Mountain Troll TPK

[Glorelendil]

Once again I find myself in complete concurrence with Stormcrow.

And I think TPK is exactly the right outcome in this scenario.

[Indur Dawndeath]

Perhaps the Troll would gain the "No quarter" ability, in such a situation. To keep the mechanics of TOR, and not just pick one player up and eat him. Some dice would be thrown at least...

As Stormcrow suggested (above), the ability to do a coup de grâce has nothing to do with the Special Ability No Quarter. No Quarter simply gives an extra ability (to do so immediately).

p. 130 (Revised):

Coup de Grâce
An unconscious, or otherwise defenceless, hero is killed automatically if an opponent has the time to administer
a coup de grâce (one combat turn). The action doesn’t require a roll, but the adversary must possess the means
to kill the character quickly and efficiently (a weapon or a lethal form of attack).

I understand how the rules work...
And therefore the ability is required if the troll would "Bite the head off Trotter, during the fight".
And that would get the players to understand the situation and get the hell outta there...

[zedturtle]

I think T.S.'s point (and I don't presume to be speaking for him) is that the rules are provided to provide a way to resolve uncertain situations in the narrative. When Weary and (possibly) Wounded escapees from a Troll's larder decide to assault the monster instead of escaping with their lives, the situation in the narrative is no longer uncertain.

[Stormcrow]

when we played MERP one guy escaped from a bunch of enemies, by jumping off a 100' cliff. He was wearing Full Plate, so the damage he got was massively reduced compared to the lightly armored enemies, who would never survive a +100 Fall Crush. He got away because the rules made it possible.

There comes a point when the referee has to say, "The rules and I disagree, so I'm going to ignore them." As far as I'm concerned rules in a role-playing game are only for when the referee doesn't want to or can't make a decision himself.

[Lara Redleaf]

This sounds a lot like the "Typical PC Behavior" thing you see going around sometimes. It's especially prevalent in D&D-based games, where lots of groups play crazy "murderhobos" (as they call it on RPGnet), killing things and taking their stuff without a whole lot of narrative or character-based reason. In Middle-Earth, even the bravest and most foolhardy characters are going to be a tad more cautious. A brave warrior like Boromir might stand defensively against it while his allies pepper it with arrows or set up some kind of trap.

Just standing there and exchanging blows? That doesn't sound very likely.

[Majestic]

Perhaps the Troll would gain the "No quarter" ability, in such a situation. To keep the mechanics of TOR, and not just pick one player up and eat him. Some dice would be thrown at least...

As Stormcrow suggested (above), the ability to do a coup de grâce has nothing to do with the Special Ability No Quarter. No Quarter simply gives an extra ability (to do so immediately).

p. 130 (Revised):

Coup de Grâce
An unconscious, or otherwise defenceless, hero is killed automatically if an opponent has the time to administer
a coup de grâce (one combat turn). The action doesn’t require a roll, but the adversary must possess the means
to kill the character quickly and efficiently (a weapon or a lethal form of attack).

I understand how the rules work...
And therefore the ability is required if the troll would "Bite the head off Trotter, during the fight".
And that would get the players to understand the situation and get the hell outta there...

But that ability (No Quarter) would not be required, if you as LM wanted the Troll to do that. Now if your concern is just that doing so without some sort of die roll is unfair (to the players), then that's fine. But per the rules, an adversary without the No Quarter special ability could choose to simply kill them, if the character (in this case, Trotter) is defenceless.

[Indur Dawndeath]

I understand how the rules work...
And therefore the ability is required if the troll would "Bite the head off Trotter, during the fight".
And that would get the players to understand the situation and get the hell outta there...

But that ability (No Quarter) would not be required, if you as LM wanted the Troll to do that. Now if your concern is just that doing so without some sort of die roll is unfair (to the players), then that's fine. But per the rules, an adversary without the No Quarter special ability could choose to simply kill them, if the character (in this case, Trotter) is defenceless.

I would never rule that a character was defenceless if his companions are still pounding at the troll. Og course they'd protect the unconsious comrade.
What I'd do, is tell them straight up: The troll is pissed off now. "I'm gonna eat you now!" For your information, the troll has the No Quarter special ability now.

Many thanks for all the replies. It seems that most people will punish a group for this stupid behaviour and kill one or all of the players.

[Majestic]

FWIW, Indur, I would only rarely use that myself.

My whole point was that - per the RAW - the LM has the ability to slay downed, incapacitated players, even with foes that don't have the No Quarter special ability.

My players don't stay down long, anway, as usually there's someone singing and giving them Endurance back every turn (sometimes multiple heroes).

[Stormcrow]

It's not a question of punishment; the players chose a course of action that leads to their characters' deaths.