Mwaahaaha!

Well, I didn't, a pair of rat ogres did. But man, am I glad I sent two and not one.

It was the dwarf, see? He took a critical wound and got the smashed up leg severe wound. I was thrilled because having spent all that money on Omens of War it was great seeing the Severe Wound come up. And of course, the player being one of my players bitched and moaned about it even as he killed the first ogre in one freakin' attack.

But then the other rat ogre got a second critical on him. (They still weren't getting past his armor and soak, so it was just one... but it was a critical.) And, whoops! There went his sword hand!

It's the RPG equivalent of whispering, "Remember, thou art mortal" in his ear, I think.

Unfortunately, the whiny punks are likely going to retreat and try to get healed up, letting Averheim fall to the Skaven hordes.(They don't believe that high toughness characters can actually sleep off critical wounds, despite the fact that the dwarf keeps doing so.) I'm a little worried that this is going to completely stall the game or, worse, make my players cautious. (Since RPG caution is much more like paranoia in my experience.)

But you know what? You come to my table saying, "Hey Rob, let's please play a game of grim and perilous adventure or whatever," you better be prepared from some grim peril, know what I'm saying, GMs?

PC death isn't fun. PC crippling is a hoot.

Cheers,

Stall the game? Do they imagine that puny mortals such as they control their fates and choose their destinies? The Changer of the Ways has plans they have but begun to see their part in until they partake of the great change that is death, should they prove unworthy to partake of the greater change that is transformation into a servant of the ruinous powers.

Give them an "interlude", a few nights of rest (recall all normal crits must heal before 'permanent' threatening ones, and only one can heal a night), if resting in poor conditions (on run) some misfortune dice due Resilience check, and then "kick in the door" with the next thing out to get them. Maybe they killed some Grey Seer's favourite Rat Ogre and he has sworn vengeance on the pinkskins, no matter where they flee...

Seriously (well the above is serious from game philosophy view) - do they "accept" that the game has these mangling options now? Omens says to talk it over with table but my view is more "you signed up for Warhammer, what did you expect - a ring of invisibility and potion of heroism?"

Eh. They were the only crits the dwarf had. He easily healed up over the next couple nights, even with some misfortune dice for wandering around and investigating stuff with the other players. Mostly I was hoping to share the glee in getting to use new components. (Actually, it turned out that of the six or so wound cards he'd been dealt during the fight, two others were also severe wounds. I was accused of stacking the deck, but we'll see if they return next week for more.)

RARodger said:

My players managed to fight my big, badass, vampire nemisis. And in total they did four criticals on him early on in the fight, two of them severe injuries.
The also managed to headshot a lesser beast to death in the same fight. And I had really made sure that the wound pile was sufficiently randomized and when drawing crits against monsters I allow them to draw the card from anywhere in stack so they were just plain luckey. And in your case the dwarf was just plain unluckey, these things happend.

In a way it was really good that my players managed to crit and draw severe injuries for the creatures since they "loved" the severe injury cards and had a blast inflicting them om my (poor) creatures, so now they can't complain when they themself get them.

RARodger said:

Thanks, now I read your entire post in a 1930's gangster-accent... I can't turn it off

Well, now you've given me an idea for my next adventure.

Nisses said:

Now I've got

But then the other rat ogre got a second critical on him. (They still weren't getting past his armor and soak, so it was just one... but it was a critical.) And, whoops! There went his sword hand!

Sorry to tell but if the Rat Ogre didn't past the soak value of the player, then critical wounds are only taken as normal wounds. For example, is you deal 6 damage (2 are critical) while your player has for example soak 10, he only takes 2 normal wounds.

Cheers

He's got a point, and unfortunately they are only temporary.

What kind of shower of pansies is your group anyway? Two non-permenant crits and they run away? Sounds like some serious power gaming is going on. Start giving your monsters player actions. That should start racking them up. Then give them some more defences, then a wizard to boost them and cripple the good guys with corruption. That should help you out.

Quite right. I gave my players an orc with action cards* and he nearly killed all them all, the wimps. They really didn't like fighting someone who could put them down with one blow.

Reg

*(and inch thick armour, extra toughness, wounds and strength. Oh, and +2 fortune die due to being at the focus of a Waaagh! And two weapons. And the players were already injured. Not stacking the deck, though)

man that's a harsh GM, i try to only severely harm characters, not players.

Hurlanc said:

Yeah when I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be tale about how the GM accidentally struck a player in the eye with a die sending him to the ER or something similar.

I'd like to think we're unconciously all raising the bar and look forward to hearing about people being forced to fight with rusty razor blades to get their fortune points back.

Not to boast, but I did once spill a can of coke on a players jumper. Boy, was he pissed!

I milled a blackboard duster at a player's face one time. They still call him chalkface...