Even Death may die…. Changing up the Last Breath Move.
Hello again.
I’m still preparing my God Slaying, Cosmos Ending, Ultra-High power DW one-shot.
I’m starting with the premise that the Gates of Death have been shattered and the Keeper of the Gate and the very God of Death have been slain/destroyed. This is causing all kinds of mayhem the PC’s need to put right.
Story aside: How would you alter or change the Last Breath move to mechanically accommodate this state of affairs in the Narrative? Or rather, how would you change the narrative to keep Last Breath’s mechanics and effects to deal with these circumstances?
My current ideas are to show flashes of the Past and Future showing moments of Prophecy and Destiny. Then getting back to the action.
Also, characters with Divine or Spritual connections might have a direct interface with their Deity.
What are your ideas? Remember: This is a One-Shot, Characters are insanely strong in this narrative (Veritable Demi-Gods and Paragons of the World).
The rule implies something on the other side of the gate, as the “proper” place for the dead. With the gate shattered and its keeper, Death, dead. If the gate was put there not to keep the living out, but the dead in, then bad things are likely to happen. Or, perhaps the gate was there just to prevent what was on the other side from just reaching out and snatching the living whenever it wanted.
Well, what does the equivalent of death look like for other people now the Reaper’s grin’s been shattered?
Is it like Miracle Day, where you might not die but that doesn’t mean your body is any use? Or is everyone and everything Wolverine?
I’d suggest making the Last Breath more about loss of agency rather than loss of life, in absence of other input. Instead of dying, the character is captured or corrupted or turned into something foul and antagonistic.
As long as it has an option for the PC to Kool-Aid Man their way out of Death, it’s aces.
“Okay, now roll on this random chart to determine which of Death’s usurpers is gobbling up your soul.”
Say you roll Istus, Lady of Fate and Author of the Unchanging Book Of Outcomes. What kind of deal do you have to cut with her to be set free? What kind of deal will Xhudun, Baron of the Malign Radiance, accept?
I like the loss of agency idea suggested by James Etheridge.
“You have a super powered demigod bad-ass? Not anymore. Even demigods have rules.”
Death has fallen, but the Restless Dead now stand on the border between life and the here-after.
When you “die” and the worlds blend for a split second, Roll + Nothing.
On a 10+ the spirits ravenously seeking to return were not able to find your body in time…. THIS time.
On a 7-9 a spirit will attempt to possess you, offering you a choice – put right what it seeks to return to the world and correct or lose your body to its will (at least until it has fixed what it has returned to fix)
On a miss the spirit is unwilling to negotiate and steals your flesh – while you may be trapped away, somewhere within the husk of what used to be your body, your will is no longer your own.
When you die, roll + nothing because you are too cool for crap like “stats” or whatever. On a 10+ you kill death and eat his face for breakfast, now there’s no death though, so you’re probably him. On a 7-9 you and death have an epic guitar solo-off, shake hands and part ways amicably. On a miss, you die so hard that everything around you in a 1d6-mile radius also dies. Go hard or go home, right?