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      The Impossible Dream

    #8: True Death

*by Hunter Logan*

Jul 17,2003

In most rpgs, characters can die. Whether they ever actually do or not

is largely a matter of design philosophy, player skill and GM/player

desire. In any case, this installment is all about character death.

Defining Death

It's a good idea to begin with a definition of character death. On one

hand, a character is dead when he meets the conditions for death

according to the game's rules. That's when the character runs out of hit

points or fails the critical saving throw, or something similar. On the

other hand, death is not always the end. So, I thought about my own

definition for character death.

I think a character is only truly dead when he is permanently removed

from the player's control. Death is not really about the character's

mind or body; it's about playability. A character can be bent, twisted

or mutilated as much as anyone wants. As long as the player can still

play the character, that character is still alive. When the player can't

play that character any more, then the character is truly dead.

This definition may cause problems. If a character dies but only stays

dead long enough to get resurrected, then I say the character isn't

really dead. Yet, the player is inconvenienced and may need to play

another character to stay active in the game. Meanwhile, a character may

lose all of his humanity and become an NPC for the rest of the game.

Even though that character is still alive, I say that character is truly

dead because the player can't play that character any more. This

definition affects my approach to character death.

Approaching Death

Most designers (and GMs) have a philosophy on death for their games.

Sometimes, the PC's life is fragile and characters are easy to kill.

Other times, the PC's life is rugged and characters are extremely hard

to kill. Sometimes, death is serious business. Other times, it's a

source of humor. Sometimes death is permanent. Other times, it's a

doorway to character evolution. Here are some factors that a designer

may consider when forming an approach to character death.

*The Value of Life:* How important is the character? If the character is

important, then characters won't die very often - At least they

shouldn't die very often. If characters aren't that important, then they

might drop like flies. This works as a scale that runs from cheap to costly.

    * *Cheap:* It's not that the character is patently unimportant...

      Well, maybe it is. But really, the character's life is just not

      that important. It would be nice if the character could live

      through the adventure; but if he doesn't, that's okay because the

      character is easily replaced. This approximates the value of all

      the cannon fodder in any game world. A game like Paranoia is a

      good example. In that game, it seems the characters aren't that

      important. Each player has several clones of his character and

      half the fun is seeing how many different and creative ways a

      character can die.

    * *Average:* The character is of some importance, if for no other

      reason than the player spent an hour or more creating the

      character. Thus, the character is expected to survive for a while.

      From the designer's perspective, this is the default value. The

      character is important, but a character can be killed at any time.

      A game like /D&D/ exemplifies this attitude pretty well. It seems

      that characters are important. The whole point of the game is for

      players to keep the characters alive long enough to achieve

      impressive high level and do amazing things. And yet, a character

      is never important enough to truly cheat death. Under the right

      circumstances, wandering monsters in random encounters can always

      kill a character.

    * *Costly:* The character is extremely important - So important that

      his death simply can't be left to random chance. At this point,

      killing a character takes something extra. Maybe only an important

      NPC or powerful monster can do it; or maybe it requires the

      consent of the player. And on the flip side, maybe it's expensive

      for characters to kill. Maybe when a character kills, he loses

      something - humanity, sanity, whatever. Or maybe for a character

      to kill, the player has to do spend a resource or roleplay the

      kill in exquisite detail. Or maybe killing is illegal and the

      criminal justice system in the game world is frighteningly

      efficient at finding and punishing killers.

*The Causes of Death:* How can a character die or otherwise fall out of

play?

    * *Death of the Body:* Of course, characters can almost always die

      from physical trauma. Weapon hits and other injuries can usually

      take out even the most powerful characters.

    * *Death of the Mind:* If physical death isn't bad enough, the

      character can lose his mind. The classic example is /Call of

      Cthulhu/. All characters will lose Sanity and eventually end up

      insane, drooling and gibbering in the protective confines of

      Arkham Asylum or some such place.

    * *Death of the Spirit:* This is one step beyond death of the mind

      or body. Here, the character actually loses his inner spirit, his

      very soul. This can happen to /Shadowrun/ characters when they

      send their spirits into astral space. There, the character's

      spirit can get into fights and die. If that happens, the meat body

      is well suited for organ donation or medical experiments. On the

      other hand, a character in a game like /Sorcerer/ can lose too

      much humanity. When that happens, the character usually becomes an

      NPC in the hands of the GM. He's not necessarily dead, but he

      might as well be.

*The Nature of Death:* As in TV shows, movies, and comic books, death is

not necessarily the end of an rpg character. In some games, characters

can be resurrected or brought back. In other games, the character may

live beyond death as a disembodied spirit, an undead, or as some sort of

supernatural creature. In a few games, characters even have serial

lives. Here are some ideas about the nature of death.

