Death Sub-system

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This article was featured on the blog: Brief introduction to Death and Dying

This article is incomplete and while details have been given more is required. This will be expanded at a later date as time permits

Template Sub-system
Sub-system:	Death
Overview:	This Sub-system covers the process used to handle all aspects of dying and bleeding, death, resurrection, respawning and retiring characters.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Components 3 Implementation 4 Database Requirements 5 Notes

Introduction

One aspect of Persistent worlds which often tends to suffer badly from meta-gaming is the concept of death. Perma-death is too harsh a concept, and respawning harkens back to the days of arcade games like Diablo or Dungeon Siege. How then can you successfully tackle the concept of death in an online Persistent World when it differs in so many ways to the Group Pen and Paper aspects we are trying to capture? And how do you maintain the value of life when coming back from the dead means little more than a few Experience points and some gold?

As a result, this sub-system draw from previous experience with Pen and paper, especially where death was concerned. In many an old campaign, if a tragedy befell a player who had been doing so well, the DM would "fudge" things. A killing blow mearly rendered them unconscious, or opened up an opportunity for some "ad-lib" role-playing by whisking them off to the local prison of those they were fighting. The intention is to provide both a realistic and plausible alternative to respawning, yet still allow for the use of Perma-death in those instances where it is truly necessary.

In this situation, the measure of how well a player is going is determined by the number of Character points they have, and these points are sacrificed instead of experience and gold when a character dies and comes back to life.

Components

• Dying and bleeding rules
• Player death rules
• Resurrection rules
• Escaping death rules
• After death rules

Implementation

Database Requirements

• Data Managed:
  • Escaping Death Templates
  • Specific instances of Escaping Death
    • Global Instances
    • Location Specific Instances
    • Creature Specific Instances
    • Area Specific Instances
    • Quest Specific Instances
  • Character Point Requirements
• Logs Managed:
  • Character Deaths

Notes

This system is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

• The void will be included in the template itself
• The possible options for Escaping Death will be kept in the database and can be managed via the Death Management tool
• The option to continue playing in the afterlife is world specific
• The exact penalty for resurrection can be adjusted
• The system of bleeding should follow the 3.5 rules