Uses for dead characters

[tkdco2]

The main reason I couldn't get into Traveller for so long was the chance of a character dying while being created. I thought it was pointless to have a character die before he started his adventures. But after thinking about it, I thought of a few ways they can be useful. Here are a few random thoughts.

Background: These characters may be part of the setting's background history. Maybe they took part in a major battle in the past. They may be the ancestors of the current characters ("Grandpa died in the Battle of Ganymede."). Alternatively, the characters may have served together or fought on opposite sides. Either way, you can add detail to a character's backstory.

Plot Hooks: Maybe the dead character was murdered, and the current character was hired to investigate. Maybe the PC was framed for the murder and has to clear his name. Perhaps the PC himself killed the dead character and is being hunted by the latter's friends. There are a lot of ways to play this.

Anyway, I just needed to write out my thoughts. Feel free to add your own ideas.

[flightcommander]

We typically preferred the sensible "injury" rule: "If the referee or player chooses prior to character generation, then a failure of the survival roll can be converted to injury..." It always seemed perfectly reasonable that there be some risk inherent in the continued acquisition of career skills and benefits in the (mostly) armed forces. In any case, the process is amenable to house rules — by ignoring the survival roll, or proclaiming automatic survival for the first X terms, etc.

I like your idea for making use of deceased characters though. "Our last Ship's Engineer, well, he was a good kid — terrible way to lose him, though. Gas giant skimming is dangerous business. But I'm sure you'll do great!"

[tkdco2]

I rolled up a bunch of characters using an online character generator; that website sadly no longer exists. Some of the navy crew in one batch, including the highest-ranking officer, ended up dead. The back story: The ship was in a battle and is in bad shape. The PCs are responding to the distress call.

Plot twist suggested by a friend: The PCs were on the other side of the conflict, but they wish to defect.

[flightcommander]

That was likely my online Traveller character generator I'll look into rebooting it somehow.

[coffee]

Was that the one from the Signal GK site? That was an awesome site. I was sad when I found out it was no more.

[flightcommander]

That's the one.

[kpeterson]

I just use characters-that-die-in-chargen as NPCs. Living and encountered.

Traveller death-in-chargen is a mechanic that tests players through gambling. Do you play it safe and be content with a less experience character? Or, do you tempt the odds, shake the dice for the chance at a more experienced character, and then possibly go bust (with a dead character as the result)?

With injuries replacing death, the element of gambling is removed. Why not roll for Survival every time when the worst outcome is merely an abridged term? You'd almost be foolish not to.

I'm not trying to be 'one-true-way' here - whichever way you play Traveller is no skin off my back. I just think it's a cool chargen mechanic - one that's unfairly criticized - and another great thing about the game.

[tkdco2]

Flashbacks are another use for dead characters.

[ffilz]

I never played with the injury rule back in the day because I never knew about it (I have the 1977 edition of Traveller). I forget when I first saw it, I think maybe it's in Mega Traveller.

I think once or twice I used dead characters as NPCs, but in some ways that seems unfair.

Frank

[coffee]

Aug 24, 2015 0:29:25 GMT -6 flightcommander said:

That's the one.

I would love to see that rebooted! One of the best fan sites I'd ever seen.

Loved the subsector generator, too.

[franchise]

I kind of like the plot hook, part of using the char gen deaths as a seed for creation.

I was never the GM, but for some reason the char gen death possibility appealed to me, maybe because I felt like it raised the stakes. I felt like if creating a character was that suspenseful, then the game would really be an adventure.

[tkdco2]

Here's one GM's idea on how to deal with characters dying.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdxWk7Z_VHc