Death in P&Ps... part 2

Okay, so, continuing from my previous post - STOP PRESS! Just found out my American friend has just won $200,000! So cool! - killing off player characters in P&Ps can be a tricky situation to get right.

As mentioned in part 1, John Wick in one of his Play Dirty YouTube videos talks about random deaths attributed to a dice roll being trivial.  My response to that is its up to the GM to make these deaths not trivial.  Its really up to the GM by and large to protect the dramatic flare of the story.  This does mean, if the GM can get away with it (i.e. don't ruin the tension by ignoring a dice roll in order to let a PC live) GM's should as E. Gary Gygax allegedly once put it: "Only roll dice for the sound of it."  ...at least some of the time.  If it feels wrong to kill the character, don't kill the character.  But have a few tricks up your sleeve to handle the inevitable fall-out.

If its near the end of the game, and its a dramatic scene, go with it.  Build the death up, make it happen in excrutiating detail.  Have the PC die in the arms of his comrades.  Use all the tricks you see in films to create a scene of drama and tragedy. But you don't want to necessarily milk it.  You can also hide the fact, don't draw immediate attention to it.  Let the other players continue to fight for awhile (or roll perception rolls to see if anyone has notice a comrade has fallen).  And in that way create a more sombre subtle reaction in your remaining players.

Early on in a game, a random death can still be painted as important, and you may want a couple of back-up characters that players can choose from so they can re-enter the game as someone else.

Other techniques I recommend using to make more of the death, and thus avoid the trivial is playing the prophecy card.  At a viable place in the future of the game, have the PCs come across a tome, or a manuscript or a bard's tale or a tapestry which concerns the PC's passing, as if it were meant to be.  You can also develop this concept further and throw some mystery and magick into the mix by saying that the blood of the fallen PC is now a poison the party can use to kill their archenemy. Go wild, come pre-armed to the game with a couple of well fleshed-out prophecies and then retrospectively apply them to any PC that dies.  If you're clever, you can even set them up, hint at them, prior to any deaths (without mentioning who) and then fill in the blanks, or better still have the players reach that conclusion after the death of a PC - and all of a sudden it seems like it was meant to be.  And it adds a lot of atmosphere. 

Another technique you can employ is have the PC return as a ghost.  Work out some decent ghost mechanics for your game, and then employ them at such a juncture.  The PC may then still verbally interact with the party, and they might have some fun spooking some enemies.  You can even let them periodically interact with the world, pull the odd lever, cause a candle to go out, create a cold draught.  Whatever.  But be careful here.  I use 'ectoplasm points'.  i.e. any such ghosts have a limited number of points they can spend on physical actions in the world.  The smaller actions, the fewer the points.  If they want to shove someone of a ledge for example, it may take all their points in one go and they have to disappear off to the spirit world for awhile to recharge.  Ghosts can easily be overpowerful.  But careful working out of the supporting mechanics can provide a useful response to the death of a PC.


Another technique is intervention.  But use it sparingly.  Perhaps once in every other campaign.  At a poignant moment have a deity or a representative of a deity, intervene.  Do it with drama.  Blinding light which transfixes all the mortals in place.  A glowing figure lifting the mortally wounded player, words like "It was not your time".  And then a sudden transportation to another place.  Perhaps even have the players wake up the morning before, and they cannot be sure they didn't have a shared dream.  Make them play the lead-up to the death scene again, but now they have some additional knowledge, and hopefully can circumnavigate the risk that previously lead to one of their deaths.  You can even have the enemies share the same 'dream'!

Given some thought, no death needs to be trivial.  All deaths can be handled correctly.  And you can create some memorable scenes from either deaths, or the sidestepping of them.

That said, there's nothing like killing off the character of some player who's acting like a prick. Get them out of your game.  Move on with cool players who respect the atmosphere and verisimilitude of your game.