Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury?

[Chompie]

I'm totally fine with my characters suffering grievous bodily harm as well as death as long as it makes sense in the story. I invest a shit ton of time in my characters before they even hit the RP scene and I hate the idea of that work being wasted. However if it is appropriate to the story line, I will kill them off as I have done with characters in the past. Though I am not quite to the George R. R. Martin level of killing off my characters lol.

 

Oh, THAT'S the reference I was thinking of! Yeah, I've never really been a fan of the George R. R. Martin School Of Everybody Dies All The Time So Get Used To It.

[Eses Fafa]

Absolutely not. It's not that I'm okay with people killing off their characters, it's just that I am EXTREMELY lazy with creating new characters, especially on XIV which requires I go through a massive story and an agonising leveling process unless I happen to Fantasia and name-change which STILL costs money.

 

Secondly, starting a new character with a new story is awful. It takes me about two years before I can get a character's story properly settled including the majority of their past events, their family, travel history and training, since there's always SOME detail I forget that comes up later. Nah, I'ma keep this one immortal..thooouuugh she could stand to suffer permanent damage at least.

[Caspar]

I think that there is confusion over the distinction between frustration over lack of communication and bleed.

 

To clarify about my own post, there was no confusion, it was in response to seeing posts here outright stating that folks didn't want characters who are close to their own being killed off because it was "forcing" their character to mourn and because of the effects it would have on their own character. I think that's kinda silly. If you let your character get that close to another, then you should know you're setting your character up for the potential risks of heartache and loss.

 

It's okay to say "I don't want ____ to happen to my character," (though that's still a little iffy for more "hardcore" role-players, so I can understand why they might still call it "bleed") but if that's the case, the burden rests on that player to take measures to avoid it happening to their character, not to expect everyone they RP with to curb their RP to fulfill their wishes. In this case, if someone, for example, does not want their character to mourn the loss of a lover, they should make sure their character doesn't pair up with a character whose player is open to character death.

 

As much as I jokingly threaten to kill Val if he ever kills off his character, it's because I would be sad to lose the dynamic of Val and Faye that I enjoy RPing. I don't care that Faye would be sad. Characters being sad sometimes is a part of RP. I knew the dangers of my character becoming so heavily invested in another, so I'm ready to roll with the consequences (just as when Faye's adoptive brother was killed off by his player and she mourned him for weeks). If someone writes themselves into a corner where their character cannot function if something happens to another, no one is to blame but themselves. Rather than give the other person grief for killing his/her character, they should try to find a good way to retcon if they're not happy with the RP.

I get that it's not really about whether you personally are attached to the character or not, and that seems to be probably the best way to approach it, but I also think that the internal logic of people's stories can force a writer's hand. It's not necessarily only something like writing yourself into a corner. Maybe you had joined plans and they were ruined, so you're forced to retcon awkwardly. That sucks and I think a lot of players are looking to avoid being put in that position in the first place. For that reason, getting blindsided by someone dropping their character without warning is frustrating, whether or not you should have seen it coming in the first place, and I understand why players get mad about it. It's a legitimately frustrating thing to get flaked out on or worse. I just don't think people should nuke friendships because of it. It's not an IC decision to kill a character; it's the player's decision, because nothing happens in your story that isn't under your control. Just as well, it's perfectly legitimate to become wary of RP with that person if they prove themselves to really not care all that much about how that decision affects your RP. But a personal grudge over that is definitely unreasonable. They killed their character, not their pet kitten. And here also my attitude towards characters shows its other side; since they are a device designed to articulate a story, they can be designed with planned obsolescence in mind. At a certain point, the character can and should go.

 

As for the "curbing your RP for someone else" bit, I think that it goes both ways. By the same logic, a player who kills their character off purely for reasons that suit themselves may be inconveniencing the other players, and should consider communicating with them to mitigate that. They definitely have little ground to complain that others are being unfair to them by being disappointed by that plot development. Protecting the personal entertainment value of a RPer's "baby" works only so far as the realization that the other RPers are likewise protecting the personal entertainment value of their own characters, and your own character is not inherently more worthy than theirs. I think a lot of the problems in RP stem from the expectation that you shouldn't have to adjust to others. Every stem in the vase bends. To me "deal with it" is essentially the only wrong answer.

