Tales of Swords & Wizardry: The Bell Tolls

At my regular Swords & Wizardry game, I experienced for the first time what many other gamers have already experienced: the death of my PC.  Arvin Ardmore was a cleric; an acolyte of Mithra.  An heroic lad who managed to pull the group out of some tough situations.  He went down in a blaze of glory.  After setting fire to the one of the escaping bad guys’ boats, he fell after two powerful blows from the treacherous villain.

Several of the PCs in our group of adventurers have been close to death already including my own.  As I’ve written about before, S&W characters are fragile with few hit points.  There are no saving throws against death or healing surges. (4th edition characters aren’t immune to death, as evidenced here, but they are much harder to kill.)  But, it never seemed like any of our characters would die.  Somehow providence would protect us.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  Our group is bumbling and reckless to the point of high comedy.  It’s a source of great amusement at our table.

It’s actually funny because you do become attached to these characters.  I’m investing a lot imagination in this character and that inevitably brings about a little bit of emotional investment as well.  I’m not saddened by any means, because I was having great fun during the game, I was playing it out true to how the character would enter the situation, and he is just a freaking character in a game where we pretend to kill goblins and cast spells after all.  But, there is a certain feeling of loss nonetheless.  You could definitely feel the impact around the game table after the realization sunk in.

I like sense of danger this adds to the game.  Our group now all knows that an ill fated roll can wipe out a character.  It adds a sense of excitement and raises the stakes for the group.  I’m sure it will lead to a lot of dark comedy because our group plays most things for laughs.

Of course, it’s not just an end, but a beginning as well.  I’m going to roll up a new character before the next session.  Which will be fun, because I get to explore creating a new character.  There is the possibility that Arvin could come back in some way.  I can put the new character I create on the back burner if he does.  If Arvin does come back, he will come back changed.  So, either way I’ll get to change things up.

All in all great fun and high drama.  Can’t wait until next session.

Fare thee well Cleric Arvin Ardmore.  May Mithra guide thee to thy rest.

That is unless you’re resurrected by some arcane ritual.  In that case,  sit tight buddy.