Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-via!schuetz From: schuetz@via.DEC (Chris Schuetz - VIA System Manager 381-2647) Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Killing off characters Message-ID: <3905@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Oct-84 23:24:50 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.3905 Posted: Thu Oct 11 23:24:50 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Oct-84 08:24:14 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 31 There was a recent rebuttal about some DM's haveing too much concern to kill off a 7th level mage that took months to develop. MONTHS !?! If you're really role-playing, you're talking about characters that take YEARS to develop. My cleric has finally reached 8th level after 4 years of playing. We just lost our 8th level fighter that has been around for 5 years! You bet that we tried everything that we could think of to restore him (even though he wasn't quite dead yet), even took up 4 sessions to do it. We were so desparate that we let the mages of the defeated army try something, much to our regret. What they ended up doing is summoning a demon to kill of the rest of us. Of course they didn't have nearly the power to control him, and the first thing he did was wipe them all out (and our friend's body too). Then our party was stuck with dealing with the demon (successfully too, thanks to some VERY lucky rolls. We didn't have nearly the strength to battle him in earnest). So don't expect any sympathy from us when you lose your precious 7th level character after 2 months of playing :-) I do agree that nasty fatal item are unnecessary, however. A good DM can use subtler means to bring a character into line. (Having the church send him off for a year in a monastery to do penance comes to mind. How would you like to have to give up your character for a year of character time? I'd think that you'd change your ways instead.) Instead of magic items, lets hear about some more traps and trick or puzzles to use. /Chris decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-via!schuetz