in.....this encounter was pure gold. The environment itself was a hazard, the group had to think creatively since they were without their gear, and the guards....well they only really cared about getting out of this situation alive.

Each round, I had the fire grow and become more dangerous, until finally the group had no choice but to flee into the cellar to escape the fire. I had planned for this and had the notion to map out an underground passages that ran throughout the village. So into the labyrinth the group went....next session would be their next dungeon crawl and a new player would be joining to create an interesting party dynamic which would fuel the overall narrative of the campaign going forward.

The rules lawyer saved my character's life

I've had the privilege of playing in a Pathfinder game over the last year or so. My friend Cody has been running his first game as a DM and we've been playing through Rise of the Runelords. We've just started into chapter 3 and my character for this campaign is Kyrill Four-Finger, a degenerate rogue / mostly trap clearer in this group.

Our last session was played over the weekend, where most of the encounters occurred in the remote town of Turtleback Ferry. To briefly summarize, we're there based on some leads that we have encountered from a cult in the area, we believe they may be planning their next move in this area. We had a very humorous encounter with the town's priest while trying to determine his knowledge of the cult, but major encounter of the night occurred while we were out on the nearby lake searching the wreckage of a noted gambling boat that had recently sunk.

The party was split at this point and we were a bit melee light in a large gar (massive freaking fish) attacked us. The fight was going pretty poorly, our sorcerer had already been knocked out after being swallowed. My thief was in the water as well, attempting to save Aaron's character Zabi.

It was bigger than this, but you get the picture...

In the midst of all of this, my character gets gobbled up the thing as well. I basically had one round to live inside of it and my hope was to get a large sneak attack off to get clear of the monster and pull Zabi free....but that didn't happen....at least not at first. Both of your characters died and the session was about to wrap up....when Aaron, who to his credit is the most entune with the rules regardless of the game we're playing speaks and notes that technically the Gar would have lost it's dexterity bonus while I was inside of it and WHAM sneak attack applies. We rewound to the section and played it out from there....both of our character still didn't up knocked dead, but the group was able to claim our bodies and head back to the temple for some awkward roleplaying with the priest to get us both raised...good times indeed.

Rules lawyers tend to get a bad wrap from the RPG community at times, but I've always been a fan. As someone who runs games by the seat of my pants most times, I haven't always read every fine detail of each characters abilities. My motto is: "It is on the players to be the expert of their character". So thanks Aaron...Kyrill will be back to fight another day and likely run away next time!

So much to read, so many games I want to run....

So, over the holidays I went a bit of shopping spree for OSR material and books. Some items that I had been wanting for a while and some I just ran across and impulsed bought. With my campaign group on a bit of hiatus for the next couple of weeks while one of our members welcomes his 3rd child into the world, I'm hoping to get through most of it.

On the list are the following:
- Finish up reading Stonehell and the second book for the deeper levels (really loving this megadungeon by the way).
- Read the second book to ASE 2-3 megadungeon.
- Veins of the Earth: man I was shocked at the size of this tome, but reviews are fantastic and I have loved everything from Patrick Stuart.
- Fever dreaming Marlinko and Slumbering Ursine Dune. I've skimmed through both of these and I'm a fan. Want to read through all the way.
- Demonspore and Tomb of the Iron God by Matthew Finch.
- Finally I picked up Hubris and Peril on the Purple Planet from DCC, these really scratch from gonzo itch of late.

So that will keep me pretty busy for a while. I'm trying to decide if I want to work up a custom campaign world for the next campaign or run a megadungeon (and which one?!?!). Sometimes as if I get ahead myself as DM, always looking to the next thing, even though I love the campaign I'm currently running (Keep on the Borderlands) and I plan to insert some gonzo into that campaign in the form of Broodmother Skyfortress soon.

Anyways, if you have any suggestions for some other new release OSR material or favorite megadungeons, feel free to comment!