Fudge RPG - PC Death (Was: Random Thoughts: Dice vs. Diceless)

Britt Scharringhausen  wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Sep 2000, Jim Dickinson wrote:
> > There is often little concern that the PCs will die, because 
> > generally speaking, diceless GMs won't allow a PC to be killed unless it's 
> > expedient to the plot, and he knows the player will understand 
> > that.  
> 
> What GM creates a plot in which it is expedient to kill a PC?  

I'm working on a plot that does exactly that.  

> If I had lovingly crafted a character and the GM axed it without
> giving me some sort of an opportunity to roleplay out of it, and
> said, "Sorry kid.  It's the plot--you understand.  Make up a new
> character," I'd find myself a new game.

And I wouldn't blame you, either.  The player should always be given 
a chance to roleplay his character, and the character's death, if and
when it occurs, should be satisfying to the player - but I'm getting ahead of
myself...

> In my experience, PCs in diceless games get killed when they 
> a) are stupid, and persist in being stupid despite numerous GM
> warnings b) are killed by another PC who does a really good job
> of role-playing it, or c) decided that in this situation the
> character really would be willing to make a choice that might
> lead to their death--martyrdom, as you say.  (a) and (c)
> sometimes overlap, as I'm sure you can imagine, and it's up to
> the winners to write the history. : ) 

I'd amend c) to: "decided that in this situation the character really would be
willing to make a choice that _will_ lead to their death."  Borrowing a pair of
examples from Star Trek: 

1. In Wrath of Khan, Spock enters a chamber filled with radiation in order to
get the ship's warp drive back online; there is no doubt that doing so will
kill him.  I found this to be a satisfying death to a character that I was very
fond of.  

2. In Generations, Kirk jumps onto a weakened scaffolding in order to
deactivate a supernova-inducing rocket; odds are, he won't survive.  I felt
cheated when he died.  

What was the difference between the two choices above?  IMHO, Spock's death was
a sure thing, while Kirk's death was a failed risk.  

In the plot that I'm currently devising, one of my goals is to require a martyr
in order to win out in the end.  It's going to be a challenge, because unless
it's handled exactly right, it's going to blow up in my face.  But if I can get
it to work out, it's going to be spectacular.  

=====
Jonathan "Dataweaver" Lang

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