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View Full Version : What's the most... PCs you've had die in session 1?



Scarey Nerd
2010-10-08, 12:11 PM
We started our evil campaign today, and 2 of the 5 PCs died. Within about 10 in game seconds of each other. It was both hilarious and horrifying.

Just wanted to know if anyone else had had a similiar situation?

Morph Bark
2010-10-08, 12:18 PM
Wait, were their deaths 10 seconds apart, or did they die 10 seconds into the in-game time? ...or both?

If so, that's hilarious. Up to now though, none of my PCs have died in session 1. We admittably don't have a lot of deaths... looking back, only one death didn't occur at the end of a campaign. :smallconfused:

senrath
2010-10-08, 12:19 PM
All 8 of them. 4 players, 2 characters each. Tomb of Horrors, 3.5e. The gargoyle got 3 of them, the Brain in a Jar got the rest (no I'm not joking).

Kythorian
2010-10-08, 12:22 PM
This doesn't count Paranoia games, right? :smallsmile:

Not counting Paranoia, in which we had 17 player deaths(if you count each clone) in the first game, I think just one in any of my games.

I agree that if it was 10 seconds of real time, thats pretty impressive. A lot can happen in ten seconds in game though.

Edit: Oh right...tomb of horrors. My group lost two characters in the tomb of horrors game we played, If I am remembering correctly(one to the gargoyle, one to the boss)

Tyndmyr
2010-10-08, 12:26 PM
Oh, paranoia. Yeah, I think we had 36ish one time in there. Big game, horrible intraparty conflict, and a tac nuke.

Scarey Nerd
2010-10-08, 12:29 PM
Wait, were their deaths 10 seconds apart, or did they die 10 seconds into the in-game time? ...or both?

If so, that's hilarious. Up to now though, none of my PCs have died in session 1. We admittably don't have a lot of deaths... looking back, only one death didn't occur at the end of a campaign. :smallconfused:

It was 10 seconds in game, about 5 minutes OOC because we were so astonished about what had happened:

Essentially, one character came down as a demon thing in a meteor, and the party and a load of guards went to see what was going on. There was a Paladin of Heironeous with us, and our party leader having fought in wars against followers of Heironeous immediately engaged him in combat. As we focused on the Paladin, the demon PC was tearing the guards to pieces as they slowly whittled his health away, when another PC jumped into the crater. The demon threw a guard at him, then rolled to hit him next round, and got a 20.

Then another 20.

When we had recovered from this, another of these CR 1 guards came and attacked the demon. He got him down to -4 health.

Two down in one session. Not bad for an evil party...

Edit: I dread to think how many we'd lose in Tomb of Horrors...

grarrrg
2010-10-08, 01:53 PM
All 8 of them. 4 players, 2 characters each. Tomb of Horrors, 3.5e. The gargoyle got 3 of them, the Brain in a Jar got the rest (no I'm not joking).

I think there needs to be 2 versions of this thread.
The most deaths EVAR!!1!1! -thread
and
The most deaths EVAR!!1!1! (excluding Tomb of Horrors and Paranoia) -thread


OOOH! What about characters not necessarily dying, but becoming permanently incapacitated? Such as going INSANE from Cthulhu?

arguskos
2010-10-08, 01:56 PM
Excluding Paranoia/ToH? 7. Most PCs one player has lost in a single session before? 3. :smallcool:

mangosta71
2010-10-08, 02:06 PM
At the Johnson City meetup Paranoia game, we had 7 players and our GM threw out the "only 6 clones" rule. Everyone in the group died at least 10 times (I had the fewest with 11).

I've never had any PCs die in the first session of any other game. The most PC deaths I've seen in a tabletop campaign is 3 (though the wizard was reduced to negative hp at one point as well). 2 of those deaths occurred during the same encounter AND the bodies were not recoverable.

Lycan 01
2010-10-08, 02:07 PM
2. Same player, her main character at the beginning of the session, her secondary at the very end of the session.

My games aren't usually very lethal. I either go easy on them, or when I do try to be homicidal they're so paranoid I can't pull any tricks off. :smalltongue:



Paranoia, however... 20+ easily. They never even left the briefing room. A portable black hole was eventually used... followed by a gravity reversal gun... on the black hole.

Oh, and somebody ate Friend Computer, so they got to kill each other freely in the briefing room before a remote controlled toy helicopter with Friend Computer at the helm flew in through a hole in the wall to scold them - it was promptly eaten.

