From:	Adam Treloar <s777317@*******.gu.edu.au>
Subject:	Re: geezers
Date:	Mon, 23 Sep 1996 10:40:04 +1000 (EST)

> > Loki wrote:
> > > 'Course he has uttered to other players that if his third character
> > > dies, he'll give up playing S/R. Muhahahahahaha! He just makes it so
> > > darn easy...
> >
> > Gosh..that guy gives up easy..With my old GM we were required to create 2
> > PCs when
> > introducing 1 into the game..So that *when* not if it got killed off we
> > would be ready to insert the
> > new character...
> >
> We had a player (our current GM's brother actually) who had a book nearly
> full of characters...and he needed them! Our old GM had a problem with
> his first character in one campaign...so he killed it off...the player
> brought in another character...GM didn't really plot against this
> one...but it got killed anyway...next character, the GM actually
> liked....it lasted a week tops...next character made 2 weeks I think...
> The GM was actually trying to SAVE the guy's characters after this! It
> was just horrible luck, like rolling all 1's on athletics for a
> PARACHUTING test!
>
> GM: Roll athletics...just a formality to see if you open the chute properly
> PLAYER: Uh-oh
> GM: What do you mean uh-oh?

I remember that. It's a good case (for most of the deaths) for the
"don't do something stupid" routine, but after a while it turned into
"don't get so unlucky!" The trouble was, there was no way the DM could
fudge it. The rolls were all the player's, not the DMs.

Which brings up a point. When you're outta karma pool and team karma,
should someone die like that so many times just cos the dice say so?
It's all very well to go by the rules, but rules don't account for a run
of bad luck. Conversely, if the dice say someone continually gets 12
successes on firearms tests, what's the point of putting the person
against anything requiring a skill test? The point of the game is to
have fun, so a challenge is good, but a walk-thru or a death march
quickly becomes boring or frustrating for players and DMs alike.

Some DMs (One that we no longer play with comes to mind) have to realize
that rules are there for framework and fun, but they're never unbreakable
when the situation calls for it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's called tourist season, so why can't we shoot them?"
Adam Treloar aka Guardian
s777317@*****.student.gu.edu.au http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1900/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------