We lost a good one last night. Character deaths are always hard. Its tough for to see something you enjoy so greatly disappear. And its much harder on the player then the ST. I've only lost a character in games a time or two, but I did not deal with it well at all.
Because the stories are so far behind(not hassling anne about it, shes already given herself a spine-spasm by over stressing), Im not sure we'll ever hear many of the stories in print from current hero game. Which is a shame because those young characters are doing some amazing things and leading some extraordinary lives.
Last night we lost Sanjiv
http://gothambynight.com/scion/sanjiv.htm
There isnt much written in the bio, but I loved this character. Not that I dont love all the characters, and not that I dont struggle when any of them die. But this one was great, and he died far too young.
He was a young deva struggling to find truth in life and working with children of asuras to get things done. He also was a doctor, and strove to keep the balance by not letting those who belonged in this world die at the hands of things that didnt. His search for knowledge coupled with his need for constant legend influx to keep up his healing led him down a dangerous path. He became embroiled in drugs that kept him awake and ready at all times, gave him the energy he needed, and slowly took a toll on his body.
Thomas, the player just did such an amazing job of straddling the line of addiction and need to heal the wounded while keeping himself constantly barely standing. He died fearlessly(in endurance extremity) helping to destroy a water based titan spawn with a large jar of greek fire. I saw it happening and couldnt stop it, its what the character would have done. But I knew even as it hit, that more then likely the fire would consume his drug addled body. And the damage was so massive there'd be no way to save him.
He used his final dying action to save another pc that was consumed by the fire, and to also spite a pc that had been a thorn in his side.
As the ST you always struggle in moments like this. And it seems to usually happen at the end of an evening. Its late, people are tired, maybe you've had a few drinks....its not a good time to be forced to make stressful permanent decisions ... Itd be so easy to Deus ex machina. Your about to lose something you really enjoy and you have complete power to stop it. But thatd be unfair to the other players, and it wouldnt fit the story I had written. So I was strong and stuck to my guns about character death being permanent in this alternate universe(at least for now, itll change later. But it needs to change when the story deems it, not because of my emotional response), but it was incredibly difficult. And I felt for Thomas, I could tell it was a character he really enjoyed playing.
Character death sucks :(
Pouring one out for Sanjiv and all dead characters in all games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9YVCG6NrY
Because the stories are so far behind(not hassling anne about it, shes already given herself a spine-spasm by over stressing), Im not sure we'll ever hear many of the stories in print from current hero game. Which is a shame because those young characters are doing some amazing things and leading some extraordinary lives.
Last night we lost Sanjiv
http://gothambynight.com/scion/sanjiv.htm
There isnt much written in the bio, but I loved this character. Not that I dont love all the characters, and not that I dont struggle when any of them die. But this one was great, and he died far too young.
He was a young deva struggling to find truth in life and working with children of asuras to get things done. He also was a doctor, and strove to keep the balance by not letting those who belonged in this world die at the hands of things that didnt. His search for knowledge coupled with his need for constant legend influx to keep up his healing led him down a dangerous path. He became embroiled in drugs that kept him awake and ready at all times, gave him the energy he needed, and slowly took a toll on his body.
Thomas, the player just did such an amazing job of straddling the line of addiction and need to heal the wounded while keeping himself constantly barely standing. He died fearlessly(in endurance extremity) helping to destroy a water based titan spawn with a large jar of greek fire. I saw it happening and couldnt stop it, its what the character would have done. But I knew even as it hit, that more then likely the fire would consume his drug addled body. And the damage was so massive there'd be no way to save him.
He used his final dying action to save another pc that was consumed by the fire, and to also spite a pc that had been a thorn in his side.
As the ST you always struggle in moments like this. And it seems to usually happen at the end of an evening. Its late, people are tired, maybe you've had a few drinks....its not a good time to be forced to make stressful permanent decisions ... Itd be so easy to Deus ex machina. Your about to lose something you really enjoy and you have complete power to stop it. But thatd be unfair to the other players, and it wouldnt fit the story I had written. So I was strong and stuck to my guns about character death being permanent in this alternate universe(at least for now, itll change later. But it needs to change when the story deems it, not because of my emotional response), but it was incredibly difficult. And I felt for Thomas, I could tell it was a character he really enjoyed playing.
Character death sucks :(
Pouring one out for Sanjiv and all dead characters in all games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9YVCG6NrY
Sorry to hear that. For me, I have never had a character die on me yet -knocks on wood so I do not get one-. Though it sounds like it was a good way to go for him. My current GM is saying if the character dies, you do not get to back into his game with a new one. You stay dead, but he also said that trips to their underworlds could bring them back.
ReplyDeleteThe closest I got to killing off my one of my characters was me at Hero level, facing off against a Low Demi-God level Fomorian by myself in an old mining complex, in the tunnels. After he had saved his NPC friend from the monster, he then Shockwaved all the support beams around them and he was wrestling and winning against the Fomorian to make sure he stay down here to be crushed to death. He was my Irish character and in RL I was leaving the game soon cause I was moving across the states, which did not work out.
I just never decided to come back after some issues with the group, but one of the character's decided to follow me during solo missions to make sure I lived. Though this GM and a couple others use Dues Ex Machina's sometimes when they screwed up. Like how one GM made Nephilim Giants for us to fight and he made them invincible. So he had to bring in a Titan Spawn of Chaos with special powder to get rid of them.
Here's to the Victorious Dead, may their blood bring the end closer to our enemies.
It sucks if a character dies, but the GM is shooting himself in the foot (and being a prick) by not letting a player back into the game if he doesn't already have a plan to get your character back. Losing a character is one thing, losing a player quit another. So will Thomas be coming in with a new character? How soon will we see it on the character page, and on that note, you guys seem to burn through characters rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteOh, you can always come back into our games with a new character if you want to. It's more rare that a character can be resurrected - it's an option, but that's usually up to the other players, not the ST, and it's always very difficult. Most players just roll back in with a new PC.
DeleteThe inactive PCs aren't all dead - in fact, most of them aren't (though some are). They're just rotating in and out depending on the needs of the players and story.