Shocking RP

So what're some great RP moments that left you floored as a player?

I'm not talking "That Guy" shenanigans or voyages into somebody's magical realm, rather, genuinely harrowing or awe inspiring moments of RP.

It's a grim one, but for me it was learning that the half-elven party member I'd be steadily romancing had been infested by a demon several days prior and was now little more than a skin husk for the evil within. Specifically, it was how the demon taunted me once the truth was out, telling me how my lover had suffered in agony as her soul was slowly devoured, unable to do anything but look on through her stolen eyes as her hijacker seduced me.

At the time, the mix of cruelty and loss effectively broke my brain. Even now, it still leaves a pit in my stomach. I remember trying to RP a reaction at the time but the best I could do was to respond with something to the effect of "He has no fucking idea what to say and just stands there looking stupid."

What about the rest of you? Surely there's some epic RP that still haunts (or inspires) you? Get it off your chest.

dumb and edgy. saged

that was edgy. heres a more lighthearted one my players experienced

>grouped up with 2 halfling escorts
>their latest client is a toddler brained ogre whos scared shitless by everything. Carries a huge sack of goodies
>party falls in love with him
>the group escorts him to his destination, an abandoned desolate town infested with dire rats and grimlock
>The ogre is deathly afraid of grimlock, and catapults an unconscious one on sight
>gets stressed out and runs deeper into this town
>Party stops him using a player as a bola
>he trips and spills all the stuff out of his sack, which is essentially a bunch of corpses

They had no idea what to think since both this ogre and the two halflings have been so kind and charitable until the reveal.

I've had two, in the same campaign arc, but with different campaigns and different characters. I've told both stories before, so I'll only give short greentexts and refrain from a full story unless someone wants to hear it.

>First one was one of our party betraying us because she got hit with a curse that was slowly killing us and the BBEG offered her a way out.

>Second one was us gearing up for this real longshot plan in a hopeless cause, which actually would have worked if we hadn't overlooked a clue about their defenses. Because of that, we spent 4 sessions on a task that was completely hopeless because a critical component of the plan was knocked out by a point of no return. When we realized it was all for nothing, it floored the entire group.

It was one of the few times I played as a paladin. I had made some connections with some villages close to the capital of the DMs realm, eventually betrothed to one of the village elder's daughters, and helped with their finances, etc. etc. Anyways, DM eventually had a few tax riders come out and demand to know why I paid the villages' taxes for them. Long story short the tax collectors reported this to the king, who assumed I was trying to usurp his power and take over his kingdom. He sent his army and razed every village to the ground. I was away and returning to the village to marry the elder's daughter, and saw her get cut down while the village burned around her. I broke. I fell. I made deals with four blue dragons and led an army to raze the kingdom to the ground. Buddies were like "what the fuck man, that's a bit much" but I didn't care. I had gotten a little too attached to the bride to be, and I loved all the little hamlets. My god rejected me when I fell, and I became essentially a hellknight, but all that did was help me accomplish my goal to obliterate that particular kingdom. Still bugs me to this day

I love me a good ‘falling from grace’ story. Always fun to read about the holy ones breaking down.

I admit the DM was fucking great, but he later told me after the campaign ended he thought I was going to go on a righteous campaign of justice or some shit and end up becoming king myself. I didn't give a shit though, I burned his favorite kingdom to the ground it turns out. However he never let my dude die. He ascended into myth as an aspect of revenge and hellknight that could be summoned every now and then to talk about tactics, sacred relics, and the occasional guidance on filling out tax forms. Apparently that sphere of hell has really good anger management counseling or something. However he made sure the areas I demolished utterly remained as historical landmarks, the capital ended up being known as the Hall of the Damned or some other, as the king was sentenced to walk the earth as a ghost type thing for slaughtering his own people. I haven't talked to the guy in forever though. I should for closure

sounds interesting, go on if you would

I had a good one that i think you might enjoy, pull up a seat and lend an ear if you would.