 

On the topic of specific mourning, I think it's probably that a lot of those players are fine with a mourning plot, but spontaneous character death can put the plot in the center of another more pressing and more interesting RP plotline, so you're given a choice between maintaining consistency of writing your character and participating in the RP you actually enjoy. I think it's decisions like that which frustrate people most. A retcon can fix it, and might honestly be the solution I'd pick in those circumstances, but not everyone considers it an option. An alternative would be to put the mourning plotline in a "floating" indefinite span of time outside of the ongoing unrelated plot, and RP it when you're feeling up to it later.

[Khunbish Avagnar]

Well...for persona reasons I ganked my prior toon...but my current one? That really ends up depending on how plot stuff unfolds but like random stuff outside of the character's personal storyline, grevious injury as far as I go as long as it doesn't make them unplayable.

[FreelanceWizard]

I largely don't have any problems with character injury, but character death is something I want to be tied to the closure of a narrative. When I've killed off characters in online RP in the past, it's always been to conclude their story, and after letting my RP partners know why it's happening. Having been on the receiving end of RP partners just simply vanishing, only to come back some time later and say, "Oh, well, my character died, ta-ta," I don't really want to put anyone in that position. Randomly having a character die, unless that's the sort of RP a group likes, tends to leave some feelings raw -- in much the same way people can get raw when an author, by plot twist, kills off a beloved character in a story.

[Oats McGoats]

Death? Nope. Injuries? Yep.

[Shofie]

The short answer for me is: Yes.

 

Longer answer: Shofie has been seriously injured a few times, including at least one incident which caused her to miscarry (and subsequently has led to her being unable to have more children). It's basically the only scar she has IC.

 

I had a character slated for being murdered eventually (she was not a Good Guy) but a huge change of plans ended up stopping that.

 

I don't think I could ever kill off Shof, though. She's a little too near and dear to me for that.

[Marcy]

Marcy is a lit fuse -- without proper contacts or guidance, he's prone to doing stupid things that will inevitably get him murdered or worse. I'm not fond of drama-drawing and playing "injury of the week", I like these things to have impact.

 

He's up for killing if there's extensive consent on both parties' side, and if the characters and players he is involved with agree.

[Aden Dellebecque]

If a death really fit I might go for it, but in general, no, it's not something I'm open for. I haven't been in an RP scenario anywhere in all my years of RPing where a PC death had a positive impact on the story. It's always ended horribly, though often not right away--or at best just neutral. I realize there are other people out there who have had good experiences with it, but I, personally, have not, and with enough frequency that I'm just not a fan of it. I'm not going to subject other players to that without a good reason.

 

Injury, even catastrophic or career-ending? Definitely down for that. I tend to avoid it because it makes me feel like I'm taking away attention from other characters, but some of the most compelling RP I've done has been related to this. In other circles I have a reputation for being particularly brutal to my characters, but here I'm actively avoiding it because it can be construed as attention-seeking behavior. Once the character is somewhat well-established, sure. People have to have a reason to care before it becomes compelling subject matter for anyone but me. As I'm fond of saying, you have to build them up before you tear them down (and then build them back up again).

[Tamm'lin]

Killing? It has to make sense and just ask me before you gank, because I might be in a plot and don't want to be all 'Sorry, lol - Tamm's dead.' Otherwise? Go ahead. 

Maiming? I mean, she's got two missing teeth now, is wearing an eyepatch from getting her eye socket all messed up, and I'm sure next fight she's in, she'll probably be stabbed or something; So, short answer, yes!

[Sounsyy]

I have Sounsyy's death planned as part of her personal story arc. It will happen, but likely not in RP. I have one last story arc planned that I will activate when I feel she's exhausted narratively. That said, if there's a moment in RP that really grabs me and her death just feels right, I'll do it.

