Moral Dilemma: Killing and Deaths in RPGs

[aramis erak]

I cried just reading this.

When your RPG says something to the effect of, "when X happens, just throw away your character sheet," that's a good point to ask if you really want to play the game.

Many Traveller players were hooked despite death in Character Gen...
But what you were reacting to makes me cringe... DBAD voided.

 

[Thunderfoot]

The point I was making was psychological readiness of the player. It wasn't a character they made and it wasn't anything they were invested in. The exercise is to see if they handle the grown-up reality of character death. If not, they were not ready to sit at my grown-up table. And there were plenty of other games to run until they were. Come on folks... it's just a game.

 

[MGibster]

Many Traveller players were hooked despite death in Character Gen...

Even now, it's possible to become a prisoner that is either never paroled or dies in prison because he ages to the point where some stats reach zero.

 

[S'mon]

The point I was making was psychological readiness of the player. It wasn't a character they made and it wasn't anything they were invested in. The exercise is to see if they handle the grown-up reality of character death. If not, they were not ready to sit at my grown-up table. And there were plenty of other games to run until they were. Come on folks... it's just a game.

It felt like the lesson was "the GM will arbitrarily kill your character" rather than "your fate is in your own hands". I wouldn't want players to have that kind of fatalism, except maybe in PARANOIA.

 

[aramis erak]

Even now, it's possible to become a prisoner that is either never paroled or dies in prison because he ages to the point where some stats reach zero.

That wasn't possible until TTNE, and is not in t4.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Many Traveller players were hooked despite death in Character Gen...
But what you were reacting to makes me cringe... DBAD voided.

Back when CharGen was a manly endeavor. Especially if you were using the merc supplement (I think) and you wanted medals. I used to roll of PCs as a sort of solo game.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I cried just reading this.

When your RPG says something to the effect of, "when X happens, just throw away your character sheet," that's a good point to ask if you really want to play the game.

So PCs never die in your campaigns?

 

[GMMichael]

So PCs never die in your campaigns?

That's a bit of a logical leap, but I do leave it up to the player. When a PC runs out of health or when something lethal happens to the character, I let the player know two things:

• your character is done with this scene
• you can suggest a consequence of the event, and death is one option

 

[Jd Smith1]

That's a bit of a logical leap, but I do leave it up to the player. When a PC runs out of health or when something lethal happens to the character, I let the player know two things:

• your character is done with this scene
• you can suggest a consequence of the event, and death is one option

Ah.
Now I feel like weeping.

 

[TheSword]

I would say a single player dying 5 times is quite a lot in my experience.

In our main group of 4 players I would say we have had 5 player deaths between everybody in about 10 years. Most characters reach the end because the campaign ends, either with success or a new campaign.

Have you considered that maybe you just made things too difficult or stuck to the rules a bit too much. That’s not a criticism, just a question. Relaxing a strict stance on game balance and risk of death might be a much simpler solution that stopping gaming, or having to learn a different system.

• Allow PCs a Con score to bonus hp instead of con modifier at first level.
• Signpost dangerous monsters more clearly.
• Give monsters reasons to capture PCs and PCs opportunities to rescue their friends.
• Make sure you provide scrolls and items that allow casting of spells like breath of life, raise dead, resurrection etc.

You don’t have to make every encounter combat based to be a challenge. My party in the last session played for 7 hours. They had 5 combat encounters that took up about 2 hours of play time. The rest was spent on roleplaying and exploration. In one of those fights one of the players died, but they had access to resurrection Magic so it was fine. It consumed a precious resource though.

That way combat is a part of the game and the PCs do get to enjoy kicking ass. Just in moderation.