Death & Dying

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.”
-Isaac Asimov

      In the world of Realms of Adventure, death is not always the end of the road. While some die never to return, some are returned to the world for reasons that can only be understood by the gods themselves. Death occurs often at RoA, and most times your character will be returned to the land of the living. When you play at Realms of Adventure you can expect that you will die, especially if you are involved in frequent combat. Eventually, your death may be your last.

      When your health is reduced to zero or less, from a physical attack, spell or trap you will fall unconscious. To role-play this you must safely fall to the ground and pretend to be unconscious by keeping your eyes closed, lying still and staying quiet. You have 5 minutes until you have bled to death and your spirit departs from your body. The best way to time this is to count to 300, one second at a time. When you reach 300, you are dead. While you are unconscious, you are completely unaware of your surroundings and may not look around, speak or interact with anyone unless they interact with you in very specific ways (listed below this section). It is considered cheating to talk, cough or make any noises in the attempt to solicit help or alert your friends to where you are.

      Very often while you will be approached while lying on the ground and someone will put their hand near your wrist or neck and say “I check for a pulse.” You must tell them simply YES if you have not yet bled to death or NO if you have. Usually this is a good sign, as it means some good samaritan has checked to see if you are alive so that he can get you healing. Sometimes however it means he was checking your pulse to see if he should administer a killing blow! If someone puts a weapon on your torso and says “Killing Blow 1, Killing Blow 2, Killing Blow 3,” you immediately are considered to have bled out and are dead. No healing can restore you. Sometimes a cleric will approach you and say “Diagnose.” If this is done you should quietly whisper to them the nature of your condition. Example:”Bleeding to death, 1 minute left to live” or in the case of other damage you might sustain, “Poison and damage, 2 minutes to live” or “Unconscious, waylaid.” Try to keep your voice down so that only the cleric hears the diagnosis. The only other skills or spells that can be used upon you are those related to death. Any further damage committed on your body has no effect, as 0 health is effectively the same as -500. A single point healing spell, a healing potion poured down your throat or a successful use of the “First Aid” skill will stabilize you and make your conscious again once you reach a positive number of health points.

      If you are unconscious for 5 minutes and no one heals you, or someone administers a killing blow, death spell or other death effect to your unconscious body, you die. No healing, first aid or other means can bring you back short of an extremely powerful raise dead spell which is rumored to exist. You should wait another 5 minutes to allow any passerby to search your corpse. After this time you should stand up and put your sword or hand above your head to signal to others that you are a spirit. Proceed directly to Negoro’s realm, also referred to as Death (Negoro is the god of death in RoA, and Negoro and Death are used somewhat interchangeably). On your way to Death you may not talk or otherwise interact with anyone unless you are forced to do so through some special skill or magical means. Anything you see during this journey to Negoro’s realm should be ignored, you will not remember anything you see or hear, and using this knowledge is considered metagaming. Anyone who sees you pass will be able to see your spirit form and will recognize who you were in life. Once you arrive at Death’s door alert him to your presence but do not enter until he bids you to. You MUST be honest in telling Negoro the circumstances of your death, assuming that he is an omniscient being who will be aware if you lie! Death is a fickle being. He is sometimes nice and sometimes mean and can appear in many different forms, so you should be ready for anything. If you were lucky enough for someone to grant you “Deity’s Favor” or “Spirit’s Favor,” you should inform Death when you arrive. Often being granted this skill can mean the difference between life and permanent death.

     Most times your visit with Death will end with you being returned to the land of the living with no memory of your visit. Death will inform you what you do or do not remember and will tell you how you are sent back into the world (i.e. all skills restored, a mere 1 health etc.). When you come back from death any spells and enchantments that were on your person dissipate, armor and broken weapons are not repaired etc. If you are especially unlucky, and Death has opted to keep you in his realm, there is still one way to return to life. By spending “Service Points,” which are earned by helping the game in various ways (like donations of props or time), you can purchase Tokens of Negoro. Use of this token allows you to pull yourself from the brink of death and return to the mortal realm once more. You may buy as many of these tokens as you wish, but you may only use 3 of these tokens in your character’s life, and no more. Death can only be cheated so often. These tokens are considered out of game and may not be stolen or sold, but may be given away if you are extremely generous. Tokens are considered property of the player NOT the character. Therefore if you die and do not wish to use your token to save the life of your character, or you have already used 3 on this character, you will not lose any tokens you currently possess.

      Aside from the regular method of death, there are other ways that will kill you instantly with no death count and no chance of being healed. If you are hit with any spell with the word “DEATH” in the incant, and you are unable to resist it in some way (i.e. Spell Shield), you will die immediately. The same is true if you are administered a killing blow, struck with any poison or ability that has “DEATH” as a verbal component, or are struck with a “Deathstrike” or “Assassinate” skill. If one of the above things happens to you, you must still do a 5 minute death count to allow your corpse to be searched before proceeding to Death’s door.

      A word on carrying others: At various times throughout a weekend you may wish to move a fallen comrade or enemy. Perhaps you want to get your friend away from the battle so you can safely find a healer or you wish to roll a dead monster “into the bushes” to get its stinking corpse off the trail (Incidentally this allows that cast member to come back out as a monster or NPC that much quicker). All you need to do to accomplish this is crouch down near a fallen body and state “I carry you.” At this point the fallen person must stand up, you may put your hand on the arm or shoulder and they must follow you. You may not move any faster than a walk (NO SPEED WALKING!), as it is considered that the individual is over your shoulder or being carried in a similar fashion. You should never attempt to actually physically carry another person for safety reasons.