 

Character injury and maiming, on the other hand, I'm all about. I keep scars from RP and she's even had a finger shot off that's affected a current plot as well as her ability to grip her shield, something that's made her famous in certain circles. My only gripe about the finger is figuring out how to express to new interactions hey she's missing a finger but its no big I don't want to divert the RP towards the missing finger. I've also been toying with the idea of crippling her at some point in the future, forcing her to give up her ability to fight, cuz I think that'd be fun character growth but who knows.

 

...Maybe I'll let Franz maim her when she finds out he's Garlean...

[Virella]

 

...Maybe I'll let Franz maim her when she finds out he's Garlean...

;______;

[Kage]

 

...Maybe I'll let Franz maim her when she finds out he's Garlean...

;______;

^ This. Kage gonna rip into a Franz if that happens.

[Simeon Sibaruse]

Meh, haven't seen that thread before, have time to... make myself less bored I think, so here we go.

 

Like the subject though. Battle are part of my favorites part. And so go... consequences.

 

To put it simple, Simeon is most likely to die in a messy way. The bad kind one. As my very first GM said me, you don't always win, that's what make the thrill. For the short time i've been here, already have an almost torn off arm, a smashed knee, numerous cuts and so on... So I'm pretty hyped for injuries. You can't expect to be some Space Jesus and survive everything without a scratch can't you? My favorites may be lasting injuries... Not always loosing a limb, but a impaired shoulder, a burn mark... things that make the character to change his habits and evolve. Hell, that add some nice depth coupled with quirks ad such.

 

That make things even better that some "Shiny Knight" mod, when you're a seasoned sword wielder with nothing more than a (manly) cheek scar to show off. No offense intended, that just how I like it

 

And like injuries, death doesn't phase me a bit. I mean, you search for trouble, trouble bite you back. That's only logical. May have some major plot going, lasting connection and such but... Truth to be told, if ever a kill is nicely done, I've nothing to say against. I'm even quite prove to worsen the situation on my own. To make it simple, if the thing seem real, it get real.

 

The only pain in the ass is paying a couple buck, cause I'm not loosing all my grinded levels. Nop, screw you, I'm not doing these things ever again. NEVER.

[Erah'sae]

I have a feeling at some point Erah'sae is going to go out in a rather ignoble fashion.  Injury's easy but killing him off will require some forethought on my part.

 

There is a spiral of repercussions that will happen to other people's characters / stories if he were to be killed, and I'd like to at least respect those other players a little bit and plan for it.  

 

That said, if story makes sense for Erah'sae to end up dead, he's going to end up dead.

 

Injury? Now that's fair game, no pre-planning needed.  If it happens, it happens.

However, I really don't want to see (I lie, yes I do) what happens when Nefzen and Sana find out someone injured their 'baby brother'.

[Accendie]

I have a feeling at some point Erah'sae is going to go out in a rather ignoble fashion.  Injury's easy but killing him off will require some forethought on my part.

 

There is a spiral of repercussions that will happen to other people's characters / stories if he were to be killed, and I'd like to at least respect those other players a little bit and plan for it.  

 

That said, if story makes sense for Erah'sae to end up dead, he's going to end up dead.

 

Injury? Now that's fair game, no pre-planning needed.  If it happens, it happens.

However, I really don't want to see (I lie, yes I do) what happens when Nefzen and Sana find out someone injured their 'baby brother'.

 

RAWR!

 

Yea, that would be interesting, not that I'm eager to play it out. I'm just getting a feel for these characters and would hate to see them go. 

 

I guess my answer would be a very hesitant yes to the death question. It's not that she's invulnerable but that, frankly, there is a lot going on gamewise that I wouldn't want to lose. Hours of playtime to level  her up. I could easily take her OOC for things like gathering/crafting/DF and whatnot, but that means less time RPing on whatever character I -am- playing. For me, death to that toon means not playing them anymore >_< But I sorta go to extremes anyway since I already am IC 90% of the time.

 

Injuries? OH yea.. BRING IT! I've already had Nef bruise,then BREAK her arm and have it out of commission for nearly an entire week. Even with Healing I'm much of the opinion that RPing injuries should take time. It just makes life interesting!

