A little question about death

[Ofecks]

As in, what do you do if you lose all your EP or find yourself in one of those infamous "your life and your quest end here" sections?

I've never seen an explanation on this. Can I re-do the book? Do I follow common sense and completely scrap my character? Can I skip the book and move onto the next one, forefitting my bonus discipline?

I've been wondering about this for nearly a decade. Someone please clear it up for me!

[Thomas Wolmer]

This seems to be completely left to the reader's discretion. When I was young and stupid, and died in say book 11, I created a new character and started over from book 1. On the other hand I resorted to minor cheating on order too not die so bloody often.

When I play now I see each book end as a "save point" and if I die, I just restart the book (re-rolling the amount of money I get, possibly choosing different disciplines/equipment, etc). And no cheating at all. That's what nearly two decades of uninformed playing has made me prefer :-)

If you die, it'd go against my instincts to continue in a later book. Would that be as Undead Wolf, whose poor soul cannot find rest until he has completed the quest he failed in life? :-)

[deiseach]

I cheat. If I die, I go back to the point at which I went down the wrong path. Can't believe anyone got through The Kingdoms of Terror first time out without cheating - there are so many ways of dying in the sewers of Tekaro by going up the wrong ladder or taking the wrong tunnel

No one will ever speak to me after this confession. Me and my big mouth

[Reynold]

deiseach said:

I cheat. If I die, I go back to the point at which I went down the wrong path.

Well, I do the same though,intepreting that we "save" the game before proceed.And now it's realistic as the statskeeper provide the save button all the time. ;D

[Ofecks]

Thomas said:

When I play now I see each book end as a "save point" and if I die, I just restart the book (re-rolling the amount of money I get, possibly choosing different disciplines/equipment, etc). And no cheating at all. That's what nearly two decades of uninformed playing has made me prefer :-)

Yeah, that seems to be a good way to go about it. I honestly think it's next to impossible to complete the whole series without dying once (and without cheating). Well, actually, it's probably not, but it would be very time-consuming and frustrating.

For instance, on my last start-over session, I died in book 2 twice in a row. I rolled a zero at the falling mast on the ship, and the next time I rolled a 9 when I tumbled down the hill away from the 6 Helghasts on the highway...

I hollered some beautiful obscenities, pulled the plug on my PC and I haven't played it since.

[Tim]

OmegaFlareX said:

I hollered some beautiful obscenities, pulled the plug on my PC and I haven't played it since.

That's better than tearing the book in half!

[Relenoir]

When I play now I see each book end as a "save point" and if I die, I just restart the book (re-rolling the amount of money I get, possibly choosing different disciplines/equipment, etc).

That's usually what I do, although the last time I did
Book 6 I died in the sewer because I went up the wrong ladder. I remember saying to myself "Remember! No straying from the path!" At least I didn't fall for that "short-cut" through Amory that I used to always die in. Since I knew I was only one fight away from the end of the book, I went back a section and continued from there. So I admit to cheating.
The one time where I have no guilt about cheating is against some of the enemies in another discussion thread: The Chaos Master, Zakhan Kimah, Deathlord Ixiataaga, Zantaz in book 20, Demonlord Tagazin in book 12, and a few others. In these cases, it's like the Save Point deep in an area of Final Fantasy, where you can almost FEEL the upcoming battle around the corner. I write down where I'm at as far as EP at the beginning of the fight, and then try again and again until I win!

[Elix Nosferatu]

I've done each of those things, too. Does anyone else mark where they are before a "fork" in the story just to see what would happen if they chose another way? I wasted an hour doing that once...

[Cry Havoc]

ElixNosferatu said:

Does anyone else mark where they are before a "fork" in the story just to see what would happen if they chose another way? I wasted an hour doing that once...

Haha, I did that a few times. It's nice to see how a different path ties back into the main one.

[Phoenix159]

When I first started reading the books, I would always go back to the beginning of the book after dying. Then I got to "The Caverns of Kalte". Yeah. After dying 4 times fairly quickly, I decided a "save point" was in order. I've done the same ever since, marking where I was before a particularly difficult fight and such. Saves much time and sanity, and I don't have much of either in supply.

[Relenoir]

Does anyone else mark where they are before a "fork" in the story just to see what would happen if they chose another way?

I've done this quite a few times, when I've tried doing something I knew was different than previous times. The problem is, I do it with a finger, then often times would lose my original place as I was flipping through from section to section because I'd move my place from one side of the book to the other!

[Nerethel]

Whew! Good! I'm not the only one, then.

Yes, I die in the most gruesome and unsatisfying manner, then usually go back to the section I was just at and re-choose what to do. Oftentimes, I will go to the next section, saying to myself, "I'm not REALLY going here. I just want to see what would happen if I did."

There is nothing more frustrating to me than going through several books, fighting battles against all odds, saving the world, etc., and dying because I decided to open a door. One of the appeals to Lone Wolf is that those sections are relatively rare. You can die from bad luck, or combat, or other stuff that hacks away at your endurance, but those sections where "Your life and your mission end here" are thankfully rare.

Nerethel

[Relenoir]

Oftentimes, I will go to the next section, saying to myself, "I'm not REALLY going here. I just want to see what would happen if I did."

Many times, my friend. Many times. "Just wanted to see how quickly I'd die for making this stupid choice. Oh, wow- I didn't die, and there is a whole new unexplored area this way!" Does this sound familiar?

[Ofecks]

Nerethel said:

You can die from bad luck, or combat, or other stuff that hacks away at your endurance, but those sections where "Your life and your mission end here" are thankfully rare.

Not in the Grey Star series. There's usually at least one way to die instantly in almost every event of every book.

How come no one has replied to my thread yet? Shianti Wizards need love, too.

[Banedon]

I cheat. A lot. I usually go back to the last decision point.