Hints, warnings and other things of that Ilk…

[garhkal]

Actually i was getting away from the sniper example, and was going back to the general theme of the question.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[DougRed4]

This thread was a bit longer than most, so it took me awhile to read through everything (which I've greatly enjoyed, garhkal, so thanks for being a necromancer!). 8)

I see that you're not so much asking for responses to the OP, but I'm curious, what ever happened with this group? Did you end up playing much longer with the players who lost their PCs that day?

I personally would not be likely to drop such consequences on my players unless they really were asking for it (and in many ways your players were!). That said, I usually try for a less grim n' gritty/realistic game, and emphasize the heroic. It depends on the genre, of course, but talking Star Wars (which is usually space opera), I would tend to not go for a sniper taking out PCs. Just as it might be realistic for a random comet or black hole or something to wipe out the PC's ship, I think emphasizing the drama, rather than the realism, is the key. The goal is always to make things thrilling (and fun) for everyone at the table, so whatever services that goal is what I'm striving for.

But I've been fortunate to have wiser players. Mine wouldn't have gone to those lengths to antagonize a Hutt, and in fact my players have wisely chosen to beat feet on a number of occasions where they've faced superior firepower (and had they chosen to foolishly fight things out they likely would have gotten their asses kicked!)

One question (from one of Jedi Skyler's posts): he talked about a slicer and making trouble with PC's bank accounts (as another way to penalize/punish them). My players simply carry around cred sticks, and don't use accounts. Is there an easy way to mess with those?

And regarding how to show a lethal villain, I think there's many ways to do this. Just having the PCs coming across a dead body, that was clearly taken out by a powerful sniper would be an excellent clue. Or letting them do an investigation (somebody they regularly meet with, say at the market, is suddenly dead, and forensic evidence points out how they died). But all of those suggest you're doing what you can (as a GM) to try to keep your players alive, despite their bad decisions. With this group it sounds like you were more keen to show them the proper consequences. That's something my son has been doing lately (in a Lord of the Rings game), with a particular problem player that does what he wants and makes horrible choices.

Overall this has been a very informative and excellent thread, with lots of good advice for GMs (and players!).

Personally, I tend to give hints, both in-game and out of them. When I recently knew one of my players wanted to switch characters, I worked (alone, and secretly) with that player to set up a great situation where the party went up against a (much more powerful) Dark Jedi. I knew that if they did their standard tactics, it could easily result in a TPK. So I gave the Jedi a vivid dream, warning of them getting wiped out, and I talked to him OOC to let him know that he'd been feeling dark foreboding from the Force, forshadowing dangerous events ahead. When the event happened, the PCs (wisely) chose to get the heck out of dodge, and the PC I'd worked with heroically pulled off a move to sacrifice himself and save everyone else (by closing a blast door, locking himself in with the enemy). It worked brilliantly, and my players were surprised and saddened, but still probably appreciative that they lived through it.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[garhkal]

[DougRed4]

Thanks, garhkal. I've been to Norfolk a few times, back in the late 90's, early 2000's. The game company Decipher used to fly me out there to help with their Star Wars Customizable Card Game.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green