PC about to kill another PC
In the Harm chapter, Vincent writes (p. 166) that “I’ve never in real life seen a fight between PCs go as far as this example.” Well, I’m about to have one PC kill another PC in my game.
I plan to ask the players involved if they understand the implications and want to go through with this, but damn! I never though I’d see this situation arise to begin with.
Due to a clusterf*ck of epic proportions, the Operator stole the Driver’s car and plowed it into the Chopper’s gang, killing some gang members. The Chopper and Gunlugger have both already shot up the car and the Operator, who’s sitting at 9:00 on the Harm clock.
Now the Gunlugger is stalking towards the wounded Operator, magnum in hand. If the Gunlugger follows through on his intended violence, it’ll be 3-harm from the magnum. This would put the Operator up to 12:00 on the Harm clock. The Operator can take a Debility to stop the Harm, but is that a desirable outcome?
Has anyone ever had PC-on-PC violence go this far? How did you handle it?
Check in with everyone at the table and proceed carefully.
Is the operator getting their share of moves, just failing?
I agree with Claudio Freda , but if you want to be sure, speak openly with the players, expalain them the consequences.
But not to avoid this situation. This PC vs PC interaction is good because it is real drama. And the drama is what you play AW.
You better explain to the players in order to be sure that they understand that one of the PC will be dead. And there is nothing bad about it. You can always start with a new PC.
I’ve seen it happen three times. Once handled well, the others not so well.
Make sure you discuss this out of character for the reasons the others gave. You want to make sure there are no hurt feelings between players (characters can hate each other but not players).
Remember disabilities can help a PC survive wounds that would otherwise kill them.
Actually killing a pc who doesn’t want to die takes a lot of work, which can also leave quite a bit of space for something to happen that may provide a resolution or distraction.
Also, in non-mechanical concerns; If some of your players want PC on PC violence and others DO NOT you may need to have a check-in about what everyone wants from this game, and if goals are aligned.
Usually these situations seem to succeed or fail to the extent that participants are invested in telling “our story” or “my guy’s story”.
In the former case PC vs. PC works where it contributes drama to the fiction. You know this when you have it because the player whose PC is about to bite the bullet us one of the voices urging the other player to have his PC pull the trigger. The reward is the fiction being told, not if he lives or dies.
In the latter case, my guy’s story ends. Unless I heavily trailed wanting this ending, it will sting.
Now, of course the GM can take PC lives and it has similar results, but the latter case is ameliorated by the social contract that implies risk to character is part of the “fun” of the game. So there is less sting if the GM exercises his arbitrary power fairly.
So if the victim thinks this is cool, run with it. If not make clear that the game’s social contract doesn’t allow that move.
The social contract? What’s wrong with actually discussing our desires and reaching informed consent? The unwritten rules that we all hold (differing from each other) are a huge problem in society at large and gaming in very specific. Use your words, not an appeal to the mass authority.
Ross Fulton Nothing wrong with that.
Seconding the “it really depends on how the players are doing right now”. This can be either incredibly disruptive or incredibly awesome (or both) depending on how everyone is reacting to the scene. Two of my campaigns have ended with a PC final boss and all agreed that made it better BUT that was also with many clear statements that things could head in the PVP death direction so they wouldn’t be taken by surprise. I’ve found it’s a bigger problem when one player wants to be playing a team and the other player wants to be a competition. This happened in some White Wolf hacks I’ve played where one Werewolf player (as opposed to character) was all “we’re allies cuz pack lets protect each other” and the other was all “I want my character to be alpha”and it lead to some pretty big rifts at the table till we sorted out what kind of campaign it was.