[DoomsdayClock]

I think I have only one character I am willing to let die, that being the actual bad guy I am running...because...well he is a bad guy.

I don't think there is any way for him to redeem himself, and the way his mind works, even if someone agreed with his goals, you can't look past the things he is doing to reach his goals.

That and I have a really good line ready for when the time does come..so that's a thing.

 

Beyond that I think death and serious injury really have to be something I hold the reigns to. This isn't just because I'm protective of my characters, it's the reality that the trust we place in other players isn't always what we expect.

I've had, what should have been, a friendly a duel escalate to my arms impaled with a sword, while another was aimed at my chest ( on the first attack roll! ). I've also had peoples bones break under my own attacks ( without me wanting to ), and I just kinda cringe and go along with it.

So really for me it's a clearance thing. If you ask first and make some intentions clear..I'm usually okay with an injury, if only to enjoy the fun of recovery Rp ( sans the magic band aid that makes you instantly all better). And a good injury can also leave an awesome rivalry and edge to some characters too..so that's totally worth it.

[Diskwrite]

In the past, I've been notorious for giving my characters grievous injuries- either in past, present, or future plotlines. I started doing this for two big reasons.

 

1) In my RP group at the time, our characters went through a lot of dangerous situations and plotlines, but in many of them none of the PCs got seriously injured. Logically, this didn't make sense to me. But I wasn't DMing the events, and I wasn't about to tell someone else what to do with their character!

 

2) My character was not being careful with her own personal safety. So, logically, it made sense that sometimes she would get significantly wounded.

 

I've followed the approach ever since. And I like it a whole lot! Leaving the possibility for gratuitous injury open creates harsh consequences for my characters. Additionally, I feel it gives more weight to dangerous circumstances.

But most of all, it's created some very interesting RP situations- where my characters have to cope with significant and/or permanent damage in some way or another.

 

Character death is another matter. I've killed off a couple alts here and there to further plots... but alts are one thing. Main characters are another. Killing off a character so beloved to me that I can't put them down? I don't know if I could do it. Or if, for that matter, if I'd even want to.

[Sunwins]

I'm always hugely open when it comes to combat rp and injury. I usually let every hit the opposing character tries to throw in, because I don't mind losing. I honestly don't care. I like giving my characters wounded pride, and reason to improve - and bleed all over their friends. That's always fun!

 

But I do draw the line at death. There are some things I reckon need to be talked about on an ooc level, and that's one of them. I'm attached to my characters, I enjoy playing them, and if I get bored of them or stop feeling them as much in the future, I'd be open to it. I've done it before with characters I've run out of inspiration for and it's a good way to get rid of them that's better than SURPRISE FANTASIA!

 

But yeah, bottom line I think trying to kill someone's character without consent ooc is.. a bit of a dick move.

[Zhavi]

As with all things, it has to make sense. If it makes sense, I go for it.

 

In the past, this has meant character death, character possession (my character was possessed by a cursed entity from another plane trapped in a dagger, which meant the mind/soul of my character was killed and the body of the character was taken by the player of the dagger -- and don't you look at me weird, the sentient daggers (there's three of them) are fun as hell to play opposite), mutilation, and amputation.

 

For Zhi, injury has been a major part of how she developed as a person, from the kink in her tail to a forced abortion (that wrecked her uterus) when she was a teenager that pushed her over the edge from 'potential productive citizen' to 'wreck of a person.' Zhi had wanted to be a mommy. She can't be one now. It still eats at her, and is part of the reason why she's an adrenaline junky and an addict.

 

 

My favorite was a guard character with a skin condition that caused him to get itchy under stress (based, of course, off my own experiences with eczema, though his isn't eczema). He's an upright sort, unyielding and unbending, and his ability to ignore the itching when in uniform was, to me, the closest thing to a superpower I've ever written. Though he is often misguided, his attempts to do right and overcome whatever got thrown at him is so fun to write, and a little cathartic for me. Not your typical injury, no, but definitely a condition that causes him major quality of life issues, as well as interfering with his ability to function.

