Hi all

Been a while since I posted - my apologies.

My next session is due to see a PC death for the first time in my GMing experience. The player in question is returning home to Australia; she and I have both agreed that killing her character would be a great way to toy with everyone's emotions round off her arc, and I've been laying in a bit of groundwork over the last couple of sessions. Currently, the PCs are coming to the end of a quite dungeon-crawly adventure in the extreme lower levels of Coruscant (campaign is set 500BBY), far below where anyone actually lives. They have basically completed their mission successfully, and during the next session must return to the surface.

My current plan - more or less agreed with the player - is to have some unkillable lower levels monster appear/attack/wake up/something like that, and in the process cause an epic cave-in that the PCs will have to flee. My idea is, at this point, for the player to basically stop participating, and to make no reference to her from then on. Eventually (perhaps sooner, perhaps later) the other players will notice that the PC is missing, but we would deliberately leave it open-ended as to whether she was killed by the monster, killed by a falling rock, or maybe just trapped by the cave-in and not killed after all (giving the player a chance to make a cameo if she returns to London in the future).

Anyway, I wanted to get people's thoughts on this idea. Anything you would change? Any potential pitfalls you can see that I need to factor in? Or, if not, what would you add to make this more interesting?

(NB: One obvious issue - being that the player in question will have nothing to do after her PC's death - is something I have got covered, and have discussed with the player. So don't worry about that one.)

I’d always say that some drama for such an important moment would be better. Perhaps have her sacrifice herself to allow the others to escape. That’s never happened before in Star Wars. Or maybe have her get “caught” and force the PCs to make the hard decision to abandon her. No, I didn’t steal that from Vector Prime. Even just having them clearly witness it would be an upgrade imo.

Find a good soundtrack for it, too. My suggestions:

• Five’s Death
• Order 66
• Torn Apart (I don’t typically like Canon, but I’ll admit that that’s a quality soundtrack)
• Snow Falling on Cedars-Tarawa (Counts as a Star Wars soundtrack for its appearance in The Last Laser Master)

I’m sure that there are great non-Star Wars soundtracks for a death, but I don’t really know which ones.

Gotta jump into the chasm to fight the Balrog while falling.....

50 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

I’d always say that some drama for such an important moment would be better.

Agreed, much better to make a dramatic moment of it. Maybe she accelerates the cave collapse herself (Force Move, blaster fire, etc...let her leverage a Triumph or Advantages or even flip a DP to make it happen ) so that everyone else can escape, and the last thing they see is rocks falling as she turns to face whatever is chasing them. You can still leave the PC's ultimate fate "in the air". If the other PCs want to stick around and save her, keep up the cave collapsing (and associated damage output)...they should get the hint.

Joining in on what everyone says. I love the idea, but having her drop out of the game can result in the other PCs not picking up on everything. It add a mystery but then I can see everyone at the end going "huh? what happened? Or wait what is going on?" People might not even notice anything is amiss until the end/after the fact.

Tell the story, make it dramatic, get her and everyone involved.

Not sure if you've thought about adding a some role of a nemesis in terms of having some hand in her death (dissapparence). Could add some measure of revenge in the plot?

55 minutes ago, Sincereagape said:

Joining in on what everyone says. I love the idea, but having her drop out of the game can result in the other PCs not picking up on everything. It add a mystery but then I can see everyone at the end going "huh? what happened? Or wait what is going on?" People might not even notice anything is amiss until the end/after the fact.

Tell the story, make it dramatic, get her and everyone involved.

Not sure if you've thought about adding a some role of a nemesis in terms of having some hand in her death (dissapparence). Could add some measure of revenge in the plot?

Or more likely someone will ask her out of character 'why aren't you talking?'

OK, thanks all. Consensus seems to be on giving the moment more drama, rather than pulling a reveal on the other players. Will have a think on that. I am genuinely quite concerned that some of the PCs will try to rescue her, even though the players know that she won't be in the following session - I'd really rather avoid a TPK, so if anyone has any thoughts on the best way to prevent that happening, that'd be much appreciated. (Also any thoughts on the basic scenario itself would be welcome).

Thanks again.

Have her tell everyone to leave her behind. Or sacrifice. Of course, it’s also possible that you could just have a cave-in cut her off from everyone else from helping/getting killed trying to help.

1 hour ago, Yaccarus said:

Have her tell everyone to leave her behind. Or sacrifice. Of course, it’s also possible that you could just have a cave-in cut her off from everyone else from helping/getting killed trying to help.

Fly, you fools!

I'd say for what is likely both a player and character's swan song from the group, something more dramatic is certainly in order. What's her main career/specialization? Setting up something that can really highlight her specific abilities one last time could reinforce how important her skills were to the group. Maybe give her one time access to a signature ability or upgraded force powers for the climactic scene, let her as a player get to really have some fun with it one last time.

If she's the type that likes dice rolls, you could have her last roll determine just how cinematic her death scene is, adding a little tension for her the player even though she knows the character is toast. Does she get eaten in short order in a frightening display to the other characters just how fragile life in the galaxy is or does she go out in a blaze of glory? If that's not her style you can still stick with scripting a cinematic demise. Either way, I'd discuss with her beforehand and let her decide.

As far as keeping the other players from white knighting to their own deaths, give her one that seems final but have the escape clause planned for her possible return. Soap operas and comic books are riddled with examples and this is space opera so it's appropriate.

As a final way to keep her memory alive I'd say make sure to leave behind at least one memento, possibly with an adventure hook attached. A favorite weapon or personal item, perhaps with a hidden compartment leading to something interesting. If she was a Jedi, maybe she was secretly working on a holocron. Or there's always the datapad. If she kept extensive journals the players might find an entry that seems relevant to an adventure later on down the line.

Lastly, if you're going the big nasty monster route the Taozin might be a good choice.

Hey all. Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice the other week. Had the session yesterday: the PC died (or did they?) while rescuing their NPC droid by jetpacking through a cave-in to deposit a cave inside the jaws of a lambent rancor. Epicness was had.