View source for Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

{{trope}}
[[File:Everyonedies 6136.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''"Just for that, your entire party falls into [[Hell]]. Roll to see how painfully you die."''
|'''Comic Book Guy'''|''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}

This is what happens in [[Role-Playing Game]]s when the [[Game Master]] gets utterly fed up with the players: he kills them ''all'' spectacularly.<ref>Well, he might want to, but he'll more likely kill their ''characters'' spectacularly.</ref>

Precisely what drives a GM to this extreme varies. Perhaps somebody was a [[Rules Lawyer]] once too often. Perhaps the gaming group mocked his plotting skills a bit too much. The players might have spent all their time going [[Off the Rails|everywhere but where the plot wants them to]]. Maybe the group consisted entirely of [[Munchkin]]s. Maybe they didn't like that [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|"totally awesome"]] [[GMPC]] as much as the GM did and tried to kill him in his sleep. Or maybe the players are just [[Too Dumb to Live]]. Or maybe, just maybe, the GM is a [[Killer Game Master|sadistic bastard]] who's determined to see the players fail ''at any cost''.

Regardless of the cause, if the GM goes as far as '''Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies''', [[Jumping the Shark|the campaign has failed]] on a [[Epic Fail|grand scale]]. Maybe it's time to stop the metagaming, time to let somebody else GM, or just to find a new gaming group altogether.

A lesser form of this trope can target just one particularly annoying player, [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|often with a bolt of lightning]]. Since the GM is the local god, this works even if the target character is underground, in a Faraday cage and wearing a static discharge bracelet. Merely threatening players with lightning can also be effective in controlling players. The first edition Advanced [[Dungeons & Dragons]] Dungeon Masters' Guide even suggested using "blue bolts from the heavens" and "ethereal mummies" on [[Player Character|PC]]s to keep their players in line.

The web comic [[Something*Positive]] is generally credited with bringing the phrase to the public consciousness in [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018031908/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml this strip]. The underlying concept is rather [[Older Than They Think|older]], having been seen in the extremely deadly AD&D adventure ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'' in 1975 (and quite likely used by individual DMs even before that). This ending is a [[Tabletop Games]] form of [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]], or [[Kill'Em All]] when premeditated. A subtrope of [[Total Party Kill]]. When the players decide to detonate the game instead of the GM, it's [[Off the Rails]]. A nigh-unbeatable [[Beef Gate]] used this way is sometimes referred to as a "Grudge Monster" or "Grudge NPC."

Usually the direct inverse of "Dice fall, everyone rocks." Not to be confused with [[Big Rock Ending]]. Or [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMaCq-ocCGc this] [[YouTube Poop]].

'''NOTE: This is not just a trope for everyone in a story dying. That is [[Kill'Em All]].'''

{{deathtrope}}

{{endingtrope}}

{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* B.A. from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' finds himself forced to do this to his players constantly, just to keep them in line—two are dedicated [[Hack and Slash]] types, another is a [[Rules Lawyer]]. (All the same, this may be only an outgrowth of his philosophy that the players and the GM are inherently enemies).
** Every GM who isn't Patty Gauzwieler will pull this at one point or another in the comic. The most infamous is Weird Pete's Temple of Horrendous Doom, an obvious jab at the Tomb of Horrors.
** One nice storyline, after the group pulled off some particularly annoying feat of munchkinry, rather than declaring a RFED, B.A. manipulates the characters that the same players play in his ''other'', science fiction campaign, into nuking his fantasy world (and thus, their fantasy characters) into oblivion.
** Averted when Weird Pete gets into a battle of wills with Sara over whether he can manage to kill off her player-character. After he arbitrarily declares the entire dungeon falls on her PC, Sara simply invokes a magical debt to survive it and then uses class level skills to begin digging her way out. When Bob asks Brian, "So who's losing?", Brian answers, "The architecture."

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fic [http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/story-ponies-play-d.html Ponies Play D&D], Spike gets fed up with the group's constant arguing over every decision they come across. When [[The Real Man|Rainbow Dash]] [[Leeroy Jenkins|attempts to slaughter the archangel NPC]] [[Railroading|about to spell out the party's next objective]], his patience snaps and he traps the party in a cave with a massively overpowered Stone Ogre.  {{spoiler|[[Naive Newcomer|Applejack]] unwittingly averts a [[Total Party Kill]] by rolling a timely nat 20 and decapitating the Ogre in one blow.}}
* A deliciously silly ''[[Dragon Age]]'' fic on the [[BioWare]] boards [http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/97/index/1132093/1#1147841 here]{{Dead link}} has Alistair as DM resort to this after a staggering amount of player stupidity from Morrigan, Sten, Wynne, and Oghren. "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" is actually the title.

