Is your character open to death?

I know there are mixed opinions on this and when it comes to the crunch, a lot of people change their stance when their character is faced with death. It is also a topic which often causes drama as some people argue for consiquences where as others argue for individuality and the ability to choose their own demise.

Do your characters have an OOC safety net or if one of them was to be faced with certain death, would you take it?

(this is always a scary question, because believe it or not - whenever someone says their character is open to being killed, you'll find loads of people, who know it OOCly, trying to find a way to be the one who kills them).

My stance on it:

I am open to any of my characters being killed off, but I do have preferences of how. One of which is I always do a death roll with a serious wound (Unless I was beheaded or something). All of my characters who are killed (with exception of the evil ones) I would speak to the person first. For example, if someone was in the position of killing Vaell and they're lets say, a Blade for Hire doing it because he insulted them - I'd ask the person how they are with consiquences from this action. As in 99% of cases, if that murderer is caught - they'll be executed. If the person isn't cool with that happening, I wouldn't let them be the one to kill off the char.

My most developed characters:
Characters, such as Vaell, of who I have played the most and is quite obviously my main character, are open to death. However, with him I'd prefer if it is done in a more epic way than one of my standard characters. Like during a big event of some sort, or some sort of character progression event - a long time nemesis final battle scenario. Though this doesn't happen everyday and I am open to other deaths, this is how I'd prefer this character to go out because of the time i've pumped into them. I'd be willing for them to die other ways, but I'd probably have a word with the person and ask to make something ongoing and fruitful out of the rp rather than a sudden demise.

Developing characters/in the middle of a story:
Characters such as Achuos are open to death, but due to the fact I haven't characterised them very much yet - I'd speak with the person and ask if we could negotiate a delay to having a killing blow for the sake of creating more RP for both of us. Most people are usually reasonable with this, as long as you aren't trying to take on 100 paladins at once. I'd probably even let that person be the one to eventually kill the char off if he had a forseeable future.

Developed but semi-interesting/easily replaced characters:
I don't mind, as long as the person who tries to kill them is also another who would be willing to see their char die in a similar scenario/one of the above scenarios I have mentioned, then I'm cool for it. I can't justify letting someone who would keep their character alive from a thousand arrows be the one to kill off one of my characters.

What would I do in the case of a character death?
Change the name of the character, using TRP - not IRL money. Change their looks and make a new char! The ability to do this has kept me from getting too deeply emotionally attatched to my characters, which is often one of the reasons people don't ever want their char to die.


TL;DR: Would you kill off your char if he was faced with certain death?

I'm open as long as it makes sense to me. I call the final shot on wether my char dies or not, so some random can't force it, but I won't go to stupid lengths to keep myself alive.

No OOC safety nets ever. Adds to the realism.

I'm up for pretty much everything that makes sense in a situation. However, if someone wants to kill my character then they themselves must also be open to being killed.

Having to start a new character isn't really something that bothers me, I view it as a new opportunity and a chance to try out new things. If I gimp the roleplay due to OOC things then it simply no longer is enjoyable for me.

Vangrel Lansire wrote:No OOC safety nets ever. Adds to the realism.

If you pull fiction storytelling down to its most basic form, you'll often find there are two types of stories. Ones that seek complete realism, ones that try and create something epic out of something a little far fetched.

An example of both:
- 'The Walking Dead', very real. Characters can die at any moment.
- Lord of the Rings. Despite the amount of arrows, different sword swinging Orcs etc that come at our fellowship, you rarely see a death in the mighty few.

I like to do somewhere in the middle. I don't want all my characters to go out in a blaze of glory, but if I can build more of a prolonged story and have something epic to write about then I'd prefer to do that in a fantasy world.

Lord of the Rings. Despite the amount of arrows, different sword swinging Orcs etc that come at our fellowship, you rarely see a death in the mighty few.

They don't have to stop up to discuss through whispers though. You could say it breaks immersion.

Nope. I have one character I RP on and I with not alot of time to play I'm not really interested in having him die yet.

Vaell wrote:

Vangrel Lansire wrote:No OOC safety nets ever. Adds to the realism.

If you pull fiction storytelling down to its most basic form, you'll often find there are two types of stories. Ones that seek complete realism, ones that try and create something epic out of something a little far fetched.

An example of both:
- 'The Walking Dead', very real. Characters can die at any moment.
- Lord of the Rings. Despite the amount of arrows, different sword swinging Orcs etc that come at our fellowship, you rarely see a death in the mighty few.

I like to do somewhere in the middle. I don't want all my characters to go out in a blaze of glory, but if I can build more of a prolonged story and have something epic to write about then I'd prefer to do that in a fantasy world.

That's because it's pre-scripted. None of my characters or stories are.

Not really, since if my character died I prob wouldn't roleplay a new one.

I suppose if the roleplay leading up to the death is entertaining and fun enough, I'd go with it.
But whispers of "I snuck a bomb into your backpack, it explodes now" or some random "x walks into the room and sets of the bomb that's strapped to it's chest" won't get a death from me.

