- Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers (1959)
I often turn to the craft of writing for inspiration for my RPG gaming, and recently stumbled on a nice YouTube video blog by one Jenna Moreci. Though Miss (Mrs?) Moreci doesn't assign her videos a clever series title, they're focused on all manner of tips for the aspiring writer. This one caught my attention:
I'm approaching the issue from a Game Master's point of view. It's a good idea to discuss the matter with your player group though, to avoid unfulfilled expectations.
Now, right from the start, some of her points don't apply to RPG gaming. Pointless characters, for one. While she's correct in saying that most of the time in a novel or short story, we the readers do not need to read about every Tom, Dick and Harry in the setting, in an RPG, we have non-player characters (NPCs), the bystanders, incidental contacts and out of the spotlight players in the game setting.
Most of these hapless souls will get a name and one or two sentence description in your game prep, at best. To create a believable world stage for the adventurers to interact with though, these folk are just as important as the heroes and developed villains. The Mos Eisley Cantina needs a bartender, band, random other patrons and maybe an alien waitress or two to be a functional bar, not just Han, Greedo and the poor brute Obi Wan 'disarms' (heh).
Greedo and the now one armed random alien are what I'm getting to. In an RPG, we do need random, pointless bystanders, and sometimes they will die! Rather than treat the event as meaningless though, a clever GM can weave the events into the ongoing plot. If Obi Wan had lived to return to Mos Eisley, he might face arrest for murder (if not for suspicion of being a Jedi, given Order 66). Han Solo could look forward to another arrest warrant for the killing of Greedo. Remember that player character actions will have consequences. Even in a setting with little or no law presence, a slain person's family or friends might seek revenge for the killing. PCs that regularly kill innocent bystanders will get a nasty reputation and either be avoided, or sought out by some local tough guy wanting to prove something.
Anyway, the point is that although the death of a "meaningless" NPC may have little or no impact on the main campaign story, it can, and should, have an impact on the immediate scene, or on future side trek scenes.
So now that we covered NPC death, what about actually killing a PC? The attitude of gamers on the matter has changed drastically over the years. In the early days of the hobby, character death was expected, often! The adventure scenarios were lethal and unforgiving, and having a couple backup PCs on standby was commonplace. Over time, especially with the advent of video games and the concept of save points and respawning, many players have come to resent PC death, feeling discouraged at having to start all over again with a new PC. Some players also grow attached to their PCs, and take it personally when that alter-ego dies (to be fair, some GMs get over attached to their major NPCs as well, and will cheat the system to keep them alive and recurring. FOUR words, folks, "DO NOT DO IT!" The entire point of the game is for the PC heroes to defeat the villain, eventually. Even NPC friendlies might get caught in a crossfire or something and perish, replace them with a new NPC and move on. You destroy the integrity of your setting when certain folks are bulletproof.). I'm going to briefly discuss the three major approaches to PC death among GMs, and I suggest reading them over, then discussing the ideas with your players, to see which works best for both your campaign story and their goals in playing the game. So here we go, the three major approaches to PC death, in no particular order:
We're bulletproof!
In the heroic fantasy, super hero and space opera genres, good guys rarely die. Consider the Star Trek films, the only major protagonist character to truly die in one of the movies was Kirk, and even that was a heroic sacrifice to save the others. Sure, Spock died in Wrath of Khan, but he was brought back in the next movie, and Kirk's death in Into Darkness lasts less than a half hour of screen time. Neither of those count as character deaths. Likewise, in the first six Star Wars movies, only three good guys die, and only one of those is a true, permanent death. Padme Amidala dies, yes, but Yoda and Ben Kenobi return as force ghosts after their deaths, so in terms of the character still having an influence on the story, they are not really dead. Vader/Annakin doesn't count, Vader's death was a requisite part of Annakin's salvation, and he too returns as a force ghost almost immediately.
In gaming circles, a lot of GMs tend to embrace this trope, with two very different reasons. If you are presenting a story founded in mythic archetypes and heroic cinematic action, and killing one of the protagonists would harm your story, that's a fine approach to take. More often though, GMs are coddling player's they think will protest or ragequit the game due to the previously mentioned feelings of character attachment or frustration at starting over. In this case, I highly recommend having a talk with the players about balancing everyone's enjoyment of the story telling part of the game. Sure, noone likes to "lose" the game, but the very premise of role playing games is that there is a group story being crafted. Point out examples from film or literature where a hero's death actually advances the plot and betters the story. Ben Kenobi sacrifices himself because he knows that Luke's rage and sorrow will push him toward the showdown with Vader. Wash's untimely death in Serenity provokes a rage in his comrades that forces them to accept that they can't keep running and must stand and fight. Also point out that even in video games with save points, there is an immense satisfaction in finally winning, and that feeling is even stronger if you failed a dozen or three times along the way. To quote Aerosmith, "You've got to lose to know how to win".
Best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.
Some gritty SciFi and fantasy just plain kill everyone! The original Alien film shows the xenomorph gobble up everyone but Ripley. Predator slaughters most of the heroes. Do I even need to mention Game of Thrones?
In most Space Opera or heroic SciFi games, this approach is, to be blunt, bullshit. What's the point of playing if you know you're going to die every time? On the other hand, if you're playing a Cthulhu type campaign, or a gritty cyberpunk story, or even an Aliens inspired bug hunt, this approach can work, as long as you allow some slight, real chance for a clever and cautious player to keep their character alive. Sure, everyone's probably screwed, but there would be a big feeling of accomplishment to be among the few survivors of a suicide mission. Just don't let them call your bluff. Make it perfectly clear right up front that it's a doomed mission, and chances of getting through it are slim, but, the rewards for those lucky, clever and tough enough to defy the odds will be great. Then, show no mercy. If they make bad decisions or the dice aren't cooperating, kill them. Make them earn it. If they still happen to persevere, congratulate them, and don't make them pay taxes again, ever...
Not every man really lives.
In general, the best approach to PC death is to use it sparingly. The PCs scrape by, battered and bruised, most of the time. Luke Skywalker had to take a time out on Hoth to recuperate, the heroes in the Lord of the Rings were constantly staring death in the face, and in both cases, the death of a friend and/or mentor served to both motivate them and remind them how fleeting life is. If a player is overly foolish or careless, or they roll poorly, consider whether the campaign story is better served by a little subtle deus ex machina or by the death of that hero. The player can easily rejoin the action fairly quickly in most cases with a backup PC. On the other hand, if you do end that character's part of the story, do the story and the player a favor by considering a possible legacy impact. If they were a space marine, name a ship or fort somewhere after them. Have an NPC news reporter show up before long to interview the other PCs briefly for a tribute documentary she's putting together. Hell, let the character make a cameo return later on as a force ghost or prophetic dream sequence to assist the rest of the heroes. You get the idea. Don't let heroes die in vain. If you do decide to go the deus ex machina ruote, don't make it totally painless. Make them sit out a scene or two healing, give them a permanent lingering wound side effect if your particular game system provides a mechanic for it, dock their experience for the session, whatever. Flirting with death is not without consequence.
So, that wraps up my take on PC death, and for the record, I usually employ the third option, killing a PC just often enough to remind the players that it is a game, and you can "lose" if you're not careful, but not often enough to discourage them.
I'm interested to hear how others handle PC death, or even character death in their own writing or fanfic. Any examples of a PC death having a memorable impact, for better or worse, on your game? Any character deaths in established SciFi film or books that really impacted your enjoyment of the work as a whole? Leave a comment!
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