As I mentioned in another thread, one of my players was dealt a MW last night. He suffered the blow when a three-headed Naga-like demon abducted his sister.
Now, the demon was more interested in fleeing with his sister than fighting, so he could’ve let it get away. However, one of his Beliefs was to “…protect [his sister] from the world and from herself.” Now, this damn demon was uber-fast, too, so he blew a bunch of Artha and somehow won the Engagement test to put himself between the thing and the exit, sword in hand and a hard look in his eye. Awesome, epic stuff…
…then the demon knocked him down and tore his guts out.
So, the demon absconded with his sister and will perform a ritual that unlocks the demon inside HER. The heroes failed and an innocent life suffered for it. They may still be able to bring her back, but it’s going to be damn hard.
But that’s the stuff that good drama is made for, right? You have to beat them down before they can rise back up.
Except… Well, now he’s going to be out of the game for at least 18 months while he’s on the mend. It feels kind of anti-climactic to have him sitting in a bed after all this insanity went on. Also, if I have him make a new character for the duration I think it will feel odd – he’ll be playing this character he doesn’t really care about, just waiting for his “real” PC to get healed up.
So, what do you guys do with situations like this? Dramatically, does all forward momentum stop when one of the PC’s is injured?
I should add that the game only has two players. The other player suffered a Severe wound, so he’ll be healing for a number of months, also. However, there’s a good chance that once he’s healed he might not stick around and will what to go off on another adventure while the other PC is healing.
Hm. Anyway, advice would be appreciated.