See maybe I'm missing something in that story Pundito but that kind of sounds fucked up. It reads, whether you intend for it to come across this way or not, like dude fell out of a small tree and died.

There was an old Ravenloft Adventure (I think it came from a book of short adventures called Book of Crypts or something to that effect) set in Mordenheim's mansion. The entry for the door way said it was so frayed and splintered that any character knocking on it takes d2 damage (or maybe it was d4-1, can't remember). But it was enough to drop a first level mage I ran through it.

Anybody see that nasty "Grimtooth's Traps"?

My whole party got killed by what I consider a very unfair and unbeatable trap:

We came down the hall into a stone room, 12'x12'x12'. Opposite of us was a pair of metal doors. When we opened them, a Flamestrike spell hit everybody within 10' of the door. Then they shut again.

So we stood back and used a halberd to pull the door open, only this time a giant 10-ton block of stone fell out of the ceiling and crushed us all.

(Incidentally, we fired that guy as DM after that.)

I was playing in a big group with a GM who was notorious for having a very common NPC type: The Short-Tempered Uber-Powerful Quest-Giver Guy. Said NPC was harmless as long as you didn't antagonize him, but he was almost always some kind of archmage or superhero with a chip on his shoulder, and it was best to just stay out of his way.

Everyone knew this, except the new guy. We start the game, and sure enough we meet with STUPQGG. New guy decides to get in STUPQGG's face, asking why we should do what he says, he doesn't think STUPQGG is so tough, etc. etc. Everyone else tells him to shut up, partially because his character's about to be killed for mouthing off, and also because it was stalling the game for no good reason, because obviously we all want to play the adventures, so why would we argue with the guy who's getting us on the road?

New guy continues to taunt the NPC. GM warns him in-character that if he doesn't knock it off, he's going to be split open like a pillowcase. New guy mocks and jeers. GM rolls giant handful of dice, informs New Guy he takes that much damage. New Guy dead. Game can finally start.

He spent the rest of the session in the next room, complaining loudly about how he had just been killed out of nowhere, with no warning, and it was so unfair, not realizing how hard he had actually worked to goad the GM into killing him.

We didn't game with him again for some odd reason.

Runner-up was the tournament I played in where some guy went to the bathroom and the rest of the group, who were sick of his antics out-of-character, got together in-character and threw his PC down a mineshaft. He came back from the crapper to be informed he was dead. The GM let it happen because, well, he'd mentally checked out about a day before.

These aren't really that hilarious in-game, I guess, but out of character, they were funny at the time.

The one that comes to mind is a Hero System-based military superhumans game.  This is important because it's a point-based system where players design their own characters' superpowers.  My friend Gary played a flame projector who could boost his powers by Absorbing energy, and he ended up dying in a burning building because he forgot to buy defenses against fire.
As in, his own powers.  

JG

Quote from: Insufficient Metal;491022I was playing in a big group with a GM who was notorious for having a very common NPC type: The Short-Tempered Uber-Powerful Quest-Giver Guy.

LOL! I know that type all too well.... Seen tons of DM's use that character.

QuoteRunner-up was the tournament I played in where some guy went to the bathroom and the rest of the group, who were sick of his antics out-of-character, got together in-character and threw his PC down a mineshaft. He came back from the crapper to be informed he was dead. The GM let it happen because, well, he'd mentally checked out about a day before.

ROFLMAO! That's even more hilarious because I can totally relate.

I hadn't thought about it till I read that, but I remember way back when in highschool playing this sort-of GURPS type game called Lejentia. There was this kid in our group who was a total spaz and was always starting unneccessary fights with other NPCs for no reason at all. For example, we'd have just walked into a tavern and he'd brandish his sword and yell, "We're  here to kill all the fucking elves!" and then there'd be a big brawl. Or we'd run into some palladin on the road and he'd push the guy off his horse for no reason.

This was back when the whole "RPGs Are Satanic" bullshit was going on and since we played the game at school, one of the rules we had to agree to was that we had to let anybody play to wanted to.

So one day, he fell down a pit and we all walked off and left him there. The GM ran the game as if nothing had happened. He would cut back to the guy every so often and say, "You're still in the pit." After a solid week (no shit!) of this, the guy left.

One PC, a bard. Locked himself in a wizards lab. Understand, you have to open it from the outside. He for whatever reason, allowed himself (despite the other PC's informing him of their departing) remained behind.

 The wizard opened it with a homunculus who flew in and out a small hole, no adult human could fit through, only he had refused to ask it to do anything. Like open the door. He starved to death.

I find it funny because all he had to do was leave with everyone else, or ask the homunculus to let him out.

Quote from: Silverlion;491041One PC, a bard. Locked himself in a wizards lab. Understand, you have to open it from the outside. He for whatever reason, allowed himself (despite the other PC's informing him of their departing) remained behind.

 The wizard opened it with a homunculus who flew in and out a small hole, no adult human could fit through, only he had refused to ask it to do anything. Like open the door. He starved to death.

I find it funny because all he had to do was leave with everyone else, or ask the homunculus to let him out.

