How to make death more inclusive?

inspiration
#1

Hey there!

So there have been talks about making death less forgiving for ICRPG (from what I understood, anyway). And while that is all fine and good, I am wondering if there could be a way to make death more inclusive… meaning that the player could still play on his turn rather than merely roll a die for survival.

I’m not quite certain about what it would entail, perhaps the Barbarian becomes an ancestor and may grant his strength to his allies or something? I just want to make sure that, especially during longer battles, the player is not knocked out of the game for too long a duration.

What do you guys think? Thank you!

#2

This is from a previous thread that we were discussing, and you may have seen it, but here is with I wrote:

I like this idea and the dying mechanic is highly dependent on the type of game.

There is a game called Tenra Bansho Zero that has a reverse death Spiral. it’s supposed to emulate a hero being pushed to his limit, even near death and getting better! this could be implemented in TIERS.

Note: This is how to get there when the character is still in positive HP

  • If an attack would take a player character between 0 through -5 HP, the character falls into TIER 1 (Time to get serious!). Gain a +2 an all Effort AND gain a Major Wound TAG.

  • If an attack would take a player between -6 through -10 HP, the character falls into TIER 2 (It’s not over YET!!). All Checks and Attempts become EASY AND gain a SEVERE WOUND TAG.

  • If an attack would take a player beyond -10 HP, the character falls into Final TIER (THIS IS MY LOVE, MY ANGER, AND ALL OF MY SORROW!!). ULTIMATE Effort and automatic success to 1D4 actions AND gain a This is the END TAG.

If the Player Character is hit during any TIER, they move to the NEXT TIER automatically. If they are in Final TIER, the GM can call to ignore this or reduce the ACTIONS the hero may have by 1.
If they are hit with a CRITICAL, go down 2 tiers.

The Player Character can volunteer themselves to go to the next TIER.

The TAG This is the End… can be final heroic death…

#3

Yes, I’ve seen it! It looks good!
However, I feel like something simple at the table would fit better.
Perhaps giving that player 1d4 subsequent turns in a row before he dies? :open_mouth:

#4

Whitehack turns a deceased player character into a ghost. This allows the player to finish the rest of the session and contribute (not physically, though). I like this idea. In practice, about half of the players choose this option. The other half prefers rolling up a new character.

#5

The Whitehack, eh? I will need to look it up for sure!

#6

Whitehack has some great ideas and it’s a very solid and versatile system.

What you can do is also have the players get 1 Healthy Heart and 1 Bloodied Heart.

When the character loses all HP from their Healthy Heart, they are now Bloodied and in danger! This means that they can have bloodied abilities or disabilities (As you see fit, based on the tone of your game) and then the players can choose to keep fighting and risking themselves or go unconscious or captured and be safe to fight another day. If the player loses their bloodied heart, they die.

#7

DAMN! I like this! It even feels epic when I read it!

#8

Exactly! Imagine this with a Barbarian Berserker. She can have a TAG called

RAGE

  • When BLOODIED, all combat related attempts are now EASY, any damage related EFFORT gains +2, but you are now berserk and will attack the nearest living thing if there are no more enemies if you fail a CHA save.

And the Wizard can have Desperate Magic

#9

Or perhaps some dynamic dies will do the trick? :open_mouth:

  • When you fall to 0 HP/Die, put a 6-sided dice on your character sheet to “1”.
  • Every turn you live, clock the dice by one.
  • When you decide to spend the dice’s total as a “+” to ATTEMPT & EFFORT, you die at the end of your turn!
  • You must spend it at “6”. Or you fall to your death at the end of the encounter!
#10

Reminds me of 13th Age and its escalation die.

I would say that you just give the biggest bonus if they choose to die.

#11

The escalation dice is one of my favorite mechanic. Even better than the 1d4 timer, in my opinion, to be honest!

But this would be HIS dice! I’d even allow him to grant it to his wizard friend or the rogue:“Complete this task for me… keep her safe!”

Well… I agree… but at the same time I like the build up to a heroïc, final action!