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I ran a Rolemaster campaign for five years, and the
group was pretty religious about making the GM play. Even with the
references to the GM as "the
XP miser" (I thought characters should REALLY work for those levels).
I always believe in letting the dice fall as they will, though I admit
this is sometimes amusing.
Case in point: Charity, the highman fighter. Her character was well
developed, her ideals clear, foes ran in terror from her wicked 2H
battleaxe. She
was a skilled field medic, a fine archer, and a decent horsewoman.
Without a horse.
Time and time again, she would gain, buy or be given a magificent steed, only to lose it. The first was her greater warhorse, Star. A fine animal, who was shot out from beneath her in an aborted attempt to save the life of another party member (who didn't deserve it). A riding horse bought at a nearby town, tragically slain by bandits. By saving the life of a slain knight's squire, she received the use of the knight's warhorse ( to be returned to his family). Unfortunately, the knight had been killed by undead that were rising up in his homeland. When the party entered a lost chapel, the zombies closed in all around them. The party managed to flee magically, but from inside the chapel. Ergo, the horses were still outside, with frustrated zombies. Mulch.
The party ended up holed up in the last bastion of defense in the kingdom of Danarr, along with numerous women, children, and many,many knights and soldiers. Thousands of undead beseiged the castle. The undead forces reeked havoc with a great mangonal, trying to bring down the thick walls. The party ( and a lot of knights) heroically RIDE out to destroy the craven device. The lieutenents of the undead were powerful necromancers, and a particularly nasty one faced the PC's charge. The necromancer had a wall of force spell that could be up 100 square feet in area and 1 inch thick, and be virtually indestructible. With no limits on percise dimensions, the fiend makes a nearly invisible (its dark) 50' long, 2' high wall. In front of the charge. Guess who's leading the charge. Charity flew over twenty feet (miraculously landing on her feet) as the horse smashed it's legs into the barrier. Many horses died there. Mangonal was destroyed. Howls of mistreatment of horses from one player took some time though.
In the final battle, the evil lich running the show was casting powerful necromantic magic. He was sighted and the party decided that this battle could not be won ( it was looking grim) without first destroying the fiend. They RODE towards the lich's position, with knights clearing the way, leaving the path open but for a wight honor guard. Charity went to ride one down, who promptly decapitated her ersewhile steed. With a sceam of outrage, the player shouted "This i's %$#$ ridiculous!", and slew the wight in a single blow (after once again rolling incredibly to land on her feet.) Another player suggested she SHOULD be good at that by now, and a D10 bounced off his forehead amid hysterical laughter.
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