So rpgs are a social game, more or less. They generally do not work with just two players, though we have all run those games. It is a gathering. In many rpgs, the threat of death for a character is ever-present and the one universal stress that in many respects drives the high interest or intensity of the gaming experience.
The downside is that a character can die and the player becomes eliminated from play. There are manners of countering this like resurrection, hero points etc. Never-the-less, if a character dies, that player becomes truncated from the story and the social interactions that created it.
This counters, many people believe, the social gaming experience (incidentally, European Games, which hold the social aspect of gaming in high regard, rarely have player elimination as a by-product of gaming). This may be why, over the years, both myself and others have noticed that rpgs have less and less character death in them. Even our games rarely have character death in them.
In the old days, this was part of the game. It was expected that one's character would likely die. The old rogue's gallery is basically a compilation of dead characters. We even had a death wall in our game room. And, even more so, even now 30 years later, some of the most memorable games involved character death.
So what changed? My guess is that as more people played and invested more time and energy into the game and its social nature that aspect of the game that incorporated character death was slowly and unintentionally jettisoned.
Such that now, character death is rare and does not present a real in game universal threat.
So what presents the universal now? The stressor may be the acquisition of ever increasing mechanical advantages and the game becomes a contest between players for those advantages. In this the referee just becomes the challenge maker and reward distributor.
This may have the advantage of heightening the social aspect of the game. Cooperative contesting is how I shall describe it.
So what would happen if we brought character death back - in a significant way. Since this would increase the referee/player contest, ever more codified rules need to be laid out to prevent the total advantage from falling into the referees hands or, even more importantly chance needs to be reduced in the game such that it becomes tactical.
just a thought
davis
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3 comments:
Perhaps character death could be fleshed-out or made game-able, with an associated funeral minigame of sorts. Heroic Age Greeks had big festivals and competitions in honor of a hero's death.
Perhaps "inheritance" rules could be reinstated, whereby a new PC receives a portion of the XP of the dead character.
A journey to the Underworld to recover the fallen PC's spirit is another common and believable occurrence.
I think one of the hurdles that still has to be overcome is what to do with the player who's lost their PC in the meantime.
--Dither
Honestly, character death doesn't freak me out. I played AD&D for a straight decade and PCs died all the time. In this new world of games, C&C has become my main fantasy game. The last time we played, my nephew's PC died through a combination of poor decision making and some crap rolls. We discussed what he could have done better (ahem, pay attention to your equipment list and use those things you bought whenever possible), and agreed that he'll play smarter next time. He's a kid still, but he comprehends the risks.
As for what to do when your guy dies, I generally have 'em roll somebody new up and substitute that PC for the next wandering monster roll. Player gets to help craft the backstory, he gets back in the game quickly and we go about our business -- and our business is slaying and looting.
Just play a Basic game on Roll20, and my eyes were opened. You cannot play the same way. I no longer had the cushion of negatives to know your in trouble. We didn't even have a Cleric who could cast spells yet. We had to run away a lot, but inevitably my halfling Twig perished trying to hold off 2 orcs.
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