    * *Death is the End:* This is the most brutal way of handling

      character death, and it's likely the most realistic. When the

      character dies, the character is irrevocably lost. The player has

      no way to raise, resurrect, recover, or return the character to play.

    * *Death is Temporary:* When the character dies, he is out of play

      until someone cares enough to recover the character's life. In

      this way, death becomes more like unconsciousness than death. This

      is especially true when the means to bring the dead back to life

      are cheap and plentiful.

    * *Death is only the beginning:* I think this was a tagline on the

      cover of the /Kult/ rpg, but it refers to the notion that

      characters do not really die when they are killed. Instead, the

      dead characters live on in another form and possibly in another

      place. So, when the character dies, he becomes something else.

*The Decision to Die:* Who decides when and how a character dies? On the

surface, this seems easy. The vast bulk and majority of games put the

conditions for death in the rules. A character takes too much damage,

and he dies. A character loses too much Sanity and goes insane. In these

events, the character dies; but who or what actually decided the

character would die at that particular point in time? Was it a die roll,

the GM, or the player?

    * *The Dice:* Designers usually let the rules decide the conditions

      for character death, and the decision-makers are often nothing

      more than dice. Sometimes, one crappy die roll at the wrong time

      is all it takes. Then the player must make a new character. This

      is considered somewhat realistic. After all, in life we never

      really know when or how we are going to die. It's even satisfying.

      Players play to the best of their ability and make the best

      decisions they can. Frequently, they don't mind the risk as long

      as they have the chance to make decisions leading up to the event.

      If the characters live, then it's a shiny victory. If the

      characters die, it's a learning experience and maybe it adds

      weight to the campaign.

    * *The GM:* Designers rarely give the GM sanction to blatantly kill

      characters. /Cyberpunk 2020/ does have a note about killing

      overpowered characters because the future is disposable, but that

      sort of advice is unusual. In practice, the GM almost always has

      the power to kill characters; and designers don't often address

      the point. When is it okay for the GM to simply kill characters?

      The answer for any situation will depend on the designer and the game.

    * *The Player:* Designers sometimes give players the right to choose

      when, where, and how their characters will die. Of course, this is

      grim business. Usually, players spend all their efforts keeping

      their characters alive. Yet, the opportunity to give a character a

      spectacular and worthy death appeals to some players. It's worth a

      designer's time to at least consider the possibility when crafting

      the rules for a new game.

Avoiding Death

Just as designers consider all other factors of character death,

designers also consider methods players can use for avoiding character

death. Here are some possibilities:

    * *Expendable resources:* Give the players finite resources they can

      use to cheat death. These might include plot points or victory

      cards. When all else fails, the player can use one of these to

      make the current problems go away.

    * *Manageable resources:* Give the players resources such as hit

      points, humanity, or sanity. The players then have a measure of

      responsibility or control over a character's life.

    * *Character abilities:* Give the characters abilities that players

      can use to avoid death. These include magic spells, special

      skills, and the like.

    * *Items:* Give the players items that can protect characters from

      certain causes of death. This might be the cheap way to get the

      job done, but it beats being dead.

    * *Saves:* Give the players an opportunity to save their characters.

      The ubiquitous /saving throw/ is one way to do this. When faced

      with something unpleasant, the player may roll dice to reduce or

      eliminate the effect on the character.

Integrating Death

Like any other part of a game, death can be integrated into the game

design. I don't think there's a play flow for death. When a character

dies, it's an outcome, not a process. Damage is part of the process;

death is a result of the process. Yet, processes surrounding death might

be part of a death flow. For example, a character is poisoned. The

player attempts to save against the poison. The save fails, so the

character is dying. Another character uses an item to stop the poison.

If the item works, the character is saved. If not, the character may die

after all.

Planning for Death

As a final thought, designers might consider their plans for character

death. often, the plan is pretty simple: When the character dies, the

player writes up a new character. While this is a perfectly valid plan,

it's not always well suited to a particular game. Here are a few other

possibilities:

    * *Character Tree:* The player generates a group of characters. The

      player then rotates these characters in and out of play. When a

      characters dies, the player usually has the option to create a

      replacement and add him to the tree.

    * *Improved Replacement:* The player creates a new character, but

      the new character gets advantages based on how well the player

      handled the old character. Of course, the player is encouraged to

      play well because frequent character death will lead to weaker

      replacement characters.

