Sacrificial Characters and Writing their Deaths

[ClocktowerEchos]

Throughout my time RPing, a common trend that I see (and I'm sure many others can say the same) is that most people enjoy trying to make their character the strongest or most like a protagonist in a way. Then there are those who create characters that are more "balanced" and are strong in some parts and are weak in others but ultimately survive the day. Unless they're villains/antagonists which do end up being killed.

However, I'm interested in the sort of character and writing that comes with the "third tier" of this whole thing: Characters that are written to die. Again, I'm not talking about villains who will probably end up being killed at the end of an arc, but the characters you often see die in movies or anime like the best friend, the parent, the love interest or even the really weak character who has little in terms of actual strengths but is meant to act as a sort of "event horizon" or turning point for the rest of the characters.

For those of you who are still confused, lemme give you a personal example. A while ago I tried joining Create-A-Hero-RPG, made a character and everything but I ended up dropping out for personal reasons. The character I made was based on Mumen Rider from One Punch Man and turned out like a discount, off brand Bruce Wayne who had about 100% less amazing gear and training and money and stuff. I tried to portray him as what was basically a normal dude just being a hero to help people even though he lacked all the things we'd normally think of when we think "super hero". Given the way that RP works with each character getting their own mini plot arc, I had originally planned for him to purposely die and act as something as a event horizon or a realization for the other characters. Does that sound narcissistic as fuck? I completely admit it does but oh well, #yolo420blazeit.

So my question is, how many people actually create those kinds of characters and if they have, how do you write them out not in terms of the character themselves but their IC posts, their inevitable deaths and the events leading up to it.

tl;dr - I'm basically wondering how one would write something like a sacrificial "main character" (as in their the player's main character and not some NPC) in a way that's can sort of give a moral event horizon to the other characters IC and can also bring tears irl.

[Vilageidiotx]

I try to avoid that just because I feel like, when you write a character knowing they are going to die, it'll sort of be obvious. I'm more into the method of writing a bunch of characters and killing them when it feels like the right thing to do.

[PlatinumSkink]

I once created a girl that was made to die. She was made along with a "dark twin", whom I totally intended on surprise-dying against her when the inevitable fight against her finally came up. However, I felt really guilty about that and changed my mind before I got there, so the other players saved her life and managed to convince the "dark twin" to join the good side (after some suitably dramatic doing). She was never the main character of the roleplay, she was simply one in the group. Not one to lead, but, yeah, had it been a movie she'd probably just have been "one in the team".

As for how I wrote her, I made no specific difference in how I wrote compared to otherwise. I didn't want the others to suspect what I was doing. I did ensure she didn't have any loose plot-threads lying around unsolved, and ensured her dark twin was her final goal. She had a rather depressing past, but she was an uplifting soul that mostly smiled though those who knew sadness could sometimes see it in her eyes. I thought it'd be a new experience to attempt to play someone I intended on killing. ... Of course, that didn't happen, but I simply wrote her like any other character, though special point might be made that I made her a cheerful young girl that talked to people and tried to make relationships before her death. Wouldn't have had as much impact if she was a loner and then died, after all. ... Then she didn't die because I changed my mind, but, yeah, still. Haha.

I probably didn't actually have a good reason to kill her. I just, well, wanted the experience. Not sure if I factored in the others at all. I wanted to try playing a character I knew would die? ... Well, how nice of me. I even failed. XD ... Nope, not sure I can answer the question. But, since I once did make her for that purpose, I thought I'd mention her here. Haha.

[Shorticus]

The time I've done this most is during tabletop RPGs, though sometimes I like to bait the idea that someone is a sacrificial lamb but then actually have them survive. I've also done this in MMOs.

Let me start by quoting Village's first sentence:

I try to avoid that just because I feel like, when you write a character knowing they are going to die, it'll sort of be obvious.

This makes sense... but sometimes that's a good thing.

Let's say that we're in a medieval fantasy setting. Everyone has one character. I go out of my way to make an older guy, someone in their 60's or so, who's lost his family, his friends, and is essentially an old knight wandering around doubting whether what he did matters and whether he can still make a difference. Lo and behold, one of the other players is playing a young, idealistic adventurer, someone who is just beginning their journey. This gives me an opportunity to have the old man try and turn that youth into a proper knight, pass on the skills he was afraid he'd never get to pass on, and then face Death's door with a proud look when the time comes.

An example of something I did in an MMO was I essentially made a gnomish alchemist on WoW who... Well, to put it frankly, she was dying of a disease that'd be comparable to cancer. She was young, but she knew her time was limited, and I knew she was never going to cure herself despite that being one of her goals. Everything she did had more meaning, and it gave her a lot more emotion than you'd expect from a perpetually smiling gnome girl because she was secretly wishing she didn't have to die. She saw her own expiration date. That just helped guide my RP so well.

(Of course, a friend and I got the dumb idea to cure the disease for some reason I forget, but we eventually went back and said "yeah, that was a bad idea that ruined her story." And then we changed it back.)

And there's a ton of other examples I can think of. In a tabletop game I'm playing right now, I'm playing a character in a fantasy setting whose species is immortal but cannot breed. Namely: my character is a genderless warrior who was made for the sole purpose of fighting someone's war, and now that the war is over (lost), they are trying to discover their purpose anew. They are trying to cope with the fact that one day they and everyone like them will cease to exist because no more of their kind will ever be "born" again. In the end, this means that my character is on a quest for glory, for one last hurrah before they inevitably die (which may not happen in the roleplay itself, but you see why this is tragic).