== Film ==
* Towards the end of ''[[The Fall (film)|The Fall]]'', after  {{spoiler|Alexandria fell trying to steal pills, Roy killed off all of the characters of the story in brutal ways. Fortunately, Alexandria stepped in and took over the story.}}

== [[Literature]] ==
* Used as a plot point in ''[[Bimbos of the Death Sun]]'', where the main character, a guest of honor at a sci-fi convention, goes [[Killer Game Master]] with a rigged ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' game to expose the murderer of the other author/guest of honor. {{spoiler|He kills off the dead author's most famous character in a humiliating fashion, enraging said character's biggest fan into confessing to the murder, [[It Makes Sense in Context|done to "save" the hero from being killed off by his creator]].}}
* Robert Fulghum describes telling a story to his children. He thought he had finished conclusively and the kids were asleep, only to hear them ask for "the rest of the story." He would resort to apocalypse. "Suddenly a comet hit the earth and blew everything to pieces." A moment of silence, and someone would ask "What happened to the pieces?"
* In the children's-book series ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' the mother of the protagonist, Gregory, forces his big brother Roderick to play ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' with Gregory.(Long story) Gregory is prepared for the worst game-session of all time, when Roderick, who happens to be player AND GM in this session, just decides that all the adventurers fall into a hole filled with dynamite and die in the very first turn. Gregory is relieved.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Frasier]]''. In a variation on this, Niles got so upset at Frasier's over-directing a radio play in ''Ham Radio'', he decided to take action.
{{quote|'''Niles:''' Okay, that's it. Never mind all that. I'm just going to take this gun off the table. ''(fake gunshot)'' Sorry about that, O'Toole; I guess we'll never hear your fascinating piece of the puzzle. ''(two fake gunshots)'' Or yours, Kragan and Peppo! Could the Mc Callister sisters stand back to back? I'm short on bullets. ''(fake gunshot)'' Thank you. ''(to Roz)'' What was your name again, dear?
'''Roz:''' Mithuth Thorndyke.
'''Niles:''' Thank you. ''(fake gunshot)'' Oh, and also Mr. Wing. ''(fake gunshot, and sound of muted bell on Mr. Wing's hat)'' And, of course, one final bullet for myself, so the mystery will die with me. ''(fake gunshot. Niles taunts Frasier)'' HA. }}

== [[New Media]] ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603204410/http://albruno3.com/ Ab3]'s "[[Binder of Shame]]" includes an anecdote entitled "The Day I Killed The Entire Party Before The First Combat Encounter", involving an incident with a character's motorcycle.

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Jason does this to Paige in one ''[[FoxTrot]]'' strip, purely to annoy her. After a week's worth of strips setting up the game, Jason causes the cave to collapse and kill the entire party after Paige's ''very first turn''.
{{quote|'''Jason''': Your bodies will remain undiscovered for...*roll roll roll*...82 centuries!}}
** This could also be a reference to the classical adventure "[[Tomb of Horrors]]" where yes, the very first door in the beginning paragraph has a collapsing trap that can kill you.

== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20120923174943/http://www.duke.edu/web/DRAGO/humor/gazebo.html story passed around the Internet] since at least the late 1990s about a GM who killed a player character because of his player's architectural ignorance: Not knowing what a "gazebo" was, the player decided to ''attack'' it rather than, say, ''ask'' what it was. After numerous attacks with no effect, the player decided to leave, at which point the GM announced, "It's too late. You have awakened the gazebo. It catches you and eats you."
** This story was widely popularized in the gaming community by the comic ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]].''
** Referenced in the [[Steve Jackson Games|Steve Jackson]] card game ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'', where a Gazebo really is an enemy monster that players may encounter. A rather scary one, too. And if you try to run away from it and fail, it really will pounce and kill you.
{{quote|"You must face the Gazebo -- ALONE."}}
** Also referenced in ''[[Nodwick]]'' at one point; in one of the last few issues, a gazebo was the location of a fault in space-time which an evil god planned to exploit.
** The comical D&D supplement ''Portable Hole Full of Beer'' actually includes monster stats for "The Dread Gazebo".
** As well as in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' board game, where you can accidentally land on the Gazebo and wake it up, if you're not careful.
** And, of course, [[Eric and the Dread Gazebo|the story has its own page here]].
* A [[media:Gongs.jpg|similar story]] was provided by a [[Fauxtivational Poster|demotivator]]: after a wizard forgot what a "gong" was and began hurling magic missiles at one (sample dialogue: "A sonic attack! Quick, everyone, cover your ears!"); the DM responds, "OK, while you're distracted the door sneaks up behind you and slits your throat."

