Modifying damage and death rules

[rguest1025]

I'm more or less completely new to GMing ... or RPGs in general. Bought Magical Kitties Save the Day last year. Thought it would be a good starter since it said, "for all ages." Never before have I felt so inadequate as when it came to attempting to come up with adventures. Anyway, I digress.

Since things haven't gone well with Magical Kitties and I don't want to make everyone start over, I decided to look for a different game. Found a thread on Reddit that recommended Beyond the Wall as being good for families as well as beginner GM friendly. I'm reading through the rules and ... well ... PCs can die. An aspect of MK that I liked was that the PCs didn't die. In MK, the character would get "owies," a certain number of "owies" turned into an "injury," and a certain number of injuries turned into the character being rendered unconscious for the rest of the scene.

While I don't really have a problem with PC death being part of the game, and I know my husband doesn't really care, I know my kids. I've got one that is going to do something stupid that is going to put everyone at risk. He's going to piss off the entire group if he gets anyone besides himself killed, and that's going to be an immediate end to any fun we're having. Even if he doesn't do something particularly stupid, I'm pretty sure he'd end up throwing a tantrum if his character dies. My other son will end up crying. And my daughter will pout and not want to play anymore.

Since this is something I can see coming before we've even had our first adventure, I want to prevent it. How would you modify the rules so that death is extremely unlikely, if not impossible?

For the record, these are the rules:

• each character has a number of HP
• when they reach 0 HP, they will continue to lose 1 HP per round unless they receive medical attention
• if they reach -10 HP, they die.
• they can recover 1 HP for every full night of rest (no HP if they have to take a watch)
  • can recover 2 HP per night if being attended to by someone with an appropriate skill
  • full bedrest means they can recover additional 1 HP during the day.

 

[JochenL]

Since this is something I can see coming before we've even had our first adventure, I want to prevent it. How would you modify the rules so that death is extremely unlikely, if not impossible?

For the record, these are the rules:

• each character has a number of HP
• when they reach 0 HP, they will continue to lose 1 HP per round unless they receive medical attention
• if they reach -10 HP, they die.
• they can recover 1 HP for every full night of rest (no HP if they have to take a watch)
  • can recover 2 HP per night if being attended to by someone with an appropriate skill
  • full bedrest means they can recover additional 1 HP during the day.

I would stop counting at 0 HP.
If the party wins and cares for their companions, they will be back at 1 HP and recovery starts normal.
If the party looses (all are down to 0 HP), the opposition/nature/you decide what happens to them. Prefer capturing, giving out hindrances/disadvantages/conditions/dice penalties (or how the system treats this), etc. and let them wake up at 1 HP in a situation (much) worse.

That way you can keep the story running and not just stop "dead" the whole adventure/campaign.

 

[JohnnFour]

Agreed!

I'd start with asking, "Where will drama and challenge come from if character death is not an option as a GM?"

You can layer your answers onto pretty much any game system.

And episodic TV series, and movies with Mary Sue protagonists are good inspiration for answers.

Some ideas:

• Characters are taken prisoner.
• Dilemmas: Party must choose from either two bad options or two good ones.
• Standoff / Retreat. Players must think up another approach to win.
• Characters are robbed after falling unconscious.
• Foes actually become more powerful: they learn better tactics for next time or gain XP themselves and level-up.