ErrantX
2010-10-08, 02:35 PM
0 in the first session, because, well, you're doing it wrong. :smallannoyed:

I try not to kill more than 1 person a session unless they're dumb, then it's two to three. More than that and I feel you're just being a jerk. Its not fun to have your characters die like feebs, you're hero's for cryin' out loud.

-X

Scarey Nerd
2010-10-08, 02:37 PM
0 in the first session, because, well, you're doing it wrong. :smallannoyed:

I try not to kill more than 1 person a session unless they're dumb, then it's two to three. More than that and I feel you're just being a jerk. Its not fun to have your characters die like feebs, you're hero's for cryin' out loud.

-X

This was an evil campaign, remember. Although that make it more galling that the giant demon from hell was defeated by... town guards...

aquaticrna
2010-10-08, 02:44 PM
the worst one was two... both were killed by the other pcs as they completely failed at bringing the party together, everyone did a great job staying in character though

kestrel404
2010-10-08, 02:46 PM
Hmm, there was that Paranoia game I ran with 12 players once. Of the group, 11 of them went through their entire 6 pack and one guy made it with no losses (he was a veteran and usually knew when the killings were about to start). I think 4 of them made it out with 1 clone remaining, so that's...62.

I've never run ToH.

Barring those, I was in a one-shot where, out of a 4 players I was the only one who made it out alive. At the end the GM gave everyone 3 wishes (submitted in written form simultaneously) and I was the only one he couldn't come up with a way to kill with their own wishes.

Drakevarg
2010-10-08, 02:48 PM
Thankfully, only one, because they didn't take the hint to run and decided to take on no less than twenty clerics. (Impressively, they actually won that fight.)

On the other hand, the rest of the party (including the one who died's next character) got killed the very next session because they never bothered to stop and heal.

Ruinix
2010-10-08, 02:55 PM
paronia allowed? then i only be present in just 1 win game, wich i was the lucky one :p all other PCs and games was all ended in deaths, from tac nukes to mechs fights and mutant virus, etc etc.

in deadlands a few times we fu** with the barman wich always result be some kind of retired sherif or pinkerton or whateverishotfirstishothard ¬¬ so few games in wich we never left the starter tavern XDDD

chutulu, easily screw some chars in the build system of that game.

Valameer
2010-10-08, 02:58 PM
I'm pretty sure just one. First room of our first dungeon. A halfling paladin with a large armor check penalty and low dex tried to run across a rickety rope bridge, even after multiple DM warnings. Failed a DC 5 balance check, failed a DC 12 reflex check to catch himself, and plummeted 200' to his death.

Why was he in such a hurry? To be the first to loot the fallen enemies, of course. :smallwink:

Ravens_cry
2010-10-08, 02:59 PM
*wince*
Are you the reincarnated e e cummings by any chance, Ruinix?

Drakevarg
2010-10-08, 03:01 PM
...you're hero's for cryin' out loud.

*tries to remember the last time he's had an unambiguously heroic character in his party*

*fails*

Flail_master
2010-10-08, 05:38 PM
the worst one was two... both were killed by the other pcs as they completely failed at bringing the party together, everyone did a great job staying in character though

DM of the session here, Few things:
-this very accurately but briefly sums up our first session too
-I had no intention of 2 PC's dying, to be fair, it was their own doing because, well, it made sense in the situation
-It was also due to unfortunate rolls (i mean double 20 come on, and he had a 20% miss chance cos he was in darkness) the encounter was completely handle-able and the deaths where due to character role play. after all they blitzed the guards and paladin
-everyone roleplayed wonderfully and i couldnt be happier with the overall result, though it was horrifying at the time
-The demon man was also killed by a PC, he ran up to the fighter of the group... and was stabbed and decapitated
- The wizard was crazy and ray of frosted the demon first while making a pun :smallsmile:
-The wizard was rezzed in the end for trying to "fight the demon to protect the city" despite being "An innocent bystander" (also it warranted a free rez [it also made sense, it was a large city and they were owed a reward] because so much time was spent on his creation and... a double 20? thats a cop-outty way to die :smalltongue:)

overall all i can say is i just loved the fact that everyone role played very well and they completely surprised me for the better (for their characters) and now the guy playing the demon man is playing his backup that he was actually more keen on

KillianHawkeye
2010-10-08, 06:47 PM
a double 20? thats a cop-outty way to die :smalltongue:

