Purposeful Character Death?

[Lutharian]

So, I'm working on creating a setting for a 4e game me and my buddies are going to play.  This is my first time as DM, and their first time playing in general.  Listening to Critical Hit got me interested.   Now onto my question.  As a DM I know I don't want to push for a TPK, but if my story wants it...is it ok?  The example i'm taking this idea from is Jade Empire.  Basically the main character is trying to solve a mystery as to why souls aren't being 'recycled' in the world properly.  Something in the Spirit Realm is causing them to not move on....per se.  So at one point the main character is killed, and wakes up in the Spirit Realm.  Is it ok for me, as a DM to kill my characters and put them in a spirit realm of sorts?  I will give them options on ways to return to their bodies...I just don't want to upset anyone.  They are ok with any ideas I have, I just don't want to warn them prior.  Any idea's or advice is appreciated!

[Navarre]

Personally, I would not want to cheapen their death by forcing a kill and then giving them a way to return. If you decide to go this route, at the very least their deaths should seem the result of their choices and not a no-win situation that was obviously designed to kill them.

[Lutharian]

That makes sense.  As of right now, it was just an interesting idea, maybe I'll just leave it on the sideboard maybe for later use, or if they happen to take a different path in the story.  If it was to happen as a consequence of some decision, you wouldn't give them a way to return though?  Hmm..Maybe just continue a different story of sorts within the Spirit Realm or something of the sort..It could work.  Thanks for the input! 

[Beta Ray Bill Cosby]

So, I'm working on creating a setting for a 4e game me and my buddies are going to play.  This is my first time as DM, and their first time playing in general.  Listening to Critical Hit got me interested.   Now onto my question.  As a DM I know I don't want to push for a TPK, but if my story wants it...is it ok?  The example i'm taking this idea from is Jade Empire.  Basically the main character is trying to solve a mystery as to why souls aren't being 'recycled' in the world properly.  Something in the Spirit Realm is causing them to not move on....per se.  So at one point the main character is killed, and wakes up in the Spirit Realm.  Is it ok for me, as a DM to kill my characters and put them in a spirit realm of sorts?  I will give them options on ways to return to their bodies...I just don't want to upset anyone.  They are ok with any ideas I have, I just don't want to warn them prior.  Any idea's or advice is appreciated!

The thing you have to worry about is 'will the players roll with it?' if you think your players will enjoy it then kill them and have some ghost adventures. I would.

[Lutharian]

The thing you have to worry about is 'will the players roll with it?' if you think your players will enjoy it then kill them and have some ghost adventures. I would.

Yeah, I think I will hold onto the idea for now.  I need to figure out how they play and what they like.  We are gonna do the character creation this coming week, and I sent them a questionnaire via email to give me some ideas.  Maybe a session or two into the campaign I'll decide.  I know none of them have played Jade, so I don't think they'd see it coming, so it would be an awesome surprise.  We shall see! 

[sliksham]

I would start them off as dead, if it mechanically makes little difference (maybe count as undead rather than 'normal') and have them work towards getting thier bodies back, rather than take it away from them in the 1st place.

[Lutharian]

I would start them off as dead, if it mechanically makes little difference (maybe count as undead rather than 'normal') and have them work towards getting thier bodies back, rather than take it away from them in the 1st place.

That is an interesting idea. I like it!  . Now to figure out how and why they are dead. Hmmm...

[sliksham]

Assuming that everyone is starting characters at the same time, maybe ask them to write a 'backstory' for their character that ends in death, maybe tying it into any overarching bad-people or events.
The party can then form in the spirit realm, maybe encouraged to do so by some otherworldly force or something.
Just how I would look at it

[Bob the somewhat almighty]

I would do it, make sure that the time at which it happens is a pivotal moment in the campaign. Dying to a random monster would feel cheap, make sure they die to a noteworthy death, probably against a minor villain.

[Revenant Sorrow]

One thing that i would consider is the question your players may come up with is this a one time thing? Some times PC's die due to horrible rolls or some one trying to jump across a bottomless pit. After you are done with your ghost like adventures in one of your PC's die would they return to the spirit world?

An idea of how you could run the first Spirit world encounter is an outside organization needs something from the spirit world. They have a ritual that will send the party there and thus they are not dead and you don't have to worry about your PC's killing them selves off later to return to the Spirit world to save someone from a accidental death.

My other idea is that you could have you party killed by something and in return they are saved by someone and put into limbo or spirit world and have to fight their way back while discovering who saved them from total death. An arch wizard or one of the gods maybe.

Oh and one last idea. Yu Yu Hakusho (sp?) had a great way of dealing with that in that the afterlife is governed by people who didn't have a place for Yuskie when he died because he wasn't suppose to have died pushing a little kid away from a speeding car. You can have the PC's die doing something that goes against their nature in doing so causing a death that they weren't expecting and to get back they have to have some spirit world adventures before a trigger can be met to send them back to the world of the living.