PDA

View Full Version : blue lightning



PnP Fan
2007-04-11, 07:16 AM
I feel lame starting a thread for this, but . . .
I've seen the phrase "blue lightning" a few times on this board, but I can't find it in the reference stickies anywhere. Could someone explain to me the meaning/origin of this phrase?

feelin' like a n000000b. :-(

Brauron
2007-04-11, 07:38 AM
Well, my DM uses it instead of "Rocks Fall Everyone Dies"...you do something that pisses off the DM, and your character takes "Blue Lightning Damage" -- roll every die in your dice bag. Add it up. Your character takes that much damage.

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-04-11, 07:43 AM
Well, my DM uses it instead of "Rocks Fall Everyone Dies"...you do something that pisses off the DM, and your character takes "Blue Lightning Damage" -- roll every die in your dice bag. Add it up. Your character takes that much damage.
So this is where it really pays to only take a single set of dice to your table, eh?

Ethdred
2007-04-11, 09:55 AM
The DM can set the amount of damage! We used to have 'Blue Bolts' when I started gaming - I finally worked out that was a derivation of 'bolt from the blue' - the Gods just striking you down. It would normally just be a d4 damage, to suggest you modify your behaviour, but could go up to 5d20 in one case (and this was with 1e HP). We also worked out a whole colour code (blue was direct damage, green was ability damage etc)

The bolt from the blue is actually a quote from the 1e DMG, where it is suggested as a way of keeping players in line. Another win for EGG there

adanedhel9
2007-04-11, 02:23 PM
Well, my DM uses it instead of "Rocks Fall Everyone Dies"...you do something that pisses off the DM, and your character takes "Blue Lightning Damage" -- roll every die in your dice bag. Add it up. Your character takes that much damage.

In a similar vein, I've heard of 'Blue Damage', where everyone a the the table rolls every blue die they have and add all of the rolls together. I've never actually seen either happen, though.

Amiria
2007-04-11, 02:33 PM
Sounds like a reference to the Force Lightning attack of Dark Jedi for me.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/1a/350px-Sith_lightning.jpg

RandomNPC
2007-04-11, 02:58 PM
i just figured it was a part of the DMs blue lightning bolts of railroading, but i've seen them by many similar names.

Vaynor
2007-04-11, 05:29 PM
Well, my DM uses it instead of "Rocks Fall Everyone Dies"...you do something that pisses off the DM, and your character takes "Blue Lightning Damage" -- roll every die in your dice bag. Add it up. Your character takes that much damage.

Hmm, I can see troubles with that if I were to do that while DMing. I collect dice. :smallamused:

Roland St. Jude
2007-04-11, 05:34 PM
I got into an argument about the actual origins of this once; it dates back to the AD&D 1st Ed. DMG, which suggests that players who get too out of hand may need to have their characters struck by a blue bolt of lightning.

While its origins have become obscured, lots of gamers still use "blue bolt" as a term for DM smack down. The "A rock falls, you die" seems to be far more popular these days.

I'll see if I can dig up an exact reference for you though.

Found it:



...Yeah, there's the more common "bolt from the blue" in common parlance, but "blue bolts from the heavens" are described by Gygax as a form of player control in the old AD&D DM's Guide. It's on page 110 under "Handling Troublesome Players". And, for the record, I had to look up the page number.

What it says is "points of damage from blue bolts from the heavens striking a character's head" is one of a series of potential in-game reminders to the player not to be troublesome.

Edo
2007-04-11, 05:38 PM
I've never heard of Blue Lightning damage.

I have heard, however, of dDickens damage, which you take when the sun falls into the sea.

PnP Fan
2007-04-11, 09:50 PM
*chuckle*
Okay. We used to use the expression "blue lightning strikes X" who then disappears, just as a sort of goofy way to remove an unplayed PC if the player couldn't make it to a game. (forgive us for our sins against continuity, but we were in middle school and didn't care ;-). I figured no one could possibly be referring to that, but I had no clue as to what they were talking about. *sigh* wish I still had some of that old 1ed stuff, for the sake of nostalgia, if nothing else. Thanks y'all!

