Player Character Death and the Threshold of Acceptance

By: Scott Fitz A.K.A. MoonHunter

People are constantly getting in heated debates about player character death. Should the Game Master and the players be antagonistic with each other? Should the results lie like the dice? What about story continuity and the investment in time and effort into the characters? Everyone seems to have strong opinions about this.

I think what we are arguing about is the 'threshold' of player character death and the reasons why the character died.


 * 1. For many of us, characters have 'script immunity' or are basically unkillable. Most of the time, the players can easily succeed against the challenges thrown against them. Even if they screw up, the Game Master will scramble around and try to save them.


 * 2. Threshold is script immunity with exceptions. For many of us, characters must be 'written out'. A character's script immunity is revoked for the purpose of brining in a new character, that is 'cool'. There are times, we note that script immunity is off, letting the players know that in the climax… people can die.


 * 3. For others, the threshold is 'player stupidity. Sometimes, despite your best warning or advice, players pursue a course that is effectively suicidal. Thus they die if the dice determine it.


 * 3b. A variation on the above is the critical weirdness. Player characters only die under critical hits or their own fumbles. Rare enough to keep player characters alive, punctuating the game with death.


 * 4. For others, the threshold is tactical interaction. Once the dice and game mechanics start flying, the character's life is up to the dice. Most challenges should be equal to the player characters, but most should be less, to ensure the continued survival of the players.


 * 5. For others, the player characters are the adversaries. You are the Game Master and they are competing against you. Characters die with regular frequency, as both sides have a duel of wits and dice for tactical advantages. The Threshold is tactical interaction, but the situation at the table is more like HackMaster and the two sides are against each other.


 * 6. For others, player characters are fodder for your godlike might. The Threshold is stepping into the situation. Munchkin Game Masters at their worst, or the occasional Game Master with self-image issues.

This forms a continuum from 1 to 6. Everyone is pretty much somewhere in-between the death threshold 1 to 6. Every level, except the most extreme rank 1s, allow for player character injury and abuse. (It is fair game to knock 'um down to 'mostly hurt').

What I think is happening here is that we gamers are not agreeing upon what is an acceptable threshold for player character death. Each of us has our own take.

For example, I am a 2.5; player characters mostly have plot immunity, except at key times (climax of story arcs… they usually know when the kid gloves are off) and when they do something sooo stupid that I cannot conveniently save them (from themselves). [Editor's note: Kinslayer claims to be a 3.9 on this scale, but Midian was designed to work equally well for all levels, especially levels two through five.]

When you are getting into one of these arguments, or someone rattles on, find out about their threshold, and what they think is acceptable. This way you will not be arguing apples and cumquats.