Character death rocks. That’s
a pretty bold statement and one that comes from the heart of a player and not necessarily
the cruel DM. To me, as I may have mentioned before, death represents validated
choices. You make a good choice you live; you make a bad choice you die or
worse. Or you can just Game of Thrones it up and no matter what you do, it’s
bad. Either way, the death of a character need not be a point of contention
between player and DM.
As a child I consumed Choose
Your Own Adventure books as well as several D&D-esque CYOA books found in my
school’s library. I loved them; if I made bad decisions I got to see what cool
(bad) stuff happened to me and check out all of the varying ways the story
could end. Sure, I had about 1,000 bookmarks so I could flip back and restart,
but I loved it nonetheless. Maybe I’m weird in that. I can honestly say,
despite all of my attempts, I only successfully navigated two CYOA books. I had
too much fun exploring every nook and cranny to get caught up with “winning.”
To me, I had already won.
In a game that’s how death
should be. Death validates choices. Sure it may be the end of the line for your
character, but your party members might learn something new, it might serve as
an epic plot point. This is where a DM’s imagination can run wild and the
players can experience every nook and cranny of the world around them. Death
need not be a halting point where people begrudgingly roll up new characters
and silently curse the DM. Granted; this is not an excuse for a DM to be a
bastard either. Bad rolls happen, being low on party resources happen, death
will come eventually, and it’s just a matter of when. Embrace it!
On the other hand, we have
some people wanting a “god-mode” type game. Sure when you are 11 and running
through Duke Nukem 3D for the first time it might be thrilling, but even that
got old after a while (trust me, I know.) Without the challenge or threat of
death PCs will get bored. The story will get bored. Hell, even the DM will get
bored. That’s not to say to systematically kill off PCs every few sessions or
so (though, I would play in that game if it were done right,) but to really inspire
fear in your party. Actually being afraid of a monster is an awesome feeling,
from both a player and a character standpoint. A party need not actually have a
single member die once throughout the course of the campaign as long as they
think they can and will. Fear leads to interesting places and makes players
creative and inventive when approaching combats and otherwise tough situations.
Maybe that’s why I love hard
encounters and monsters. Maybe that’s why I love the Fourthcore ideology. Death
and fear are vital tools in the DM handbag for making D&D more than just a
game. You might as well just embrace it because you cannot fight it, it’s
coming and soon.
Now let's talk about the Bodak again. Yes, that vicious creature that's gaze steals your very life force away from you. Yeah, it's that awesome. So last time I built up the Bodak and I may have played it a little safe. That's not to say that it's still not deadly, because it is, but it would literally take ROUNDS for it to really play through to it's ultimate end-game (aka Bodak reproduction!) I had some wonderful comments about the Bodak both here and on Twitter about how to spruce it up a little to really drive fear into the hearts of the Bodak's enemies. I took the suggestions, tweaked them and the Bodak itself a little, and yeah, I'm pretty thrilled with the results.
Check it out:
I hope that suits the needs of those bloodthirsty enough to use it! And as always, a fair warning: HERE BE DRAGONS! This creature is deadly. Deadlier than the vanilla RAW 4e monsters and isn't for everyone's game or play style. But, if you like characters fearing death and monsters (see above) then this is totally for you! Enjoy!
Until next time,
-blob
You can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hash-tag #legend4ry. You can also find my blog and others at the Fourthcore Hub and at the RPG Blog Alliance.
Be sure to check out the other May of the Dead Carnival blogs located here!
Nice! This is more like it!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your views on character death. Looking back on my D&D career as a player, I don't remember the times I beat down a monster, found a great treasure, or essentialy "won" D&D. No, what sticks out in my memory are those times where I was scared shitless or I was maimed or killed horribly.
Adversity is what makes this game worth playing; the sense of pride and accomplishment you get when you've succesfully overcome something that was patently unfair from the outset.
Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this new and improved Bodak. I would not want to fight them and I (along with you, among other's help) created them!
DeleteAs far as death goes, yeah, it's kind of the one issue I feel strongly about in a very system/edition agnostic sense. My greatest memories are of ridiculous deaths or barely scraping by through a battle. My friends and I still laugh and reminisce about those deaths and the devious mega-dungeon that killed us all at least once. That is easily my greatest gaming experience so
I don't understand the hand-holding that at times goes on. That said, I've been guilty of it before with new players just so they do not become dejected with the game itself and think "I spent hours trying to figure out the rules and making a character sheet to die in 20 minutes?" (Because yeah, admittedly that sucks!)
If you're weird because of that, then I'm too. The strange thing is: I don't like when my characters die, but I draw from it. I remember them and their last adventure in a special way that isn't necessarily bad.
ReplyDeleteBut what I want more than character death is the feeling the characters may die, the impending danger. But in order to make believe the danger's real, sometimes characters have to die. and that's okay if - as you say - it's not the first session or some bad luck with the dice. That as the sole reason for losing a character sucks too.