Heroes & Death

This is something I've been thinking about as of late. When I first started playing 7th Sea, I was told that it's very hard for Heroes to die and would only do so if it was absolutely necessary for the story. Basically I interrupted this as "Heroes don't Die" or "Very Rarely Die" So I created Gunther the Overconfident, Berserker, Vesten Raider, Dual wielding, Whirling Axe Machine. He can't die right? and even if he does, well he would have died in battle. All the better for a Vesten Raider.

But now that I think about it, Heroes do die, if you don't believe me re-watch Lord of the Rings, Serenity, 13th warrior, 300, well I could go on. But anyway, going all the way back to your earliest stories, Heroes die. They died all the time. If fact they rarely escaped alive. But the one thing in common with all Heroes Death, is cause. They Died for a Causes. Their death was not arbitrary, it was not because of a bad roll, it was because of something SO important to them that they would rather die then fail.

Basically what I'm saying is Yes, your character is mortal and may die. But I'm not going to arbitrarily kill your character, and you will not die because of a bad roll. Nor am I out to kill your character. But like you, Villains will have Goals, and their goals are just as important to them as your goals are important to your character. Also, the villains will stop at nothing to accomplice their goals. If you stand in their way, they will make sure you are unable to stop them. If that means removing you permanently then so be it.
See the next posts on Murder.

Here's how it works. If you take a number of Dramatic wounds equal to 3x your resolve. The GM (Me, hee hee) has the option to say "Your character dies". You have the option to spend 2 Drama Dice, to say, "No I don't". Then by some miracle you live. Same rule applies to Villains. Say you deliver a hit that would kill him. The GM will ask you, "Do you wish your hit to be a killing blow?". You may say "Yes" or "No". If you say No, you gain a Drama Dice. If you say Yes, then the Villain is dead. Of course the GM may spend 2 of his Drama Dice to have the villain miraculously live. If this happens the Villain will not have any ill-will towards the player or party that left him for dead. He may harbor ill-will for thwarting his evil plan, but not the actual death itself. It's a natural hazard that comes with being an evil mastermind after all.

Next post we will discuss Murder.