Train kept a rollin’, all night long …

That’s how I feel about #RPGaDay even though it’s only day 4, I have to keep up momentum in order to stick with this regular update. Also it keeps me coming back to the Cut to the Chase Games blog which is a good thing. I’ve got a few blog posts started that I’d like to finish up in the near future that relate directly to the WRATH OF THE KOBOLDS series, for now I’ll keep up with these #RPGaDay posts.

4) Most impressive thing another’s character did?

I’ve had a lot of players pull off some pretty impressive stunts in my games over the years. But an event that’s stuck with me for over 15 years now I would say takes the cake. After attending my first Con of the North (in something like 1998?) with my friends/gaming group, we were all in the mood to throw down some dice and play some D&D. I had picked up a large collection of Spelljammer material (which I had NEVER heard of until then!) but I wasn’t ready to play it. Sailing ships flying through space in crystal spheres with illithids and beholders and neogi … I needed time to process it all!

One of the other things I picked up at that Con of the North was a graph paper pad (a nice one), so with little prep I threw together a map and called Lair of Flame & Fire. It was the volcano home of a tribe of fire giants and the characters, hastily assembled but eager to play, were charged with clearing out the lair. Why? Who knows? I do know that our regular group had a few extra players who had played before but had not with us (due to conflicts, we played on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the public library after school).

Anyway, I had put a very large chamber in the Lair of Flame & Fire with a river of lava cutting through the center. The characters fought a band of fire giants, and though they were triumphant they had taken some hits. One player had been knocked unconscious, and I think it was the cleric, because the party had no other means of reviving the character. The group must have consisted mostly of fighters, rangers, and thieves, because they did not seem to have much mage power behind their next decision.

The party looked at the lava river, which was bout 20 feet across, and were debating on how to get to the other side. I ruled that the lava was about 15 feet down the sides, so they came up with the idea of throwing a javelin with a rope attached and then climbing across it. (Like I said, they didn’t have much magical assistance.) Everyone agreed, but then the question came down to – what about the unconscious character?

One brave player, Nick Oak was his name I think, declared that his character – who had a girdle of giant strength of some type – was strong enough to throw the unconscious character. Everyone else consented, so I had him make an attack roll with the body to hit the safe ground on the other side.

He rolled a 1. The body hit the side of the ledge and slid down into lava, where it was consumed. I laughed so very hard, and I think everyone else did as well (even the player whose character it was that died).

It was a great moment, and one that I think I’ll remember forever. The most impressive moments for me stem from failure!