Sascha the Archmage, Queen of Korocia was in her private study, attempting to unlock the mysteries of The Orb of Ithquaris. The Orb, an Artifact created by the god of magic himself, was a highly dangerous little toy. Intelligent, holding a potentially limitless power to Alter Reality and designed to eventually, permanently merge its own consciousness, with that of its wielder, the Orb could possibly, totally subsume Sascha's personality.
Sascha was holding her infant in her arms as she went about her studies.
Suddenly, Balston the Usurper, Dwarven King of Korocia, burst into his human queen's study, the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords in hand. He then proceeds to demand that his wife give up the highly unstable Orb.
Which, considering what the Axe was doing to him, was more than a little hypocritical. And considering that his wife was the most powerful Archmage in the world, it was also more than a little futile.
But, since his Int was all of a 7...
When married couples argue it can get messy. When both husband and wife are powerful personages, in a fantasy world, it can get dangerous. When this power couple is actually a pair of AD&D PC's, it can also get hilarious!
Sascha told her husband to go to hell!
Player/Balston to DM: "I throw the Axe at her!"
Player/Sascha: "I'm holding the baby!"
Player/Balston, smiling to DM: "If I Roll a 1, I think it should hit the kid!"
Me/DM: "Ok. Sounds good!"
The DM and all five players at the table, think this idea is funny as hell.
Me/DM: "Roll initiative!"
Balston wins, hurls the Axe and...
Rolls a bloody 1!
How perfect was that!
The Axe bites into the skull of the infant, killing it instantly. Sascha teleports out, as the Axe returns to the King.
Everyone laughs their asses off!
Sascha gets her son resurrected. There being a 20+ level PC Cleric in the party, whose god was the same as Balston's and had specific schemes in mind, regarding the young prince, made this a virtual fait accompli.
It is, perhaps, worthy of note that there was never any question of the party bouncing back from this incident, even if Balston had killed Sascha, or vice versa. No one was trying to permanently remove anyone else's PC, from the game.
Hurling the Axe at his wife, was certainly something the Deranged King might do.
But Joey, who ran Balston, was far too excellent a player, to want to permanently remove a PC, which Rachel had invested some 4,000+ hours into running.
He would never have let "what my character would do," interfere with what we actual people were doing. He ran his PC, not the other way around.
Sascha was holding her infant in her arms as she went about her studies.
Suddenly, Balston the Usurper, Dwarven King of Korocia, burst into his human queen's study, the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords in hand. He then proceeds to demand that his wife give up the highly unstable Orb.
Which, considering what the Axe was doing to him, was more than a little hypocritical. And considering that his wife was the most powerful Archmage in the world, it was also more than a little futile.
But, since his Int was all of a 7...
When married couples argue it can get messy. When both husband and wife are powerful personages, in a fantasy world, it can get dangerous. When this power couple is actually a pair of AD&D PC's, it can also get hilarious!
Sascha told her husband to go to hell!
Player/Balston to DM: "I throw the Axe at her!"
Player/Sascha: "I'm holding the baby!"
Player/Balston, smiling to DM: "If I Roll a 1, I think it should hit the kid!"
Me/DM: "Ok. Sounds good!"
The DM and all five players at the table, think this idea is funny as hell.
Me/DM: "Roll initiative!"
Balston wins, hurls the Axe and...
Rolls a bloody 1!
How perfect was that!
The Axe bites into the skull of the infant, killing it instantly. Sascha teleports out, as the Axe returns to the King.
Everyone laughs their asses off!
Sascha gets her son resurrected. There being a 20+ level PC Cleric in the party, whose god was the same as Balston's and had specific schemes in mind, regarding the young prince, made this a virtual fait accompli.
It is, perhaps, worthy of note that there was never any question of the party bouncing back from this incident, even if Balston had killed Sascha, or vice versa. No one was trying to permanently remove anyone else's PC, from the game.
Hurling the Axe at his wife, was certainly something the Deranged King might do.
But Joey, who ran Balston, was far too excellent a player, to want to permanently remove a PC, which Rachel had invested some 4,000+ hours into running.
He would never have let "what my character would do," interfere with what we actual people were doing. He ran his PC, not the other way around.
If anyone ever asks how the game is supposed to work, link to this.
ReplyDeleteHi Zak! Yeah, definitely one of my favorite gaming stories!
ReplyDeleteSo, everyone a the table thought it was funny that a father, in a maniacal fit, chucked his axe at his wife and killed their son?
ReplyDeleteOr am I missing some greater point? About not letting "my character would do this dick thing" interfere with the game?
That kid's gonna need some serious therapy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was fucking hilarious!
ReplyDelete@J. Michael Matkin - As an NPC, he eventually became the leader of a band of raiders. Long story.
ReplyDeleteWell sure, because I imagine he was a bad tempered SOB from all inexplicable migraines he suffered from. That really is one of those laugh-your-ass-off, you-really-had-to-be-there kind of stories, the kind that I love.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear more about this campaign.
ReplyDeleteThere's some scattered stuff, here and there on the blog. I'll do something more comprehensive, in the future.
ReplyDeleteRolling 1s are so great. Rusty of Rusty Battle Axe fame has the knack of rolling a one in the worst possible moment or if the other characters roll a one he seems to get the brunt of their mistake. If you ever see Rusty ask him about the time he mistakenly sent a pair of giant beavers to kill an entire village of women and children. Critical failures. So much fun.
ReplyDeleteNow, that sounds intriguing!
ReplyDelete'He would never have let "what my character would do," interfere with what we actual people were doing.'
ReplyDeleteWell there must be a hell of a typo in there because that's exactly what happened. I'm not complaining that he did act like a dick because that "was certainly something the Deranged King might do", but I'm struggling to see where that last paragraph about not doing things because that's what your character would do fits in here.