Player Killing

My thoughts on player killing in RPGs. Copied from a debate post I wrote on Ryan's site:

Okay kiddies, the topis is this. Should the ST arbitrarily kill characters because of bad die rolls?

One thing that I think we can all agree on is this. Bad decisions can kill characters. If the first level wizard is going to rush a red dragon, and the player is aware of the consequences, there is no excuse but to kill them off.

Okay, I have to say that I'm not a fan of die rolls arbitrarily killing characters (that means without ST fudging, nudging, or helping in any way shape or form). This is for two main reasons:

1. I suck at die rolls. I just do. I can't understand why, I just do. Casinos are not my friend, and niether is d20 stat rolling. Some nights I'm okay, but some nights I cannot roll a 3 on a 1d6. I'm not trying to blame luck for all my problems, but as Aaron can attest, it would have killed my character off many times if he hadn't taken matters into his own hands.

2. I LIKE my characters. I honestly make most characters up thinking of how they might develp as the years pass, and how I'd like to see them in a happy ending eventually. I build emotional complexity into them and try to come up with cool backstory ideas and work with the ST to build those backstories into events as much as I can. I don't want to see all that effort and (yes) some level of emotional connection to this character wasted all of a sudden by a bad die roll when I needed it to count. Action Points and Willpower and such help with this somewhat, but not completely.

Honestly, I have played both types of games and found one thing.....when the GM killed characters arbitrarily by bad die rolls, people would play them safer. The players would be more worried about losing this character they had grown attached to and they wouldn't do nearly as much heroic adventure stuff. To me, that sucks. I watch I, Robot and I'm not concerned whether Will Smith is going to die or not. He takes crazy risks and it's fun as hell to watch and cool as hell to do in a game, but being constantly afraid that if you do something that out there that you're going to cack off due to high target numbers bogs things down. I think most games, especially Exalted, need to have more willingness to make up a kick ass character and not be afraid if this is the session where his number is up.

Stargate: Avalon

We started a new game this weekend. It was literally thrown together on the spur of the moment after seeing the premiere of Stargate: Atlantis and I think it turned out pretty well.

I wrote up a brief description of what we had so far to my buddy Ryan and I'll repost it here. Note that this may not completely jive with the Stargate SG-1 timeline, and it borrows a bit from Atlantis, but the storyline is pretty darn cool and I can't wait to see what Aaron comes up with.

It should also be noted that this is technically a reboot of our previous Stargate SG-1 game that had run one session before. Both of the PCs, and a few NPCs are being redone, and it shares little with our previous incarnation, but I think I'm going to enjoy this a lot better.

(Also please note that this email was written at work in about 15 minutes, so I apologize for any badly written words and lack of smartass tone).   :-)

Here is the email:

Earth, prehistoric times, even by the standards of the Ancients. Two races vied for control of the galaxy, the reptilian Da'argons and an unknown race known only as the Phoenix by the Ancients. Earth was a key battle point for both races in their war, and possibly used to store an item of great importance. Both races left this galaxy for another long long ago, but not before the Phoenix took under their wing the indigenous race of Earth, the Ancients.
 
Earth, 872 AD (Arthurian era). The Ancients had almost left this galaxy and Earth was in the chaos of the dark ages. The Phoenix returned to check on Earth and what they had stored there, and found the race they had once helped in a sad state indeed. The last Ancient of Earth, an entity calling himself Merlin, begged the Phoenix for their help in bringing Earth out of this dark age. Being a race of good, they decided to help as they may, and gave to Merlin a gift. A genetic device of great power that Merlin named Excalibur. A human compatible with it was found, a young man by the name of Arthur Pendragon. He came to know Merlin as a tutor and advisor, and the Phoenix that gave him the item as the Lady of the Lake. The lake was the gate to Avalon quite literally, and Merlin helped Arthur build his castle of Camelot where he would be safe from all attack...through the gate in the galaxy the Phoenix called home.
 
All went well until a rival of Merlin's surfaced...the Goa'uld underlord known as Morganna. She seduced Arthur, bore him a son, and when that son was old enough, infected it with her true offspring, the Goa'uld known as Mordred. Mordred was reluctant to do his mother's wishes, but she eventually manipulated and convinced him to tell Arthur about the affair his queen was having, and to take Camelot from him as he pursued her. Upon Arthur's return the two fought and Arthur killed Mordred, but the son had already fatally wounded his father. Arthur had his final knight throw Excalibur back through the activated stargate and a funeral procession arrived to bear him away to Avalon.
 
But Mordred's tale does not end there. He was resurrected by the healing power Merlin possessed and reeducated. Merlin took a chance that Mordred would have some of his father's blood within him and secretly taught him about his mother's treachery. In the end, Morganna was forced to flee Earth, and left her son to conquer it in her absence. Merlin also left Earth through the stargate, asking Mordred to bury it forever and protect it. Mordred fastened a Naquadah coverstone on the gate and built it into a table to keep it hidden. He buried it with his sarcophagus and other Goa'uld artifacts, eschewing all trappings of power to wander the world. Knowing that power would corrupt him, he kept himself away from it all for centuries, returning only to rejuvenate himself and make sure the artifacts were undisturbed.
 
Earth, 2004 AD. Season 8, and Season 1 of Atlantis. An alien probe of unknown origin has emerged from the moon's surface and set up a geosynchronous orbit around a point in Brazil. What appears to be a weapon is pointed down at the Earth. Despite unimaginable defensive systems that shoot down anything that gets close, enough investigation is done of the ground site to realize that the weapon is an automated defense system in case the cave below is breached. It is counting down from four years, and it is set to destroy the planet.
 