Edit:
In the end, I roleplay for my own enterainment and I haven't signed anything that states I need to sacrefice anything solely for someone elses entertainment.
Won't work ICly towards someone elses death either, in all my roleplying I have never witnessed a case were a dead character gave more activity than a living one.

Edit2:
In most cases death would also be inconvenient, it's hard to find good replacement players.

I have no OOC safety nets. My characters' survival is based on their own actions, and if they screw up then they screw up. That being said, I expect anyone who wants to kill my characters to also be, themselves, open to being killed.

I do have some IC safety nets on Dru, as she's a paranoid death-fearing necromancer, though those have defined limits that can be exploited by anyone with a serious intent on ending her. Neither of my other characters have anything beyond their own cunning and skill to avoid death.

Vangrel Lansire wrote:
That's because it's pre-scripted. None of my characters or stories are.

None of mine are either, but it doesn't make a difference. If - like Kristeas said - someone just plants a bomb on your char and whispers that it'll explode in a few seconds, that is dull. I'd rather have fun with creating some ongoing conflict.

TL;DR: Would you kill off your char if he was faced with certain death?

Depends much. Death lines in wow are something extremely blurry, to say the least. I'd let my char die, but I wouldn't whine if my char died and got resurrected, me or not willingly. I have had many alts, and a couple of them got killed on my desire. My 'mains', Dec and Tuo seen often death, and I would be open to their definitive one, but knowing it firsthand and for good reason(not like 'mugger comes along and stabs Tuo in the heart'), and that's only because of the amount of effort and rp I put into them. Grenier and Serge instead were killed because they became more a burden than anything, and I couldn't see a good 'the end' for neither of them. In short, I'm open to the death of all my chars, -if- makes sense and creates rp. If it doesn't, or it's just for 'I need a victim for my cult/assassin/evildoer etc.', more than happy to make an alt and help ye, and even put some effort on the alt, but it stops there. Unless, of course, the thing is organized in a way that could fullfill my char's story(as, for example, a great 'duel of the fates' event part of a greater event with epic battles and such, or the end a of a long storyline).

I tend to get attached to mostly all my alts, if I put some effort in it, and I do it almost always, because even if rp is fun, I think that's a social activity, and as such, it's right to show effort in what you do when with other people. But that's philosophy.

I tend to be with Vaell about this, a middle ground between realism and storytelling purposes.

I've been open to death at all times when I played, but never announced it.

I've mostly had this one rule, though: Someone's story needs to benefit from the death, be it the people my character knows, the killer, the justice system etc.

Death is a powerful tool in storytelling, don't use it if it changes nothing.

Fitting avatar, Dwy.

I applaud people who are able to distance themselves enough from their character to let them be killed off on a whim, it does add a certain element of realism to the story. Though, I'm very much against the mentality of: "I've given myself this handicap, so you must abide by it also"; in the way that because one player wishes to indulge themselves in realism, that they feel a need to enforce it on others.

It's probably a case of me being soured by a majority of instances where a character has attempted to kill another, purely for an out-of-character grudge.

Arenfel/Mikhael wrote:I applaud people who are able to distance themselves enough from their character to let them be killed off on a whim, it does add a certain element of realism to the story. Though, I'm very much against the mentality of: "I've given myself this handicap, so you must abide by it also"; in the way that because one player wishes to indulge themselves in realism, that they feel a need to enforce it on others.

Because if the other person doesn't abide by it, it leaves a situation where they can go around killing anyone that they want while not having to take any serious consequences for their actions.

Far as I'm concerned, it's simply reasonable that anything negative you commit on another player's character, you should be willing to have happen to yourself. Cut someone's hand off, you should be willing to have your character maimed. Kill another character, your character should be open for being killed. If you don't want something to happen to your character, then you should be respectful enough to not do the same to someone else.

It keeps things equal and fair. You should never do more punishment to someone else's character than what you are willing to take yourself.

I used to love Raen and be really attached to him, and I'd never let him die. He's still the only character I really feel like I can RP, mostly because he's based entirely on me (in terms of personality and behaviour). Other characters I just don't really stick to.

But I don't enjoy Raen anymore. He's changed (and as he's changed, I've changed). Arguably to become a better leader. But he's abandoned all the naive morals and values he started with. He's just an asshole trying to get his job done. He wants to help people, but he just can't. He's became detached from people. Can't talk to them, can't understand them, and I imagine his accent as having become so posh.

So yeah. He isn't really fun to RP anymore. He's a good man, just not how he wants to be or how I want him to be. I wouldn't really mind him dying. I'd planned to kill him off a while ago, just didn't happen because a few people I needed to be there refused to RP in Gilneas for an hour.

But if he did get killed, I doubt I'd continue RPing. I'd probably go join BLP or just quit WoW altogether.

<- That is a soulstone around her neck, provided by her lover.

I do not like having characters killed or killing characters to be honest, I give them a lot of love and attention and I imagine others do too.

Dwyburn wrote:I've been open to death at all times when I played, but never announced it.

