How should Death and Resurrection be handled in RPGs?

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Let's talk about dying and resurrection in RPGs. How would you handle it?

You die in the game, you also die in real life.
Afterwards, you can get resurrected in the game (for a steep price), but not in real life.

Gaming of the future... Sword Art online eh (the original arc).


Anyway...
Die at 0 hp
Perma dead
Autosaves all the time to reflect you are dead and did xyz (wrong or right). In fact.. character disintegrates and items, loot, etc fall to the ground.

The game taunts you at how you suck and laughs.

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

When I make a game, it's going to have blackjack, and hookers. And permadeath.

 

[undecaf]

I liked the idea Paranoia had about clones.

You could expand that idea by allowing the PC’s consciousness to linger on as an electromagnetic anomaly for a while after the body has died, and attempt to capture a nearby body (of any living being aside from plants) before dissolving into air and giving the game over screen.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

resurrection is dumb, it forces you to have someone who can do it otherwise you're just hugely inconveniencing yourself for no actual gain.
then either you have your characters expendable or immortal. any death state forces abusing save and load game.
you just lost a beloved character, what now? when your men are many and easily replaceable, like in x-com, you mourn the loss but keep with the flow. when it's not, like xcom, you just get pissed and reload, maybe try again, and if something else goes wrong you ragequit and shit on the disc.

 

[NecroLord]

Indeed,in D&D or any other RPG with relatively easy access to resurrection,death can become almost trivial. There is no mystery,no sorrow and pain over losing a valued companion(and possibly wanting to get revenge on the slayer).
One thing I would like to see is a deity of Death and Entropy who would absolutely not allow(or be pleased) with some adventurers so nonchalantly casting resurrection spells. They might have to pay a tribute(the caster must sacrifice his life or the life of another). Grimdark...
One cannot break the cycle of Life and Death so easily and with no consequences.

 

[SlightlyRadioactive]

the caster must sacrifice his life or the life of another

Now that would be much more interesting than a simple ressurection scroll even more if it could only be done by companions of equal or higher level, give it a limited save system and it would be truly

 

[CHEMS]

I like Darkest Dungeon's formula of pseudo permadeath. They die "permanently", but there's a slim chance you get an event to ressurect dead heroes. Darkest Dungeon also prevents save scumming entirely, so no reloading for you

 

[lukaszek]

resurrection is dumb, it forces you to have someone who can do it otherwise you're just hugely inconveniencing yourself for no actual gain.

or... get anather attack helicopter character instead, thus destroy enemies faster and reduce the need of resurrection in first place

Spoiler

through save & reload