Aaron's bad-ass sword-wielding elf had killed (almost) every damned opponent I'd put on the table in ONE HIT.  Son of a bitch.

The Dwarven Traitor to the Troll Warlord...one hit.

Fuck that.

His brother, the Raven King of the North, was being choked, hung from the rafters by a whip that was held by He Who Rules by Whip, Sword and Spell, the biggest, baddest Orc in the campaign, an NPC listed in the back of the book.

They fenced for a little while, circled, parried, let their armor do a little work for them and then, at the same moment they went for the Great Strike, the most brutal hit possible in the Burning Wheel system.  When Aaron and I saw what we had in store for one another, we high-fived, knowing full well it could be the end of his character.

Great Strike allows the player to either add to the power of the hit or add to the hits ability to penetrate armor.  They both went for the armor penetration.

And they both got it.

Aaron got lucky, he was just maimed, sword stuck through his chest.

He Who Rules was not so lucky, his sword arm was chopped off and the blow continued on through his chest, stuck in his sternum.

Aaron's elf, The Herald of the Dawn, collaposed in his brother's arms and his brother called for a healer.  It took him four months to recover from his wounds, one iota short of death.

It was a good fight.  I realized right then that I need never see an elf fight an orc at my gaming table again.  It will never be cooler than that for me.

I'm satisfied.

How about you?  It can be a joke that happened at the table, a snack, a game event, whtaever.  What happened at your table this week that reminded you why you love this hobby?

A few weeks back, my CoC game ended and it reminded me of everything I love about role-playing.

A little before then, I had a great night when one of the characters in my Arcana Evolved game mentioned to a ... friendly? ... recently-returned dragon that the leadership of a nearby town was corrupt and misguided.  (It wasn't so much, but this character - Gustave - is an angst-kitten.  This dragon's busy trying to carve himself an empire of sorts in the northern parts of the country...  He's egotistical, considers himself a paragon of justice, and is pretty thoroughly naive - so far.

The look on my players' faces and their reactions were priceless when, next session, after a climactic battle which left the city militia mostly out of service, the dragon flew over with his Dracha militia and declared himself the ruler.  He then proceeded to catalog all the accusations against the leadership the character had made, thanking Gustave for bringing it all to light.

Goddamn that was a good time.  One of the characters ran away, another got ready for a suicidal fight, two more tried to reason with the dragon that he didn't really want to do this, and Gustave himself decided to fight with the old guy in charge and hopefully get the dragon to spare him.

I loved it, and so did my players.  It was one of those perfect examples where the players got to see the consequences of their actions and the effects of them on the world.

-O

Okay it went down like this. Action. A cross cut between three fight scenes in my d20 modern campaign "The Mandate"

The first. Two of the players trying to grapple the guns away from another team of "Mandate" operatives. One pair is in front, the other in the back. Between the vicious elbowing and crotch kicking and not to mention random gunfire there can be heard shouts of - "Could you please watch were the fuck you are accidently shooting..."

Cut to

A delapitated once lived in suburban home. Two of the other players are bloody and broken after a vicious hand to hand combat with the leader of the other team. All participants are pretty banged up. One of the players is prone on the floor, after having managed to toss one of the discarded fire arms to the other (who happens to be the leader of the players team). He has got her in his sights, she smiles weakly and slumps to the floor - "When they first get you, you think you can change, maybe even repent, I will always be a mother to my children, they can't change that...."

And let's not forget this scene

The last player of the group. She has been charged with recovering an item of vital importance to the group. Their safety depends on it. This small scrap of paper holds so much promise or doom. She manages to retrive it but ends up on the rooftop facing of with a sniper from her past. Some bad moves on her part results in the sniper slowly taking aim at a group of party goers at a nearby building. She does not give a shit about them. She has been here before. The other sniper was there too. Forged in the conflict of the India/Pakistan/Kashmiri conflict, she has let innocents die before. He's a pro. Just doing his job. Nothing personal(Let's play this game again). He wants her. What she has got. She thinks about her crew, slowly watching as the puffs of concrete, the tell tale signs of his gun fire moves closer to the innocent party goers. She takes a drag from her smoke. (Both in game and out) And stands up and hopes the way she has killed so many times before really is quick and painless.

They find her later. No paper, just a bullet in the head and a whole lot of trouble coming their way.

Coolest moment of late. Sorry to bore you Paka, but you did ask for it

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RCoolest moment of late. Sorry to bore you Paka, but you did ask for it

Regards,
David R

David, the thread is about moments you thought were cool.

Fer gawd's sake, don't apologize for sharing exactly that.

