PC death

[Whill]

It sounds like those players are the type to get upset if you tell them their character really should have died, and then they wouldn't want ot play out their own death in a more dramatic way, or they might go overboard and be way too cavalier for the rest fo the entire aventure because they know they are going to die in the end anyway.

The guy I described was a pretty good role-player and team player, and plus I told him he would get to make a new PC for future games (which he did even though that particular group broke up).

I guess I should have clarified that my previously described occurance probably won't work to well if the player isn't a good role-player, or doesn't really care too much about the whole story. I have had just flat-out bad players, but I have also been blessed with some good players who care about the outcome of the whole story like a GM does. Those players don't complain when bad things happen to their characters because they have the bigger picture in mind. Bad things make the story more exciting and more dramatic when the challenges are overcome, eventually.

Anyway Buttonz, back to the issue your players figuring out that they are "protected" from dying at the hands of goons, the best way to change your players' behavior may be to have the worst player's character killed by a goon at an un-dramatic time. That'll learn 'em!
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Star Wars D6 Damage

[Buttonz]

I can try it, but from experiences with my players, i already know that a PC death will be simply shrugged off and replaced with a "better" character. I would not inform the player of his certain demise, just make a little note for myself and wait for an appropriate point in the game where his/her death will be dramatic and fitting for the story.

As for the cavalier attitude my players have towards them droves of minions that wander the galaxy, i had an interesting thought on how to deal with that.
The group has encountered a small band of mercs that are known to be real tough both by rep and actual experience (they were working on the same side at the time). As the group is about to attack a small convoy, i plan to exchange the normal guards for these mercs. If they follow their usual routine when dealing with the thugs they are expecting, they will get a little surprise when they simply get blasted with holes.
Although i might just stun them and leave them hanging naked from the trees so they can learn a little lesson. Or let them go back to town in only their underwear...

It does remind me of one particular episode of an ADnD game i ran. The characters had attacked a temple of some evil god and were somewhat surprised when the evil god took exception to the attack while his avatar was being summoned and sent his zealots to step on the group. The group realized that they were seriously outnumbered and could not hope to win this particular fight, turned tail and ran. One of the players realized that they could not outrun some of the monsters that were after them and announced to all (in character) that he would hold the horde back for as long as possible to allow them to flee to safety so they could continue to thwart the evil gods plans. The character then activated a magic item that resulted in the temple starting to collapse (evil gods need better architects) and bravely turned to meet the horde of creatures head on. All the other characters, bar one, decided to stand by their friend and turned back too.
They all died, well all except the character who ran away. He built a little hut near the site of the temple and lived out the rest of his days as a hermit, and the campaign ended.

I guess the moral of the story is there is no easy way to handle PCs and how they die. Well, if death is not threat to them, there is always credits to motivate the group i guess.

[Yak Face]

A short note regarding "better" replacement characters. In situations like that I nerf each successive character made. I like to start my players more advanced - with 14 starting skill dice rather than 7. If they act foolishly I start cutting the skill dice on the replacement characters, so they start to fall further behind the group and look like the "noob."
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -Sir Winston Churchill

[garhkal]

[Black 5]

I found that sometimes players wanted to "retire" playing a super skilled character and start something new. I would often work with them to write in an interesting death rather.

I had one character that had such a good lightsaber skill, that he could face a platoon of soliders and deflect every shot at him. Finding a dramatic and realalistic way to kill him was difficult. I ran the 2nd Death Star battle at Endor and had that character be an officer on a Mon Cal cruiser. The cruiser just happened to be the Mon Cal ship that the Death Star Destroyed in the first shot into the rebel fleet. The player was actually excited that his favorite Star Wars character actually had a "on screen" death in ROTJ

[Yak Face]

I just had a TPK - had to allow it. There was no good way to fudge out of it. Their plan wasn't terrible, but it was poorly thought out when it came to the details, and then one of the PCs went wandering around aimlessly and set in motion a very negative series of events. Long story short - got them all killed. Time to make new characters. There were no hard feelings (except maybe toward the dummy who got 'em killed) because what I did as the GM was reasonable - it was what they knew their opposition would do in any realistic scenario.
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -Sir Winston Churchill

[FightingCorsair]

I just had an incident this past weekend. The three players were surrounded by 12 guards armed with blaster rifles, the players had one pistol between them.

They were asked to surrender. They didn't.

I rolled enough damage to kill one PC outright. I suggested he spend some CPs to increase his Strength roll to attempt to reduce damage (I'm less likely to fudge damage rolls since I rediscovered the 5 CP maximum for resisting damage). It took quite a large amount of convincing to get him to do it.

"You can't make me spend character points!" was one of the things said. In hind sight I should have just killed the character.

[garhkal]

I have always believed in that if they do stupid things, let them die if the dice call it that way. That account racks up 2 stupid things...
Surrounded with only a pistol and
Not heeding the GMs warning to spend CP..
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[FightingCorsair]

It was early in the session and I was feeling generous.

But you are absolutely correct. Next time I'll not be so kind.

[Ankhanu]

Yup. ANY time a GM says "... are you sure you want to do that?" or "do you want to use a couple character points?" you should pause and really consider what's happening
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[enderandrew]

D6 Star Wars is very cinematic, and PCs are often fairly powerful compared to their opposition.

A PC shouldn't be taken down by a stormtrooper all that easily. And as opposed to set hit points, you have a soak roll that you can spend character points on.

PCs should not die randomly at the drop of a hat.

I've killed PCs, but usually only because the player did something monumentally stupid, and their death was a fair reaction. And usually, it isn't the first time the player did something stupid. If you're fair and give players fair opportunities, you shouldn't have players argue when PCs die. I've been running games for near 20 years, and only once had I seen a player argue about a PC death, and that player was pretty juvenile.

I can not reiterate enough, that it is vital to earn your players' trust with fair adjudication.
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