What happens when player characters die?

Question

I'm quite new to role playing games; I've got about 10 sessions of experience. I'm interested in the role of game master, and I've tried an introduction game where everything is pretty much set up for me, I just had to do the storytelling and some easy decision making.

What does it mean for a PC to die? In terms of what happens in and out of the game when it happens, I'm not sure what "death" is.

For example, do you lose your character? Do you just lose all your character's items? Do you personally get removed from the game (I guess that's silly)? Do you simply lose some of your character's XP? Does your character get teleported to HQ to respawn?

Some of these sound like players might not fear them enough to be careful with their characters. The games I've read (I'm setting up for All Flesh Must Be Eaten) just say that the PC dies, but assumes that I know what that means. There are so many different ways that "death" can be done in games that it's not obvious what "you died" means for the PC as a game-piece.

I intend on playing a whole campaign (not one-shot sessions) where players can evolve, and I don't know how to implement death so that it matters but isn't frustrating. Right now they don't want to die obviously, but as soon as it happens I want the consequences to be sufficiently harsh so they're really careful, but not too harsh for them to stop enjoying the game. I know losing is a part of the game though, so I'm trying to find a balance here, and the only solution I came up with is: here, start another character and I'll introduce you into the story, you lost all your XP, maybe your items if the other players got the chance to loot you.

But I don't know what's normal or reasonable in RPGs in the first place, so I'm just making stabs in the dark at what death is supposed to mean in an RPG. When a game doesn't explain what “death” means, what is that supposed to mean?

Answer 1

In AFMBE, as in most traditional RPGs, character death means "that character is dead and that's it. The player can generate another character now if they want."

AFMBE, also like most RPGs, assume a somewhat realistic world so video gamey things like "and the new character gets the old character's gear" is not a thing. New characters don't remember things the old one does or get things they had, they're a new person who was out there in the world and has now come on the scene. The old character was a person in the fictional world, they're dead, so except for police inquest and burial that's the end of their direct participation in the story. (They might come back as a zombie, though that's technically a GM-controlled NPC - although it can be entertaining to let a player play their zombified corpse attacking their former friends to blow off some steam and give them something to do prior to new-character introduction time.)

The player of the dead character would generate a new character based on the rules. You as the GM could allow them extra advancement and/or gear beyond a normal base character if needed in your judgement. Then you would introduce the new character at a point that makes sense in your story, ideally in a way that allows the existing characters to take them into their circle without relying on "well the players know they're a new PC so they may as well suddenly be best friends with this guy they just met." This can be during the existing session, at the start of the next session, whatever works for your group. In the end, everything should seem like a progression of events that makes sense for real life (or at least a movie version thereof).

That's for campaign games - in one shot games, often once your character dies that's it, you chill and watch the others till they all die too.

Of course you can implement any alternative way of handling character death, but this is the core assumption of what death means that drives every trad RPG.

Answer 2

If the game doesn't explain what something in the game mechanics is, then the participant(s) with authority over rules interpretations get to decide what it means. In the case of character death, in most games it generally means the player needs to make a new character.

However, I have seen groups who do play character death very differently. I have seen groups who roleplay NDEs and life after death. I have seen groups who run their game like a video game, and just penalize the dead character, putting them back at a set "Spawn point" type location. And, though it does seem silly, I have seen a group that kicks players from the table when their character dies. (This is mean, I did not play with them.)

Simply put, if the rules don't explain, describe, or justify something, it's up to the interpretation of whoever's in charge at the table. When the subject is a very large, complex topic, like death, those interpretations can be wildly different. This may not necessarily be a design flaw- it may actually be a feature, giving the ref/GM the right to write their own rules for how life and death work in their setting.

Answer 3

Every game is different.

If the rule and setting books for a given game do not explicitly describe something other than the common-sense meaning of "death", then there's no reason whatsoever to believe that, for that game, "death" is to mean anything other than the common-sense meaning of "death".

"They're dead, Jim.". At which point, their party mates might do whatever is appropriate in their culture to do with the body and the belongings.