I don't care if you mention the great dip one of your players brought to the game, as long as it was good and added to your enjoyment.

In a recent game with my two oldest sons (8 and 10) they were presented with a true moral dillemma that almost resulted in a real life fight between them.  I originally posted this on animalball, but it's appropriate here:

QuoteThey search the caves and in the back they find two unarmed, unarmored goblins-- one is a finely dressed female snow goblin and the other is an elderly regular goblin.  The elderly one begins pleading for their lives, but the female marches up and begins yelling at the players.  "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"  She shouts that she is Daunt, Mistress to the Snow Goblin Chieftan.  She yells that if he finds out what they've done, he will hunt them down, kill them slowly and erase them from history.  She orders the players to march out of the cave, leave the land and never return- it is the only way they will escape certain death.  The players are shouting at her to shut up and sit down.  She runs up and slaps Lucian in the face and Mistletoe jumps on her, killing her quickly.
 
At this point, the old goblin explains that what she is saying was true.  He points to a large candle burning on the ground and explains that it is a candle of truth they were using for their meetings.  "I don't know who you are, and I don't want to make enemies of men I have never met.  But please, just take whatever gold you want and let me leave.  I never meant to cross you, and Daunt is right- she is practically royalty and when it is discovered what they've done, the chieftan will stop at nothing to have their heads.  I'll even let you hide at my house, as meager as it is.  But please don't kill me.  Please, I've done nothing to you!"
 
At this point the boys are arguing and conflicted.  Striker wants to let him go because the old goblin is right, he's done nothing to them.  Lucian, on the other hand, is insisting that they were under orders to leave no survivers.  The boys begin yelling at each other about whether or not to kill this seemingly innocent goblin.  Finally they decide to let him go, as long as he agrees, in the presence of the candle of truth, that he intends to leave the area and not tell anyone of the caves.  The old goblin agrees and as they are walking him out of the caves, he steals Lucian's scimitar and slashes him with it, knocking him unconscious.  He's quickly killed.

It was awesome to see my boys struggle with the decision to kill someone they thought was innocent just because they had orders to.

Quote from: BillBraskyIt was awesome to see my boys struggle with the decision to kill someone they thought was innocent just because they had orders to.

What was the tension at the table like and how did everyone react to how it played out?

Quote from: PakaWhat was the tension at the table like and how did everyone react to how it played out?

Sorry, I thought that description was in the part I cut and pasted.

My 10 year old was determined to kill the dude-- they were under strict orders from their shadowy organization that no survivors at this location should be allowed to live.  My 10 year old was ready to finish the mission and moved in to kill him when my 8 year old literally grabs his arm and starts pleading with him, "He didn't do anything, we can't just kill him!"  So they start arguing back and forth-- "But if we leave a survivor we'll be kicked out of the Order"  "But we can't just kill someone who's done nothing wrong."  This went back and forth for a while, the whole time with me playing the role of the "innocent" goblin-- "PLEASE listen to him sir!  I'll tell no one!  Please don't kill me!  My wife can't provide for our crippled child and granddaughter!  Please!  If you kill me you'll be killing them too!"  Finally my oldest cracks and gives in and they work out the deal to let him go.

But of course if they let him go it completely screws up next adventure, so I gave them the cop out ending and had the goblin attack them so they could justifiably kill him.

When it was over it was like we'd all just played a game of football-- they were exhausted and relieved-- and it was the best session they'd ever played.

Quote from: BillBraskySorry, I thought that description was in the part I cut and pasted.

My 10 year old was determined to kill the dude-- they were under strict orders from their shadowy organization that no survivors at this location should be allowed to live.  My 10 year old was ready to finish the mission and moved in to kill him when my 8 year old literally grabs his arm and starts pleading with him....

10 and 8 YEAR OLD!

Holy shit, that is awesome.

They are never going to just whack a goblin without thinking about it in a serous way.

The fact that it was your young children playing this makes all the difference in the freaking world.

That is wild, wild shit.

Has it brought about any discussion or questions about what happened at the table?  I'd think that kind of situation would sit with a kid for a while and they'd eventually come to you with some pretty BIG questions.  

Neat example, Bill.

Quote from: PakaHas it brought about any discussion or questions about what happened at the table?  I'd think that kind of situation would sit with a kid for a while and they'd eventually come to you with some pretty BIG questions.  

Surprisingly, no.  I think what happened was that when I gave them the "easy out" by having the goblin attack them, it kind of solidified for them that they only have one answer-- so at that point it's a closed issue for them.  Now if I hadn't given them an easy out and they had killed him anyways, then I would be answering all those questions, I'm sure.