Death and Dying

[Guest]

I just ran my first game of Malifaux last night using the PDFs, and really feel like I must be missing something because I was left with a big question - how do characters die?

 

When you go below 0 Wounds, you make a TN 10 Toughness + Tenacity duel and flip for a critical effect. It appears to me that the only way for a character (Fated or Fatemaster controlled) to die is to gain the right critical effects. That's what we decided on while we were playing, but it's not at all spelled out in the Almanacs, which made for a bit of confusion because this isn't how other games handle death. Is it true in Malifaux that the only way to die is to be at low enough negative wounds that a critical effect can take them out permanently?

[edonil]

For Fated, correct. Or FM fiat if it's your Fate or something. But yeah, that's basically how it works.

[Mako]

Ending up in criticals isn't exactly hard though. It might be hard to die, but I've found that it's quite easy to get hurt!

[Malsqueek]

Death being technically a critical effect is a bit non-intuitive, but its REALLY great when you start beating up on your fated and they get to about -4/5 wounds and start considering just passing out to stop taking punishment.

 

As a side bonus, the way that death works in this system for the Fated really makes their ends seem very cinematic.

[Ad1]

From memory,

 

1) During failed surgery (Yes I have a Doctor).

 

2) Critical effect on the Severe table.

 

3) Bleeding Out condition. (Again with the Doc thing )

 

4) Suffocating/Drowning condition.

 

5) When the narrative is best served.

 

Also some critical effects on both the moderate and severe critical charts can become permanent when a character is fully healed. Don't need to kill a character to make their life hell or see them forced into 'early retirement'. I believe one of the effects could even see the character in a permanent unconcious state (Coma?). Having gone under the Surgeon's knife during the healing process can help with this duel! makes 1) worth the risk in some instances.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Ad

[E.T.A. Hoffman]

So, what do you DM's do when a player character does die? Ive been troubled by this. So there's what 5 fated steps. Let's say you have 4 players, thats about 20 sessions to complete each fated step. Say you get 10 in  and a character dies. What do you do? There's nothing that brings a character back. This creates a problem for group. Does the player drop? Does he roll a new character and start at fate step 1. Does he roll a new character and skip to the same fate step as the other characters? Does the player just continue playing his character? The game is too narrative I think to continue properly after a death. Suggestions on how to handle this?

[Sybaris]

Depends completely on your crowd of players. Some circles (and individuals) have a lot of difficulty with their own character's death. They see it as failure, so it's your job to make it seem like it was worht it. Something i don't agree with is that all episodes must end with players feeling victorious...that's weird to me. Victory must be a goal, an long or short term achievement, but players must feel challenged, involved and first and foremost: have a great time doing it. Failure is part of malifaux, but fated are somewhat told "you will do something before you go".  That said, remember that the Fate lines are a guide line, so while they may be important for a character, you don't need to center every adventure they do around it...plus the way they can be interpreted is so wide that you can almost always find a connection.

 

Sometimes there has been a few NPCs that have interacted with the crew that could be interesting to bring in as player characters (that entertainer they met in the saloon, or the mercenary that offered to work for them earlier)...you can offer the player who's character has died to take on the role of one them if any are suitable. This would allow you to continue the story, a bit like a book sometimes changes the "point of view" from a character to another. If this is a route you and your players consider fun, make sure to introduce some potential character back ups subtly during the story as they go around. Hell it could even be a rival who also ends up in need of help after some event...making them potential allies.

 

Other players want to start over, prefering to create their own concept. Then it's a matter of connecting that character with the crew. There has to be sufficient credibility for the other characters to want to bring it along. A brother or sister (be it real or a neverborn) can come around, an old friend, or simply someone in the same trade or working toward the same goal (and having heard of the other characters). There are a few "authorities" who can enforce characters to get together, but  if you go that road you must use enough finesse in order to make sure the players don't feel shoehorned into it.

 

Lastly, death is part of malifaux, it's the tragic end of a good portion of people who go "drama" around the city. Fated characters have something special about them and the way death is treated in the system makes sure they have a shot at doing something fun (be it good or bad). I've also agreed in past circles that if everyone falls unconscious, their fate is in the hands of the weaver...and that often means death depending on what happened. I'd tend to keep my players on edge, too, as i want Malifaux to look like the scariest haunted house anyone could imagine...with a little bit of insane hope and faded majesty about it. 

[DeleteAccount]

Also, don't forget that time doesn't have to be linear, you can leapfrog around with that a bit and if a Fated dies at the end of his arc, it ain't such a big deal if you can cover the rest doing a "5 days earlier" narrative.

[WalkingInBlack]

Well there is that other option of becoming undead.

[EnternalVoid]

Well there is that other option of becoming undead.

 

Something that I have considered as I looked over stuff, afterall being Fated might pull chance your way in that regard.  If used well you can really give some memorial RPG action if you can play this off well to your group.

[rubbe]

Undead is a good way to keep a dead character in play.

everything is possibile in Malifaux, and the almanacs cover, in my opinion, just a guideline.

Resurrection is not on the almanacs? not a problem, put in a legend about a mighty soulstone that can bring back people from death, and in the research the dead character could be a spirit linked to another player.

 

i don't like to kill player, but in this game it could be lot of fun because of the endless possibilities death opens.

 

and remember... undeads never sleep, consider this

[The Godlyness]

Raising from the dead or amalgamation. Like ryle. Course if the head or bod is completely obliterated then you need a good story to back it up.

[Mason]

I'll probably carry on with our standard RPG tradition of just having someone roll up a new character.  They might not get all of their destiny addressed before the big climax, sure...but the player could always bring the character back in a future game if that ends up being a big deal for your group.  Or just weave his fate in with those of the other characters and keep on truckin'. 

[ReubenHappens]

If you want to preserve the destiny, let them make a replacement character with the same cards as they flipped initially. This will preserve the destiny but they can change characters (of course, this means that all a person's characters will have the same station...one possibiity is just to reflip the station card)

[alemon]

Personally, I have players come in with fresh fated. We typically tackle more than one fate in a session so it's not too hard to catch them back up if you want. So far one player has reflipped a character (they died to a critical condition. I don't feel bad, they started the fight) and they're behind a few steps but it isn't too bad.

[LordZombie]

Personally, the one thing about TTB that bugs me is the whole fate system. Not the whole system, but the idea that the fates rule the story. The idea that a campaign should be players x 5 sessions and start a new one. If a player should happen to die, I see no problem with them starting up a new character and joining the group. If it is a real problem, just have them start off with those fate steps already done then work it into their back story. The fates should not be the end of a great story for the other players.

[Mason]

We just had our first death in our campaign (the player exploded herself with a clock tower full of dynamite), and then offered to rotate out for  a bit so that a new player could have a shot at the game.  I had the new player roll up a Fated with new destiny steps, which I'm just going to work into the story as we go forward.  It really wasn't that much of a big deal, but we're still early in the campaign, only three sessions in, so maybe that will change later on.