Professor Simon Cade, Physicist, Linguist, and the greatest Arthurian expert in all of England (and the Goa'uld once known as Mordred) is climbing the Swiss Alps when his satellite phone rings. It is someone he had set up watching Coldpound, England, the town outside of his cave, for signs of disturbance. He is cut off, and returns to Coldpound to find a military installation erected over the site of his cave. He uses his secret identity to insinuate himself into the military project and meets with American air force officers who know entirely too much about his people and the gate they have seen in x-ray scans they have taken of the table. It appears the SGC got an email telling them to look here for clues to stopping the alien probe. The email's source was never revealed.
 
In desperation, he gets to his ribbon device and makes himself known to the intruders. He tells them some of what the stargate was here for and who he is, and says he will help them in exchange for his life. He is also the only person with record of the address once used to get to Avalon.
 
In Brazil, a startling discovery is made. A genetic key is found implanted inside a control pedestal with what looks like a slot for a key that looks suspiciously the same dimensions as a sword. Mordred theorizes that Excalibur was keyed genetically to Arthur, and that his genetic makeup would be needed to unlock the panel and possibly deactivate the probe. A six-month search results in finding the one genetic match from Arthur and Mordred's line that shares Arthur's genetic code. A 16 year old boy by the name of Jonah Randall.
 
Cast:
Colonel Cole - Tough no-nonsense marine Colonel brought into the SGC and currently in command of both Brazillian and England sites. 30's female. Pretty, but hard.
 
Mordred/Simon Cade - Goa'uld. Possibly mutated to not crave power as much. Currently in an agreement to help the SGC save the Earth, possibly to save the planet, more likely to save his own skin. Black hair, trenchcoat, highlander like appearance.
 
Dr. Aziz - American born in Israel. Anthropology, Culteral and Linguistic expert. Beautiful woman of mid-20's. Brought into the England site without knowledge of what she was getting into.
 
Jonah Randall - 16 year old adopted high school student pulled from his life by the CIA because he is a genetic match to Arthur Pendragon.
 
Other cast (whose names I can't remember):
Comm/pilot officer - Southern boy. Laid back easygoing manner. Member of the SGC. Doctor/Genetics expert - older Scottish beauty with long red hair. "Drafted" at the same time as Randall into the program.
 
Others to come.

Gaming site(s) of the day

WTF Comics - This is an online episodic comic set in the world of Norrath (Everquest). It follows the adventures of a young Wood Elven girl named Annasha, who unwittingly gathers a group of rather unique individuals around her as she searches for her father who has been gone the last two years. I really enjoy this comic. It's funny, smart and has tons of fun plot ideas.
 


GU Comics - One-shot comics satiring EQ, Worlds of Warcraft, City of Heroes, and about any other MMORPG out there. Woody has obviously played them all, and the presentation from someone who has definitely "been there" is absolutely spot-on.
 

8-bit Theatre - Wow...this is one of my very favorite comics on the net. I have to stifle laughter every time I read it at work....(*ahem* on break of course...). Taking images and backgrounds from the old Final Fantasy I game most of us played once upon a time, this comic somehow manages to be totally hilarious even using outdated graphics that are a lot bigger and closer than you remember. You won't notice the outdated look though...you'll be too busy laughing your arse off.
 

Foxtrot Online - Bill Amend's paper comic in an online form. This has been my favorite comic since Calvin and Hobbes went the way of the dodo. Amend is obviously a geek and it shows.
 

Dilbert Online - Everybody knows Dilbert. Everybody who works in corporate America is secretly convinced Scott Adams is hiding hin their cube spying on them at work. He's that accurate in his depiction of corporate life. Everyone has had that "What Dilbert character are you?" discussion. This is the comic I email to my work address to send out to coworkers the most, hands down. Just read it. (And by the way, I'm Wally)

Wife Faction and Chanter Bliss

So last nigt I levelled up my EQ Enchantress Lethanna to 16. She has a mana regen spell now which should make her quite popular in groups, and cut down on the amount of time I spend with her sitting on her butt meditating to get mana back.
 
Playing a Chanter is actually turning out to be quite the challenge. They have such glass jaws that any mob that gets through that I can't Charm, Mesmerize, Root or somehow stop is going to send me running for my life. But like good Mexican food, when it doesn't turn on me it can be extremely satisfying.
 
My only problem right now with all of this fun is that my wife is a typical girly girl, and has been giving me increasinly more crap about my time playing games (RPG, PS2 or computer). I don't spend all my time doing this, but I do get on EQ or some sort of game at least for 15 minutes or so a night, sometimes more. She wants me to watch tv with her and go to bed at the same time she does, but the tv is usually the latest Wifetime "Very Special Movie" or some sort of Trading Spaces clone. She doesn't even like me being on my laptop anymore to shout out my thoughts here or surf.
 
I'm honestly not sure how to resolve this yet. She has always hated me gaming, but I have to take some time for me sometimes or I'll go stark raving mad and try and redecorate our living room while pretending I'm a tough but sensitive woman cop on the edge.   :-)

Gaming site of the day

Alabrax.com - This is my buddy Ryan's site. Ryan posts on the White Wolf forums as Alabrax and is one of the bigger regulars on that site. His site has sections on all the games he plays, and his Exalted section is one of the better ones out there, with the Combat 101 rules, houserules and homebrew Charms, as well as some good setting material. I went to this site long before I knew Ryan personally, and think he does an excellent job with it.

eeet's a seeecret.....

I'm making this blog as a bit of a secret for buddies of mine and to be able to discuss things I wouldn't normally be able to talk about on my family-friendly blog. While general thoughts and amusements will be on http://bussblog.blogspot.com, this blog will have all my geeky shat on it.
 
I will feel free to update you all on my Everquest characters, the RPGs I play, new characters, and anything else geeky that happens in my life.
 
So HELL YEAH and on with the insanity!