Submission + - Do characters have to die in game?
gurps_npc writes: A recent Guardian article asks (and does not really answer): Do characters in our games have to die?
Yes, we need SOME means of keeping score, but the basic concept of death has already been debased by the instant ressurection. But there are other ways to 'punish' your character that do NOT involve boring the player by making them redo something they already did. For example, we could simply have them lose a level (which happens to be the effective loss if you play paper & pencil AD&D now adays and get killed then Raised from the dead. Or we could have a 'loss count' instead of death. That could even be publicly portrayed, so people not only know you are 25th level, but you got here by only losing 17 battles.
So, if you were to build a battle type game, what kind of punishment would you consider for the loser? Enforced Boredom of replaying? Loss of Prestige by telling the world how many times you lost? Loss of power/level? Or something else...
Yes, we need SOME means of keeping score, but the basic concept of death has already been debased by the instant ressurection. But there are other ways to 'punish' your character that do NOT involve boring the player by making them redo something they already did. For example, we could simply have them lose a level (which happens to be the effective loss if you play paper & pencil AD&D now adays and get killed then Raised from the dead. Or we could have a 'loss count' instead of death. That could even be publicly portrayed, so people not only know you are 25th level, but you got here by only losing 17 battles.
So, if you were to build a battle type game, what kind of punishment would you consider for the loser? Enforced Boredom of replaying? Loss of Prestige by telling the world how many times you lost? Loss of power/level? Or something else...
