06 July 2020

Power Move: No I don't Die

The following is some shit in a .txt that I don't feel like rewriting.

Alright nerds. Let's talk about death and dying and that game with double ds and all the games that are derived from it, which are a LOT.

So we got all these old ass games, as far as games from the 1970's to present can be OLD, where characters just DIED at zero hit points. Sure there were eventually resurrection spells etc, which costs MONEY. But as time wore on there started to be things like being knocked out at 0 and then dying at some negative amount.

Power Move: No I don't Die
Check a box on your Impending Death tracker
Roll 2d6
2-5: Describe the only thing you KEPT in-spite of death and check off an additional box.
6-8: Describe three things you LOST because you didn't die.
9-12: Describe one thing you LOST because you didn't die.

(Un)Death

Combat as War?
Combat as Sport?
How about Combat as Game.
Does it matter that Sport is equivalent to Game?
Not at all. Words have meaning.
As War and As Combat imply from WITHING the fiction of the game we are playing. As Game implies a metastance. We are playing a game, and part of that game is the combat of the game.

Is death always the best consequence for failure in combat? Does any replacement need to advance the state of the game? What does advancing the game even fucking mean though?

How to handle Death in your game with Combat.

The simple "Your Character Only Dies If You Say They Die."
The replace consequences are, and I dislike spelling it out but, discuss with your friends.

"You're a Ghost (For) Now."
Yo. Your PC died. Now hang with your friends as a Ghost with Ghost Powers. Maybe you only do it for a bit until you get your body back, or you stay a ghost, or maybe even you have a limited amount of ghost time before really being gone.
GHOST POWERS!!
You can get ghost powers, which are powers ghosts have that the living cannot use. But let's also consider, powers that can only be learned by ghosts from ghosts that can be used as both or even only as the living.
Ghost Sight?
The Secret Soul Battering Knee Technique?
Ultimate Dam Building Skill?
"The Undead's Soul Is Drawn To The Bonfire"
Lots of MMOs and other video games do this. Death doesn't end the game; it puts you back at a check point of some kind. Maybe any character advancements are lost, or there is some other additional penalty, but always the main penalty is having to traverse all the territory you just traversed only to die.
It's a failure forward. PC knowledge should be continuous, ie they retain the in character knowledge gained between the last checkpoint and death.
There is the accompanying "(almost) everything resets if you die" effect. We're being gamic (not gamist fuck off with that) so major things like bosses wouldn't reset.