I've mostly had this one rule, though: Someone's story needs to benefit from the death, be it the people my character knows, the killer, the justice system etc.

Death is a powerful tool in storytelling, don't use it if it changes nothing.

This.

You can kill any of my characters, so long as it's not just to be vindictive, and it actually serves some kind of plot.

Emrys wrote:<- That is a soulstone around her neck, provided by her lover.

I do not like having characters killed or killing characters to be honest, I give them a lot of love and attention and I imagine others do too.

You see, that's a creative way of keeping your character alive. Many people forget that we live in a world of fantasy, necromancy and a twisting nether filled with demons. When you "die" there are numerous ways of getting a second chance, obviously tagged with various consequences.

For Necromancy it would be coming back as an undead and having all the advantages and disadvantages with that.
For the burning legion it would be something along the lines of selling your soul, which would obviously have it's own drawbacks.

I am sure there are other means as well but those are the two main ones that would be sort of "second chance". Saying it was mistaken identity to bring yourself back to life though is as bad as it gets.

I'd "prefer" Gruff didn't die. But I seldom put him close to that, he doesn't play that way.

I do like the soulstone necklace. For Gruff much of his "science" is technomancy (or something) trying to tinker with his bits to last longer (fnar).

Including a clockwork heart, and the real one... somewhere in a jar.

Amaryl is currently a character, through progression that has become the living epitome, of the amazing Glen Cook quote from the black company.

Soldiers live, and wonder why.

She's definately open for death, as that is one resolve of her story-line. But to me, death is a powerful tool, i don't require meaning to it. Heck the lack of meaning to it, would be more tragic, What her Death does require however is Impact.


Djego-Stonehead: this man is immortal, his the rodent you cannot get rid off, he'll die, he'll come back, and annoy people some more. He's simply a vehicle for batshit crazy stupid RP that makes everyone laugh and laugh. and returning from death is one of those aspects.

Y'see, having done the Soulstone thing once before, I didn't know how to roll with it that seemed "accepted". The best I could come up with at the time was that certain... 'words' and bits of knowledge that would normally be in the Soulstoned character would be lost, or rather, "surrendered to the void".

The majority of the soul was locked away in the Soulstone, but the remainder that was left in the body to keep the body 'powered' was the thing he would sacrifice.

Upon death, the sacrificed portion would leave his body to go to the Void, sating the Twisting Nethers desire for his soul, leaving the body as an empty vessel.

Once the Soulstone detected that the body was empty, it would transfer the rest of the Soul back into the body, combined with a bunch of healing spells that would regenerate the body upon death so that he wouldn't just die again upon revival.

As the body and soul become one, the body cannot join itself to the part of soul that is missing, meaning that part of 'him' is missing. Instead of rendering my character physically disabled, I decided that he would sacrifice parts of his memory so that he could still operate as normal upon revival.

The parts missing aren't erased, they're still there in his memory, but he just can't reach those memories because that part of the soul it was linked to is gone. Whilst this explanation is sketchy at best, it basically means that once something is gone, it is gone permanently. Take one of the things he sacrificed; Dandelions.

He sacrificed his entire knowledge on Dandelions. Now if he sees or hears about a Dandelion, his brain tries to access that part of his memory to see if he knows about Dandelions, and yes, the memory is there, but he can't access it. So the process keeps looping: He tries to remember, he remembers, can't access the information, so he keeps trying to remember, he remembers, but still can't access this information.

This loops and loops and loops, until a point where it causes a severe headache, migraine, and eventually until the stimuli is removed, a brain hemorrhage.

So yes, you can kill Senariul with a prolonged talk about Dandelions. True story.

Vangrel Lansire wrote:

Emrys wrote:<- That is a soulstone around her neck, provided by her lover.

I do not like having characters killed or killing characters to be honest, I give them a lot of love and attention and I imagine others do too.

You see, that's a creative way of keeping your character alive. Many people forget that we live in a world of fantasy, necromancy and a twisting nether filled with demons. When you "die" there are numerous ways of getting a second chance, obviously tagged with various consequences.

For Necromancy it would be coming back as an undead and having all the advantages and disadvantages with that.
For the burning legion it would be something along the lines of selling your soul, which would obviously have it's own drawbacks.

Yup. Resurrection and all the various resurrection tools make death not quite as permanent as people fear, and can be very fun to play out especially when it's done with dark magic. Although for me personally I prefer to limit just how many times they can be used, since too many resurrections can get a bit iffy. Dru's probably only got one or two left in her before her soul's too wrecked to be brought back again.

to summerise

All my toons are killable

I have many i enjoy rp'ing on and sometimes find myself in a position i have to many ^.^

However if someone was to try and kill any toons then they must also be open to being killed if i try fight back

As far as ooc I have no saftynet.. I also have none ic eather..
Monny should have died like 4 times over by now but she is just dambed lucky on the death rolls..

I would be most unhappy if monny died.. I am realy attached to that silly draenic bimbo

touch wood i dont think i have pissed anybody off enough to have any of my toons killed just yet