How do you stop a "Ship of Theseus" problem?

[Dark Kerman]

Hi all,

I've been running a game for about 2 years now, and the campaign is more or less about to draw to a close.

Unfortunately, the players I have are quite fond of PVP, and as a result, only one member of the party (6-8 people in size) is playing there character from first level.

As such, and due to the fact this ramped up towards the latter half of the campaign, I'm concerned that my players don't really have the same investment they once did, as the characters are fresh out the box, and to boot, haven't been part of the plot thus far.

I didn't do level penalties for new characters, but do you think this would stop them from ignoring the raise dead line of spells because of it, or does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks again,

DK

(P.S. I'm not a homicidal DM, most of those deaths are PVP, or from a very bad decision on a players part. I do however accept part responsibility for one player kill. )

[Firechanter]

If they had the choice between bringing back their old char at -1 level and rolling a New one at -0, and they chose the latter, they probably weren't that invested in their old char to begin with.

I tend to just ignore level penalties, it's just extra bookkeeping.

[thecrimsondawn]

I always house rule the negative level for reviving.

I use a system much like res sickness in some MMO's. Its very close to the LA buyoff method with negatives to all stats for a time based on the level of the revive

[Urpriest]

I tend to have players making new characters after the death of existing ones come in at APL-1, mostly as you say to encourage raise dead.

That said, I've had your situation happen anyway, with players leaving and joining. In general, I find it tends to make sense to treat things like a TV series, and mostly emphasize arcs that came up "this season" with older stuff only coming up occasionally.

[Elric VIII]

I tend to have players making new characters after the death of existing ones come in at APL-1, mostly as you say to encourage raise dead.

That said, I've had your situation happen anyway, with players leaving and joining. In general, I find it tends to make sense to treat things like a TV series, and mostly emphasize arcs that came up "this season" with older stuff only coming up occasionally.

Or you can just go full-on George R.R. Martin and have entire family trees obliterated over the course of a game.

Seriously, though, allowing players to come in as relatives (or even close friends) of the original protagonists is an elegant way to give some form of investment.