Tuesday, August 23, 2016

#RPGaDay 2016 Day #23 Share One of Your "Worst Luck" Stories

Day #23: Share One of Your "Worst Luck" Stories.

A run of bad luck is something I find more memorable in wargaming or other games.

I've already told the tale of my DBA Debacle at Lehicon IV.

Even back in the early days (twenty years ago) of Magic, I had a highly-tuned tournament deck that fared well most weekends.  Yet, despite all the statistical probabilities, one weekend I ran into an eight year old kid with a 120 card goblin deck and he hosed me in two straight games in the first round.  I'm quite well aware that strings of bad luck happen.

But truth be told, I don't have any role-playing stories with 27 consecutive failed rolls followed by death by tripping from an invisible turtle. 

Have I had characters die by poor die rolls?  Sure, but in most cases, the chance of success was getting slimmer and slimmer each round.  No first round head shots. 

Have I lost key characters in my game because I let the "dice fall where they may?" Sure, but like a wargame where the General gets shot turn one, the rallying of the forces in the face of such a predicament sometimes makes for an even better story that the one you were working with.

Have my NPCs turned physically and mentally disabled in the course of a few round?  Sure!  One of the main reasons some of the investigators in my Call of Cthulhu campaign survived as long as they have has been the incompetence of the cultists.   Yet even in this absurdity of die rolls, I managed to chop off a few hands and cause general chaos throughout the game.

 

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