Many larp settings are violent or dangerous places, where characters die. This article discusses different approaches to this.

In the mechanical terms used by many boffer larps, there are a number of options, including:

• A ‘death count.’ A character reduced to zero (or negative hit points) dies after a set period of time, normally a few minutes, unless healed. It’s possible for this length of time to vary by character, or for it to be reduced if the character is on huge negative number.
• A bead draw or other randomiser. The player (either the casualty or healer) draws a bead from a bag and checks the colour it to determine their fate. This might have a range of options in-between ‘fine’ and ‘dead’ such as permanent injuries. Different healers can carry different bead bags with different mixes of colours, representing their different skill, or a ref may supply a different bag to reflect the situation (e.g. applying narrative logic, so the really lethal bag only comes out for the dramatic climax.
• Fate points. A variation on the above, but rather than random chances the player gets set number. This could be ‘per event,’ or ‘ever’ or some other option. It’s possible to try to intregate these into the in-setting metaphysics (e.g. divine favour) rather than being purely off-game.
• Player choice. The character chooses when their character dies. Some players are likely to rely more on their narrativist sense (i.e. will this create a cool death scene at this point), some try to consider their simulationist logic (i.e. is my character likely to have died, given everything that happened?)

It’s possible to mix these approaches together. For example, you might only have a bead draw after the death count runs out. You could have fate points that allow a redraw or modify a bead draw, rather than being automatic. You could rule that players can always choose to have their character die if they want to.

Another point to consider is if to include a mechanism to allow people to ‘finish off’ a downed character and confirm the kill. It may be more dramatic to have this take more effort / time than a simple ‘throat slit,’ (e.g. delivering ten simulated pulled blows to completely sever the head) so others can see it happening and attempt to stop it. Another option is to have a rule to allow an attacker to modify the chance of death or make healing them more ‘expensive’ without making the death certain. (e.g. hitting them, to put them on a bigger negative number of hit points, so it takes more mana points to magically heal them)

Consider for example a hostage stand-off situation. In some larps, especially fantasy ones, the dynamics of what could be a tense situation fails to work – the attackers can simply storm in, defeat the hostage takers, and then heal up the hostages before they die, regardless of what the hostage takers do to them because the mechanics cause that result.

Within a high fantasy context, it’s also important to consider whether to include any kind of resurrection mechanic or not. Doing so radically alters the setting e.g. If resurrection is possible, a King does not need to fear assassination attempts anything like as much. Limitations places on it can have massive implications for the setting. For example, if resurrection requires the use of a diamond as a spellcasting component (as in D&D), the strategic value of diamond mines increases massively. If it requires having the body, then disposal of the enemy dead becomes an important ritual. It also transforms a ‘capture’ mission into a ‘kill them and bring the body back’ mission. Fate points can be used as a less high fantasy alternative to resurrection, without causing many of these issues.

There are other less mechanical approaches to this issue, as guidelines/conventions for players to follow:

• Don’t kill a character unless you really need to. While still allowing character death, players agree to not do it casually. So, someone attacked by bandits randomly may be mugged or beaten but left alive, while they could still actually die to a deliberate attempt by a long term enemy to kill them.
• If you are going to kill a character, try to arrange to do it near the end of the event. This makes it less disruptive to the victim’s players play experience. It’s comparable to most films, that don’t kill off significant characters until near the end.
• Surrender / Capture. If your character appears outclassed they should surrender. If someone tries to surrender your character can capture them, but not kill them out of hand. This can also be written into the setting as cultural tradition. Generally it’s more interesting to be captured and play out interrogation scenes (and hope for a rescue attempt) than simply killed. It’s also often relatively easy for the victor to justify not killing such a character, given their value either for the information they know, or as a hostage (or to be sold into slavery). It can also be worth planning what happens to the players of characters who die. It might be worth having an NPC role and kit for them to play if they want to (particularly if it happens early on in the event). It can also be worth thinking about their experience, how they leave the magic circle of the game and de-roll, as discussed back in Article 12.

In conclusion, there are a wide range of different options to handle character death, from brutally realistic to narrativistic logic. Considering how to handle this can have a profound effect on your larp.