4d ago

Memorable character deaths?

Do you remember your first character death? Was it memorable?

I usually GM, and NPC deaths don't hit as hard. I don't even remember my first. I lost a warlock in a D&D 5e game, but we were high level so raise dead was just right there. Not very impactful.

Last night, I had a player's first character death ever in a game I've been running. It's sort of Shadowrun + World of Darkness, using Fate for the rules. The player had learned a kind of magic I stole from Unknown Armies: If you take big risks now, you can do more powerful magic later. Blindly crossing a busy street might be a mild charge, but russian roulette would be a major charge.

The players were trying to investigate a warehouse for plot reasons. This player ends up by himself in the basement while the ground level is on fire (for player reasons). He finds an armed goon, a guy dressed like a doctor, and several unconscious people wired up to a machine.

The player goes, "I'm going to russian roulette for a charge."

I go, "Are you sure? It's all or nothing. No take backs. You get a major charge, or you die. You'd roll 1d6, and on a 6 you lose."

They go, "Hmm okay." The player tries to threaten the goon, but the dice don't favor them. Now they're in a slightly worse position, mechanically.

The player goes, "I'm going to roulette" and just rolls the die. No more discussion. It came up 6.

The rest of us are like, "Wait, what? You just..? Right then? That's so... anti-climactic."

I wasn't sure what to do. I hadn't expected them to so casually go for the big score! I thought it'd come up in a big climax scene, not a fully escapable conflict with an unarmed goon!

We talked a little about ways forward that keep the character but don't cheapen the mechanic, but the player was like, "No, I rolled the dice on it and lost. His brains are all over the floor now."

The player had to go sit on their own for a little while. They're thinking of rejoining as an NPC they'd worked with, but said they absolutely do not want to use magic again.

This is one I'm going to remember for a while.

5 comments

During the last evening of a short campaign, my character got unreasonably upset about their pet being killed and as a level 3 ranger climbed on top of an undead dragon and started stabbing it. Rolled an absurd sequence of nat 20 to make it happen, but all luck has to run out, and rolled a 2 at some point. The dragon yeeted me to the skies and I flew away, smashed against a tree, with just the time to yell to my party “I regret nothiii”-SPLAT.
I loved that short lived character, loved the death he encountered!
DnD 3rd, was taking a break from being DM. Made a human rogue who was the half brother of another player's half orc rogue. We had a plan to be kinda brutish thugs who used flanking for fun and profit, even had a good chit chat going as the very first session started.
First fight of the campaign about 30 minutes in, we come across an ogre. Getting our early initiatives my character and his half brother flank and put a little damage in, everyone else goes, then the ogre goes after me for doing the most damage.
Critical hit with almost max damage, doing double HP and killing my character outright on the first attack. I laughed and excused myself for a few,l saying to carry on. When I got back they asked if I wanted to undo it and the answer was no, I'd have another character ready to join part way through. They had a funeral and the half orc now had a vendetta against the bandits that had led us to the ogre!
My next character was a cheric of WeeJas who believed every action was fated using circular logic. A fantastic one two combo!
It was a Werewolf game, the character was built to die. The Storyteller wanted to teach the younger players that characters are not immortal. I had always wanted to play a female but never did because I did not want to play a man with boobs like so many authors end up writing. But since it was only supposed to be for a couple sessions I thought I would give it a try.
Being werewolf, death awaits you at every turn, I had no idea when I was going to happen. I actually ended up getting really attached to the character. I think the death came the 3rd session, but whenever it was, I was leaving for vacation for three weeks the next day. Everyone thought it was real and my absence from so many sessions made them all think I was super upset. Even the ST thought I was upset, having forgotten about my vacation.
The demons were planning on summoning their evil deity of blood and destruction and making the puppies cry, then opening a permanent portal from the nine hells to our planet. My Fighter, who was already quite upset with the gods, was contacted by an otherworldly entity who proposed him to hijack the portal and let it connect the Nine Hells and the celestial plane instead. The plan was that the gods and the devils/fiends would end up killing each other and leave us mortals be.
I may have forgotten to ask for our resident paladin's consent first :D
We talked a little about ways forward that keep the character but don't cheapen the mechanic, but the player was like, "No, I rolled the dice on it and lost. His brains are all over the floor now."
Gotta hand your player respect for sticking to his decision and its consequences. Some players are so laser-focused on having a rich story and a character arc and whatever, they end up cheaping the experience by removing any kind of real danger to their character. Respecting the dice makes surviving each session much more rewarding IMO.
Warning: minor spoilers for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
There's a scene in Dragon Heist where an NPC dies off screen, and the players need to investigate it.
Well, I choose Durnan, from the Yawning Portal because the players had liked him and other significant NPCs were necessary for character arcs. We were playing on a VTT, so when the PCs ran outside, I switched up the music to something melancholy and the players seemed genuinely surprised (and a little grumpy) that Durnan bit it.
For the rest of the campaign, whenever the players visited the Yawning Portal, I threw in another change: the new owners boarded up the portal; the lighting was a lot brighter; the wait-staff changed; and the clientele were less adventurers and more nobles.
It was fun, but I missed NPCing Durnan and I missed the Yawning Portal.