Innis Cabal
2007-04-11, 09:54 PM
ya....i have it all just can't seem to find any of it, 4 moves in 6 months will do that though i guess

Ethdred
2007-04-11, 10:16 PM
What it says is "points of damage from blue bolts from the heavens striking a character's head" is one of a series of potential in-game reminders to the player not to be troublesome.

If I may quot the whole passage:

"Strong steps short of expulsioncan be an extra random monster die, obvioulsy rolled, the attack of an ethereal mummy (which always strikes by surprise, naturally) points of damage from "blue bolts from the heavens" striking the offender's head, or the permanent loss of a point of charisma (appropriately) from the character belonging to the offender."

Notice how it is only the last sanction which is explicitly targeted at the character not the player. So, presumably, in EGGworld, the DM can actualy call down bolts of retributive lightning on the player him/herself. Jeez, the things we put up with back in the old days....

Roland St. Jude
2007-04-11, 10:22 PM
If I may quot the whole passage:

"Strong steps short of expulsioncan be an extra random monster die, obvioulsy rolled, the attack of an ethereal mummy (which always strikes by surprise, naturally) points of damage from "blue bolts from the heavens" striking the offender's head, or the permanent loss of a point of charisma (appropriately) from the character belonging to the offender."

Notice how it is only the last sanction which is explicitly targeted at the character not the player. So, presumably, in EGGworld, the DM can actualy call down bolts of retributive lightning on the player him/herself. Jeez, the things we put up with back in the old days....

And we liked it! :smallwink:

my_evil_twin
2007-04-11, 10:40 PM
While its origins have become obscured, lots of gamers still use "blue bolt" as a term for DM smack down. The "A rock falls, you die" seems to be far more popular these days.I'm rather partial to "a dragon eats you (http://reallifecomics.com/archive/000731.html)."

The_Werebear
2007-04-11, 10:43 PM
My first DM's favorite "get in line" phrase was

"You explode. The rest continue on their way"

Not much mercy there.

Tallis
2007-04-12, 01:55 PM
I one (not too serious) game I had Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker emerged from the shadows in front of the group, a wild swing from Darth cut off the PC's hand. Later George Lucas appearred and reattached it. Can't even remember what the original problem was that caused it all.

Fax Celestis
2007-04-12, 02:19 PM
"Strong steps short of expulsion can be an extra random monster die, obviously rolled, the attack of an ethereal mummy (which always strikes by surprise, naturally) points of damage from "blue bolts from the heavens" striking the offender's head, or the permanent loss of a point of charisma (appropriately) from the character belonging to the offender."

Notice how it is only the last sanction which is explicitly targeted at the character not the player. So, presumably, in EGGworld, the DM can actualy call down bolts of retributive lightning on the player him/herself. Jeez, the things we put up with back in the old days....

"Blue bolts from the heavens" in this case being thrown dice.

Matthew
2007-04-12, 05:41 PM
And we liked it! :smallwink:
Why wouldn't you? It's only ever a problem if undeserved.

PnP Fan
2007-04-13, 12:02 AM
We used to have a "delay of game penalty" to xp for folks who would eat up game time with non-game related stuff. We were "hard-core" back then. lol! Now it seems like the game is sort of like watching football on tv. It's just an excuse to get together, share a meal maybe, and hang out together.

LeeMon
2007-04-13, 03:22 PM
All my DM dice are blue. What are the odds? :)

Incidentally, the Warmage in my group cast Hail of Stone (CAr) on a bunch of hobgoblins, rolled high on damage, and managed to kill three of them. The other players, not knowing exactly what the spell did, turned to me and asked, "so what happened?" The player interruped and said "Rocks fell, people died."

I'm lucky, I guess; the worst I have to deal with is threatening to enforce the "if you say it in character, your character said it" rule. This has resulted in the paladin saying "hey baby" to the female captain of the town guard, for one example. (He didn't learn his lesson; when they came back at 2am a few days later to deliver a scouting report, they were turned away by the guards, only to return later to find her berating the guard responsible. She apologized, explaining that she had left orders to be roused from sleep if the PCs arrived. Said paladin immediately says, "I'll rouse you anytime.")

My players generally don't act out of line, but they do remind me not to take things too seriously. So, I save the moments of "I'm going to start rolling damage dice now, and I may never stop" for when someone's preventing others from enjoying the game.