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Matuka
2019-04-07, 10:24 PM
When a character dies, do you role play there after life or just die and there whole afterlife thing happens in the backgound?

Ex of role-playing it: character 1 dies and "wakes up" as a ghost. He is then greeted by an incarnation of death, who takes him to his designated afterlife.

Ex of not role-playing it: character 1 dies. No one sees it but the lich there trying to thwart steals his soul and uses it for later. But they don't know since you didn't role play it.

Which do you prefer?

Kaptin Keen
2019-04-08, 12:39 AM
You mean character, right? Players generally survive. And if they don't, it doesn't really help if they wake up as ghosts, cause .. you know, dice and so on. They can't roll, or update sheets, and all their actions are 'whoooo-ooo!'

King of Nowhere
2019-04-08, 02:40 AM
I described the first death scene like "you fall to the ground, but you barely feel it. In fact, you feel remarkably fine. You get up and reassure your friends that you are fine, but they are strangely horrified. Then you look down and notice your corpse laying there..."

There was a time a character was being resurrected and i described her having sex in the afterlife and being suddenly called in the middle of it, mostly for comedy.

But i never roleplayed an afterlife. I guess nobody was there long enough

Malphegor
2019-04-08, 02:47 AM
Generally no from what I've seen in the game I'm in... But then most of our player deaths has been players wanting to play something new and dying offcamera, even retconned into recent fights.

Though isn't that what that book, Ghostwalk is about? Being a ghost, experiencing the afterlife...

... I kinda want to play a game in which I'm a ghost wizard now. As in a wizard who specialises in ectoplasm. maybe mixed with oozemaster for more ecto-cooler slime shenanigans.

Khedrac
2019-04-08, 05:23 AM
Player death - I would go to the funeral if I can.

Character death - entirely depends on the setting and system in play.

Matuka
2019-04-08, 06:41 AM
You mean character, right? Players generally survive. And if they don't, it doesn't really help if they wake up as ghosts, cause .. you know, dice and so on. They can't roll, or update sheets, and all their actions are 'whoooo-ooo!'

I described one of them being taken by a lich, which do you think it is?

Kaptin Keen
2019-04-08, 07:58 AM
I described one of them being taken by a lich, which do you think it is?

Well - you did say player, not character. The two are not the same. And while liches are considered not real, so is the abominable snowman. Personally, I consider liches and snowmen (abominable or not) far more likely to be real than say, god (pick any), so I'm just not making any assumptions - except that I'm replying to what you said, rather than what I assume you meant.

And if any of your players have been taken by liches, A) you might wanna come to terms with the fact that they're not coming back, and B) you might want to warn new players that they're replacing someone who got taken by a lich. Or not, that's a moral greyzone right there.

Imbalance
2019-04-08, 08:07 AM
I described one of them being taken by a lich, which do you think it is?

Last time I died, some lich put me in a manky old skeleton that was cobbled together from several corpse's bones. Toes and ribs were missing, itchy all over, and the bindings squeaked with every move. Wasn't all bad - I've never been thinner.

My character? Oh, he's fine, still kickin'.

Malphegor
2019-04-08, 08:29 AM
I described one of them being taken by a lich, which do you think it is?

I dunno sometimes at 3am when the druid's player is somehow still full of energy I reckon they've got a phylactery somewhere keeping them alive whilst my head is thumping with tiredness

Matuka
2019-04-08, 05:23 PM
Last time I died, some lich put me in a manky old skeleton that was cobbled together from several corpse's bones. Toes and ribs were missing, itchy all over, and the bindings squeaked with every move. Wasn't all bad - I've never been thinner.

My character? Oh, he's fine, still kickin'.

It sounds like you fell asleep, then woke up the next day and then looked at yourself for the first time in years and realized how old you are and how physically messed up life has been for you and instead of accepting it, you blamed it on a lich due to playing lots of dnd earlier in life. Just accept it man, the sooner you do the better.

Matuka
2019-04-08, 05:25 PM
You mean character, right? Players generally survive. And if they don't, it doesn't really help if they wake up as ghosts, cause .. you know, dice and so on. They can't roll, or update sheets, and all their actions are 'whoooo-ooo!'

I don't know what your talking about.

Matuka
2019-04-08, 05:27 PM
I dunno sometimes at 3am when the druid's player is somehow still full of energy I reckon they've got a phylactery somewhere keeping them alive whilst my head is thumping with tiredness

AAH! Blue on white background.

Matuka
2019-04-08, 05:28 PM
Well - you did say player, not character. The two are not the same. And while liches are considered not real, so is the abominable snowman. Personally, I consider liches and snowmen (abominable or not) far more likely to be real than say, god (pick any), so I'm just not making any assumptions - except that I'm replying to what you said, rather than what I assume you meant.

