Death

[clackey]

There was talk a ways back about there being a character death milestone, but I don't think it's in there.

In Civil War, Goliath is killed, flat out. And I'm still wondering how that's handled mechanically. Can PCs die in this game?

[Crion]

There was talk a ways back about there being a character death milestone, but I don't think it's in there.

In Civil War, Goliath is killed, flat out. And I'm still wondering how that's handled mechanically. Can PCs die in this game?

The one thing I love about Marvel (and other games like it, like FATE), is that it is narration based. When a character is Stressed-Out (regardless of the stress), consider them KO'd, curled into a ball, removed from the scene, etc.

To quote the book (OM24): If any kind of trauma is stepped up beyond D12, your hero is dead, in a vegetative state, or otherwise out of the story. This isn't necessarily the end for him, of course. People in the Marvel Universe have come back from far worse!

So what happens when you go over the D12 Trauma? Narration takes over from there. Instead of just killing the party over bad die rolls, you now have the choice to just have them captured or generally inconvenienced. That's how I've viewed this game, and I'm tossing some of the elements from the aforementioned FATE (the "concessions" mechanic for those in the know) into my sessions for good measure.


As for Goliath: I don't know if I would make that a milestone in his case. Honestly, I think it would be a dramatically appropriate moment in the session.

The Watcher would have put Ragnarok/Thor Clone on the table as a sign that the gloves are off. Goliath would have taken the hit and gotten Stressed Out and probably hit with enough Trauma to take him out of the fight. Goliath's player, wanting to motivate the rest of the story, offers the narration that he was killed by the blast, and the Watcher agrees, and makes a nod to the decision in the Transition Scene of Goliath's Funeral.

[Cam]

Goliath has one, and there's a related Event Milestone about taking trauma.

Cheers,
Cam

[igorbone]

There was talk a ways back about there being a character death milestone, but I don't think it's in there.

In Civil War, Goliath is killed, flat out. And I'm still wondering how that's handled mechanically. Can PCs die in this game?

PCs die when it's dramatically appropriate for them to die. Normally this envolves a sacrifice of some sorts.

NPCs can simply die, for the same reason: in Civil War the death of Goliath is the Watcher saying "now the s*** is serious"

[clackey]

The rules as +D12 Trauma, not stress. It seems virtually impossible for a PC to die. Now I get that the narrative nature of the game is about controlling what happens to your characters, but the way I see it, the only way to have a character die is step out of the rules.

When you take over +D12 stress, then you get D6 trauma. And you're out of the scene. So you would have to be stressed out five scenes in a row to get over +D12 trauma. Am I missing something?

Now if the PCs can't be killed within the rules, neither can the Villains or the NPCs. So it makes it a very soft game with no real danger. UNLESS the big bad watcher decides to start killing off characters. What if the Players say 'no?' The rules are there to get everyone on the same page AND to give a bit of randomness. The dice do make choices for us and we let them. Heck, we want them to, because then it surprises us. We're shocked. We're amazed. It's fun.

Now I'm not saying I want a game where everyone can die at the drop of a hat, but it would be great to have some mechanic that can make that happen.

Also the milestone says 'take trauma' it says nothing about death! As does his human shield SFX.

[Thorguild]

Hi Clackey,

OM 24 states:
Stressing Out and Taking Trauma
Once any type of stress exceeds d12, your hero is stressed out and can’t take any actions or do anything until he recovers with
another hero’s aid or in a Transition Scene.

That's not the same as being out of the scene. You are still there, and if someone was a real jerk, they could just keep pummeling you.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wpPLG-yJpJw/T ... rowbar.jpg

It would take a few rounds, and all you could do was pray that the Watcher ends the scene. When Robin gets killed by the Joker, even after he's taken big trauma he still has to get blown up to make him dead-dead-not-quite-dead.

Goliath has to be getting some XP or something. It's an inside deal.

Thorguild

[Mad Thinker]

Hi Clackey,

OM 24 states:
Stressing Out and Taking Trauma
Once any type of stress exceeds d12, your hero is stressed out and can’t take any actions or do anything until he recovers with
another hero’s aid or in a Transition Scene.

That's not the same as being out of the scene. You are still there, and if someone was a real jerk, they could just keep pummeling you.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wpPLG-yJpJw/T ... rowbar.jpg

It would take a few rounds, and all you could do was pray that the Watcher ends the scene.

Yeah, that's the sort of situation Shadowcat's "To The Rescue" SFX is for. If she's stressed out, she can spend a PP and have Lockheed get her out of the scene, so the badguys can't keep pummeling her.

[clackey]

But that still doesn't answer the question. In the rules, how does one die? In the Civil War, Goliath is standing and fighting. One attack later, he's dead.

If the rules are you only die when you decide to die, seems to really take the edge off the game. Especially Civil War which is very, very gritty. There should be a mechanic to deal with something so very important. Life and Death.

Now people always can come back in Marvel, but they sure do die.

[EldritchFire]

But that still doesn't answer the question. In the rules, how does one die? In the Civil War, Goliath is standing and fighting. One attack later, he's dead.

If the rules are you only die when you decide to die, seems to really take the edge off the game. Especially Civil War which is very, very gritty. There should be a mechanic to deal with something so very important. Life and Death.

Now people always can come back in Marvel, but they sure do die.

You die when your trauma is stepped beyond d12. If you get stressed out in one scene, that's d6 trauma. If your stress is removed during that scene, you're still at d6 trauma and if you get stressed out again, that steps the trauma up to d8. Continue this for one more scene, and you're at d12! one more misstep, and it's lights out!

Granted, Watcher would have to pick on you purposely to do that, I would think, but it can happen.

Also, when stressed out, you can still be targeted by your opposition, and can take more trauma that way.

-EF

[clackey]

I know you can slowly kill off a character, but that's NEVER how it happens in the comics. Some one gets blasted, shot, melted, destroyed from reality or beaten to a pulp and die, but they NEVER get whittled down like the mechanics show in this game.

This seems like a huge story/character point that should be touched upon in the mechanics of this game.