>Dumb barbarian named Durin has been adventuring with the party since they arrived together in Barovia (Maybe 7-8 weeks now)
>Curin arrives at a bridge in the mountains where its obvious that there is a giant beast of some kind around
>Blizzard is pretty thick at this point
>Durin, being a dumb dwarf stays in character and runs out across the bridge not attempting stealth
>Giant fuck off birb flies down and in one fell swoop picks up the dwarf and carries him into the fog
>Party looks around desperately trying to ascertain whats going on but they can't see that well
>Birb drops Durin 200ft
>The body is vaporised on impact with the cold snow
>Players go home in shock, realising the gloves are coming off now,
>Durin was also a good character that everyone liked

Feels bad but Cont. Just in case anyone cares about the tale

And here's part 2
>Player asks me if there's anyway for him to come back
>Offer to have a devil make a shady deal with him
>Accepts
>Durin is back but with an insatiable hunger and lust for innocent blood
>Durin turns to the party and tells them how he survived
>Cleric has a crisis of faith because they're close friends at this point
>Durin only has a few days left before his soul is claimed to hell
>Last day
>Party gears up to battle Strahd
>Battle through his castle, knowing Durin could drop dead at any minute
>Finally fight Strahd atop his castle
>Storm in the background
>Kino
>Strahd begins to realise the fight is going south
>Baits party to chase him to the tower
>Durin chases
>Strahd grapples Durin and pulls him over the edge so they fall of to their demise
>Strahd whispers into Durins ear as they're falling "Come, Let us burn with Asmodeus together!"

Players face was white as a ghost, started clapping, felt good but sad that Durin is dead

Did they kiss?

Should have, but no my players don't like jokes interrupting serious/emotional moments

Why do the tax collectors care where the money comes from? Why does the king not ask for an audience with a paladin first? Why is your GM so shit?

By rights Strahd should have easily escaped that fall...Oh you're one of those D.M's aren't you?
A storyteller D.M

There's this guy who is throwing money around and generally making a large number of people see him as a nice guy as well as making them more dependent on him... and (I assume) he's not their rightful lord, he's not a regular in your court, you don't know him, he might even be a foreigner of some sort... You have to admit that the situation looks pretty damn suspicious.

>the half-elven party member I'd be steadily romancing

Fuck off, you don't need romance in your party. Especially when you're a 30 stone neckbeard creepily 'romancing' the only female player. But seriously though how did you not make it awkward? Everytime I have seen romance in a tabletop its the cringiest shit ever.

>There's this guy who is throwing money around and generally making a large number of people see him as a nice guy as well as making them more dependent on him... and (I assume) he's not their rightful lord, he's not a regular in your court, you don't know him, he might even be a foreigner of some sort... You have to admit that the situation looks pretty damn suspicious.

>Your spymaster lets you know of a report from your guards patrolling the border that a rich and strong paladin has entered your kingdom.
>Said paladin starts to give his wealth to some villages in your desmesne
>instead of sending someone over to investigate the Paladin and the villages, it's better to send your army to kill YOUR OWN TAXPAYING PEOPLE because of FAINT SUSPICION of treason

How in the Blazing Hells of Fucking Asmodeus was a King this Paranoid and Stupid not already out-courtiered and maneuvered into being a figurehead for the dukes and counts under him? How? How would anyone follow someone *that stupid* and fight against four dragons? Why would anyone with half a working brain, not immediately surrender to the paladin and help depose the blatantly idiot King who likes to decimate villages at the first signs of suspicious activity?

This story proves me right once again when I say that having no family and friends when you're a PC is a great advantage you should always take.

>Said paladin starts to give his wealth to some villages in your desmesne
He's not simply giving them wealth, he's telling them that they shouldn't pay taxes to you and that he'll take care of it. How is that NOT an obvious precursor to some kind of move to either gain power in your court or destabilize the kingdom? If it was a matter of simple charity, why would he not do it the obvious and pay for a new temple, establish poor houses for the elderly, found an orphanage or something along those lines? Even just giving them money would be something entirely different.

Played a very long campaign with my group. We played the same characters for 2 years at that point and developed them from nobodies to heroes. So when we finally confronted the BBEG in a fantastic final battle that we were close to losing, my friend backstabbed me. He was a Necromancer and threw a spell in my back so he could finish my character and raise it as a full health lesser undead.

Needless to say I was absolutely devastated. And quit that evening earlier.

>He's not simply giving them wealth, he's telling them that they shouldn't pay taxes to you
Is that something he did?

Nevertheless, it does not warrant the killing of previously loyal subjects.

It would be shocking if I ever got to play RPGs with anyone...

I hope you dropped that game like the piece of shit it was.

This is actually pretty good!

Were the halflings killers? Graverobbers?

were halflings called Burke and Hare?

I wish I had. Something died in me that day.

>But seriously though how did you not make it awkward? Everytime I have seen romance in a tabletop its the cringiest shit ever.

