Death, Corruption and The Butt-Hurt

This was a hell of a weekend, in all points, it all seemed to revolve around two things.

Death and Corruption.

This section is what seperates Larping and regular gaming.. In regular games, if you don't like the outcome, you can pick a previously saved version, restart the game. No harm, no foul. In a Larp, your character dies, they can be corrupted, tortured, put through pain. And when they're dead, THEY'RE DEAD. Deceased. They cease to be, they are no more. Full on Parrot Sketch.

So let's begin. At Mage, things have gotten very interesting as the Consillium is approached with the concept that the Abyss, that all-magic and life hating void that separates The Fallen World (read: ours) and the Supernal Realms that grant Magic and overall oneness with the Universe, could in fact be severed. It's interesting to see the group do more than just "There's trouble afoot, quick! To the magic-mobile!"

Of course, that's when I dropped plot. An Abyssally Corrupted body was found in the East River. It's Pattern, the metaphysical construct of everything, infected to the point of dissolving. Think "Actively Evil Ebola". So yeah, that lead them all to what I can only describe as "Silent Hill on a Boat."

It's interesting to watch the group react to a horrible, terrible scene. And since this is the Abyss, their magic doesn't have the same rules as it normally would. Watching them walk out with what they were treating as a magical Tac-Nuke was interesting. Ending on it though was the Stinger...

For months, a PC has obliquely mentioned looking for a book. It was a book written by what he believes is a Scelestus, a Mage who dedicated themselves to the will of the Abyss. The Book describes how to cross the Onyx Shores of the Abyss to the Supernal.

Notice a pattern? So did the Mages. The Book, which I had spent months inscribing, was never opened, and was taken into the libraries of the Mysterium out of fear it could compel them (fact: It totally can. Of course the first one to notice was a Mind Mage.) The book, and subsequently the case are possibly shipped off to the backroom of that large warehouse the Ark of the Covenant is kept.

After game, the player whose PC was hunting the book had a look. He saw the inscriptions and designs and said "You know, my character will fight it the whole way, but I'm totally willing to discuss this corrupting him."

Let me go back. The Mind's Eye Society Club as a whole isn't that big of Character Death and Corruption. There are a lot of reasons, the one I empathize a lot with is "I've put too much time and effort into my character to see them go this way." I saw this a lot in New York Jedi, exaggerated more so since we weren't Larping so much as just coordinating all of our stories into one. Whenever someone had a story to tell using multiple characters, it became a crapshoot because a person could go "My character wouldn't do that." This was true if said character were to lose or otherwise look in a negative light.

But this is a Larp. Your character is not always in your hands. I hate to come back to the GNS theory, but there it is. I find a lot of people who tend to view reactions with a Gamist mentality to be aggressive against any negative effects to their character, including using any and all mechanics to keep one safe and leaving minor RP justifications as to why those precautions exist. Simulationists tend to move in a point/counterpoint. I do this, this happens, I respond. A Narrativist looks at the situation and goes, "Now, how will this effect my character and how to tell the story."

So when the Player became interested in exploring the potential plot, It made me feel good as an ST, because that means that someone actually trusts me to do horrible things to a character they made. I'm not here to fuck someone over. I'll kill if I have to, but what's the point of killing or torturing these characters?

Later that night, I caught the flipside of that. In Requiem, there has been a lot of drama and build up for this one event. Tensions between the Prince of New York with his Invictus cadre and The Prisci Council, lead by the Ordo Dracul, had reached a fever pitch. Things had tipped over recently, and it was clear that there was going to be fights going on.

Now, I'm not a combatant player in these things. Mostly because I'm not a Mechanics person and Combat is  very Mechanics-based (unless it's boffer, in that case GIVE ME AN AXE!!). So frankly, in a combat setting I'm as useful as Tits on a Fish. So there was the very real (in my mind) notion that my PC would die. This is also added by one player telling me out of character that his combat-focus PC was going to come for my PC. This didn't add well to me out of character. My PC, however, knew that he was being aimed at, and with the powers of Emotional Detachment, just didn't give a damn.

It also helped that my PC was hosting the gathering that night and it was on his Private Domain of Governor's Island. He had set up a LOT of contingency plans and basically let the Dragons bring in everything and everyone. Of course, the ST had his own say on the matter. Soon, the entire island was littered in Snipers and at least one PC (the man who claimed dibs on attacking my PC) was shot. Several times. In the face. Can I just remind people that Vampires are fucking cockroaches and killing them is a pain in the balls.

So the evening was underway, the Dragons entering together with Six or Seven Proxied Characters backing us up. The Invictus appeared, with two additions. The Prince of Boston, and longstanding friend of the Dragons and Invictus arrived. This changed things, and suddenly we went from ready to throw down to negotiations.

In short, my PC lives!

But up until the end of the game I was prepared for Taglia to be killed. That lead to a lot of thinking, a lot of it along the lines of It's not fair. I've done too much and seen so little of this character.  I resigned myself to accept that it happened by just going downstairs and getting a drink afterwards. Then I would do some scenes post-dated to tie off some strings. Nothing major, just little ties to end things for him, send him off fair. It didn't happen.

But I can  empathize with those who contest it. It's the Butt-Hurt, that feeling that you were somehow fucked over and it isn't fair, but due to the way the game was played, the people playing and sheer brute luck, your character is dead and unless there was a grave act of cheating, they are dead and gone forever. I've seen and heard stories about people who were so Butt-Hurt over this that they walked away from their games and the clubs and from the hobby altogether.

It. Sucks.

And I understand where it comes from, you spend all this time with this character, building their sheet, working on them, exploring their character and their interactions. You've invested yourself into these people, some more than others, and to see them go in a less than satisfying way is going to make a lot of people feel like it was a waste. But I think that's where the Narrativist comes in on these things. Death is another story, so are Dark Times. We all face them, or else we haven't lived. For these characters to truly have a life of their own, they have to have a death of their own waiting for them. And even though they are no longer an active part of the story, they continue on (hopefully) through the actions of those affected by the death.

"To die would be an awfully big adventure."

Later.