That's why instant death is a dumb houserule. :smallsigh:

arguskos
2010-10-08, 06:54 PM
That's why instant death is a dumb houserule. :smallsigh:
Or it was a brutal crit that was confirmed with another 20. More than one way to read that. :smallwink:

Also, I'd like to amend my answer. I thought the thread was about in a single session, not in the FIRST session. Knowing that this is about the first session, the answer is 5 (TPK). They decided to instantly chase down a monster I tossed into the game for flavor (a local red dragon that sleeps for 100 years at a time then comes out, eats some people, and goes back to bed). They were AMAZINGLY persistent, tracked this dude's cave down, and attacked him in his sleep. Now, I was very nice, I explained this was a bad idea, that I wouldn't pull punches, and that he is very very large (like, the "size of a building" large), meaning he is old and powerful. They insisted, all five of them. I shrugged, and let them attack the wyrm in his sleep. I even gave them 3 rounds before he woke up and retaliated. He used his breath weapon once. They all died horribly. At least they had a good time during their deaths.

Kislath
2010-10-08, 07:51 PM
I wiped out 8 PC's once before the party ever got through the front door. Literally, the front yard was littered with bodies.
It wasn't even my fault. Life is hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.

onthetown
2010-10-08, 07:54 PM
I played 7 PCs (this is normal for me) and every single one of them died during a session.

But it was story-driven and we had to die to get to where we were going, so it doesn't really count.

Leon
2010-10-08, 11:52 PM
2/5 with a 3rd massivley wounded. Bonus: 2 PCs being Diseased

The party had entered a cave that some pirates were using as a base and while they were roughing them up their horses that they had left out side had wandered off (they arrived just left the animals there expecting them to stay...)

Once they discovered that the animals were gone the Sorcerer and the Monk decied to go off and look for them while the rest tried to get onto the pirates boat.

The 2 that had gone off found a likely trail and followed it untill they came upon a "large sounding creatue in the bushes" where upon the monk (who had suffered some CON damage in the scuffle with the pirates fired his crossbow at the creature... which turned out to be a Dire Boar that was foraging.

It leats out a very loud and angry squeal and turn to face what caused it pain ready to attack

Now i read outthe discription of the Dire Boar from the MM and they all jumped to the conclusion that "small furious demon eyes" meant it was evil....
They have the advanatage over the Boar in going 1st and the monk decided to leg it back the way the came while the sorcerer readies a Shocking grasp spell versus the boars attack.

Cue a Boar Charge and a very wounded Sorcerer - he did do some minior dmage to the boar but really only pissed it off more.
Monk is still retreating and the Sorcerer decides to follow, overtaking the monk in the process.
Boar runs the monk down and tosses its limp remains up and out of the way
while the Sorcerer decided to stop and try cast another spell.

Next boar action there is a long red smear where the sorcerer was - it crit him so hard the PC went to -20.
Its lust now sated the boar resumed what it was doing before being rudely interupted.

meanwhile the other 3 had heard the sqeal and decided that they better come and see what it was that made it.

They follow the same trail that the other 2 took and eventually come across the long red smear that was the sorcerer (they worked it via the shredded gear scattered about) and then a lil futher up found the ragdoll monk.

Now they happened upon the same patch of shrubs that the first pair had and this boar was not going to tolerate anymore disturbances and charged without warning at the lead PC (Paladin) goring him badly, he was healed slightly by the cleric while the rogue moved to flank.
Paladin got a good hit in and was gored again for his trouble leaving him barely standing while the rogue sneak attacked and finally put a end to Boar.

The Rogue and the Cleric decide dthat they were going to have Dire boar for dinner and didnt take precaution to dress it properly or cook it very well and picked up a disease from it.

AslanCross
2010-10-09, 12:26 AM
Never had any die in the first session, but I've had one death and a near TPK (Everybody in the negatives) in the Goblin raid in the first chapter of RHOD. Admittedly I had buffed the encounter significantly, and the PCs were under the illusion of "It's night time! The DM's not gonna be a jerk and throw an encounter at us while we sleep. We don't need to heal."

DaMullet
2010-10-09, 12:35 AM
All three of us, within an hour of arriving. We'd been sent to be spies for the military to find out who was stirring unrest in the villages, and my Int 6 Paladin not-so-accidentally picked a fight with the BBEG. In the ensuing chaos, I managed to split the party in three, with only the cleric escaping from the battle, and the bard invisible and dead underneath a summoned wolf with a very good track roll. After killing me, the BBEG scryed on and hunted down the cleric, but that was RPed rather than rolled.

