Do you remember your first character death? Was it memorable?
I usually GM, and NPC deaths don't hit as hard. I don't even remember my first. I lost a warlock in a D&D 5e game, but we were high level so raise dead was just right there. Not very impactful.
Last night, I had a player's first character death ever in a game I've been running. It's sort of Shadowrun + World of Darkness, using Fate for the rules. The player had learned a kind of magic I stole from Unknown Armies: If you take big risks now, you can do more powerful magic later. Blindly crossing a busy street might be a mild charge, but russian roulette would be a major charge.
The players were trying to investigate a warehouse for plot reasons. This player ends up by himself in the basement while the ground level is on fire (for player reasons). He finds an armed goon, a guy dressed like a doctor, and several unconscious people wired up to a machine.
The player goes, "I'm going to russian roulette for a charge."
I go, "Are you sure? It's all or nothing. No take backs. You get a major charge, or you die. You'd roll 1d6, and on a 6 you lose."
They go, "Hmm okay." The player tries to threaten the goon, but the dice don't favor them. Now they're in a slightly worse position, mechanically.
The player goes, "I'm going to roulette" and just rolls the die. No more discussion. It came up 6.
The rest of us are like, "Wait, what? You just..? Right then? That's so... anti-climactic."
I wasn't sure what to do. I hadn't expected them to so casually go for the big score! I thought it'd come up in a big climax scene, not a fully escapable conflict with an unarmed goon!
We talked a little about ways forward that keep the character but don't cheapen the mechanic, but the player was like, "No, I rolled the dice on it and lost. His brains are all over the floor now."
The player had to go sit on their own for a little while. They're thinking of rejoining as an NPC they'd worked with, but said they absolutely do not want to use magic again.
This is one I'm going to remember for a while.
Warning: minor spoilers for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
There's a scene in Dragon Heist where an NPC dies off screen, and the players need to investigate it.
Well, I choose Durnan, from the Yawning Portal because the players had liked him and other significant NPCs were necessary for character arcs. We were playing on a VTT, so when the PCs ran outside, I switched up the music to something melancholy and the players seemed genuinely surprised (and a little grumpy) that Durnan bit it.
For the rest of the campaign, whenever the players visited the Yawning Portal, I threw in another change: the new owners boarded up the portal; the lighting was a lot brighter; the wait-staff changed; and the clientele were less adventurers and more nobles.
It was fun, but I missed NPCing Durnan and I missed the Yawning Portal.