Character death, Convention gaming question...

[garhkal]

For those who play / run games at Gaming conventions, do you feel that cause players are often PAYING to play those games, that PC death should be LESS of a possibility than if they were playing in a Home Campaign/Store game day??
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Naaman]

I don't run/play in paid games. But I have before. If it were my convention, perhaps instead of killing a character, Id take some or all of his FPs and/or CPs away and leave him disabled for a significant portion of the remainder of the chapter.

Unless a major villain is the one to kill the PC. If so, I'd give the next character that player makes all the adventuring rewards the dead PC would have eared.

[garhkal]

The situation in question, came about at roughly 2 hrs into the 4 hr slot (though about 3/4ths into the module itself, as by the module the Final fight/escape should be alloted a good 75-80 minutes IRL, due to all the dice rolling..)

Pc's had just tripped the 2nd of two sensor suites placed along pathways to a prison they were heading to, to break out some people from, prompting an enemy 6 pack of troops to set up an ambush on them. 2 rounds in, and 2 PC's were dropped to mortally wounded. Combat lasted 5 more rounds before the others in the group got the enemy all taken out, so medical aid could be rendered.
One of those 2 at MW, had rolled a 4 for round 5 of being at MW, so by the rules should be dead before the party could medic him.. however cause of our group's rules, if a death crops up, the DM needs to get with the con-coordinator, or another head judge, give him the situation, and then get a ruling on "live or die" (yea, imo strange rule, since that rule initally came into being to try and get RID of a perception our group doesn't kill Pcs, we added a rule that seems to ENFORCE the idea we don't kill pcs).

I gave him the situation, and he seemed to feel that since it was only effectively the 2 hr mark REAL time of the game, even though it was roughly two thirds to three quarters of the module itself, that killing him now, MIGHT make him feel he didn't get his money's worth...

His ruling was "have him spend a CP, to get a reroll of that round's MW result. sort of he's only mostly dead'...

Next long break i had, i saw some FASA (shadow run and b/tech guys) with some of the pathfinder guys on one of the smoke pits, so asked them if its a general thought that "Since players are paying to play games at conventions, should they have some sort of expectation that they can't die around the halfway point, so they feel like they got their money's worth">...

Then figured i wuld ask it here (and some other sites i am on)..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Zarn]

For versimilitude, paid or non-paid games shouldn't have any expectations associated with them - not with character survivability, not with loot. (By extension, if it's a Living... campaign format, a player going through a module and not getting much in the way of magical loot for their character might also feel gypped - but that way lies madness.)

You might, in a module for tournament play with pregenerated characters, manage to add one or two "bonus" characters that can sort of be activated if the story allows that when and if a character bites the dust early - but I wouldn't try to add that unless the scenario itself made sense with that kind of built-in safety.

If and when some kind of "your money's worth" sense starts getting into someone's mindset, that's dangerous territory for me. In the conventions I've been to, I've paid a cover fee to get into the convention, but nothing specifically to play a particular game.

[gavin storm]

Most groups I've had dealings with dont have a no death policy. They have a policy of if you lose a character, you get a reduced replacement character.

The problem GM tries to blatently kill off the replacement character, before the characters owner can do anything with it.
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Gavin Storm
Causing Imperials headaches, one punch at a time, since 2000

[Naaman]

So, perhaps this comparison will make sense:

I have a space marines army in WH40k. I have brought plasma guns in a total of three games since 3rd edition came out around 2003 (or whenever that was). In other words, in the last dozen years, I have used three plasmas.

In fact, all those uses were in 3 games in a row. Now, I have a strict policy: no plasma at all, period, no matter what. Here's the reason: the plasma gun costs as much (or more) as a whole marine. So for the cost of a marine with a plasma, I could have two with bolt guns. And in three out of three games, on the very first shot I took with a plasma gun, not only did the shot not hit, but the gun over heated AND thee marine failed his armor save. 3 times out of three.

That same amount of points could have made a 9-man squad a 10-man squad, and I would have gotten an additional two shots each turn with bolt guns. Not only that, but the plasma gun guy was killed before even causing a single enemy casualty. So now I have an 8-man squad for the cost of a 10-man squad.

While I realize that my results are statistically anomolous, I neverthe less am the one who has had to deal with it.

If people get killed off in an rpg one time too many, they will stop paying to participate. Even if there is a cover charge to get in but not to play, the convention ends eventually: time is money.

I will never, never, ever use a plasma gun in 40k again unless the rules change.

[cheshire]

Man, if I paid for a four-hour slot, and then I found out that two hours would be spent just sitting there watching people roleplay, I'd be more than a little miffed.

Character death or no, if there was a reasonable chance of paying to do nothing, then something needs to be built into the fees.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[garhkal]

So no deaths possible in a 4 hr slot till at least the 3 hr mark? Is that what you are saying Cheshire?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[cheshire]

What I'm saying is that there should be something for me to do. Whether it be from death or knock-out gas, or whatever. If I've paid to play, I should be able to contribute to the table somehow. If that means taking over a spare NPC, sure. If it means that there is some other creative mechanic that allows me to have some meaningful interaction, then I'd say that's fine. But if I can get taken completely out -- by any means -- in the first hour, then there should be either some way to contribute or some way to recoup my loss. That is, unless there are specific policies that let people know that this is a real possibility, so they can make what decisions they want with their eyes wide open.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Naaman]

I would tend to go a half step further. I am in favor of only allowing a PC to die if the death serves a dramatic purpose.

I had an awesome character that was kicking butt against a bunch of undead, only to be taken out by a basic zombie because the GM rolled two natural 20s in a row.

Same group, I had to fight an invisible air elemental all by myself because the party was too scared to get involved. Didn't even have the decency to toss me a healing potion. The thing was higher level than we were, so obviously I died. Twas lame, for sure.

[Whill]

[garhkal]