And if any of your players have been taken by liches, A) you might wanna come to terms with the fact that they're not coming back, and B) you might want to warn new players that they're replacing someone who got taken by a lich. Or not, that's a moral greyzone right there.

You know exactly what I meant, don't be a smart aleck about it.

Imbalance
2019-04-08, 06:39 PM
It sounds like you fell asleep, then woke up the next day and then looked at yourself for the first time in years and realized how old you are and how physically messed up life has been for you and instead of accepting it, you blamed it on a lich due to playing lots of dnd earlier in life. Just accept it man, the sooner you do the better.

This would be a brilliant way to dispense news of a character's demise to the player.

MarkVIIIMarc
2019-04-08, 07:02 PM
If there is a reason I'll lightly roleplay the afterlife for a character. One time mid battle with a Balor on a redecorated temple of Asmodus, a NPC was trying to get the party to planeshift to Zariel's layer of hell with her to free some elf souls and prisoners.

The party, get this, was short on spell slots and the Bard talked them out of going. The poor fellow who died, his soul went to hell and 90% off screen so to say he helped the NPC's free the slaves and souls then the party helped them escape through a portal 30 sessions later.

Pippa the Pixie
2019-04-08, 07:13 PM
The role play one. Let the character have a couple seconds to say ''goodbye" to the character.

Kaptin Keen
2019-04-08, 07:21 PM
You know exactly what I meant, don't be a smart aleck about it.

That's what I said. Yes. I made a joke - a stupid joke, but there it is: I'm easily entertained.

Quertus
2019-04-08, 07:45 PM
Afaik, I have never roleplayed the afterlife. Unless I'm doing so now...

-----

Dear Lich taking players' souls,

I believe that you will find my soul quite interesting. And well claimed. We should talk. I believe that there are several mutually beneficial possibilities we should discuss.

geppetto
2019-04-08, 09:44 PM
I've descibed the white (or fiery ymmv) tunnel before a few times. Even a scene where they were judged by a god and had to justify their characters choices.

Once after TPK we switched the whole campaign to an afterlife game based in a valhalla like world where the souls of the dead constantly adventured and battled each other to gain power "highlander" style. If they died they lost a HD and a character power or spell and were reborn in their chosen temple node to rejoin their quest.

If any soul was down to 1 HD and was slain again the last of its energy was divided between being siphoned to its killer and being drawn to the stuff of the dimension itself. Basically utter, permanent destruction.

It was a fun game but it got pretty gonzo. Totally unbalanced.

Khedrac
2019-04-09, 03:18 AM
Well - you did say player, not character. The two are not the same. And while liches are considered not real, so is the abominable snowman. Personally, I consider liches and snowmen (abominable or not) far more likely to be real than say, god (pick any), so I'm just not making any assumptions - except that I'm replying to what you said, rather than what I assume you meant.
The word "lich" is simply an old word for a corpse - so "liches" are real in that "corpses" are real.
If you mean an animate undead spellcaster (which is pretty much the D&D monster called a "lich") then most people don't believe that they have physical reality in our world (they exist as concepts and entities in imaginary worlds - but dicussing whether they are "real" is an exercise in philosophy and definition); however that is not the primary* meaning of the word (yet) in English.

* Actually that statement is a bit dodgy, the "corpse" definition is listed as obsolete, but the 'fantasy literature' definition isn't given in most of the dictionary websites I have checked (which suprises me). Give it a few years and I expect that the undead spellcaster will become the primary meaning (similar to the way 'Paladin' is shifting meaning).

comk59
2019-04-09, 10:19 AM
Afaik, I have never roleplayed the afterlife.
You know that's actually kind of surprising? You've put Queteus through so many bizzare scenarios for what must be decades at this point just because you can, I'm honestly shocked that he's never once managed to die.

Quertus
2019-04-09, 11:11 AM
You know that's actually kind of surprising? You've put Queteus through so many bizzare scenarios for what must be decades at this point just because you can, I'm honestly shocked that he's never once managed to die.

I've had lots of characters die. But I've never roleplayed the afterlife (senility notwithstanding).

Quertus is not among the departed due to a combination of (haphazardly applied) powerful defenses, cowardice, and luck. Competent companions also certainly contributed, when available.

Quertus isn't some brave adventurer, out risking his life for fame, glory, or because it's the "right" thing to do. He's a terrified researcher, desperately trying to stay alive in the horrific situations his friends rope him into. He avoids things like "CR-appropriate challenges" whenever possible. Thus, he has survived.