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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 webcomicweb comic [[Something*Positive]] is generally credited with bringing the phrase to the public conciousnessconsciousness 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]].
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{{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).
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== 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.}}
 
== [[Folk Lore]] ==
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20120923174943/http://www.duke.edu/web/DRAGO/humor/gazebo.html story passed around the Internet] for about two decades now 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.▼
* 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."▼
 
== [[Literature]] ==
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{{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] for about two decades now 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.
▲* 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 (then-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''.
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== [[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...
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{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:Tabletop Game Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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