Have you ever had a character die in game?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Shriker, Dec 10, 2013.

  1. cattigan
    Caffeine Fix

    cattigan Newcomer Game Owner

    I haven't actively written a character's death, but I've had characters that just ran their course, so they were replaced and effectively 'killed off'.

    My new site is a Hunger Games based one though, so there will be lots of death ;D I made a character with the hope of killing her off actually, it'd be interesting to write I think.
     
  2. Trisfinn

    Trisfinn Newcomer

    I have had a character death in a game, and it was... disappointing. Not in that it happened at all, I'm okay with character deaths, but that it had absolutely no effect on the other characters that spent the previous few years RPing with her. In comparison there were other character deaths which were made a very big deal of in-character. It was a little bizarre. Like she never existed.
     
  3. Chris Trips

    Chris Trips Newcomer

    I actually had loads of characters dying.

    I am killing a character of mine in my latest RP as well, because... reasons? xD
     
  4. ExodusRising

    ExodusRising Newcomer Game Owner

    There are sometimes when a character's death is needed for the development of other characters, the plot etc. I've definitely killed off a few for this reason, but always try to make sure their death has a meaningful impact.
     
  5. circe
    Amazed

    circe Newcomer Game Owner

    I've never had to write a character death, but I created a character recently with the intention of her stirring a little malice and then having to be taken down in a blaze of glory. So definitely looking forward to it - if one of my primary characters died though, it'd have to be an IC reason - I'd hate them to get a passing on in an undeserving manner.
     
  6. Azzie

    Azzie Newcomer Game Owner

    I came close to killing off a character once, but they recovered. Can't say i've come any closer than that one time aside from being a part of different RP communities that are the same genre, just different times. For example, I wrote Star Wars on one site that was set in the past, and another that was more to the present. The past forum was the mother character, and the present was the daughter. In the present, the mother was dead.
     
  7. Tainted Snow Queen
    Cold

    Tainted Snow Queen Resident Game Owner

    I do not believe I've ever killed a *real* character of mine. I spend too much time on their bios to do that. I have created NPC-like characters with the intention of killing them. I've made a few insane and they had to drop from being active. I've worked with someone once who liked the *idea* of a character being killed off. And while his character was effectively dead (listed as KIA) there was pretty much always an idea to bring either that character, or one just like it back.

    The main reason I don't really kill off characters, is I've found most players (and thus characters) are quite numb to it. It'll be a thing for maybe a post or two, but then it's like they never existed in their lives. I think it's because of people not wanting to deal with the attachment because too many people come and go and it would get tiring to feel bad about all of them. They have trouble finding the balance.
     
    Death Kitten likes this.
  8. Death Kitten
    Kickass

    Death Kitten Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Game Owner

    I find a lot of people kill off characters when they leave a game, then regret it later. Especially when the character died for reasons that had to be construed and didn't actually do much of anything to justify the plot. Heck, I had to help one character undo killing off his prize pig because a few months after he killed him, he realized he really didn't want to have killed him and the new host he dropped the slug into wasn't really as awesome of a character. Granted, I wasn't impressed with either, but I wasn't in charge of the game and he had the CO's ear. >.< I still helped craft a much more believable excuse for his return than he and the CO had come up with.

    I wish more people would think it through more carefully before killing a character, particularly one they're attached to.
     
  9. Tainted Snow Queen
    Cold

    Tainted Snow Queen Resident Game Owner

    ^This is why I don't kill off my characters. I'm more likely to retire them for an extended period of time. It's also why people love killing off NPCs. No consequences to them as a player. They don't have to part with someone they're attached to.
     
  10. Death Kitten
    Kickass

    Death Kitten Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Game Owner

    I still take it as a challenge to kill off NPCs in a way that actually affects people. We're still having fall out from my killing Ensign Kenneth McCormick. ^_^
     
    Elena likes this.
  11. slytherinwitch

    slytherinwitch Newcomer

    I had considered killing a few original characters, but the game did not progress to the point where it would have made sense to do so. That said, a canon character who did not die in canon was killed in a game once. It was frustrating to me that hardly any of the other players really acknowledged the death much. Within a day or so game time it seemed everyone had forgotten the death even happened.
     
