The Super Darwin Awards

[Great Beyond]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Oh, the Cyberpunk reminds me of the one time our group tried playing that game. We were a bit bigger back then - 7 folks instead of the four we have now. We had a mix of punks, outlaws, hackers and so on - and two cops: my character and this one other fellow (who, I must add, is completely and totally straight laced boy scout to the core. He quite literarily wants to be a paladin in real life.)

 

So, here it is, the start of the game. I'm playing a cop of low moral fiber, willing to work with the just forming team - you know, play ball to get the game off the ground. So we walk up to the table in the back, where everyone is huddled, planning in hush tones. The first words out of my partner's mouth after confirming their identity as a bunch of criminals?

 

"You're all under arrest!"

 

A stunned silence fell across the gaming table. Seconds later there are five really big guns pointed at both of us. I'm franticly backing up, hands in the air all "I have no idea who this person is! Really, I don't!!! I'm not with him!" while he's continuing to brazenly attempt to Miranda them all.

 

Things quickly turn into a gunfight and my character is quickly taken out of the fight in a hail of bullets (the player that did the deed was sorry that he had to, but the circumstance dictated that kind of response). The other guy somehow manages to hang on a bit longer. I come back from the store half an hour later and they're arguing the rules on if a .45 magnum wouldn't blow the head off his cop because he had a helmet on.

 

That night didn't end well. . . .

[Comic]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Sometimes a helmet is not a 'brain bucket'.

[MilkmanDan]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Sounds like somebody needed a bit of a talk as to the concept of "genre".

[Blue]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Don't have any Champions tales like this. My group do tell of a game that happened long before my joining, where they fled down a corridor from something hostile, found a door with a sign that said "Enter Quickly and Bar the Way!" They did so. Of course what was inside was worse than what had been chasing them. It's an oldy but a goodie.

[matrix3]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

This almost turned into a Darwin Award, but the player was too tough and went unconscious and was just captured.

 

One player, S, likes to play bricks. We were playing Star Hero, so he couldn't go Champions brick, instead he pushed the NCM and dumped a bunch of points into STR, CON, and BOD. Oh, and he had a Distinctive Feature of being big (6' 6" and 300+ pounds).

 

The characters had raided a military base to get some information. They had all been disguised. Well, except for the big guy with the Distinctive Features. The raid was a success, so they went to a star base that was technically still in system, but they knew to be a seedy place, to hock what some incidental technology they had grabbed during the raid. It turns out that their raid had brought out the military even in a shady place like this.

 

S had a beef with the military, so he decided to spy on a group of them while the others did their black market merchant stuff. He overheard the troops talking about the raid, and heard the troops say that stills from security cameras had been circulated. He then saw the commander go into the bathroom, so he decided to follow him. I thought he was going to jump the commander, but no, he just wanted to "count coup" and brushed against the guy on his way to a urinal. The commander

glanced up, finished his business, then left. S was gloating about the "coup" as he came out of the bathroom -- and straight into the rifle bores of the troops. Being the brick, he charged them, but took relatively little body. The STUN scores were something else, though, and he was soon unconscious. The next session was breaking him out of the military hospital.

[Mike W]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Hmm, funniest bit like that I can remember is a guy I played with in college had a TK guy with a Force Field. Not a big one, but one that was vital to his defense(he had about 10/10 without it). Only problem was, he NEVER remembered it. To the point it became a running gag. After about 4 months he FINALLY remembers to put the thing up...then immediately walks up to a ticked off Grond. Like I said, it wasn't THAT big. Grond made him into a very nice wall hanging and it was months before he recovered all the BODY damage.

[tancred]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Mine is from Traveller. In retrospect, it's a GM Darwin Award, because I failed to give the players enough information to understand.

 

This was over 20 years ago, in college. My roommate and our friends make up the group.

 

The players have found Ringworld and are flying around exploring, using their grav belts.

They fly over a field of sunflowers. (Yes, the entire story arc was swiped straight out of Niven; I made the mistake of assuming the players were familiar enough with the book to realize the danger.)