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* [[Steve Jackson Games]]'s ''[[Toon (game)|Toon]]'' actually has a table of 'Apocalyptic Big Finishes' in the back of the ''Toon Ace Catalog'' sourcebook, for when the characters don't quite make it to the end and you need a quick way to end things. Of course, no-one dies, but the principle's the same.
** Steve Jackson Games's ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' card game features a card that's actually called Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. It can cause [[Total Party Kill|every player in the game to be killed]] if played at the right time.
* Years ago, TSR (the original owner of D&D) published ''The Apocalypse Stone'', a module ''deliberately designed for DMs that want to do this.'' In it, the players steal a [[MacGuffin]] that triggers the end of the world. They can undertake quests to prove they are worthy to [[Heroic Sacrifice|die heroically]], but in the canonical ending, can't really do anything to prevent the world from imploding. However, the book included several cop-out scenarios to save things at the last minute in case the DM gets cold feet (or is being threatened with death himself...)
** The express purpose of this was to clean up everybody's campaigns for Third Edition. Likewise the wonderfully named ''Die Vecna Die.''
* In the ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]'' boardgame ''[[Arkham Horror]]'', the players race to seal gates opening in the town of Arkham before a Great Old One (randomly decided at the start of the game) awakens and they have to fight it, which is difficult but (sometimes) possible to win. If the Great Old One threatening to awaken is Azathoth, however, the players ''[[The End of the World as We Know It|automatically and instantly lose]]'' if he awakens, as his first "attack" is to ''destroy the world''.
* The magnificently awful (except without the "magnificent") tabletop RPG ''[[FATAL]]'' has for the highest level caster <s>class</s> ''job'' the spell F.A.T.A.L., which kills everything on whichever horrible planet the game is set... obviously including the caster and his fellow party members. Also, it's possible for this to happen by accident.
** ''FATAL'' could probably actually work as a substitute for this.
{{quote|'''DM:''' OK, you've pissed me off for the last time. We're playing ''FATAL'' now.
'''Players:''' ''[[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]]'' }}
* This is the typical ending of many ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' missions where the players have somehow managed against all odds to squeak through with some of their backup clones intact. Actually, speaking of those clones, sometimes this is how the mission ''starts''.
** Paranoia is an odd case here. Rather than being a sign that the GM is doing his job poorly, this is seen as a sign that the game will be very good.
* There's even a reference to this in edition 3.5 of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. The spell ''[https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Rocks_Fall_(3.5e_Spell)| Rocks Fall]''{{Dead link}} is actually a curse, and while PCs can use it, the sadistic way it deals death to the victim makes it more likely to be used by a villain controlled by the DM.
* ''[[Cyberpunk (role-playing game)|Cyberpunk]]'': One of the ways a GM can punish a group that's getting too big for its britches is deploy [[The Juggernaut|Adam Smasher]], who will proceed to kill them all quickly and horribly. {{spoiler|''[[Cyberpunk: Edgerunners]]'' provides an excellent demonstration.}}

