Advanced Gamemastery: When a PC Dies

That's a great question to include in your Session 0.

Justin Alexander

The software won't let me edit my post properly. I blame the parents.

We never had a session zero for this campaign, but I just thought of a question I think possibly should be included in one, so I'm asking everyone now: What would you like to happen if your character dies? I'll list some options below, but this is not intended to cover all possibilities. (I encourage everyone to think of more.) Nor is your answer final. (You can always change your mind later.) And if you do change your mind, let me know as soon as reasonably possible. None of this is intended to remove the drama of a character's death. That should be a big deal. But it is instead intended to keep the drama where it belongs: at the table. A list of some possible options, to be expanded later as needed, in no particular order, and non-exclusive (more than one can be chosen): The DM should hand me a back-up pregenerated character which can be integrated into the campaign as soon as narratively possible; and, if this will take more than a session to do smoothly, could there be an NPC that I might play in the interim? Same as above but with a level appropraite character of my choosing. Just let me keep playing the NPC, and if it happens to be something unusual, like Val the baby bugbear, for example, we'll figure it out as we go. I'd like to have a postmortem scene where I enter the afterlife. I'd like to have a postmortem scene where the other players have a funeral and I can watch like a voyeuristic ghost. I'd like to have a postmortem scene where the other players have a funeral and I can participate like a creepy, voyeuristic ghost. I'd like to have a postmortem scene where I leave the afterlife. I'd like to have a postmortem sidequest where I fight my way out of the afterlife like the badass I am. I'd like to play an NPC (of whatever variety) until the other characters are able to bring me back to life. I'd like to play an alternate character (hereafter called an AC) until my initial character returns to life and then I decide which one I'd like to play. I'd like to play an AC until my initial character assassinates her/him/them. I'd like to play an AC until my IC (see what I did there) returns and they fight it out in a deathmatch. I'd like to play an AC until my IC returns and they hunt each other, Battle Royale style. Something else Just to be clear, I'm neither planning to kill anyone, nor currently intending to tweak the dangerousness dial of my campaign. While it does go to eleven, I currently have it set at four, this will increase to five as you approach hell (you'll know it when you see it), and then six for hell itself.