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Nobody Dies
Easily said, but not so easily implemented. Without the threat of death many player have difficulty engaging with a game because it surely presents no challenges.
Tish and tosh. The convention that nobody dies is a paradigm - a way of thinking - and not a statement of how the rules work. In Don't Panic! death is an inconvenient, and sometimes convenient, way of advancing the plot. It isn't a statement of finality.
As the Guide, your aim isn't to kill the players, nor to reward bad decision making with injury and mortality. It's about life, the universe, and everything else.
In terms of characters there are the froods - players and recurring characters, and the strags - everybody else. As far as death is concerned, the strags sadly take it on the chin. They are the countless millions who live like lemmings in the background while the froods, bolstered by probability points and a good deal of preferential treatment, blithely meander through the chaos acquiring the odd bruise and finding loopholes in their mortality.
Of course, froods can die. They're just not supposed to.
At 0 Probability Points a frood is just like a strag. One false move and the mortal coil gets shuffled. But there is still the plot to help them along, and lots of things the Guide can do to make things better. These include:
Afterlife Adventures: Death is just the beginning... entering the afterlife should open up a whole new set of adventures, depending upon the version of the afterlife entered, and should not prevent a character from returning to the real world at the end of his journey.
Anti-Cloning: It is possible that a character has an anti-clone. An anti-clone is identical to the original character in all ways except two. First, their true name is reversed (Arthur Dent becomes Tned Ruhtra), and second, if they ever come into physical contact with the original, or a clone of the original, both cease to exist.
If there is no original version or a clone, the anti-clone's purpose in life is lost, which may cause it to adopt the life and identity of the original.
Back-ups: We've all seen Star Trek. Instantaneous travel through digital transfer theoretically leaves back-up copies of the original character stored in data-buffers across the length and breadth of the galaxy.
Cloning: If a character has a Clonor Card, then his or her death will instantly result in a clone being generated (albeit for inhabitation by a completely different personality).
Some cloning services copy engrams, some don't. It is also possible that a character already has a clone or two wandering around (especially if he pays for his travels by the donation of bodily parts or bodily fluids).
Disembodiment: If death is sudden and involves the instant disintegration of the physical body, it is entirely possible that a character's psychic energy matrix is undamaged, meaning that his psychic energy isn't scattered or dissipated. Great for spiritualist-existentialist debates, but in the mean time the character appears to be a ghost.
Donor Services: If a character has a donor card, donor services will arrive as soon as possible to pick up and rejuvenate the remains for re-use. Legally the body belongs to them, but upon rejuvenation the original owner often regains consciousness and starts to regret what is about to happen.
Parallel Versions: According to the Whole Sort of General Mish-Mash there are lots of parallel continua occupied by lots of parallel versions of the same character. Incredibly similar, but often significantly different. If one dies it's entirely possible for another to be along on the next bus.
Quantum Hiccups and Paradox Events: The laws of time and space rarely travel in a straight line, especially in the Plural Zones. For characters that have travelled the length and breadth of the universe, perceived conflicting realities, travelled through time or been exposed to strange quantum phenomenon, anything could happen.
Regeneration: Oops, sorry, that's Doctor Who...
Reincarnation: In certain rare circumstances currently defined as an Act of God, some characters (like Agrajag) do not move on to the afterlife, but instead reappear in a new physical form. Due to the interconnectedness of all things their pass will cross with other player characters, but they may not realise it at the time.
Spontaneous Resurrection: There is usually an underlying cause for this rare and mystifying condition. Such a cause may not be immediately apparent, becoming a secret for the character concerned. Rest assured the plot should reveal all over time.
Transubstantiation: Intergalactically famous celebrities can subconsciously tap into psychic energies which can transform them into beings of divine power, fuelled by fan faith. Unaware that they have become immortal lesser gods, their species changes to Avatar, and life continues. They may find churches springing up, lepers asking to be healed, and get the urge to fulfil weird quests for no apparent reason, or they may not.
Tulpa: Powerful psychics can consciously tap into stray psychic energies to build themselves a new and often improved physical form which manifests itself as a grey shadowy "thing" at their time of death. Their mind transfers into the tulpa, which becomes their next body.
The other way a frood might die is through shame. Shame is a condition brought about by the acquisition of guilt. Because the guilt rules encourage survival through role-playing, shame should be extremely rare, and is the only real route a player can take if he loses the will to play or wants to kill off his character.
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If there is no original version or a clone, the anti-clone's purpose in life is lost, which may cause it to adopt the life and identity of the original.
Some cloning services copy engrams, some don't. It is also possible that a character already has a clone or two wandering around (especially if he pays for his travels by the donation of bodily parts or bodily fluids).
Reincarnation: In certain rare circumstances currently defined as an Act of God, some characters (like Agrajag) do not move on to the afterlife, but instead reappear in a new physical form. Due to the interconnectedness of all things their pass will cross with other player characters, but they may not realise it at the time.
Spontaneous Resurrection: There is usually an underlying cause for this rare and mystifying condition. Such a cause may not be immediately apparent, becoming a secret for the character concerned. Rest assured the plot should reveal all over time.
Tulpa: Powerful psychics can consciously tap into stray psychic energies to build themselves a new and often improved physical form which manifests itself as a grey shadowy "thing" at their time of death. Their mind transfers into the tulpa, which becomes their next body.
Metabaron |
Latest page update: made by Metabaron
, Sep 27 2007, 1:51 PM EDT
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