    * *NPC Replacement:* The player gets to continue play using an NPC

      as his new character. This may work out pretty well, especially if

      the NPC had a connection to the old character. In some games,

      players may create or improve NPCs with money and equipment, so

      the player has a vested interest in the NPC. Also, some GMs assign

      NPCs to players, so the players inherit a sort of character tree.

      The designer can always choose to formalize this sort of

      relationship in the game's rules.

    * *Serial Replacement:* The player gets a new character that is

      basically the same as the old character.

The End?

This wraps up character death. If you have questions or comments, about

the article, please post them. I'm interested in what you have to say.

Thanks for reading, and especially thanks for all your comments and

discussion.

Now, I have bad news. I don't like it, but this article wraps up my

column (at least for now). I haven't run out of words or topics, but I

have run out of time. I hope that after a few months, I'll be able to

pick up again; but I can't make any promises. Therefore, thanks to Aeon

and Allan Sugarbaker. Thank you for giving me the space to run my

articles. More important, thanks to everyone who has read my column.

Thank you for reading, and I really do hope you've enjoyed my articles.

Most important, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to write any

comments or discuss my column here in my little forum. Thank you for

caring. It's easy to ignore the columns, or to read without commenting.

It's something else to read a column and care enough to comment. I

appreciate the effort and your input! You have made this column all the

more worthwhile.

      What do you think? <http://trio.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=110>

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 cooldog cotangent

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=98&t=98> (1) new

cranial_index  	01-31-2006 20:46  	01-31-2006 20:46 new

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<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=95&t=95> (1) new 	514 

12-02-2005 10:55  	12-02-2005 10:55 new

 Designer Handbags Wholesale@WWW.WIZARDREPLICA.COM

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<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=93&t=93> (1) new 	794 

10-20-2005 21:37  	10-20-2005 21:37 new

 Death/playing style

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=92&t=92> (1) new 	Searcher 

09-22-2003 11:35  	09-22-2003 11:35 new

 Death and actual immortality

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=89&t=89> (3) new 	Cpl Ferro 

07-19-2003 08:53  	01-13-2006 15:22 new

 Non-death death

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=85&t=85> (5) new 	Sérgio

Mascarenhas  	07-18-2003 03:07  	07-23-2003 02:38 new

 Thanks, Hunter

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=80&t=80> (4) new 	Allan

Sugarbaker  	07-16-2003 00:18  	07-17-2003 19:34 new

 Realism <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=74&t=74> (3) new

Robin  	06-20-2003 01:23  	06-25-2003 02:34 new

 Something you might have mentioned.

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=65&t=65> (3) new 	Yamo 

06-19-2003 16:13  	06-19-2003 18:11 new

 BTW, excellent column, Hunter!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=63&t=63> (2) new 	flyingmice 

06-19-2003 13:11  	06-19-2003 18:13 new

 Armor and Damage Thereto

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=56&t=56> (2) new 	The Student 

06-19-2003 08:45  	06-19-2003 11:44 new

 Armor <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=54&t=54> (9) new

flyingmice  	06-19-2003 08:29  	06-20-2003 06:12 new

 Death spiral and unconsciousness

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=53&t=53> (7) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	06-19-2003 07:31  	06-20-2003 06:52 new

 lucky or skilled

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=51&t=51> (2) new 	rhyme 

05-12-2003 18:49  	05-13-2003 09:25 new

 Absolute, unopposed and opposed

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=48&t=48> (2) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	04-16-2003 02:19  	04-16-2003 09:26 new

 0-9 open ended = brilliant!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=31&t=31> (8) new 	Vibropod 

03-12-2003 10:41  	07-18-2003 01:28 new

 Smooth rerolls

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=27&t=27> (10) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	03-12-2003 00:47  	03-16-2003 23:57 new

 Resolution Mechanics

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=25&t=25> (8) new 	Kyle

Schuant  	03-11-2003 22:14  	03-29-2003 21:28 new

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Previous columns

    * #8: True Death </news+reviews/columns/dream17jul03.html> by Hunter

      Logan, 17jul03

    * #7: Assessing Damage </news+reviews/columns/dream19jun03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 19jun03

    * #6: Putting Theory to the Test

      </news+reviews/columns/dream12may03.html> by Hunter Logan, 12may03

    * #5: Resolution Mechanics II

      </news+reviews/columns/dream14apr03.html> by Hunter Logan, 14apr03

    * Resolution Mechanics I </news+reviews/columns/dream11mar03.html>

      by Hunter Logan, 11mar03

    * Player Goals </news+reviews/columns/dream10feb03.html> by Hunter

      Logan, 10feb03

    * Balance of Power </news+reviews/columns/dream20jan03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 20jan03

    * Play Flow First </news+reviews/columns/dream01jan03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 01jan03

      Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet

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