 

My roommate's character was in the lead; he caught the full blast. Vaporized.

 

Only PC I've killed in 30 years of GMing.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Mine is from Traveller. In retrospect, it's a GM Darwin Award, because I failed to give the players enough information to understand.

 

This was over 20 years ago, in college. My roommate and our friends make up the group.

 

The players have found Ringworld and are flying around exploring, using their grav belts.

They fly over a field of sunflowers. (Yes, the entire story arc was swiped straight out of Niven; I made the mistake of assuming the players were familiar enough with the book to realize the danger.)

 

My roommate's character was in the lead; he caught the full blast. Vaporized.

 

Only PC I've killed in 30 years of GMing.

 

My wife and I need this one explained to us. What did the blasting?

[Dholcrist]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Oh, I've so many stories I don't know where to start. Well, I suppose one of the first would be best.

 

Cyberpunk, our first campaign with our first characters. We'd been doing pretty well, and had all met up and were trying to get out of Night City (which was being completely locked down, nobody in or out). After grabbing a substantial amount of firepower, we drove our van about a block from the last roadblock out of the city, and decided that the numerous tanks and dozens of heavily armed soldiers were too much for us to handle, so we would try to go through the sewers.

 

Well, unfortunately G, one of the newer members of the group, wasn't too sure. And when the NPC driver said he was going to stay in the city and take the van back to his house (it was his van, and we weren't going to need it in the sewers, so we agreed), G thought he was a traitor. And shot him. With the largest pistol in the game. A block from the roadblock. Naturally, as one would imagine, the soldiers heard the gunshot. A helicopter hovered overhead, and focused its lights/guns on us, as a dozen or so soldiers surrounded the van. Out of desperation, my character (a Terminator ripoff) stood up in the sun roof, and fired off a Stinger missile at the chopper. Double failure, the missile jammed, and detonated in the launcher. I died, but the others got out in time. G was immediately shot as he ran forward shooting his pistol wildly. The other two who were still alive immediately threw down their weapons and layed down with their hands on their heads.

 

As the soldiers approached, they yelled "You can't shoot us, we surrender!"

 

Apparently the military didn't feel the same way, as about five men loaded a clip each into their bodies.

 

Another quick one: G, new character, had just loaded up with about 8 different automatic weapons, which he loaded and carried with him slung across his chest and back. In the first three minutes of the game, he wants to make it clear that he never puts his weapons on safety, just in case, and they're always loaded. Also, they're customized with hair triggers. So, we laugh about how if he were to trip he'd probably shoot himself. The GM says that that would be likely, and as soon as G says he's going to run, the GM makes him roll. Fumbles three times. He trips, falls, and immediately every gun goes off, completely blowing him away.

 

G came to be known for his impressive skill for being able to get killed in a variety of spectacularly stupid fashions, and for never having a character for longer than a game, maybe two at the most. He actually has a list of characters that have died hidden behind a calendar in his room, so whenever we play over there and he dies, he just gets up, walks over to the calendar, lifts it up, and marks another dash.

[Drhoz]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

My wife and I need this one explained to us. What did the blasting?

 

Niven's Sunflowers are large plants with huge silver petals. Parabolic petals. They can move. They like a lot of ash in their soil....

 

Naturally, nothing alive can survive long, near a field of Sunflowers.

[tribe]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Oh, I've so many stories I don't know where to start. Well, I suppose one of the first would be best.

 

Cyberpunk, our first campaign with our first characters. We'd been doing pretty well, and had all met up and were trying to get out of Night City (which was being completely locked down, nobody in or out). After grabbing a substantial amount of firepower, we drove our van about a block from the last roadblock out of the city, and decided that the numerous tanks and dozens of heavily armed soldiers were too much for us to handle, so we would try to go through the sewers.

