[Here is another case of ignoble deaths, IMHO, the best I have ever heard.
It comes from Mark Steuer, a friend of mine at work, who gave up D&D, but
has not yet seen the light of GURPS, instead playing (I believe) RoleMaster
these days.]

Mark Steuer recounts this tale:

Many years ago (back when we all were still playing D&D), I ran a game where
I pitted two groups against each other.

Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into
a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were
artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye)
and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome
powers? Well, Group One thought up "The Head of Vecna."

Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to
spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went
so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with
the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their
group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the
Druid to get caught and tell the enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe
because they didn't want him messing with things).

The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search
of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...)
Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set
off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination.
He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of
artifacts) and smiled gleefully.

I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way
he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly
summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar
and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the "Head of
Vecna"...)

Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the
trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that
they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had
played the Druid)...The "Head of Vecna" still had BOTH eyes! They corrected
this mistake and reset their traps and the "Head" for it real intended
victims...

Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that
it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group
One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of "The
Head of Vecna!" The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps
surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison
known to man). They recovered the "Head" and made off to a safe area.

Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each
other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players
had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the
recipient of the great powers bestowed by the "Head"... The magician was
selected and one of them promptly cut his head off. As the player was
lifting "The Head of Vecna" to emplace it on it's new body, another argument
broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then,
finally, they put the "Head" onto the character.

Well, of course, the "Head" simply fell off the lifeless body. All members
of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then,
on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting
off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the "head of Vecna" onto the
body. SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]

In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this
was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side
was hurting)...

And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...