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How to deal with death in RPG?
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<blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 7585663" data-attributes="member: 23240"><p>It's just a matter of the game following a consistent set of assumptions instead of a contradictory one.</p><p></p><p>If character arcs and character development are an important part of the game then the game shouldn't have random character death. There are many more interesting stakes and consequences than dying, so the GM should be guided (or explicitly required) to use them. Of course, the same approach just doesn't work in a game where characters care about nothing but their own asses.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, if the game is about deadly danger then it should kill PCs and should make it explicit that they are not expected to last. To be consistent, such a game should not push players towards character development arcs nor hide interesting abilities behind mechanical advancement. It should, instead, offer solid mechanism for putting new characters in play to replace the killed ones or, in case of one-shot games, give something interesting to do for the players of dead characters.</p><p></p><p>Less traditional games may use more exotic approaches. Maybe being dead is just a condition that burdens the character, but does not prevent them from acting. Maybe there is no character ownership, so a character dying does not remove any player from the game. Maybe every player controls a number of characters, so losing on of them is not a problem. Maybe the game just isn't about anything lethal so the death does not matter at all.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Honestly, I haven't had any problems with characters dying in any games other than D&D and other traditional games with more sacred cows than clear design.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steenan, post: 7585663, member: 23240"] It's just a matter of the game following a consistent set of assumptions instead of a contradictory one. If character arcs and character development are an important part of the game then the game shouldn't have random character death. There are many more interesting stakes and consequences than dying, so the GM should be guided (or explicitly required) to use them. Of course, the same approach just doesn't work in a game where characters care about nothing but their own asses. On the other hand, if the game is about deadly danger then it should kill PCs and should make it explicit that they are not expected to last. To be consistent, such a game should not push players towards character development arcs nor hide interesting abilities behind mechanical advancement. It should, instead, offer solid mechanism for putting new characters in play to replace the killed ones or, in case of one-shot games, give something interesting to do for the players of dead characters. Less traditional games may use more exotic approaches. Maybe being dead is just a condition that burdens the character, but does not prevent them from acting. Maybe there is no character ownership, so a character dying does not remove any player from the game. Maybe every player controls a number of characters, so losing on of them is not a problem. Maybe the game just isn't about anything lethal so the death does not matter at all. Honestly, I haven't had any problems with characters dying in any games other than D&D and other traditional games with more sacred cows than clear design. [/QUOTE]
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