The point is this: I find that some great story can come from writing a character that everyone knows is fated to die. Even if it's obvious as all Hell, you can make it a great place to start, and if the character survives despite that, or if you intentionally are baiting-and-switching their "sacrificial lamb" status with the GM's permission... Well, there's a lot of potential there. I'll leave it at that.

As for the how of doing this, here's what I say:

1. Make sure the GM knows, especially if you plan to bait and switch. Make sure they're okay with it.
2. Take the potential death seriously. It doesn't need to be a long, extended death scene; it can all end in a wink. Take it seriously either way.
3. Since roleplays can be unpredictable, be ready to consider what happens if the character doesn't die, or be ready to consider what happens if the death is just an unfitting one.
4. Drop hints, but don't choke up the roleplay with constant arrows of "DEAD MAN" pointing down at your character. That is: don't constantly remind everyone in your posts how your character is going to die. Instead, drop early hints, and maybe a rare couple more throughout the course of the roleplay, and otherwise let things occur naturally. (Note: the hints can practically be freakin' bricks with "BOB IS DED MAN" written on them, but use 'em sparsely. Very sparsely.)
5. And generally just approach any touchy topics surrounding your character's potential death maturely.

[SleepingSilence]

I honestly hate worrying about balancing in RP's of any kind, because in the real world and in most fantasy world's, people aren't equal is a fact of life. Usually the villain or antagonist are suppose to be the best, but that doesn't mean that they will win, in fact they usually die in the end. But that's not the main point, so I'll leave it at I wish more people would let people follow the rule 'no god modding' while also not butchering their ideas of their character by being overly picky.

I have written sacrificial lambs before, it helps when you're the GM for a RP, and you have most of the plot written down in your mind before hand. I actually love character death, and suffering. Dark drama is what I live for. And I've never had a problem with writing villain's characters or good characters, meant to eventually die. My fiction usually has wonderful body counts. I'm never been selfish to keep my creation if it meant making the story better as a result. But it's a lot easier when you're RPing with friends.

Depending how you want to write the death, you can as someone already mentioned, create 'death flags' for the characters, though sometimes unpredictability is better than heavily foreshadowed death. It's hard to really hard to say exactly, how I write them, because it varies wildly depending on what I'm writing for. Never make it too obvious or it won't be any fun. I usually tend to avoid deaths that can be seen coming a mile away like being very old or being very sick. Usually making the character suffer and dragging out their struggle not to die, helps add to emotional weight. Though, quick and abrupt can work just well. If you're not the GM or at least the CO-GM of a RP, make sure they know. In fact, I'm actually thinking about doing something similar in a RP, I just joined. But I digress.

Good luck with writing. :3

[Frizan]

I've never written such a character, and honestly, I don't think I will. Honestly I much prefer "near-death" scenarios, where everyone's freaking out about the possibility of the character dying. I find it's a much more intense and impactfull scenario if death actually isn't certain. I also feel that a lot of the time, people seem to kill off characters not because it would add anything to the overarching story or even the roleplay in general, but just to get some cheap tears. It's like a jumpscare: It's quick, initially shocking, but doesn't actually add anything and is for the most part forgotten about ten minutes later.

Or maybe I'm just a heartless monster with no capacity for empathy. I'unno, anything's possible.

[Shorticus]

I've never written such a character, and honestly, I don't think I will. Honestly I much prefer "near-death" scenarios, where everyone's freaking out about the possibility of the character dying. I find it's a much more intense and impactfull scenario if death actually isn't certain. I also feel that a lot of the time, people seem to kill off characters not because it would add anything to the overarching story or even the roleplay in general, but just to get some cheap tears. It's like a jumpscare: It's quick, initially shocking, but doesn't actually add anything and is for the most part forgotten about ten minutes later.

Or maybe I'm just a heartless monster with no capacity for empathy. I'unno, anything's possible.

@Frizan

It definitely depends on how the player writing handles it, IMO, and it also depends on the context. The reasons behind the character death are important, too. Etc.

Ideally, if you're making a character that's meant to die, the death should further either the plot or character development, even if that character's death is just meant to be a moment in a war RP where you realize "Oh shit, ANYONE can die in this setting."

[TheEvanCat]

My personal method of choice is the random attack, mostly because I've actually spent four years developing a character and then have him die in an artillery strike. War sucks, kids.

[vancexentan]

I actually have three characters in a roleplay set up to die and one in my gundam rp that is doomed to die immediately by virtue of him being one character's obi-wan. I don't make a habit of killing of characters unless it benefits the story in some way, shape, or form. A character's death should be for something unless they were made to be a throw away character in the first place. Very rarely should you kill off a character for just shock value because chances are it won't help hit your roleplayers. I have hard enough time getting people invested in THEIR characters let alone a NPC. As for how I write them out I write them out like any other character giving them flaws, good bits, and other sorts of stuff. If they die it's because the situation demands it or they simply had enough of life and want to go out with a bang.

[Ariamis]

A character of mine committed suicide in a Romeo & Juliet-fashion of tragedy. They had the opportunity to resurrect their mortally wounded lover as a doll, but as an animal breeder he couldn't accept the concept of cheating death, and instead embraced it, joining her. It had enough of an impact on the RP that the GM decided to reboot it.

[Stekkmen]

i want an RP where everyone is literally just red-shirts and die all the time only to get replaced by new characters

who also probably die