 

Well, unfortunately G, one of the newer members of the group, wasn't too sure. And when the NPC driver said he was going to stay in the city and take the van back to his house (it was his van, and we weren't going to need it in the sewers, so we agreed), G thought he was a traitor. And shot him. With the largest pistol in the game. A block from the roadblock. Naturally, as one would imagine, the soldiers heard the gunshot. A helicopter hovered overhead, and focused its lights/guns on us, as a dozen or so soldiers surrounded the van. Out of desperation, my character (a Terminator ripoff) stood up in the sun roof, and fired off a Stinger missile at the chopper. Double failure, the missile jammed, and detonated in the launcher. I died, but the others got out in time. G was immediately shot as he ran forward shooting his pistol wildly. The other two who were still alive immediately threw down their weapons and layed down with their hands on their heads.

 

As the soldiers approached, they yelled "You can't shoot us, we surrender!"

 

Apparently the military didn't feel the same way, as about five men loaded a clip each into their bodies.

 

Another quick one: G, new character, had just loaded up with about 8 different automatic weapons, which he loaded and carried with him slung across his chest and back. In the first three minutes of the game, he wants to make it clear that he never puts his weapons on safety, just in case, and they're always loaded. Also, they're customized with hair triggers. So, we laugh about how if he were to trip he'd probably shoot himself. The GM says that that would be likely, and as soon as G says he's going to run, the GM makes him roll. Fumbles three times. He trips, falls, and immediately every gun goes off, completely blowing him away.

 

G came to be known for his impressive skill for being able to get killed in a variety of spectacularly stupid fashions, and for never having a character for longer than a game, maybe two at the most. He actually has a list of characters that have died hidden behind a calendar in his room, so whenever we play over there and he dies, he just gets up, walks over to the calendar, lifts it up, and marks another dash.

 

They are a bunch of cool stories. Cyberpunk seems to be the one with the most Darwin Awards.

 

[tancred]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Niven's Sunflowers are large plants with huge silver petals. Parabolic petals. They can move. They like a lot of ash in their soil....

 

Naturally, nothing alive can survive long, near a field of Sunflowers.

 

IIRC, the blast from a field of sunflowers is described as being equivalent to a quite large laser.

 

And there I go again, assuming everybody's read the thing.

Some goblins never learn.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Once, lo these many years ago now, I was playing in Steamteck's fantasy game. It was Halloween night, the night whan all sorts of supernatural creatures roamed the world. We, the players, were holed in a building for the night; as long as we stayed within it's walls, we were fairly safe.

 

One of the creatures of the night was, uh, some powerful demonic entity whose name I've forgotten--and his hell hound companion. Said demon and hell hound sniffed around and taunted us for not coming out.

 

Eventually one of the players had his character stand in the doorway of the building and say, "Here, doggy doggy doggy!" to demonstrate (I assume) that he was not intimidated.

 

Well, maybe HE wasn't. I sure as heck was. And so was Steamteck's wife. Our characters immediately bailed out of the building and ran for shelter elsewhere. Fortunately, Steamteck was merciful; by rights that invitation negated the protection of the building and the offending player (and us) would have--and could have--been torn to pieces.

 

 

That was the Demon prince of night,Azhuran and you also had a little girl with you that was supposed to be his sacrifice that you had rescued from cultists. My wife's character was Topaz the half dragon and the little girl survived to become a powerful sorceress

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

IIRC, the blast from a field of sunflowers is described as being equivalent to a quite large laser.

 

And there I go again, assuming everybody's read the thing.

Some goblins never learn.

 

For what it's worth, my wife said she has read Ringworld, but it's been a while and she didn't remember the sunflowers. Me, I've never heard of it. I only know the name Niven from the reversal of his name in the Magic Card "Nevinyrral's Disk", and that's assuming that the Niven of which you speak is Larry. I keep thinking there's a second one.

[lemming]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

For what it's worth' date=' my wife said she has read Ringworld, but it's been a while and she didn't remember the sunflowers. Me, I've never heard of it. I only know the name Niven from the reversal of his name in the Magic Card "Nevinyrral's Disk", and that's assuming that the Niven of which you speak is Larry. I keep thinking there's a second one.[/quote']

 

Well, there's David Niven the actor...