[Guns Blazing]

We're playing in a world that is torn by wars on multiple fronts with extremely powerful enemies with the addition of several severe dangers. Dragons, primals, certain beastmen and Garleans are all very real threats to the safety of our characters. Put yourselves in the shoes of your character; now, is it not entirely unbelievable to assume every friend you make in the Quicksand is going to live to see tomorrow? Most people who RP on this game play a mercenary or some sort of character that  readily puts themselves in harms way, so death isn't an if, but a when. I think anyone who tries to keep you from killing off your character through a guilt trip is really hindering your storytelling ability. Very few things are more powerful than the death of a character, especially a very loved one, in a story. I mean, look at any forum online for anything about Haurchefant pre-heavens ward. Nobody really cared enough about him to ever say anything worthwhile, yet after he died, people were in tears and paying tribute to him in silly ways. Death is a powerful narrative. A lot of times, people's deaths have a bigger impact on the world around them than their lives ever will. We're all adults, here. I think we can handle losing a friendship of a fictional character through their untimely demise. If not, then perhaps you should only associate with people who play characters who never go into battle or walk down any dark alleys.

 

Any and all of my characters are open to death during role play. If you want to kill my character, they're going to fight back, though. We'll random it, and you will be the one dying if i win the fight. I won't accept a mortal bout if the street doesn't go both ways. Anyone willing to kill another character should always be willing to be slain, themselves.

[Juromaro]

All of my characters are up for being killed, and I've killed my main character before. 

 

HOWEVER

 

The last time I killed a major character it was all rather 'off the cuff' and it damaged all my RP and even several real world relationships. So I'll think twice about doing it again, and consider all the ramifications. It's not off the table though!

 

I try to avoid RP where my character can die in these types of games, it was fine with D&D since I could just tear up my character sheet, but here I don't like the idea of not being able to play a character that I put months sometimes years into.

 

However I'm all for injury, I'm perfectly okay with putting a character in the hospital for a month or two as long as I have another RP character to fill the void until the other returns.

 

With that said the reason I don't do death RP anymore is I joined an FC on Gilgamesh when I first started that I didn't know what Heavy RP and I joined an event where we were doing some RP fates and when my character died and I respawned and came back they all freaked out and kicked me out of the FC when I asked what happened they told me I was dead and there was no way I could be walking around like nothing happened. To be honest it kinda hurt RP for me for awhile and I just went about leveling everything I could to 50 and focusing more on the pve aspect than my character.

[ZoktaiKhor]

YEs but i make sure that all parties invovled. Killing and Charactrer relationships know and help plan it out. leads to some dramtic stories

[Caspar]

We're playing in a world that is torn by wars on multiple fronts with extremely powerful enemies with the addition of several severe dangers. Dragons, primals, certain beastmen and Garleans are all very real threats to the safety of our characters. Put yourselves in the shoes of your character; now, is it not entirely unbelievable to assume every friend you make in the Quicksand is going to live to see tomorrow? Most people who RP on this game play a mercenary or some sort of character that  readily puts themselves in harms way, so death isn't an if, but a when. I think anyone who tries to keep you from killing off your character through a guilt trip is really hindering your storytelling ability. Very few things are more powerful than the death of a character, especially a very loved one, in a story. I mean, look at any forum online for anything about Haurchefant pre-heavens ward. Nobody really cared enough about him to ever say anything worthwhile, yet after he died, people were in tears and paying tribute to him in silly ways. Death is a powerful narrative. A lot of times, people's deaths have a bigger impact on the world around them than their lives ever will. We're all adults, here. I think we can handle losing a friendship of a fictional character through their untimely demise. If not, then perhaps you should only associate with people who play characters who never go into battle or walk down any dark alleys.

 

Any and all of my characters are open to death during role play. If you want to kill my character, they're going to fight back, though. We'll random it, and you will be the one dying if i win the fight. I won't accept a mortal bout if the street doesn't go both ways. Anyone willing to kill another character should always be willing to be slain, themselves.

It's a pretty useful plot element to be sure.

