Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 18 Oct 2005 to 19 Oct 2005 (#2005-196) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 20/10/2005, 18:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 329 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Thank you (2) 2. Real death in campaign. Help me (2) 3. Real death in campaign. Help me - Marco ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:46:51 +0100 From: Neil Marsden Subject: Thank you Hi all. Thank you all so much for your help. I really needed another perspective, and that's what you've given me. And an idea of how to proceed too, you'll be glad to know. :) I'm also very sorry for the sadness that has affected some of your campaigns, and even moreso if I dredged any of that sadness back up. The funeral and wake are next week, so Saturday's session fills an awkward gap between then and now, but I've decided I will go ahead with it. I'll encourage everyone to talk freely about recent events if they feel the need. I think the first thing I'll do is open a conversation about the player who's died. Make sure no-one's bottling up. Then I've got some work to do. I'm going to run a one-off adventure that's *all* about this player's character. It's going to start with the character's family (who've appeared in the campaign before) in deep trouble, perhaps under siege. These will be played by the rest of the gaming group. They have to hold out for a set period of time, leading up to a climactic battle. Then in the end the player's character will show up, NPC'd, to whisk his family away before the second wave attack. His story will end with him leaving for a new life with his family, which has always been the character's objective. Sort of disappearing off into the sunset. Got to prep the adventure. Will be tight, I've also been asked by the family to do the reading at the funeral instead of a priest. It will all be worth it though, hopefully. I just don't want to let anyone down. Anyway, thank you again. You certainly didn't let me down. :D Cheers, Neil (aka nemarsde) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 07:11:23 -0700 From: DM Subject: Re: Real death in campaign. Help me On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 22:52:03 +0100, Neil Marsden wrote: > Well, although I get the daily digest and sometimes > post on the Wizards.COMmunity Mystara Board, none of you know > me, but I'm hoping you can help me nonetheless. > > An old friend of mine, a player in my gaming group, > died yesterday. It wasn't entirely unexpected, but it's still affected > me profoundly. > > I've got a gaming session this Saturday, and to be > perfectly honest I just don't know what to do. I'm going to sit down at > the head of the table, look left, this player isn't going to be > there, and that will overshadow everything. > > I guess all I'm asking is what would you do in my > situation, if it were your campaign? > Well, I rarely post on this mailing list these days, but this message left me pondering. So I took my time to reply. First of all my deepest sympathies to you, Neal, your whole group, and to George Hrabovski as well, who told us he lost his wife in 2000. George has already climbed up the ladder to exit from the pit of desperation we all fall in when one of our dearest leaves forever, so we're here to help you, Neal, do the same. As many have already suggested: take your time. Talk to your friends (they're first of all friends, I believe, rather than only "players" of your group) about their feelings and try to understand what THEY want to do and what You FEEL you wanna do. It takes time to recover from the loss of a dear one, especially a person that has shared so many funny and important moments with you. But you WILL recover in the end, just don't push it. If I were you, I'd prolly not feel like playing. Maybe watching a movie you all liked, talking about your shared memories could be a better way to remember him and understand he won't be there anymore. But if it helps you, go ahead and play: it just depends on you all, on your sensitivity. As for his character, Pierluigi's idea is a very good option. Make him an immortal in disguise, and let him show his real identity in a critical moment: save the group and then let him vanish. Let one of them become his cleric, and he'll be always there. He'll be always remembered and the players will have the feeling he's still protecting them from above. Take care. Marco aka DM __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:22:43 +0200 From: Altair IV Subject: Real death in campaign. Help me - Marco You got the very sense of my "idea"... thinking of Neil and of what happened to him, I just thought the better way to have the group survive his death was making his PC survive the party... making him Immortal in the game, too, as He certainly is in his friends' minds Pierluigi, alias Altair IV the Darkstar ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:47:42 +0000 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Thank you I am very sorry to hear about your player. Extend my group's wishes to yours. I like your adventure idea a lot. The riding off into the sunset is something I'd want to do for group as well. You will have to let us know how it goes. Tim -------------- Original message -------------- > Hi all. > Thank you all so much for your help. I really needed another perspective, and that's what you've given me. And an idea of how to proceed too, you'll be glad to know. :) > I'm also very sorry for the sadness that has affected some of your campaigns, and even moreso if I dredged any of that sadness back up. > The funeral and wake are next week, so Saturday's session fills an awkward gap between then and now, but I've decided I will go ahead with it. > I'll encourage everyone to talk freely about recent events if they feel the need. I think the first thing I'll do is open a conversation about the player who's died. Make sure no-one's bottling up. > Then I've got some work to do. > I'm going to run a one-off adventure that's *all* about this player's character. It's going to start with the character's family (who've appeared in the campaign before) in deep trouble, perhaps under siege. These will be played by the rest of the gaming group. They have to hold out for a set period of time, leading up to a climactic battle. Then in the end the player's character will show up, NPC'd, to whisk his family away before the second wave attack. His story will end with him leaving for a new life with his family, which has always been the character's objective. Sort of disappearing off into the sunset. > Got to prep the adventure. Will be tight, I've also been asked by the family to do the reading at the funeral instead of a priest. It will all be worth it though, hopefully. I just don't want to let anyone down. > Anyway, thank you again. You certainly didn't let me down. :D > Cheers, > Neil (aka nemarsde) > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:31:32 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Real death in campaign. Help me I think others have given far better advice than I ever could on this difficult issue, but allow me to offer my sympathies both to Neil and George and your gaming groups. Håvard :( --- Neil Marsden skrev: > Well, although I get the daily digest and sometimes > post on the Wizards.COMmunity Mystara Board, none of you know > me, but I'm hoping you can help me nonetheless. > > An old friend of mine, a player in my gaming group, > died yesterday. It wasn't entirely unexpected, but it's still affected > me profoundly. > > There are a lot of thoughts and feelings I wish I > could share with someone/anyone right now, but I'll spare you. ;) > > So getting straight to the point, I'm an experienced > GM, almost two decades, I've dealt with all kinds of problems in my > gaming groups, dealt with players leaving for all kinds of reasons. > None of them have ever died on me though. > > I've got a gaming session this Saturday, and to be > perfectly honest I just don't know what to do. I'm going to sit down at > the head of the table, look left, this player isn't going to be > there, and that will overshadow everything. > > Alright, not making myself too clear. Put it this > way. I know for a fact that my old friend would *want* us to continue > playing, and especially want me to continue running the campaign. And I wish > I could, I just don't know how. > > What can I do with his character, for instance? All > I know is what I can't do. I can't just run him as an NPC. I can't > just kill him off behind the scenes. > > I should really give more details of the campaign, > but the details aren't the problem. I can work out the details. > > I guess all I'm asking is what would you do in my > situation, if it were your campaign? > > Regardless, Mystara has lost a great player this > week, me and my gaming group, the worlds we created together, we'll all > miss him. And I'll certainly be missing an old friend too. > > Anyway, there you have it. Sorry for burdening the > mailing list with this one, but I hope you can help. > > Cheers, > > Neil (aka nemarsde) > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 18 Oct 2005 to 19 Oct 2005 (#2005-196) ****************************************************************