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Death and Storytelling
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<blockquote data-quote="Ralif Redhammer" data-source="post: 7449507" data-attributes="member: 30438"><p>Death in RPGs is one of those things that sits between the game and simulation aspects of D&D. To tie it to the story being told together, I think that has to be something the player embraces and adds to the tapestry, not the DM. It has to be the PC sacrificing themselves to hold off the monsters that have all but defeated the party, or the PC taking a hit in place of their comrade. It’s no fun for a player when the DM decides “oh, I’ve got this great story moment where I’m going to kill a PC and it’s going to be deep and moving…”</p><p></p><p>But then there are the moments where the dice conspire, or someone gets cocky, and poof, a PC is dead. Those are hard to work into the “story” per-se, as they can be unexpected. Due to the nature of death saves, unless it’s massive damage, the PC spends some time dying on the ground. That’s not that heroic. Depending on the character, I’d say it would be cool to give them one last moment – either they get to get up and make a round of attacks with advantage, or detonate that last fireball right on them, to go out in a blaze of glory; or some last words after the battle.</p><p></p><p>But then that hits against the game side of things. “With his last breath, Hrolf tells you to bring his remains to his clan.” “I use Medicine to stabilize Hrolf.” “No, he’s dead.” “But he’s still talking, so I can stabilize him….”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ralif Redhammer, post: 7449507, member: 30438"] Death in RPGs is one of those things that sits between the game and simulation aspects of D&D. To tie it to the story being told together, I think that has to be something the player embraces and adds to the tapestry, not the DM. It has to be the PC sacrificing themselves to hold off the monsters that have all but defeated the party, or the PC taking a hit in place of their comrade. It’s no fun for a player when the DM decides “oh, I’ve got this great story moment where I’m going to kill a PC and it’s going to be deep and moving…” But then there are the moments where the dice conspire, or someone gets cocky, and poof, a PC is dead. Those are hard to work into the “story” per-se, as they can be unexpected. Due to the nature of death saves, unless it’s massive damage, the PC spends some time dying on the ground. That’s not that heroic. Depending on the character, I’d say it would be cool to give them one last moment – either they get to get up and make a round of attacks with advantage, or detonate that last fireball right on them, to go out in a blaze of glory; or some last words after the battle. But then that hits against the game side of things. “With his last breath, Hrolf tells you to bring his remains to his clan.” “I use Medicine to stabilize Hrolf.” “No, he’s dead.” “But he’s still talking, so I can stabilize him….” [/QUOTE]
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