GM use of snipers

>Modern day game (World of Darkness)
>Middle of the session
>GM: "Everyone make me a perception and alertness roll."
>Players: *Do so and announce their result*
>GM: "Okay." *Doesn't say anything else and then play continues from there.
>A few minutes later:
>GM: *Rolls dice, and points at a player* "You get hit in the head with a sniper's shot. Roll to see if you're still alive."
>PC dies, starts rolling up a new character.
>Rest of the party can't spot the sniper and runs away to a completely different part of the city.
>Later in the same session.
>We have to go outside again.
>GM: "Give me a perception and alertness roll."
>Players: *Roll and announce their results.*
>GM: "Okay."
>A few minutes later.
>"You're hit in the head with a sniper's shot. Roll to stay alive."
>Character dies.
>Repeat this one last time towards the end of the session, only that character BARELY lived. Because he got hit in the chest with a protective vest on. But we had to drag him to the hospital.

There wasn't another game after that one. Because nobody wanted to show up. We did get into a fun argument with the GM though.

So, Veeky Forums, legitimate GMing? Or "That GM"?

Shit GM detected. I can see why there wasn't another game.

Shit GM

>random save or die
>doesn't add to story in any meaningful way
>or add a legitimate challenge for characters to overcome
>literally just randomly murdering characters
GM deserves to be shot

It's a pretty shitty situation, but how would you handle a sniper that is out to kill the PCs? Should you allow the sniper to miss so that the players are now aware that they are being hunted. How should you handle a sniper?

Sounds like total douchebaggery to me

>Should you allow the sniper to miss so that the players are now aware that they are being hunted.

something like that. or they might get a mysterious phone call to warn them. basically the same way it's handled in movies and for the same reason.

As a GM myself: Simply not use one.

Or if I do, give the players a much lower difficulty to spot the sniper then apparently OP's GM had. And on top of that, the sniper isn't a world-class olympic shot.

Shit DM. The way I would of done this if I really wanted to have a sniper is one of five ways.

First to have an NPC join the group and have them snipped.

Classic laser pointer or dot to warn of sniper.

Have the sniper miss and shoot a window or pot next to the character.

Have a PC crippled with a leg shot and watch them scramble.

Have the party to sneak up on a unaware sniper to introduce the fact that snipers exist in this game and are in the area.

Also fun fact. Snipers don't really go for the head as a chest shot is just as likely to kill them and if not will knock them down. Much more body mass.

HARD "That GM". Snipers can be fun, tense enemies, but arbitrarily killing a PC is lame. Plus, I'm assuming you're in a city that isn't a warzone so somebody taking pot shots from a rooftop is going to attract the police/possibly lock down huge swathes of the city. If they were able to escape the sniper they should have been able to hide out for at least the rest of the day with the sniper unable to follow them.

A better way to handle that would have been to set up an actual combat encounter with an enemy marksman providing support fire, star the scenario with a friendly NPC getting hit, or shoot a PC in a non-vital location. Remember the finale of "Full Metal Jacket"? That could actually be a fun, tense scenario with a group of PCs. You've got a pc who's badly injured and stranded in the open, and the rest of the team has to decide whether to risk rescuing them, or try finding and flanking the sniper. The downed PC can still be crawling around a little, trying to spot the sniper, playing dead, etc, so that they can at least support the scene a bit.
I think Ambushes generally are more interesting that way. The free attacks the enemy get in shouldn't just auto kill people, but starting a fight badly injured ratchets up the intensity really well.