We didn't like those characters anyway.

mucat
2010-10-09, 12:40 AM
*wince*
Are you the reincarnated e e cummings by any chance, Ruinix?

No, silly. He's an eagle (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-04-13T21%3A59%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=10).

Morithias
2010-10-09, 12:43 AM
*shivers* Landlord upgraded tomb of horrors...20+ PC's dead, and due to the way the dungeon was designed so the tomb reset each time they literally didn't make any progress overall. Then again the whole point of that design was to literally be impossible to beat.

WinWin
2010-10-09, 12:47 AM
I have had quite a few TPK's, my player even started keeping a list on a whiteboard of fatalities. One player was up to 17 deaths on one character, 2 in one game. I don't think I'm malicious, but I do not fudge rolls and I make a point to keep my dice out in the open. My players don't care as long as rez options are available.

The only really memorable TPK was when I started running 3.0. I though "2 shadows sounds like an appropriate challenge for a lvl5 party." Once the Monk died, It became 3 shadows. Then 4 and 5 as the Wizard and Druid fell. The Ranger managed to drop one before falling. The Rogue fell due a botched tumble roll as he attempted to tumble though the shadows space toward the exit.

John Campbell
2010-10-09, 02:05 AM
If Paranoia counts, it'd be 18 PC deaths in a three-player party, including one rather spectacular complete wipe because one of the Troubleshooters decided to use a cone rifle firing nuclear shells in close-quarters battle. Aboard a space station. She managed to not only kill the entire party, but also completely destroy the module setting.

Leaving aside Paranoia, it'd be 4 of 4 in an AD&D game. We got bored and started playing draw poker with a deck of many things. The party - and the campaign - did not survive the first round of betting. (That was also the game where three of the four of us, by bizarre coincidence, independently named our characters "Phil".)

There was another AD&D game where we had 4/5 casualties in the first encounter - with a group of commoners. I was the one survivor. That was also the one and only time I've played a paladin. I told them that I couldn't let them murder the commoners and take their stuff...

Most PC deaths I've had in the first session of a game I was running was only one, but that one was impressive in its sheer speed... he managed to kill himself during character generation. I decided I'd be nice and let the thief buy a small quantity of the highly lethal injury poison he asked for, which was all well and good until he announced that he was going to make himself immune to it.

Me: "How exactly are you planning on doing that?"
Thief: "I poison one of my daggers and cut myself with it."
Me: "... Are you sure you want to do that?"
Thief: "Yeah!"
Me: "Oooookay. Save vs. poison."
Thief (rolling): "I failed."
Me: "Well, uh... you die."

I let him make another character that was coincidentally identical in every way to the first one... except this one couldn't find any poison in the city. Seems some other guy who looked just like him had bought it all the day before...

Heliomance
2010-10-09, 07:30 AM
I think I might hold the record for the shortest character lifespan.

We were playing dragons, starting from eggs. I failed my con check to hatch at the same time as the others, so I was still in my egg when they got out to discover ogres in the hatchery. They start fighting. I finally hatch, go "gah! Ogres!" and charge the nearest one. Just as the red dragon in the party who took metabreath feats at CC opened up on it. Whoomph. Toasted ogre. Toasted copper dragon.

Yes, I had a character who died less than a round after they were born.

lyko555
2010-10-09, 08:33 AM
Ive had a good tpk in the first session. all 4 pcs got killed because the druid summoned his animal companion and got a spider with a venomous bite. They had been fighting thes spiders for a bit so when the druid summoned 1 with out warning the party they tried to kill it. it ended up paralysing them all. then its friends showed up
.

Sarquion
2010-10-25, 02:52 PM
Essentially, one character came down as a demon thing in a meteor, and the party and a load of guards went to see what was going on. There was a Paladin of Heironeous with us, and our party leader having fought in wars against followers of Heironeous immediately engaged him in combat. As we focused on the Paladin, the demon PC was tearing the guards to pieces as they slowly whittled his health away, when another PC jumped into the crater. The demon threw a guard at him, then rolled to hit him next round, and got a 20.

Then another 20.

When we had recovered from this, another of these CR 1 guards came and attacked the demon. He got him down to -4 health.

Two down in one session. Not bad for an evil party...


Erm sorry to say this but it wasn't a guard that killed him ... ahem ... it was yours truly the party leader... remember? After I had coupe d'grace the paladin infront of 100's of witness'. The great thing about that session is that we got away with all of that