Re: New Type of MoD - No Respawns

[Child of Maragaram]

My original suggestion is seen here:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14054

What do people think? Is this a good idea? A bad idea? A bit of both? I'd really like to know the thoughts of other players on the potential benefits and issues I mentioned. Would you consider playing with the Mark of Death? Why or why not?

(We're still allowed to make threads like this, right?)

[Jack Oat]

I kinda like this suggestion. The only thing I would maybe change is that the death has to be a PvP death, if only because I prefer that system (as seen in Fixed Level's Mark of Destiny) to the regular Arelith system where literally any death (including to dumb stuff) is counted.

I realize your suggestion says "no respawns," and not simply a one-life MoD, but still sometimes dumb stuff happens, your party gets TPKd because Titania A CERTAIN DM thinks that mobs with 100+ STR are fit for your party to fight, you pull a Clarissa(?) by losing your one life to hunger/thirst/fatigue because you forget to log out before work or whatever. I think changing it over to a more player-driven motive would help enhance the story. Then the actions players have (executions, wars, etc.) can have actual, mechanical impact.

[theCountofMonteCristo]

I think it is a bad idea that will invariably lead to metagaming. When someone dies with this, they will send messages to all of their friends to get them to come rescue them.

Players don't take the MoD very often as it is. A more strict version (all be it with more reward) will likely be taken even less.

[Black Wendigo]

THe last thing Arelith needs is more permadeath. Arelith is not built for an "ironman" mode type of gaming (where you only get one life and that's it). Not just in it's design but in the playerbase. Multiplayer games and permadeath do not go well together. This is what single player mode gaming is for.

I've been on servers that had permadeath and I stopped playing them very quickly for very good reasons. Not the least of which is because it is not fun. I don't like spending a lot of time on a char only to have it wiped out in seconds over a death. Arelith is very pvp orientated in my experience (not a bad thing). and ther is nting worse than getting permakilled by a PC, whether it's legit, cheeseball, accidental or whatever. I do not want to have to worry about this nor would I want to deal with people who might take it hard when they die and lose their char.

[Nitro]

Extra bonus points if a passing level 30 wild mage accidentally oneshots you with a bad surge while trying to kill some wolverines bothering them while you were passing by.

[-XXX-]

I wouldn't want to play a character with 1 life on Arelith.
Also, your proposed way sort of opens up opportunities and temptations for the MoD player to cheat ("died there and there come rezz me plz" type of metagaming messages over discord is the first one that comes to my mind right off the bat for example). IMO there are many valid reasons why the current MoD works the way it does. Even IRL if someone ends their journey in a tragic car accident for example, they don't get to say their farewells either.
If you want to have control over your character's story and conclude it with a closure, you always have the option to not play MoD. If you want to play a hardcore character with 1 life, you always have the option to not respawn after the first death.

[Ork]

If leveling wasn't a chore, this would be fun.

[Black Wendigo]

Also permadeath is superfluous: At any time we can choose to kill off our chars permanently and end thier story. A mechanic that forces that only throws a monkey wrench into RP.

[Child of Maragaram]

Seems like overall people think it's a bad idea because of the potential for metagaming.

I had considered the metagaming aspect (aka calling friends for a raise rescue) before I made the suggestion, but I figured that the players who do that are probably doing it anyway to avoid death penalties or gold loss. And I guess I like to imagine that there aren't players like that on Arelith, which is why I didn't mention it in my suggestion post. Even though I know, logically, that there probably are some. But even so, I don't think the fact that some people may abuse an already abuseable system is a fair reason to shut the idea down entirely.

And I don't really think the permadeath aspect is that much of a problem though because, again, it's entirely optional. Thus, only players who are okay with the possibility of their character being permanently killed would be choosing the Mark of Death. I just thought it could be a fun challenge for players who don't usually perma-kill their character, and a boon for players who do usually play that way.

The Mark of Destiny serves a lot of the same functions, but as I said in my suggestion post, it also takes away all of the narrative control from the player. The point of the Mark of Death is that it doesn't take away ~all~ of the player's narrative control because they don't automatically vanish upon death. It gives you the chance to create an epilogue of sorts, instead of ending the character's story abruptly. Or even a continuation of the story, if by luck (or, I guess, metagaming...) the character is saved.

Personally, whether or not this becomes becomes a thing won't effect how I play my own characters, but then, I wouldn't be making the suggestion if I didn't play that way already.