There and back again (Death & Resurrection)

[Deleted]

After a recent game I have noticed that my GM style is such that I tend to go out of my way to not kill player characters, even if circumstances dictate it should happen.

In large part I think it's because I empathize with how much time players have taken to create these personalities. At the same time I want players to feel that their is a risk to every adventure.

In this light, I am toying with the idea of resurrection being made available (at a high cost) AND having any character who is raised from the dead have some sort of weird negative quirk. I am considering making a random table of quirks that players roll on. My thinking is that this way players can bring their beloved characters back if they die, but there is always a character flaw penalty for death.

I'd love to hear how others deal with death. Has anyone tried something like the above, or could you share ideas? Is dead, dead?

-Chico

[quoghmyre]

IMO a lot of the excitement of T&T comes from risk, and the major risk is death. In my world lvl 1 & 2 characters often die. I like my players to know death of a character early on as it gives the characters that survive far more value.

Sure Resurrection is an option, quirky or not. v5 has the spell and I'm sure for the right price you can find a Wizard to cast it. I found most times the players just give up on caring the dead bodies back to the cities. There is nothing like the smell of dead meat to draw WMs.

One way to cut the players more slack before the death of their characters is to allow Con to go into negative before death. This has been covered in another thread so I won't discus the merits of this system, again.

I have my players running 2 or 3 characters, this means when one dies they can continue on in the game.

[machfront]

I agree with quog that characters that survive have the sort of value that should come with learning how to survive and overcoming odds as well as just becoming smarter as a player.

Cheat them out of death in the early stages of playing/at low levels, and later you'll be making concessions just and the one you're proposing.
Now, if one intended it from the get-go, no problem. Whatever's fun. But you seem to not be entirely happy with the fact that you're having to do such.

There needs to be a modicum of challenge and without the risk of death, then, where's the real challenge, yes?

All that said, I'll still allow a second SR in some cases so that 100% pure bad luck won't take a character out.

Also, I don't dig that a character can go from standing and being completely fine to down-and-dead, so I allow the negative CON before death, though I think a type of 'system shock' SR on, say, ST or something to allow for a chance of survival would be quite enough as well.

[ProfGremlin]

Feb 9, 2010 21:18:16 GMT -5 @chicosuave said:

I'd love to hear how others deal with death.

Don't forget the Abyss solo as well. It allows resurrection once per character. It's out of print but I'm sure you could find a copy around somewhere. It's currently listed on the FBI site as a re-print in the T&T Bonus Pack.

[zanshin]

My players have 'save gems' as part of their package with Dhansaks Delvers Union (10% of the treasure gained for membership, plus a 1000gp x level fee for restoring the characters soul to a body) which stop the characters soul from going to the afterlife, and making them
resurectable in their body, or another one.

There is a financial and experience penalty to dying, but the player has character continuity.

The Delvers Union provides services including dungeon finding (We match the delver to the dungeon!) , transport and assessment of items.

It fits with my rather gonzo T&T campaign , but YMMV.

[ProfGremlin]

Feb 10, 2010 10:27:13 GMT -5 zanshin said:

... which stop the characters soul from going to the afterlife, and making them resurectable in their body, or another one.

I actually like this idea, Zanshin. It would make for an interesting campaign if there became a rogue group inside the Delver's Union who decided that trading in souls could become profitable. Perhaps a T&T play on the base plot line of Dark City? Redirect souls in the process of resurrection somewhere else - Large crystals (menhirs) to be used as a massive power supply, to a nether plane where demons obtain them, randomly for fun and mayhem...

Is a resurrection gem keyed to a specific character or do does one simply have to have one on or near the body at the time of death? If the body is to badly damaged to resurrect does the character receive a clone of their original body or do they step into a recently vacated body with new stats?

[sligo]

This would certainly make for an interesting solo...

[ProfGremlin]

Maybe someone could take it on as a project for the Trollszine issue 2? That is if Zanshin doesn't mind his idea being appropriated.

[zanshin]

In my play the gem is keyed to a particular player. It also is a way of monitoring the treasure the party gets so the Union can claim its 10%.

It can restore the soul to any corpse, but obviously if its your own body (healed appropriately) you get your full stats back .

If someone wants to do more with it, i'm very happy for them to. Just give me an acknowledgement (thanks for the idea , or some such)

[Deleted]

Hey All,

Thanks for the feedback!

My issue with death of characters comes from my GM's dilema of a player having fun develping their alter ego over an extended period of time only to see them die off and have to start over vs. players sensing that no matter what they do, their character can not be killed.

Years ago I was a player in a game where the GM allowed a player something like 6 swings at a stirge or else the creature would start doing damage. Once he said that, a note got passed around the table stating "Try to die!" We players knew he wouldn't kill us off and we lost all respect for that campaign. I agree with both Quogmyre and Machfront on the risk of death being important for gameplay.

My thinking is to find some middle ground in the game in that death will be a part of things to keep players on their toes (so I don't become the "Try to die!"GM), but at a heavy cost, players can bring back their characters if they so choose.

With that said, once again Zanshin, I like your way of thinking. The save gems may be akin to my style of play.

Machfront, your point about bad luck hit the nail on the head. My thoughts on this topic surfaced after bad luck (not playing ability) got a player into a near death situation. I like the idea of neg CON or a system shock save. Perhaps I need to separate bad luck (give them another chance) vs bad play (they jumped into the lava pit - can't bring them back).

ProfGremlin - thanks for the referral for the Abyss solo, I'll have to check this out.

-Chico

[Hogscape]

I've played many, many games of D&D (years ago) that continually stalled due to player character fatality, sometimes TPK. It used to be the nature of D&D - a lone orc was tougher than a first level fighter and any first-leveler was at the mercy of the first 'on target' blow.

I think GMs massaged their play style desperate to get the campaign to a sustainable level and perhaps continued in that vein. For me first-level adventures were always dire, the game didn't get good until 3rd level.

T&T is good from level 1. Death is a reality but not a certainty.

I have played to the rule 'dead is dead' and all my dice rolls are in the open for a long time now and I don't think I've used ressurection in any RPG since AD&D 2nd edition...