What was the lamest death you ever saw in an RPG?
I once saw a character almost die from falling off a horse, because he was trying to show off, and failed a whole series of rolls. This was WFRP, and the only thing that saved him was expending fate points (so I guess it was the lamest waste of a fate point ever).
RPGPundit
Well, I didn't actually see it on a game, but the mage's death in the short "Gamers" HAS to be teh lamest evar.
Pendragon:
Female character with very few HP, (Con 6 Siz 6 HP 12,) fails a riding roll, falls off a horse, and takes 1d6 damage, rolls a 6. Major wound (no chivalry bonus)... Fumble on the Chiurgery. And the next week. And then the next week, and character dead.
Or the character whose NPC wives each popped twins and died in childbirth the following year. He'd accumulated 30-some manors that way... and 25 children.
7 month (Celentor Trammell) Character who captured 2 lame assassins sent after him. When explained that he would recieve very minimal exp for killing them once tied up (and he got exp for capturing them in the first place...he was seriously milking it), he untied one and gave the hobyt assassin a haladie dagger, trying to increase the EXP gained.
Little bastard criticalled him, and he was not in full armor. Very low-hp game, so it knocked him to -2, from which he probably would have eventually stabilized, except for the assassin he had untied standing over him...
Sounds like a classic 'villain' death.
In games I've GMed, it was Wilgo the Bling-Seeker, 1st level halfling thief, who died from... stepping on a caltrop.
As for playing, well aside from oodles of pointless TPKs...
Gibber the Internal Disruptor, the 20th level (Rolemaster) Paladin. Killed by a beer stein in a barfight. And he wasn't even in the fight! It missed someone, flew on, KLUNK, maxed out on the critical, skull crushed and killed instantly.
I had a players 1st level wizard (2e) die from getting bitten by a rat, not a giant sewer or wererat just a regular garbage can rat. Not only lame, but very very funny at the time.
1e game. Level 1 group in the wilderness. One guy got hungry and decided to go hunting instead of eating rations. He was killed by a goose.
"You see in front of you a flood swollen river that is 8 meters across (~25 feet). It is fast flowing and full of debris," says I the GM.
... Failed jump roll later ...
The player pauses and then asks, "What is the penalty for swimming while wearing plate mail?"
My character died before I had finished creating it.
3ed, I was making an 18th level sorcerer and the group I was joining about to fight a very powerful black dragon. I had rolled all the stats and calculated saves and bought equipment, I just hadn't assigned skill points and picked spells. I told the DM to put me in the action, that I had enough to go on, and if my turn came up before I finished I'd be selecting spells in descending order, and just blast my best spells first.
Dragon wins init, and blasts us with his breath weapon. I was so deep in the spells I barely registered the "roll reflex save" - I auto-pilot rolled the die, said "I fail", at which point the GM asks how many HP I have. I quote the number, and look up and his face just kind of falls and and his eyes bug out, and he says "Your character is incinerated by its acid breath, so that only your boots remain. Start rolling up your next character. Good thing you're still in the chargen section..."
Worst moment of my gaming career.
I go back and forth on the death of Wayland Dessinger, perhaps my favourite PC to play ever.
The problem with Wayland was that he was a bit too awesome while also being evil. It's not that he was mechanically overpowered (though he was pretty powerful), but that he was fairly far along on his quest to become a god, and had attained both magical and temporal power somewhat in excess of plan. He'd also proven more than willing to negotiate with the evil dudes and combine their plans with his own, and then get the better of them.
So, my DM and I talked it over, and he wanted to kill Wayland b/c otherwise the game would become the Adventures of Wayland Dessinger, M.D. I consented at the time, though in hindsight I don't think I should have.
Anyhow, Wayland died in some cutscene-like way that involved saving his two brothers from this undead alien ghost thing. I'm not convinced that killing a character because he rises above the level of peon of greater powers, even if you do get some great drama out of it is a good policy (to be fair, the session after he died was amazing and focused on his legacy).
Also, I think Curtis lamed him up by having his ghost appear towards the end of the game and address his favourite evil NPC as "Master" which was highly out of character for Wayland, even if he was dead.
Exalted:
The player was an Eclipse Caste Exalted.
As the great city of Two Forks was burning down to the ground, the Exalt decided it was the best time to start looting the storehouses. After picking up a barrel full of pepper he succumbed to smoke inhalation and passed out (with no charms or even a decent stamina). He died alone, unaccomplished in a story worthy of the Darwin Awards.
The story goes that the Unconquered Sun looked up from the table at the Games of Diviinity, shrugged his shoulders and said "oops."
GM descriptions and verbage DO matter...
The party came across a double corridor hallway trap that had two gigantic iron boulders rollling around in twin circular passages of changing elevation. You could hear the trap before you saw the oncoming colossal iron spheres. The GM pulled each player out into the hallway and asked them what they did when could hear the rolling noise. Just about everyone decided to run away from the noise until they could see it. We were told that we could ask no questions when we could see it, for we had to react instantly to the situation. When my PC could see it, the description I got was: There is a big metal ball rolling after your character. What do you do?
My PC tried to leap over the big metal ball and was instantly crushed into a fine paste by the colossal iron sphere.
:rolleyes:
My PC's death wins. It was so lame that it killed the thread! :hatsoff: