Undoing Character Death

DEATH! Character Death! Player's feel the tragedy sometimes deeply. Salty words are exchanged, egos are bruised, and fist fights break out or sometimes they just aren't sure "what it means for the game." I always promise myself I'll be a hard-ass about character's dying in my games. If they died that's because the player ignored all the ways out of the situation I offered them.

I joke around, but I never INTENTIONALLY set out to kill a character. I will however present them with a situation where they can't just hack their way out of it without being at least a little bit clever, especially if they've been struttin around like they own the place. Sometimes though, the red mist gets descends on a player and they feel like the best solution is to assume it's like a video game where it's just a matter of doing enough damage to whatever they are presented with. That is never the best solution in a tabletop RPG, at least not in any game I'd want to play or run.

If a game has no real consequences, then it's not really a game and you're all just sitting around telling a story. There is nothing wrong with that approach, but I feel like it takes the players out of the roleplay. The best stories are the ones where you care about what happens to the protagonist. Tension is heightened by the dangers the protagonist faces, because you don't know what will happen. You hope they will make it out, but you're not really sure until you read through and find out. If players aren't approaching their characters in a similar manner, then the story will lose it's edge and it's draw.

With all that being said...I resurrected a character on the very next adventure for a group. I'm a mushy-hearted GM on the inside.