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

They are a bunch of cool stories. Cyberpunk seems to be the one with the most Darwin Awards.

 

Only if we exclude the already overly fatal games of Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Only if we exclude the already overly fatal games of Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu.

 

I can see Paranoia games having Darwin Potential, but probably not winning as most players will try to get their characters killed. That's part of the game's point.

 

Call of Cthulhu, however, may or may not have Darwin potential depending on just how stupid the characters are when they get kacked. Not being able to retreat from Cthulhu in time would not count. Of course, calling Cthulhu a wim and taking him on in a one-on-one match with anything less than some Rifts-level Mega Damage weapons (anything less... = any weapon or handy object) would certainly qualify, if it was funny enough. And if he managed to survive, then he ought to thank the GM for cheating so flagrantly in his favor and sacrificing all the versimilitude in the world.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Call of Cthulhu' date=' however, may or may not have Darwin potential depending on just how stupid the characters are when they get kacked. Not being able to retreat from Cthulhu in time would not count. Of course, calling Cthulhu a wim and taking him on in a one-on-one match with anything less than some [i']Rifts[/i]-level Mega Damage weapons (anything less... = any weapon or handy object) would certainly qualify, if it was funny enough. And if he managed to survive, then he ought to thank the GM for cheating so flagrantly in his favor and sacrificing all the versimilitude in the world.

 

You could do CoC and beat the Big 'C'. All you have to do is run Titus Crow & his Amazing Friends (AKA Champions meets Call of Cthulhu) as your character(s).

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

You could do CoC and beat the Big 'C'. All you have to do is run Titus Crow & his Amazing Friends (AKA Champions meets Call of Cthulhu) as your character(s).

 

I do not know Titus Crowe, but I think you have a good point.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

I can see Paranoia games having Darwin Potential' date=' but probably not winning as most players will try to get their characters killed. That's part of the game's point.[/quote']

 

If you exclude the players trying to get their own characters killed, or players actively trying to kill other players' characters, there's still those completely unintentional "Gee, I shoulda thought before I opened my mouth" moments even in Paranoia.

 

For instance, I ran a game where one of the Troubleshooters was issued a Plasma Gun, Man Portable, Voice Targeting. It wouldn't fire where you pointed it; you had to tell it specifically where to target, e.g. "PGMP, target ten meters forward, two meters to left, and fire!" Along the way, the other Troubleshooters learned that the PGMP would follow *any* spoken voice command. Of course, the PGMP-wielding Troubleshooter went through a few clones as teammates had him targetting nearby targets (like those where he was within the burst radius).

 

Then, in the middle of a firefight, one of the other Troubleshooters pointed at one of the enemy and said, "PGMP, shoot over here!" He had one of those "oh, crap" looks on his face when he realized that the weapon couldn't see him, and therefore couldn't see where he was pointing, as the PGMP swung to target the voice...

[jkwleisemann]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Okay, yeah, *that's* a Paranoia Darwin.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

Well' date=' there's David Niven the actor...[/quote']

 

That's the dude.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

I do not know Titus Crowe' date=' but I think you have a good point.[/quote']

 

Main character in a series of novels by British pulp horror author Brian Lumley. They're more pulp adventure/swords-and-planet than actual cosmic horror, but I still like them.

[input.jack]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

I can see Paranoia games having Darwin Potential, but probably not winning as most players will try to get their characters killed. That's part of the game's point.

 

I guess I missed the point (not surprisingly).

 

I managed to have a single clone survive six sessions of a Paranoia campaign, which folded before my character ever got ganked.

 

Of course, the character WAS "paranoid"!

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

 

I guess I missed the point (not surprisingly).

 

I managed to have a single clone survive six sessions of a Paranoia campaign, which folded before my character ever got ganked.

 

Of course, the character WAS "paranoid"!

 

Well, I will admit that I am merely offering my interpretation of Paranoia. There are also ways to play it in a very different manner.