Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
character death?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 9256862" data-attributes="member: 2629"><p>In my world, once something is put into play, it stays in play until it resolves. If the PC that cared about it died - it still resolves and the player can (usually) see it - or hear about it in some way. This gives the world a more dynamic feel. Further, when a character dies, their story doesn't need to die. </p><p></p><p>I had a near TPK about a year ago. They took on a dragon, made some mistakes, and had bad luck. They also went in with an NPC that was there both to help them - and to make sure that he was the only one to walk away. The cards were stacked against them, and the dice were against them.</p><p></p><p>The one PC that survived was retired rather than continue on as new PCs were created. </p><p></p><p>There were 38 story elements in play that I was tracking from backstories, decisions they'd made, and things I'd introduced - and every single one of them stayed in play. One of the PCs was looking for her family - and two of her brothers were actually right there in town with her and she didn't connect the dots. In the first session with the new party, the group decided to investigate something that involved the local thieves guild - and when they did they heard two of the rogues they encountered refer to each other by her brothers' names. She reacted, but her PC didn't. </p><p></p><p>One of the PCs they created was a bounty hunter - and it made sense that she'd be hired to hunt down the PC that survived. </p><p></p><p>The big plot of the game continued and the new group got involved ... but came at it from a very different perspective. There were multiple sides of the story, and this group discovered a new one and aligned with them. </p><p></p><p>Heck - there is a revenant type creature walking around - that is a former PC that died in an early session. He potentially has a major role in the story.</p><p></p><p>I try to make the PCs life and death mean something in the story - and it has always worked well for me (except when they cycle through too many PCs very early in the campaign.... that adds too many things to track and master).</p><p></p><p>Given all of that - I don't feel the need to pull punches to protect story. A massive failure can be part of a great story. To that end, I always try to be impartial and fair while I run games. I don't modify monster HPs, I don't remove or add monsters to planned encounters, I don't fudge dice, I don't change monster tactics to be nice or mean.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 9256862, member: 2629"] In my world, once something is put into play, it stays in play until it resolves. If the PC that cared about it died - it still resolves and the player can (usually) see it - or hear about it in some way. This gives the world a more dynamic feel. Further, when a character dies, their story doesn't need to die. I had a near TPK about a year ago. They took on a dragon, made some mistakes, and had bad luck. They also went in with an NPC that was there both to help them - and to make sure that he was the only one to walk away. The cards were stacked against them, and the dice were against them. The one PC that survived was retired rather than continue on as new PCs were created. There were 38 story elements in play that I was tracking from backstories, decisions they'd made, and things I'd introduced - and every single one of them stayed in play. One of the PCs was looking for her family - and two of her brothers were actually right there in town with her and she didn't connect the dots. In the first session with the new party, the group decided to investigate something that involved the local thieves guild - and when they did they heard two of the rogues they encountered refer to each other by her brothers' names. She reacted, but her PC didn't. One of the PCs they created was a bounty hunter - and it made sense that she'd be hired to hunt down the PC that survived. The big plot of the game continued and the new group got involved ... but came at it from a very different perspective. There were multiple sides of the story, and this group discovered a new one and aligned with them. Heck - there is a revenant type creature walking around - that is a former PC that died in an early session. He potentially has a major role in the story. I try to make the PCs life and death mean something in the story - and it has always worked well for me (except when they cycle through too many PCs very early in the campaign.... that adds too many things to track and master). Given all of that - I don't feel the need to pull punches to protect story. A massive failure can be part of a great story. To that end, I always try to be impartial and fair while I run games. I don't modify monster HPs, I don't remove or add monsters to planned encounters, I don't fudge dice, I don't change monster tactics to be nice or mean. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
character death?
Top