There are plenty of games in which "dead means dead" and the character is gone. At this point, the player can't play that character anymore. Some of them even say so in the rules, but if they don't, then, dead still means dead unless the rules say so.

There are other games which have resurrection, haunting, re-sleeving, and other means of either "new life" or "life after death".

Answer 4

Technically speaking, you're the GM. You decide (to some degree together with your players).

The rules books will only act as guidelines.

(Views on this may differ. Granted, as soon as you do changes to the rules you can no longer claim those changes to be part of the official rules. They are an will always be house rules and you may find that new players not aware of the circumstances of the creation of those rules can be ready to argue you to death about them.

A laissez-faire approach to rules is not always appreciated and you may find it easier to stick to the rules if possible.

However, one may argue that any rule that needs interpretation in itself is a rule which encourages deviation from the rule written in the books due to it being badly (or unclearly or incompletely) designed/written to start with.

Also, please bear in mind that once you start tampering with the rules and game world you are leaving the rails, any deviations you decide may come back and bite you in future releases of game material and you may end up with a game and game world which is unrecognizable to other players.)

Given the general theme of the game (AFMBE) I'd say dead is either dead dead or undead dead. If you (and your players) feel that there is something to be gained by incorporating sentient (and benevolent) undead the player character (if the circumstances surrounting their death calls for it) may join the party as such. Otherwise they will either join the shambling hordes or lay still on the ground.

If the player character shuffles off into the sunset it'll most likely take with them whatever they were carrying. Possibly dropping hand held equipment (that's up to your discretion) and would need to be re-killed in order to loot that nice helmet they were wearing.

If the player character don't transform into an undead players may choose to loot the body carrying with them as much as they can.

The player who once controlled the deceased is usually allowed to roll a new character or pick one henchman NPC depending on play style. I suggest you go with whatever generates the best flow for your group.

In high mortality rate games (such as Call of Cthulhu) players are often advised to pre-generate multiple characters with easy ins into the group (friends, siblings, relatives, military unit comrades) and this may work for you here.

Some games (and some game masters) incorporate concepts of luck/fate points which can be used to cheat death. If you feel that too many deaths will cause your players to lose their commitment to the setting, feel free to implement this in some way even if the game does not explicitly contain rules for this. (See my first paragraph.) A fatal blow does not land (easiest with players who are ok with that kind of things or hidden dice rolls), once all player characters are unconscious the cavalry arrives... that kind of thing. It should not be over used, to remove the probability of death altogether cheapens removes the feeling of risk and may cheapen the game. But it can be used arbitrarily to save a player who already lost a character for example.

But I can't stress enough: It's your game, you decide how you want it to be played. Regardless of what the rules say.

Answer 5

I think this also depends on the intent, and the age of your players. In some games with younger players, "death is just sort of a tired feeling". :) Basically, if you "die" you are unconscious until all mobs in that area are dead, and then the player comes back to life. Or, you are unconscious until the rest of your team reaches a certain checkpoint.

Answer 6

We play dead is dead. You die at the,end of a session and u sit out unti next session. Then make a new character from scratch. Higher lvl players may give you levels or not. Meaning a level 7 character could go to lvl 5 and u to 3. This makes death a party problem and really puts the pressure on.or they can leave u at lvl 1 and carry you. If it's at the beginning of a session I will stop play to allow you to remake and let you sit and stew for an hour before introducing u. I also have new rules on dying I find the standard 5e rules too lax. I think my system rewards living makes the game dangerous and forces death to affect the group not just u. If it only effects one player it forces me to advance a character unfairly, boot him because the other players are lvl 9 and he cant keep up among other things. I mean why try if you will get a new character already boosted to lvl 9 u die u have to face the group . And that's what team play is all about. My games are hard but my players are a team to the end because one death affects them all. My group enjoys the challenge and fears every battle even the ones that seem trivial. This however is just what works for my group. You need to know two players in your group what their tolerances are and how serious they want to be. It's not a bad thing to want to get together with friends and joke laugh eat pizza drink pop and just plain mess around I used to do that when I was 16 almost 30 years ago and those games were just as fun as the serious ones I play now. Be flexible know your players and above all else have fun