We just had an awesome “Last breath” roll.
Our Bard, a woodsman with a loving family and good village life (in a village being stalked by a werewolf) was slain in a confrontation with the aforementioned werewolf.
As the battle continues, and the rest of the party drive the wolf off (But fail, once again, to kill it), the Bard stands on a dark shore, with a black marble table, and two matching chairs. in one sits a dark-robed figure, with no face visible. “PLEASE, HAVE A SEAT”. the figure says. “YOU HAVE A GOOD LIFE. A LOVING FAMILY, AND WELL-RAISED CHILDREN”. The figure says, reaching into it’s robe, and taking out a deck of Tarot cards “IT IS RARE TO SEE ONE LIKE YOU ARRIVED SO YOUNG” He takes three cards from the deck. he turns over The Wheel of Fortune “A GOOD LIFE, AND LIVING.” he turns over The Emperor “WELL DISPOSED AND DILIGENT CHILDREN” and he turns over The Lovers “THE LOVE OF YOUR FAMILY. YOU MAY STRIDE THROUGH MY GATES, HEAD HELD HIGH, OR”
he turns the cards over, and shuffles them “YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE CARD, AND KNOW THAT PART OF YOUR LIFE WILL FOREVER FALL TO RUIN. YOUR FAMILY WILL DRIFT APART AND ABANDON YOU, OR YOUR FORTUNES WILL SOUR, AND LEAVE YOU IN PERPETUAL POVERTY. OR ELSE YOU WILL WATCH YOUR CHILDREN BECOME LAYABOUTS, OR PETTY THIEVES, OR PRODIGALS.”
Meanwhile, the party has driven the werewolf away, and the ranger falls to her knees, shouting to the goddess Frigga to save him, bring him back, “he’s my only family goddammit” (she is the bards half-great great aunt). her player has taken “god amidst the wastes”, and is petitioning her deity, so I tell the bards player to pick one of the cards, and take it out of the stack, and reshuffle.
While the Bard sweats over whether to take the card, or walk through the gates, the Wizard realizes… he is standing next to a portal to the feyrealm, says “ritual to bring him back, while he still hasn’t passed through the gates?” and I give him “well, you’ll piss off the fey beyond the portal, and you’ll annoy death” . He accepts.
On the shores of the black gates, I ask the Bards player “When you get pulled back, are you reaching for a card, or standing up from the table?” and he says that, when the threads of silver light wrap around him, he was reaching for the top card. “I’LL LEAVE THE TABLE SET” death says as the bard is drawn back from the black gates
While the whole thing is pretty fun and good, I remain baffled by the conclusion. What do you were asking to the player with that “reaching for the card / stand up”? I suppose it was the choice between “knowing what he was about to lose soon / do not knowing”. The player chose “I want know”, but you replied with something like “Next time”.
OR, maybe I didn’t understand well the last part.
I was asking, before he was rescued, was he going to take the deal, or refuse
Yeah, did he accept a good death or the souring of his family.
“Death will remember that”
I mean by reaching out he was clearly willing to potentially let his family suffer at his own benefit, so that probably has consequences regardless of wether the last breath move completed or not
Tolkien was fond of this. Setting characters up to make difficult choices with no actual effect (generally because something had happened that the character is unaware of).
In my mind, there’s no need for it to have external consequences. What’s important is that we’ve established that the Bard is the kind of character who’s willing to sacrifice his family. That’s Chekov’s gun right there. Sooner or later, he’s going to get the chance. The only question is what is he going to sacrifice them for?
Interesting. Does it change your view of him at all, if I told you it was The Lovers he removed from the stack?
Jonathan – I never said the consequences would only have external consequences. Realising that he IS the kind of person who would is often a focal turning point in a story.
Josh – Nah. IMO, it doesn’t matter WHAT he pulled, since he had no way of determining which part of his life he would destroy. Only that he would.
CHILLS. So good.
I think you guys see him much more harshly than we did at the table
I wouldn’t say it was harsh, especially – Like, I don’t think he’s a bad person, you know? The guy had died and had been given a chance to not be dead. Choosing life is pretty much the number one driving force for the living, I can’t fault that.
What IS cool though is the thought that maybe he surprised himself with reaching out for the card when he woke back up back in the world of the living, realising he potentially just ruined his family, or lost all his wealth, and then having to live with the memory of that – Embracing it or doing what he can to never be that person.
It is Great Story.
Also, before judging the character for picking a card, consider what other hardships his family could suffer as a result of his death. There’s four outcomes, not three, and his family likely suffers in all of them.
Both fair and true… and now I have to work out sets of three for the other players. Death might make the wizard do his job for a day (ala Mort) to make him understand why messing with life and death is bad stuff.
josh savoie I hope you have some actual tarot cards to use for these scenes…
After this session we will. But this session, deaths Tarot motif was a spur of the moment thing
I think maybe it’s not too clear:
The Ranger, in petitioning her gods, removed one of the three from the choice.
So the Bard only had 2 cards to choose from. Did he know what was removed?
the bard got to choose which one was removed (he chose The Lovers, meaning it was only a question of whether he watched his children grow up to be deliquents, or watched his fortunes crumble around him.)