thread: 2005-03-10 : Character Death
On 2005-03-10, Emily Care wrote:
A major issue with character death is that normally a) players only have one character and b)the only way that players contribute substantially is via their character. Change either of those things, as the suggestions already given do, and you've got a way different dynamic. Like Ben said recently, he didn't even have a character when we played Primetime Adventures with him, and he felt like he contributed more
than in trad games he'd played.
Other thoughts:
If you're fielding 10+ characters, for example, you might be much more vested in killing one/some off for a purpose. Makes me think of the movie Troy: the myrmidons were clearly all XP for Achilles: they got peeled off one by one while he stayed alive. The ones that mattered died to forward his story thematically.
How death is handled matters. Just cause the character stops being corporal doesn't mean it loses effect. (eg jedi, ghosts etc) Natch flashbacks.
Oh, and I just played Werewolf last night. Talk about character death! It's not rpg, of course, and game is quick so you get to take your turn killing and being killed, but what I noticed was that it was kind of fun being dead. You slip into audience mode 'cause you get to see the secret werewolf et al business. But if the hands were longer, it'd probably be a drag.
Final thought, when your character dies that puts you in a unique position: you lose some of that conflict of interest Thor talked about. You could be free to do more protagonizing etc.
