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Characters Dying and/or Killing Characters.
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AcesAndEights
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thats a really good idea. I never thought of using dissipate energy that way. I will have to remember that next time they bully my character in the Jedi campaign Twisted Evil
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't do it often....you are just as vulnerable to it as the enemy is. There are lots of little tricks that you pick up over the years.
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Esoomian
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Endwyn wrote:
Last time I remember getting hit by something that bad I was the one doing the badness. I let a powerful Jedi hit me (no dodge or parry) and used my action to absorb/dissipate it with a force point. After his lightsaber flickered out because I drained it's power he didn't have many options left. (Not that were going to be obscene.)


As I recall that strategy was used (albeit less effectively) in one of the SW novels featuring Coran Horn. I forget which novel though.

As a GM I find that if you expressly state that you won't kill characters as long as they don't act stupidly then some of the drama is lost. Perilous situations have to remain dangerous. I won't kill a player based on the dice roll if thay're not acting stupid but I will give then an injury that will kill them if they aren't 'saved' pronto.

This is much harder to do in space combat where a bad roll can destroy a ship and everyone on it.
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In space combat we usually roll a D6 to determine how many rounds you have before the ship goes boom. It's no longer functional, it's going to go...now you want to know how long you've got. Either you make it to an escape pod or you don't. (Like you, we don't want to make it impossible to die but we don't want cheap deaths to pop up all the time.)
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vong
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Joined: 30 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
Quote:
In the rare case that it was a cheap death and the character has spent the 5 points (or ran out of them doing really heroic stuff before) the GM has occasionally pulled punches


Does that mean, if say if during a dual, i rolled in the open a (say 70) for damage.. and the pc only got 35 even after spending 5cp, you would drop that damage down??


I would give the player an option - take a debilitating hit (gut shot that wont heal, causing stat damage, lose an arm/leg or something)

Esoomaian wrote:
This is much harder to do in space combat where a bad roll can destroy a ship and everyone on it.


You can.., but its harder - have it "bounce off" causing damage that will come up later, have the ship start to break apart giving them just enough time to get into suits, then be captured or lots of other crap. Mabye even crack the ship in half, as they watch their engines fly off infront of them and think "That cant be good"
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some players aren't appreciative. During one game my friend told us all before it started it was going to be combat heavy and that we should pick our characters carefully. (We each had several and played whichever we felt like at the time.) He even indicated to the group the relative difficulty, by explaining the troubles one character experienced in the first small lead in to the game.

One player chose a glorified librarian and then became upset when she got shot. (She chose to stay behind with the Jedi when the Jedi told everyone to run and he would delay them for a few seconds to give them a head start.) The combat monsters ran in and shot at each of them. She took a shot to her arm and had taken enough damage to kill her by a lot. The GM decided to have her arm blown off, but even told her that some of it was still attached and if she was careful might be able to have it reattached with surgery and/or minor cybernetics. (Very generous all things considered.)

Anyways, she was very upset and ended up ruining the game. The GM was trying to avoid ruining the game by not killing her, but she didn't want her character to have a scar or anything.

Some players can't see the "give-me's".
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vong
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yea. Sometimes I tell players to have a backup character - cause sometimes i have to let the players know they are not invincible, and their characters will die. If i am a friend with one of the memebers in my group, i will get him to make a character for the sole purpose of dying (only do this for new groups) that way the rest of the group knows im serious, and he gets a bit extra out of haivn go t kill a character Razz
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Effective, but almost dirty...I see the merit.
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And Leia is your sister!
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And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
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vong
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its worked quite effectively so far, but now ive jynxed it, and it will fail.

also, sometimes i will do a combat all out in the open (epically after characters complain that im fudging the rolls against their favour) and when they see that its more the other way around, they shut up quite fast.

My favourite session involving this so far is one character complained every fight that i kept fudging rolls to get him hurt (granted, he got targetted alot, due to his larger scarrier size. who do you target, the wookie or the hot chick...) when he saw that he "died" 5 times in that combat (he was on an off day for rolling) and i saved him every time (granted, stuff started to go really wrong, and he know has no control over his bowels Razz) he has not complained since Very Happy
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AcesAndEights
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, I really like that idea. I'm really tempted to do that if I run a game when I get back next semester. That would be a perfect way to start off a campaign.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Endwyn wrote:
It's possible; but it would depend on the whole situation. In reality, I don't think I would put them up against something that could do 70+ damage per attack.


I was using that high number as a hypothetical, though i have had some gaming sessions where i wild died the damage from a stormtroopers rifle 6 straight times putting the damage over 50..

Quote:
Thats a really good idea. I never thought of using dissipate energy that way. I will have to remember that next time they bully my character in the Jedi campaign


Agreed. Very creative.. and i wish i had some pcs like that..

Quote:
In space combat we usually roll a D6 to determine how many rounds you have before the ship goes boom.


Is that if the ship gets a completly destroyed result, or a severly damaged result with a (iirc) 6 on the 'damage' die???

Quote:
also, sometimes i will do a combat all out in the open (epically after characters complain that im fudging the rolls against their favour) and when they see that its more the other way around, they shut up quite fast.


For real important combats, final combats and when it is 'one on one'/ or 'one on many (eg someone stays behind to give the others a chance to get away' i shift from rolling behind the screen to in the open. Not that there is much difference, since i don't fudge, but the 'dramatic tension raises..
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We usually roll a D6 for any "kill" roll on a ship that has a major PC or NPC. It gives them all time to try to get away. (Although, a one makes it hard to actually get away.)

It's just not heroic to bail ship way ahead of time and in Star Wars you can often go from fine to dead in a ship in no time.
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Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
Agreed. Very creative.. and i wish i had some pcs like that..


Thanks. I appreciate that. I try hard to think outside the box to solve many of my in game problems.
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Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Endwyn wrote:
We usually roll a D6 for any "kill" roll on a ship that has a major PC or NPC. It gives them all time to try to get away. (Although, a one makes it hard to actually get away.)

It's just not heroic to bail ship way ahead of time and in Star Wars you can often go from fine to dead in a ship in no time.


I don't like that... it is giving special rulings just for their 'pc' status. If that rule was applied accross the board, regardless of pc or important npc status, i might like it better.
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Endwyn
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For the most part it does apply pretty far across the board. About the only thin not covered are "mook troops" like stormtroopers, ect. If anyone not traditionally considered cannon fodder is on the ship it has a chance to hold together for a little bit.

I could have worded it better before.
_________________
Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.
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