...Just taxes (Alternatives to Death)
I learned D&D among the "OC" culture, with characters being detailed and the heart of the story. An issue I have faced when combining this style of players with OSR style of game is death. In a more traditional OSR game death is a common risk, but when the death of a character would end or disrupt the complex motivations of a backstory laden party we arrive at a problem.
For that reason I've come up a system to balance the tension of death with the aversion from players, based heavily off the "Death Save" mechanic for Dungeon World in which when rolling a partial success the player may make a deal with death.
A Deal With Death
When a character dies they find themselves on the banks of one of the 5 rivers of the underworld. Where they will meet one of the ferrymen of the dead. The ferryman will offer the character a deal.
If the character accepts this deal they will wake up, wounds replaced with pale cold flesh. If they reject it, the ferryman takes them beyond, never to return.
Until a character meets their terms of the deal they are considered in Debt with death. While in Debt a character is Undead for those who can recognise them, and if they die again they will not be offered a second deal.
Rivers of the Underworld
- Phlegethon. The Starving Boatman will forgive your debt for the flesh of a mighty being.
- Styx. The Jealous Boatman requires a soul of equal guilt to balance his scales.
- Lethe. The Dreaming Boatman asks only that you leave him with a memory or skill to entertain him.
- Cocytus. The Weeping Boatman needs joy and laughter to ward off the Wailing of the Cocytus, he finds stolen joy the sweetest of all.
- Acheron. The Forlorn Boatman collects secrets, they whisper around him. Bring him a secret no one else among the living.
- You awake on a strange beach, not a river but the home of a Dead lord.
Dead Lords:
- The Prince of the Dead guides you around his palace and tells you the tales of the treasures that cover his walls. He then points to a small gap, through which rotting stone can be seen beneath. "Bring me a treasure worthy for my walls"
- A Grinning Devil pulls the line hooked into your soul. You must beat him at a game to be free of him.
- The Reaper himself stands aside his pale horse, scything the souls that sprout here. They takes the time to listen to your tale, and if you sway their heart they will smuggle you above.
- The Pale Queen sits in her garden, she offers you the seed of a pomegranate. If you eat it you will return but three days hence be dragged below to be planted among the wilting flowers.