[Discuss] Death in BattleMaster

[Tom]

I have decided to reverse my stance on death in BattleMaster. Let me 
explain before you cry out in anguish:

One, there is too little overturn in the government position. In the 
real world, politics often change because someone new gets in charge. We 
don't have that in BattleMaster and it's a shame.

Two, the fact that you can't die makes roleplaying a lot less realistic. 
Characters in BM take chances no sane person ever would.

Three, actually *killing* the other guy is just a lot more rewarding.

Four, it allows an extension to the family system where you can now play 
consecutive generations.



So, without further ado, the changes that'll go online after the weekend 
are roughly as follows:

While serious wounds remain, there is now a considerable chance that 
you'll die because of them, either immediately or after a few days of 
suffering.

In addition, starvation in a region will cause famine which might affect 
nobles as well, but that is a minor risk only to add some flavour.

Duels to the death can not be refused anymore without a massive loss of 
honour/prestige, unless the challenger was below your status (i.e. not 
every pesky noble can challenge a king).



But, death is boring to those subject to it, so I've made a couple of 
changes there. When you die, it's not immediately game over. If you were 
a member of a religion, you'll stay around as a ghost for a little 
while. If a priest of your religion finds your corpse during those few 
days, you can not only talk to him, he can pray for your soul, 
recovering parts of your experience for your next character, i.e. your 
"son" will start with slightly better values and the loss isn't as 
serious for you.
In addition, ghosts can interact with each other, so that we have a 
small afterlife. This is all very primitive right now, being a ghost is 
just a status like being wounded, except that you're gone from all 
messaging of the living and can only message other ghosts (and priests) 
yourself.

On the worlds where religion is not yet activated, the "a priest found 
you" thing is currently a simple random test.



That's it, in short. As usual, there's a plethora of nice details, 
hidden features, etc. - but you're invited to discover those yourself. I 
hope the afterlife won't get too crowded.

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