I have a theory that, whenever a player interprets cues from one GM in an absurd manner, those cues were interpreted appropriately for another GM.

Quote from: Narf the Mouse;491044I have a theory that, whenever a player interprets cues from one GM in an absurd manner, those cues were interpreted appropriately for another GM.

I've no clue. This player was the source of nearly all the silly deaths we ever had, with one or two others who once in a blue moon tried something amazing and mad and just didn't manage to get it to work.

I think when it boiled down to it--he wanted "his way."  He (the player) never wanted his character to work with the other characters. He avoided listening to their advice, trying to help them and get them to help him in return.  He seemed to  want everything to go his way, and was unwilling to ask, coerce, or offer serious alternative choices to the others in play. He wanted to be the star of an ensemble cast.

In a high level 3.5 game, I was playing a Psychic Warrior that was a secondary tank for the party. Said party got into a nasty fight with a pair of Frost Worms. We did alright and finally managed to down one of them. Then the GM informed us that it exploded in a massive hail of ice upon dying. Only my character and the rogue with improved evasion were in the radius. The rogue naturally made the reflex save and took no damage. I had no such luck. It's then I remembered that I had Evade Burst as one of my psionic powers. So I poured most all of my remaining power points into it, rolled, and survived!

Man, did I feel badass. And we were joking that even though the other worm was in the radius as well, it was cold damage.

Then the GM said "Oh, right it also does 8d6 slashing damage, thanks for reminding me." She proceeded to roll enough damage to kill the other Frost Worm, causing it to explode in exactly the same fashion.

I failed the reflex save.

Quote from: Silverlion;491071I've no clue. This player was the source of nearly all the silly deaths we ever had, with one or two others who once in a blue moon tried something amazing and mad and just didn't manage to get it to work.

I think when it boiled down to it--he wanted "his way."  He (the player) never wanted his character to work with the other characters. He avoided listening to their advice, trying to help them and get them to help him in return.  He seemed to  want everything to go his way, and was unwilling to ask, coerce, or offer serious alternative choices to the others in play. He wanted to be the star of an ensemble cast.

...OTOH, some people just seem to have a mental malfunction.

*Shrug* Left my telepathy in my other pants pocket.

Anyway - Back to listening to funny character deaths. *Popcorn*

Quote from: Rubio;491227In a high level 3.5 game, I was playing a Psychic Warrior that was a secondary tank for the party. Said party got into a nasty fight with a pair of Frost Worms. We did alright and finally managed to down one of them. Then the GM informed us that it exploded in a massive hail of ice upon dying. Only my character and the rogue with improved evasion were in the radius. The rogue naturally made the reflex save and took no damage. I had no such luck. It's then I remembered that I had Evade Burst as one of my psionic powers. So I poured most all of my remaining power points into it, rolled, and survived!

Man, did I feel badass. And we were joking that even though the other worm was in the radius as well, it was cold damage.

Then the GM said "Oh, right it also does 8d6 slashing damage, thanks for reminding me." She proceeded to roll enough damage to kill the other Frost Worm, causing it to explode in exactly the same fashion.

I failed the reflex save.

Now THAT's comedy.  

JG

It was not a death, but I recently almost got a surreal TPK. Things went like so:

Forgotten Realms. The Elves from Evermeet try to get back their ancient possessions in the High Forest with a single strike. A HUGE fleet of Elven skyskips materializes over the forest, demons and other feys react with flames and spells, and the re-enactment of the Klendathu Drop from "Starship Troopers" is underway. The players are taken in the middle.

ME: Flames, demons, spells and elven enchantments erupt around you in a chaos of fury and destruction. All of sudden, burning bodies of elven warriors and mages start falling around you, screaming in unbearable agony.

PLAYERS: Whoa... What a terrible sight... uhm... the horrors of war... er... - they they stare blankly at me.

[ME: They cannot be so stupid, uh?]

ME: Please, all of you, make an Intelligence check, DC 9

The players roll the dice and all of them pass the check.

ME: You pause to think things over. After a while your logical mind, coupled with your strong deductive powers, tells you that these bodies must come from SOMEWHERE, you know?

The party looks up, only to see a burning GIGANTO Elven skyship tumbling and smashing down from the sky right over them.

PLAYERS: AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

At the end I requested a Reflex Save (DC 25) to be allowed to run away in a random direction "or else". Amazingly enough all the party did it (for sure they were motivated), so they only took the collateral damage from the BIG SMASH (10d6). A couple of characters went in the negative (-2 to -5 HPs) but no one died. The real humiliation was how battle around them was unbothered.

A guy has like 5 hp left; and he has to climb down a very sheer rock wall; he takes tremendous precautions to do so, manages his check, and gets down safely. A moment later, a random earthquake occurs and he gets crushed to death by falling rocks.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;491503A guy has like 5 hp left; and he has to climb down a very sheer rock wall; he takes tremendous precautions to do so, manages his check, and gets down safely. A moment later, a random earthquake occurs and he gets crushed to death by falling rocks.

RPGPundit

It's like rain on your wedding day.

JG