Discussion: Clutch Moments, Win or Lose

Gaming is full of clutch moments. The person getting the nat 20 to end a fight before someone dies. Making the desperation Athletics roll to pick up the unconscious PC without losing speed while fleeing a collapsing castle. Heck, even just nailing a diplomacy roll can come back around and save everyone later when your allies roll up right on time.

What are some of the biggest clutch moments you've seen in your games? How did they pay off? Did any of them fail? The whiff factor is often talked about as a bad thing, but sometimes losing can be as fitting an end to a story as winning.

My favorite as a player came up in a Scorpion game a friend ran years back. The group was a black ops team, and we were having our first test to see if we were mission ready. One player was captured and being held in a holding area where the others could visit but not actually help. The hope was for the caught PC to pass on vital information, but despite two attempts he failed to do so - not wanting to get caught and risk total failure.

It was a huge moment for the game, and thankfully one that we got a second chance for later as it led to the group as a whole failing the test. It changed a lot of the characters in small ways, and the dynamic of the game. Failures have a means of doing that, but the fact that it all came to one person in one moment, and in that moment they failed to pass things along was also a huge part of what made it so impactful.

How about in your games?