However, consider the possibility that four characters you know die within the span of two days due to /random combat.

What if by the third one you've gotten tired of the same "A person close to me died and I'm traumatized/sad/confused" RP over and over again? If you're like me, you don't want to give the fourth player inferior play simply because the story thread has been tread into the ground. Or other players would not want to hazard RPing when their character is supposed to be grieving because they're sick of the storyline and don't want their PC to come off as callous. Or they do, and their character writing becomes slipshod, and more importantly, it eventually isn't fun anymore. Or maybe the players engaged stop trying to write complex enough characters that they'd be disappointed to lose them. Some players aren't satisfied with writing characters structured around the possibility that they can't actually do anything they think would be cool if they get unlucky once or twice. When I make a character who could die anytime, like in a pen and paper campaign, usually I imbue them with enough traits to make them interesting, but never really try anything complex as that would take a sustained narrative to achieve. And yet, that is exactly what I really want to do. Because that complexity makes a character's death actually worth something to me. Otherwise, I won't remember Dead Friend #4

 

"I think we are all adults here" is also a pretty interesting chastisement. I get the impression this is suggesting that the player on the receiving end of the random death is blending their OOC appreciation of a character with that of their own. I would suggest, as a lot of people did already, that OOC frustration is actually just OOC frustration. To me, RP with others quickly becomes collaborative writing, where you're not just responsible for your own entertainment. You can call your character your baby, but their parentage is looking pretty uncertain with so many other characters mutating and blending their development, even sometimes changing their background or the context of their personal struggles merely by existing. When the writer on the other end of the line hangs up abruptly, creating an unpleasant experience for everyone else involved, does this mean they do not have a right to be frustrated? The "deal with it" attitude, at least to me, makes more sense when you're writing a self-contained story, because it's just yours, only one chef in the kitchen. You decide on the flavor, you decide on the dishes served, you decide when kitchen opens and closes. When playing with others though, I can see why the unilateral approach isn't always appreciated.

[Aysun]

I've played with the idea of death, because I like the idea of leaving a mark in another character's story like that. However, not all people like that, and I have attachment issues.

 

Aysun is such an old character now (since pre-launch of 1.0 seems like a lot for one character, to me). I feel like at some point it could just get silly with 'everything she's been through/seen.' I have to monitor things to extend her life as a viable character for roleplay. Make sure they still make sense. Make sure she doesn't get a scar from EVERY mission, or even participate in them all, because it just gets unrealistic at a point. This has slowed her down in the sense of adventuring and participation in plots, but it's worked for me thus far (and has given me an extra layer of IC frustration to deal with x3). She still has one very big issue in her own backstory to confront, but then she's pretty much tapped out in that regard. Then it's just dealing with the day to day things I find in RP. The plots of friends and such! She's a side character, luckily, and most of her experiences come from her role in other peoples' stories - which is what I enjoy most.

 

I think her death, if it is to happen in RP at any point, will be when I resign or am close to it. Done RPing her, period. It will have to be meaningful, to add something significant to someone's story. I'd want it to affect their character's life, so that she's remembered! If that moment doesn't present itself, she will be retired and be allowed to live out her happily ever after off-scene. I have a feeling it will be the latter, if only because I'm not sure my RP friends would WANT to RP the effects of her death on their characters.

 

Unrealistic, maybe. But I don't do alts well. I focus on one character generally and throw everything I have into them. Aysun especially is close to my heart because I RP'd her elsewhere (though they are two very different versions of her as a character), and I've used her name in instances where I didn't even RP. She is my main OC, and my pseudonym online. Even her look is something I want to keep, even playing without RPing, because it's just perfect for me to play. I would have a hard time letting go unexpectedly. It'll have to be on my terms when I'm ready to stop RPing her.

 

Because of this, I don't allow her in situations where there is the possibility of certain death by RNG. I don't send her into stupidly dangerous situations on a whim without preparations. She can and will get injured, badly, on occasion to remind her of mortality so she does not get reckless. I'm not going to God-mode out of death because I was stupid and got her into a situation with no way out.