The specifics of death

[Just Falcon]

Howdy all. So I'm just getting started on the forums, but before I go any further there's a murky question I'd like to clear up - how, exactly, does a character die? I get how every duel/encounter/what have you requires a bit of give and take - no Mary Sue'ing, no 'X shoots you in the face and you die,' always let them counter, that all makes sense. But, obviously, sometimes characters do pass away. Is this something both parties agree upon beforehand, or is it a consequence that can happen anytime if your RP just isn't up to snuff? Basically, does the character's author have final say in their creation's fate, or can an opponent just out-play you and shoot your face off? I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but I couldn't find a thread that got down to the nitty gritty specifics.

 

[StandbyRanger]

It all depends man. If the participants agree upon enabling death in a thread, then there's a chance your character could be RPed into a corner and be blasted to hell. That's why most people decide before hand if the thread will cause a threat to characters.

Before you join a thread, always make sure you know the rules of what you're joining. You wouldn't want to be walking your character into what could be their final moments.

 

[Insoulent]

It's the primarily the latter (outplaying your opponents), but that being said, there's nothing against a player possibly OOC'ly asking another to a fight in which both parties agree not to kill one another, or have a pre-determined victor and situations to happen afterwards (capture, death,dismemberment, etc.).

The most common on this site is outplaying your opponent, which sometimes leads to OOC arguments and the like (from my experience anyway), and this is sometimes amplified in major faction events like skirmishes or battles. I prefer speaking with my opponents beforehand and at least come to some agreement with some of them, and for the most part they're cool with it since their character won't be dying either.

 

[TheSilentWind]

From what I know, an opponent can kill you in battle although you can write off one final post to your character after the battle depending on the situation. If you are down a charrie vs charrie battle, you can tell the other guy you are versing that your charrie doesn't die, although significant damage can be dealt. For example, in my character's fight with The Kid, I fought and could have died, but Mizchno was kind enough to cut off my arm, and not deal the killing blow to my charrie Kes. Also, from my experience, the thread creator decides the rules and both people usually agree to the rules as the main point of the site isn't how much you kill a character, but the rp experience.

 

[Just Falcon]

Hmm. Okay, that makes total sense. So there's always a chance your character can die, no matter where, but more often than not the participants talk it out beforehand and come to some sort of a consensus? I'm wondering more about all the open/ask RP's out there, the ones that seem more adventure oriented than, say, official duels and inter-faction skirmishes or story arc battles. I'm trying not to sound all noob-hyper-invested in my character, but the prospect of an abrupt death before I've actually done a single RP has got me worried lol. Not that I've got a problem losing fights or even hands/limbs/eyes (butt-monkeys are always more interesting in my book haha, I plan on falling short a lot), but my hyper-neurotic fear is that the first time someone beats me in any sort of an encounter they'll head straight for the jugular and lop off my head without warning.

And thank you guys for the quick response!

 

[StandbyRanger]

I'm trying not to sound all noob-hyper-invested in my character, but the prospect of an abrupt death before I've actually done a single RP has got me worried lol.

Dude, don't worry. I'm still like that with my characters. I'm pretty sure everyone's a bit like that. It's always good to be invested in your characters' safeties, otherwise, you wouldn't be as invested in RPing them at all. Never feel bad for not wanting to put them in a situation you wouldn't want them to be in.

 

[Andrewza]

Before any duel the Rules are created. The most common is "no death no captuer", though you could even add "no maiming or limb loosing" most big facstion vs facstion skirmishes and battels are any thing goes though.

You can all so state that a duel is not cannon. This means it does not really take place.

Only ever had one charater get murderd. And he was backed it to a situstion that he could not get out of. You may all so want your guy to die, death if done right can be a power fully story mount. I mean take any story where a main character dies, it becomes big event for others or even the charater. Think about it. It would not have been the same in darth vader lived. I really think a lot of moves and TV serissess could have been improved with a death or two. That is why Game of Thrones is so great.

 

[Loco]

I'm linking a relatively recent example of character death in a thread. The thread in question was the second Attack on Mandalore.

In this particular thread, it was made clear that there was always the risk of character death. As some posters above stated-this was a case of being "out written", same as the case on the Attack on Dxun, I believe. Ender and I both lost characters in this thread due to the fact that we chose put our characters at risk, and BlackNoise simply out wrote us, combat wise. It was kind of a shock at the time, because as a site it had become the norm for character deaths to be agreed on before hand- this is simply not the case in all circumstances. If you place your character in battle, you should be prepared to write their death post as well.

As to your specific questions on how to handle this- Blacknoise was gracious enough to simply state what he did, and leave the majority of the writing of our characters deaths to our own devices. I have seen it before that, upon losing, characters corpses have been mercilessly abused and humiliated- not to discourage you, of course.

Ultimately, the specifics are up to the discretion of the writers involved in that particular thread.

 

[Dmitri]

Many people aren't rude about death, though there are some outliers. In regards to OPEN threads, if there isn't anything mentioned, generally that means anything goes. Despite their bad reputation, not all OPEN threads turn deadly. It depends on what you do.

I find talking with the other person helps the situation. Communication is the key having a fight go without OOC fighting. As long as you can be civil about it, many PvP experiences can be enjoyable. The more civil and less confrontational you are, the more likely someone may be more willing to talk with you.

There's also the chance you'll find yourself in a trap. In a thread called "Facing Judgment", a Sith infiltrator managed to plant a bomb and kill 3 Jedi Councilors along with my Imperial Knights leader. We were caught for a surprise, not seeing it coming. I was a little vexed at first, but I accepted it. It was well played. However, my suggestion is that paranoia isn't always necessary. Not everyone is out to get you.

 

[Just Falcon]

Gotcha, thanks for all the help guys. The gist I'm getting is always be aware of the situation (especially in places where death makes sense story-wise) and be civil about talking things through with the other party. That was more or less what I thought going in and three fifths of five eights of the reason why I joined the site in the first place; writing part's way more fun than going around all day lopping off heads.

 

[Mistress]

F

...writing part's way more fun than going around all day lopping off heads.

It's typically not going to be that easy!

In my opinion we all have a favorite character we just cannot give up, but others that we eventuall don't mind to do so. Alot of people archive characters when they are bored with them, some join or start threads to send them off to their final resting place.

I like to know who I'm RPing with. We have skype conversations as we post. The OOC conversation can be much more fun than the thread! If you ever have issues, the RP Admins can be found in a list near the bottom of the forum.