Re: [HoE] killing a PC on purpose.

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

>    I tried talkling to him telling him to be a team player. He answeredwith 
>"My character is a loner. He doesn't like people and doesn't want to have 
>anyone care about him" 
>    Hell! I even asked if he wants to have his character run  solo game 
>instead of with the group. He wants to just run with the group but he just 
>doesn't want to cooperarate.
>    The guy has attacked two other player's in the game and I think it boils 
>down to how can I kick a friend out of the party and kill his annoying PC. I 
>know the paty's junker would love to scrap the bike for parts and the
templat 
>could use the guns and ammo. Everyone else in my party is really great and I 
>enjoy running them. This guy just goes against everything. 

It is at this point that you remind him why people banded together in the
first place.

This sounds like an experienced group - they must have left some enemies
behind them.

Enemies that have been following.... and like any predatory animal they are
just waiting for someone to leave the herd.  For the herd outnumbers the
hunters....
	So you have a group of maybe four NPCs.  Not strong enough to go up
against the full party, but small enough to move around unnoticed.  One, or
two of them have full blown grudges, maybe another one is a powerful (ie
character level) NPC bounty hunter/mercenary.  And one or two mooks to give
the PC a (false) feeling of effectiveness.

So you now have your wolf-pack
What do predators do?
1)  Wait.  Patience is a survival trait.  Wait for the PC to be truly far
enough from the rest of the party that the party can't come to help.
Leaving the PC to try and get back on his own.  Perhaps they have been
following the party long enough  to know just what would cause the guy to
go charging off....
2) Cripple.  Two NPCs hit the hoverbike with EMP or rocket launchers.   The
rest start firing on the PC, forcing him to burn fate chips.  This is a
grudge they are paying back - so assume that they NPCs are smart.  That
means coordinated attacks.  NPC A and B target and aim at the bike (+6 to
hit) and NPCs C and D target and aim at the man (+6 to hit again).
<side note - be fair.  Calculate the target numbers and don't forget to
take range and cover into account, then roll to hit - and be honest.  Use
chips to make the hit if you have to, but don't cheat. >
3) Stalk.  Use real world tactics to take the guy out.  Show him how the
bad guys have two men covering and then two men approaching - staying
behind cover whenever possible.  There is nothing like the look on the
party's face when they go up against professionals.  Two men with a held
action waiting for the target to show, and two men moving.  When the two
movers get into position, then they hold their action and the next two guys
move up.  The moving guys save their actions to dodge.  
This is really a cliffhanger if the PC was injured in either the initial
attack or the crash.
4) Kill.
5) Feed.  Scavange whatever gear the guy had, and fade off into the
background - until the next ambush can be setup.  Take the PCs head for a
souveneir.

Don't forget to booby trap the body somehow - and leave one of the PCs guns
on him as bait.  :-)

Two things could happen.
1)  The posse immediatly tries to come to the rescue.  But if it was
planned right, it will take minutes for the party to arrive, and mere
rounds to kill the PC  (or for the PC to make his escape - be fair).
Either way, the villains have faded into the woodline and have left a
couple of surprises behind them.  (Booby trapped body and one punji pit
should suffice to make the posse cautious.)

OR

2)  The posse goes - "eh... he was a dick, I'm not risking my neck for that
creep."

Which is fine - as it is a pointed statement directed towards the
troublemaker about Teamwork.  And, when the villains continue to stalk the
party, it feels more like karmic payback for deserting a team member (even
if he was a dick)

Let the party (and the spudhead in particular) know that this is a
dedicated, intellegent team of villains solely dedicated to wiping out the
POSSE, and not just the PC.   You let them know by the fact that the
villains are still hunting the party after the PC dies.  And don't be
afraid to kill other party members - don't play favorites. <but again, be
fair - if the dice come up with one of the NPCs dying, then the NPC dies>

The PC just happened to go first because he was easily lured away from the
rest of the party.


When you think about it - a large number of real world tactics can come
into play during a HoE game.  Covering fire, concealment, terrain, and
prepared ambushes can put a serious whammy on PCs.  

If I have a highly trained commando, or a special forces unit doing the
ambush, the tactics I would use are:
Exploding bait.  There will be some item of interest geared to explode at a
radio switch.  Preferrably the item will have a large area around it that
doesn't provide any cover (killzone).  
Training - the ambushers are all smart enough to be well concealed, in
order to avoid having the ambush blown.  
Radio contact.  The ambushers will have snipers who have all called out
their targets beforehand and will have them under constant sights (+6 to
hit).   
Discipline - At the command, all snipers will fire at the same time.
(Surprise checks after the ambushers get their free shot in).
Planning - Immediatly following the shots, the bait will explode, further
stunning, wounding and shocking (second surprise checks, or just make one
surprise check at TN 11 for the whole thing) the party.  The rest of the
ambushers pop up and shoot, throw grenades, etc. etc.

This will leave the remnants of the party lower on fate chips, possibly
wounded, surprised and or/stunned before they even get their first action.
They will then be facing a squad of trained men behind cover (and maybe not
even seen) while they are in the center of a killzone.  If they are really
unlucky, the killzone has a couple of tripwire claymores across it.

Now - that's the perfect ambush with a group of highly trained and equiped
soldiers (but without magical backing - throw in a syker and whhoooo
boy...).  
To be fair  - things often don't go that well.  Lesser fighters might lack
the discipline to wait or a lack of equipment or training would derail and
expose the ambush, etc. etc.
-----
Ahem... sorry.... got carried away.

But (and I might have stated this) - be fair.  If you throw someone out of
the game, he may never come back to playing RPGs, and you may have lost a
friend.  
You have certainly taken enough disruption from him, and I'm not saying
that you should continue to let him slide, but.... killing his character in
a fair way that exploits his weaknesses MAY correct his behavior.
Especially if you take the sting out by killing (or at least attempting to
kill) the other party members.

Work with the guy on making his next character - and let him know that
loners present too much of a problem in a game - he has to be the type that
can work with others, or he won't have any reason to be with the posse -
and ergo no reason to show up to the game.

Of course - it may come down to the fact that this guy is a pure dickhead
and the entire gaming community is better off without him.


-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Jim Morrison:
To break on through to the other side, I am the chicken king