You enter an empty room and your thief John Dopey discovers a hidden lever to a secret room. He pulls the switch and is electrocuted by a Shock Spell of Mother Freaky DOOM!!! Unfortunately, he falls down dead. However! An obfuscated door opens and exposes a secret room full of treasure and six undead kobolds. What do you do???
Well, in my experience, usually the guy who was playing John Dopey starts to write up another character, while the other players have their characters say a cool/funny one liner and run in with spells blazing, swords swinging, and hammers smashing. After a few too many rounds of combat and after the kobolds are dead, the player characters gather their booty and move on to the next room. Hell, I’m often one of those players; however, I’m also a little bit more paranoid in this sort of setting. But what about John and “No man left behind?”
“No man left behind” is a fairly common phrase that American servicemen use. It is the unofficial policy of the United States to not leave captured American men or women with the enemy. The United States Army Rangers have a creed, “will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.” The U.S. Marines also have a similar philosophy and even an agency called Marine Corps’ Personnel Retrieval and Processing Company that is dedicated to bringing back fallen soldiers dead or alive. In Latin, the phrase is called “Nemo resideo” which means, “leave no one behind.” This ideology goes as far back as the heroes and myths of the ancient Greeks. The concept of not leaving a friend stranded has been portrayed in several popular culture films, notably Black Hawk Down and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It’s a controversial policy for some: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of few…” But there is no doubt that the concept of leaving no one behind, since ancient times has, represented the virtues of loyalty, bravery, and heroism. But how often is this ideal represented in our roleplaying games?
Sure, we may have an adventure based on this concept, but how often do non-player characters or player characters that are allies die and get left behind in your game?
I was reminded of this issue last week when I was narrating (game mastering) Star Trek. While in battle, an NPC security officer that was working with the PCs was shot by random crossfire while trying to run across the road to get to a building. As the Narrator I said, “Ensign Banton is shot and dies.” Nevertheless, the players continued their process of running across the street and gathered their wits in the building, leaving Ensign Banton behind. Was the ensign really dead? Was he dying? Presumably, he must have been dead, the Narrator said so…Nevertheless, no one thought to check on him after or during the battle. As Game Master, I take full responsibility for Ensign Banton being forgotten. Once I remembered he existed, I reminded the players of him, and two PCs (a Ferengi doctor and a Borg) immediately went back to check on him and saved him from bleeding to death.
For decades, I’ve noticed that leaving dead or fallen comrades behind is an issue with roleplaying games, regardless if I’m playing as a player character or Game Master. Often a group of PCs will abandon a fallen comrade if they believe him to be dead. But why does this happen? Heck, since before written history, many ancient people cared enough about the corpse of a loved one to bury them and perform a ritual. They usually don’t shrug their shoulders and leave the corpse behind to move on to better treasures. Do they? Maybe they do, in game; but in real life, death is horrific, bereavement is hell, and the death of a loved one often leaves one feeling weak and empty. This is where, as Game Masters, we need to emphasize the loss of a player character or non-player character.
Combat in roleplaying games can be monotonous and we often get lost in it. I believe as GMs or even PCs we need to stress the pain of death. Take a moment out for the PC or NPC that fell or died. I should have had Ensign Banton screaming in the background crying for his mommy or better yet crying out to the player characters. Instead, I treated him like an old video game character that died and disappeared–out of sight and out of mind… I was too busy moving on to the next combat turn.
What do you think? Have you noticed this to be a problem in any of the games you play?
I, for one, make an oath: I will no longer leave fallen comrade characters behind. Nemo resideo!
Adam Lee
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