  12. Elena
    Arthritic

    Elena Resident Game Owner

    I kill any character or NPC if the story is requiring it for a maximum impact. But it doesn't mean I wasn't attached to some reoccurring NPCs too, and they got an epic death :)
     
    Archaeon and Death Kitten like this.
  13. slytherinwitch

    slytherinwitch Newcomer

    It reminds me of when people want horrible tragedies to befall their characters, but have no consequences and the whole thing is resolved in a week-end (game time) or less. That said, I would probably not kill off my primary original characters, though the temptation to do so has reared its head from time to time. It felt like fandom suicide though, rather than something the game really needed. Real life emotions influencing the plot, so at those times stepping back was the right answer.
     
    Elena likes this.
  14. midorialexandros
    Classy

    midorialexandros Newcomer Game Owner

    I have so, so, SO been here.

    I've killed a ton of characters in my time, though like you said it's always this HUGE emotional post I have to write about their death. It makes me sad to kill a character but it is also kind of liberating to start something new..... right? lol
     
    Archaeon and Elena like this.
  15. Maru

    Maru Newcomer

    I've only ever had a small handful of characters die and I've been roleplaying for about 15 years. All of them were plot driven deaths. I don't remember all the details but I do remember two were murdered. One because he was a tyrant and the other because he got caught as a spy. That had been the saddest death because a lot of characters had really liked him. It really brought out some other great plots among the other members. Whenever I lose interest in a character, killing them off just seems wrong. There is no feeling behind killing a character you've lost interest in and likely if you've lost interest in the character than others have lost interest in them as well so it likely wont be the same. I feel in cases of a lost of interest, you should simply set the character aside for a while. You never know when the urge to pick them up again might come back.
     
    Lure Master likes this.
  16. beccaday02

    beccaday02 Newcomer

    If I get bored of a character I always kill them off so there is an ending to their story. I don't like to just let them go inactive. But I've only done it twice.
     
  17. Chay

    Chay Newcomer Game Owner

    I enjoy killing off my characters if it makes sense to the roleplay and offers richness to the story. In a court intrigue roleplay that I still am active on, I killed off a character of mine named Vaylen. He was a temperamental noble that had been bastardized and nearly exiled by his family. He got involved with the queen, fell in love with her (really he was just in love with the idea of her) and when she was taken captive by another of the aristocratic families and came back after several months of being away with a brand new husband, Vaylen slowly fell into a whirlpool of madness and self-pity that led him to try and murder the queen, only to be beheaded by her husband.
     
    Elena likes this.
  18. Wyman

    Wyman Newcomer Game Owner

    I killed off an NPC who used to be a PC of mine almost two years ago. It was meant to help drive the plot on my current GM character's old sim (before I used him as a commanding officer), as he died in a terrorist attack on a starbase right in front of my character. As the guy was his friend and former mentor, it jarred him quite a bit. Ended up being the basis for an entire mission on another sim, as his remains were brought back to his homeworld for burial.
     
    Elena likes this.
  19. Applewood

    Applewood Newcomer

    I've written a few PC, and many NPC deaths. I've tended to notice people seem to find the reactions to those deaths more hard to read without crying than the actual deaths, so I try to include those, too.

    Probably the saddest of the PC and NPC deaths are those that get glossed over, as a player left, or got kicked. I appreciate the players who take the time to remember those before them, though I'm occasionally guilty of that(particularly with my non-medical characters).
     
    Elena likes this.
  20. TheDemonDoors
    Anime Lover

    TheDemonDoors Newcomer Game Owner

    I always contemplate glorious ways in which to kill off my characters, especially ones that I recycle. I never go through with it, although some have experienced near death.
     
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