Sunday, December 5, 2010

Building character in death

Brother Silence-As if killing the Bard impresses us. *The Gamers II-Dorkness Rising*

Nicole-Can we just kill him till we get a character we like?
Evil D-No, because it's the same person playing the character. My current Saturday Night Serenity Group. ^-^

I once had my brain removed from my body, placed into a Frankenstein like demon creature and than was let loose on my former party members. The DM wouldn't let me have control of the killing machine despite it having my brain and so I spent the last thirty minutes of the Cthulhu game trying to stack my D20 on top of each other. This was by far one of my most favorite character deaths.

In the past seven years since I've started playing RPG I have seen a few of my characters pass. Some were grand in nature like the brain removal or some were just shitty-like my dad killing my character and my husband's when we went to Gen-con and it was the final end game of that campaign. *Personally I believe he was just jealous that we had gone to Gen-con and this was his way of getting back at us...killing our characters and ending the game we had sat in for over a year when we weren't there to see it*

Character Death can be used a learning tool for both the players and the GM. Players learn what they like or dislike about the class they picked, how NPC's response to a character's race based on the setting of the world *Humans in lands run by goblins can lead to very fun deaths* How the way you play this character will change party interactions and how to find different ways to fit in with the group you have played in before. Most important they learn how to not get killed again.

GM's sometimes have used Character Death as a means to bring unruly players under control. My husband was once running a game in a campaign and had spent weeks creating the climax of the game and the rest of the party wanted to take time and explore the great big castle in the middle of nowhere and this player was in a hurry to finish so he just started rushing through the castle, kicking down doors and leaving the rest of the party behind. Sadly he kicked one door open that lead to room with no floor and a straight drop down to nothing from several stories up. This player had caused problems before and was taking away from the overall enjoyment of the game for the other players and so to end the issue his character was killed.

However, sometimes the death means nothing so nothing is learned and the player goes back to playing the exact character just with a different name but the same shitty disposition that lead to his character being killed a fireball mixed with a lighting bolt. Or shot up by a pack of Reavers.

Playing a character is an extension of one's self...it is a much cooler extension of one's self but it's still apart of you and when that little extension of yourself has rolled the last D10 you feel a little dishearten at the loss, but it's another chance to try of live another life,

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