I knew the player pretty well, took my time and, frankly, kept things pretty chaste. It was also largely motivated by me wanting to shake up the party dynamic. For most of the early part of the campaign we'd been at each others throats (we were the party's de facto decision makers) so I figured it might be interesting if I RP'd developing a begrudging affinity for her.

We also glossed over 90% of our romantic interactions so not to bore/nauseate the other half of the party.

Bump

>Play married older wizard lady with a lot of kids, decided to go adventure when her last kid left the house.
>Very confident, calm and unflappable.
>Secretely a lich. Her soul jar is her NPC husband's wedding ring because silly romantics.
>Be killed/soulkidnapped, along with the other PCs, by a guy planning on undoing the multiverse.
>Unsure if dead or alive, drift among illusions and weird visions.
>Wake up in a house with the other PCs. A wizard and a priest NPC friends of us ressurected us, and tell us we've been dead for years. We're in the wizard's house.
>Immediatly cast a Scry spell, even before he explains everything.
>Try to find family.
>Husband is dead. They had to kill him to get his wife's soul jar and capture her soul, after all.
>Most children are dead because of the war that has been raging in our absence.
>Didn't know what to do. Felt a lump in my throat and stayed silent.
>For the first time in her life, my smug-ass wizard was quiet. Her companions, who knew she had children, but not that she had so many of them, didn't know what to say either.

Yeah, it was a generic "DM kills your family, silly", but it was logical in context, and I was really taken by it. It was a great RP moment. Character motivations went from "More knowledge" to "He will pay, and I will bring them all back even if I have to die trying. Also knowledge, I guess."

>Stop having fun wrong REEEEEEEE
Not him, but please go fuck yourself

That's a bit shallow, imo, I'd rather have a great story, Conan the Barbarian style, then have my character sitting in a gilded cage of whores, booze and magical swords.

Already told this story, so here's the gist of it:

> Not!the last of us game
> 3 player characters and an NPC that basically became the DMPC because everyone loved him
> Gets infected while saving everyone from a TPK when we didn't make sure an infected was dead and it came back to bite us (still rolled dice, no automatic bullshit)
> He blows his brains out
> I am crushed and watery eyed
> Other two players openly cry
> We need to take a break.

>Be high level adventurers
>Roaming around, killing shit, and discovering the first inklings of a new power arising in an archipelago to the north of the continent we live on.
>Along the way, hear of this legendary staff in the hoard of a dragon, and decide to go fetch it and sell it for a colossal sum which we could use for something or other that I forget about but needed a lot more liquid assets than we had on hand.
>We were not able to kill the dragon, he fled from our ass-kicking. He threw a curse at one of the party members, which gave her a slow, wasting disease.
>We were unable to counteract the curse, but we were able to slow down its progress significantly.
>Part of the reason we weren't able to counter the curse though is that our first priority was dealing with this 'Sovereign' guy, since he seemed to be very much disrupt the world in a big way. The curse wasn't immediately killing Celene, so we figured we could wait. If our Bad Guy started a world war, it would be much worse.
>Celene's player, Erin, wasn't too happy about this.
>And has her character looking more assiduously for a way out.
>She finds one, turning into a lich.
>In character though, she doesn't know the proper techniques and rituals and the like for becoming one.
>Our big villain does, but of course wants a price for sharing his knowledge
>That price involves lowering the wards on our fortified manor /base on a certain date when the party was inside. (As a side note, we were playing a homebrewed system where long term ritual magical defenses are VERY powerful. It's a lot harder to attack than defend).
>BBEG shows up personally with the wards blown. He couldn't possibly beat us if he had to batter through them. If he was facing the 6 of us together, spelled up, in open battle, it probably would have been a close fight.
>As it was, we had one traitor, no protective spells, half the party asleep, the other half mostly unprepared, and it was a hopeless massacre.

1/2

>Party gets mulched, with only two survivors, both of whom retire and go into hiding over it.
>Celene becomes an evil NPC and actually the boss of the OTHER story I had.
>Bad Guy becomes a major, major threat and the world is pretty much plunged into chaos.
>But mostly the idea of an in party betrayal along those lines which was actually a well thought out plan of treachery from our resident Quiet Chick just shocked everyone.
>Speaking for myself, I wasn't even angry, I was too blown away by it all to even process it at that level.

You mean like Conan did?

See, this is one thing you need to learn.

The GM can't fuck your character's life over if it's already shit.