== [[Video Games]] ==
* If ''[[Nethack]]'' encounters a fatal bug, the last messages it gives you are "Oops...", followed by "Suddenly, the dungeon collapses."
** "Suddenly The Dungeon Collapses" is an achievement in ''[[Dungeons of Dredmor]]'', obtained in the same way.
** This is also used in the "screen" terminal emulator. Try it next time you boot Slackware.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160409212308/http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=screen.git%3Ba%3Dblob%3Bf%3Dsrc%2Fattacher.c#l609 Here it is in screen] - there's a whole pile of NetHack-inspired messages [https://web.archive.org/web/20101202064958/http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=screen.git%3Ba%3Dblob%3Bf%3Dsrc%2Fnethack.c%3Bh%3D585dc4376c68caec50fccd8c42da5422faf0dafb%3Bhb%3DHEAD here], but the dungeon collapsing one is used even if the rest are not enabled. [http://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End.c#line271 And here it is in NetHack.] Isn't open source great?
** In a straightforward example, attempting to exploit now fixed bugs (such as item duping) will result in the players death, for "trickery".
* This is the preferred method among MMOs for closing up beta test servers, though generally with a bit more variety than rocks. This can range from [[World of Warcraft|giant demon invasions]] to [[City of Heroes|UFO attacks]] to [[Guild Wars|legions of fire-wielding little girls]].
* In the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' games, the game immediately [[One-Hit Kill|One Hit Kills]] you if you attack any characters that are necessary to advance the plot. This is basically a way to prevent players from getting stuck if they kill someone who prevents them from advancing the plot.
* In the 550-point and 580-point versions of ''[[Colossal Cave]]'', you are warned not to use a particular magic word near water. If you ignore that warning, the most likely result is that you will turn into a jellyfish and die; but there's a small chance that the entire dungeon will collapse on you, your extra lives will be revoked, and you'll be summarily ejected from the game.
* The ''[[Star Wars]]''-based [[MUD]] ''Legends of the Jedi'' once used a Chiss invasion to kill off the galaxy during its annual timeline reset. In this case, though, the admins did it because they wanted to do something interesting instead of just having everyone's characters vanish into the night.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
*  A wonderful ''[[Something*Positive]]'' strip that illustrates a proper usage of the idea, and is widely [[Older Than They Think|believed to be]] the [[Trope Namer]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018031908/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml She had it coming].
* In the ''[[VG Cats]]'' comic [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=110 Skittles], a game-mastering Aeris performs what could be considered justifiable Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.
* The [[Game Master|Dungeon Master]] decides that Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies in [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1165 this strip] of ''The DM of the Rings''. He apparently changes his mind though, as they're all fine in the next page.
** In an early strip, he threatens to strike everyone with 2d6 lightning damage when the players refuse to stop quoting Monty Python. It doesn't work, because Legolas sees the violence inherent in the system. The DM finally gives in and refers to him as a "Bloody peasant!"
** "Rocks fall, everyone dies" [[Memetic Mutation|has become]] GM shorthand for "stop whatever it is you're doing before I lose my last shred of patience and kill you all" over the years.
** Similarly, if a lone player/character is the cause of the problems, the GM may threaten him with "Purple Lightning from the Heavens" rather than doom everybody.
* Used as a response to... let's call it "criticism", of 4th edition D&D in [http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20080609 this strip] of ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]''.
{{quote|'''GM:''' An illithid appears and forces the cleric to tear out his own spine. The illithid then feasts on the cleric's brain. The cleric is dead. Forever. Rest of the party is fine.}}
* A ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' alternate strip in which the GM finally has enough of Qui-Gon's continual attempts to "cast [[Summon Bigger Fish]]". [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0208.html Fish fall. Everyone dies].
** Ironically, though, the player characters aren't included in the "everyone dies"...only the characters needed to continue the plot.
* [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2008-10-21 This] strip from [[The Wotch]] features the individual variant.
* [http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=440 This] strip of Casey And Andy also features the individual variant.
** See also [http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=513 this] strip.
* [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] by name by [[Significant Anagram|Parson Gotti]] of ''[[Erfworld]]'' in [//archives.erfworld.com/Book+1/149 this page] and the pages preceding it. {{spoiler|He wins a game that he has deduced to be basically [[Unwinnable Training Simulation|unwinnable]] by [[Unusual Euphemism|uncroaking]] an extinct volcano causing... well, you know the rest.}}
* ''Absurd Notions'' shows a genuine [[Total Party Kill|party-killing]] deathtrap in [http://www.absurdnotions.org/page38.html this strip].
* ''[[Emergency Exit]]'' has one when [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=504 the final boss of the RPG is killed in one hit.]
* Alluded to in [http://antiheroescomic.com/comic/50 this strip] of [[Anti-HEROES]].
* Tony from ''[[Real Life Comics]]'' does this quite a bit when DMing. His favorite is [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/000731.html "A dragon eats you."]
* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'''s Tycho firmly believes that this is the final goal of ''all'' [[Game Master|GMs]]. [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/12/02 Observe his prowess at it here.]
* [http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0021 This strip] of ''[[Does Not Play Well With Others]]'' demonstrates a rather disgusting, but highly amusing, total party kill.

== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[Avatar Adventures]]'', the first time the gang decided to restart the RP they ended the current one by having everyone killed by a god of reality in one strike.
* ''[[Loading Ready Run]]''{{'}}s ''[[Desert Bus for Hope]]'' 4: A New Hope. After raising $1,000 for the specific purpose, viewers were treated to Jer Petter's Temple of the Lava Bears. For an indicator of just how this went, [[Wil Wheaton]] personally called in and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|advised any remaining party members to cast "Don't be a Dick" on the GM]]
* In the French audio webseries ''[[Reflets d'Acide]]'', one character has a nightmare of the GM punishing him with the French equivalent, the falling necropolis.
** The advantage of the necropolis over rocks is that if the character(s) somehow survive the falling damage from the necropolis, then they have to survive the zombies inside, then the lich lord...
* ''[[Darwin's Soldiers]]'' features a mild version of this the end of the second RP when {{spoiler|Crimson Base levels Pelvanida with a massive airstrike}}. [[Word of God]] states this was done because the GM wanted the RP to end and it was starting to drag on.


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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:Tabletop Game Tropes]]