Tell me Veeky Forums, have you killed a PC off screen?

Tell me Veeky Forums, have you killed a PC off screen?

How did it go, what was your reasoning, how much did they cry?

I have a player who's missed 3 sessions and the plot has moved on without him. He was left in a very precarious situation.

Never kill a PC off screen if you ever intend to play with that person again.

Have someone else play them for a session.
Have them go MIA.
Drop them off at the nearest Tavern.
But never kill them. It hurts to many feelings.

Killing a player off screen just begs the question of "why did I even bother coming here today?" to the player
Unless you mean some sort of obvious suicide scenario that involves leaving the party for some reason, but even then if the player doesn't realize it's just that it's still a really bad idea

Many times. I'm running West Marches in spaaaaace, so PCs die, go on extended sabbaticals, or leave offscreen all the time to keep up with player rotation and them wanting to play something new.

I've already talked to the player and explained he's probably dead but I'm going to let him RP his way out of it.

Its been a high lethality game so far desu.

>I'm going to let him RP his way out of it.
I call bullshit. The only thing you gonna be doing is fiating his character into death.

My PC got killed offscreen, though I had a hand in it.

Was an adept in dark heresy who got a nasty drug habit, started hallucinating, and briefly delved into some forbidden lore. we then got in a desperate fight to hold out against a well-equipped cold trader's crew on an extended mission where her supply ran out, and she made an unwise pact for help, and won the fight with some convenient insanity among the enemies.

once she realized what she did, she tried to hide it for a while, but when we had some downtime in a hive after the next mission she disappeared while the others were trying to patch up semblances of normal lives.

the gm and i never elaborated how she died but i imagine she wandered out over a toxic underhive lake and put a high-powered lasbolt into her temple.

Why the fuck would the party just not take him along? Let him contribute in combat and play him like a temporary NPC until the player comes back or it's clear he won't. Or do PCs just shut down like some remote-controlled robots in your world when the player is absent?

Didn't kill him directly. A combo of stupid timing and some overboard going players made him quit after a certain event.

> Once upon a time I was running a SR campaign.
> My team pulled off a incredible heist. Whole team going uber tacticool.
> In the middle of the escape scene the teams mage/face player decides he's got to leave.
> We take a break. I drive the dude home. Talk about how he wants it handled with his pc.
> "I trust you user. But make it something cool."
> saynomore.png
> i return to the table and the situation unfolds. A mutant degenerate drake apears. The team battles it out while escaping.
> At the crucial moment, I let the mage cast his most powerful stunthingy. He gets unconcious due to redrawal.
> It creates an opening for the heavy hitters. They fuck up horribly and the drake retaliates.
> The D's acid breath attack is easily dodged by all. With exception of the now lump mage.
> I explicitly told them that they have the chance to move the lump body out of the way!
> They simply let it happen.

So thats the story of how the teams narcist face ended up with a few molten features around his jawline. Teams hysterical bitch even started mocking him for it, even before he learned from me what happened that night. He left the game without even trying to salvage anything.

Did I kill sbd off screen?

This.

OP, you either explain us how it happened or we're gonna call you a faggot.

Congratulations. You handled it in a single worst way possible. Your players handled it in a single worst way possible. All in all, it was a rollercoaster of fuckups and that player is probably better now that he doesn't have to attend to your game.

The only time a PC died off-screen was when the group TPK'd when he was not there to make it that session.

The GM decided to change the module so now we are playing something else.

Yep. As GM on that day, I have to admit my failure.

On the other hand, our sessions went much smoother after he dropped out.

Think him super unreliable wannabee barney stinson without the ability to differentiate between him and his pc.

The running theme has been that they step into an alternative dimension to return later with weird tales of adventure.

Mostly because no one else wants someone playing their character and I'm not doing it for them.

Just find an excuse.
>wizard wanted scrolls of this
>wizard player can't make it
>tell the players that the wizard is visiting a mage tower to get some neat scrolls
>have it sorted out before the next session

You did a good thing user.

Well then, looks like you both were better off without one another. That happens.

Personally, when i have to NPC a PC i either leave them in a safe place and then make them rejoin the party or play them super-safe. So no casting till unconscious and no permanent injuries.

Lessions learned. My game broke around one year after that incident. But fortunately had nothing to do with it.

So, you know how when a Character gets to Venerable age the DM rolls a secret roll to see how long they have left?
Well Mr Wizard needed that sweet bonus to INT and I rolled snake eyes so this guy has two years to live plus change.
I never tell him, he practically forgets he's playing an 80yo most of the time anyway.
Cut to like 10 sessions in, the players have used their ill-gotten gains to start kingdom building (ultimate campaign just came out).
So, at this point everyone is building like crazy, demanding time skips so they can rush through the boring stuff. This starts adding up.
Actual play kicks up, I start ignoring the old Wiz. NPC's don't pay him mind, I don't factor damage from his spells. He’s starting to freak out a bit, asks me if I’m angry at him or something?
It takes almost the whole session for them to catch on, finally a PC tries to talk to him in character (Fucking table talk). I tell them that there’s nobody there, that Old Man Wiz died six months ago and he’s just going mad with grief.
I pretty much did the sixth sense.

>Anonymous 07/31/17(Mon)04:38:07 No.546
interesting way of handling it. Not sure how well that would go over with some groups though, but then again most of my groups would want a thorin oakenshield style death- gravely wounded, dramatic, and near surviving friends.

dunno how that greentext happened, I am retarded.

Just have him come back and if anyone says anything, have him say, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Next time don't kill a character off screen.

Maybe off screen isn’t the way to do it? You should get him into a solo session. Any time you’re both free.
Give him a chance to die on his own terms, doing something that matters and at the hands of a real villain. Cornered and fighting for his life!
They get to play out the character's last moments, you get to give the bad guy that badass PC body count.
I mean why not play that precarious situation for all it’s worth? If it works out well enough you can join it back up with main game, Gandalf the white style. Balrog bridge fakeout.
Then again if he missed three straight games he’ll probably miss more. Best not to drag it out.

Sure that sounds good. But he fought an Aboleth and has the disease which deals 1d12 every 10minutes not in water.

Ergo the him probably being dead part.

Bring him back in a Mr. Freeze suit filled with water.