Fates worse than death

[AlexanderHowl]

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share the fates worse than death that their characters experienced (or that they inflicted of the PCs of their games). I had a tendency to use permanent duration Afflictions to inflict horrific and poetic punishments on the PCs of my games when they angered the gods. How about you?

[ericthered]

I don't know if this counts, but one villain got an annual donkey chariot race named after him.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I don't know if this counts, but one villain got an annual donkey chariot race named after him.

Sounds like he was a real jackass.

(I'm surprised that didn't get censored, but I guess it's allowed.)

[khorboth]

Any kind of mental affliction can work. I had a PC change another's obsession from "like" to "destroy."

I also worked with dismemberment. Cut off sword/gun hands, brain damage etc.

Loss of power, enslavement, severe public embarrassment, or imprisonment could also work.

What about stranding someone on an island/planet of primitives?

[AlexanderHowl]

Always a possibility, though stranding them on an uninhabited planet is even worse. I think that there would be plenty of people who would initially get a kick out of playing the sage to primitives, especially if the primitives are sexual compatible and attractive, so some may find being stranded among primitives a blessing rather than a curse. Of course, 'blessings' like Transcendent Appearance could be a curse in disguise, as the 'blessed' individual would become the target of rapists and serial killers.

[jason taylor]

I wrote a story where a villain threatened to sell the heroes sister to a brothel if he did not come up with the ransom. The sister was certainly intending to commit suicide even though that was not required in their culture.

Of course what happened was they showed up at the villain's door with a warband and butchered his retainers. One blow for brotherly love.

I actually wrote that story before I heard a vaguely similar Armstrong legend. A tax collector according to the story thought his position gave him right of thighs. For some odd reason he thought it would be a bright idea to do that to an Armstrong maiden. The Armstrongs naturally showed up at his doorstep and poured molten gold down his throat. I won't swear to the truth of the story but it is an interesting one.

[jason taylor]

Pavel Young in Field of Dishonor was cashiered for cowardice and had all his honors publicly stripped from him (they made a blingy new uniform for him for no other purpose then to rip it up). Later when Harrington accused him of contracting a killing, he was afraid to leave his estate for any other purpose but to enter the house of lords where everyone secretly made fun of him behind his back. Finally the only way Honor could deliver her challenge was to make a speech in the lords herself, and even Young decided that fighting her which was effectively suicide by Harrington was better then living with his fate.

[(E)]

Some notable examples
Used as parts (while alive), the player's next character bought some of the parts.
Had (concious) head mounted in a bar.
Lost in the infinite void.
Descended into madness and became a monstrous killer who was then put down by his oldest friend and fellow PC.

There is bound to be a few I've missed

[jason taylor]

Made into the blazoning on Athena's shield

Assimilated by the Borg

Being a Jem'Hadder

Being made into an Orc

Being made into a Nazgul

Being eaten by Shelob...over a period of months.

Cursed by the Founders with a generational illness

Spending eternity rolling a stone uphill

Having your liver eaten everyday by a Golden Eagle.

Finding a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.

Going to Auschwitz (ok that often is death but they like to mess with you first)

Having a wife at Auschwitz while you are busy fighting the Japanese

Invading Russia (ok that tends to be death too, but Russia doesn't let you off that easy; gotta keep up a reputation).

Being Japanese at Saipan

Being shunned, or similarly cast out of your in-group.

Being a cowardly Klingon

Being a cowardly Spartan

Actually quite a few things are worse than death

[khorboth]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Always a possibility, though stranding them on an uninhabited planet is even worse. I think that there would be plenty of people who would initially get a kick out of playing the sage to primitives, especially if the primitives are sexual compatible and attractive, so some may find being stranded among primitives a blessing rather than a curse.

I'm not convinced. If stripped of technology, how many modern people would do well if abandoned in a TL2 environment? Even capable folk would quickly need things like food and water but would need to gain the trust of the natives in order to avoid confrontations about competition, but without a gun or friends... And without a language in common?

It would be real torture knowing that a better life exists while trying to figure out how to maybe make a bow and knowing that smelting iron is something you'll never figure out in your lifetime. Let alone building a spaceship.