Death and Dying in Myth and Folk

Let's start at the End, shall we?

Death is a strange thing. In TTRPGs we fling our creations into the waiting jaws of death, but are still somehow surprised when those jaws snap closed.

Games in the space have wildly different levels of guidance for how to handle death. Many give you mechanics around dying, but few talk about what comes next. They assume you know to roll up another character and wait patiently for the GM to introduce them. Unless the GM has a plan, maybe not a whole plan, per se, but the outline of a plan. The P, L, and N, surely.

In Myth and Folk, specifically on the disc world of Pelagie, death is full time job. Long ago, something went wrong, the cycle of rebirth threw a piston and a race of psychopomps, known as Shades, have been playing catch-up ever since.

For characters in the world, what this means is that there is often a slight pause between when a creature expires and when their soul is collected. In that pause, there is possibility.

Player characters are well aware death is coming, once their Major Condition track is full, they find themselves on the Precipice. Their remaining life is no longer measured in moments, but in actions. 

- They regain their full complement of Action Points (4) plus their current Endurance, but stop regaining action points on new turns.
- Once they use their last action point, they die, instantly.
- If they would be dealt a Condition during this time, they lose 1 AP 
- If they are able to clear two Major conditions, they leave the Precipice and lock a condition slot to represent the exhaustion of their ordeal.

Given all that, characters are left with a pivotal choice in this moment: Fight or Flight.

However, in this case, we are assuming that whatever choice was made, it has already gone poorly and that last gasp has passed their lips.

Once that last Action Point is spent, the character is dead, but not yet gone. 

In Myth and Folk, characters have four attributes that are represented by pools of D6s (and later, D8s). These dice represent how they spent their energies in life and will now do the same in death. 

The player whose character has died will be able to spend the dice that fueled their attributes to assist their allies, adding them to dice tests their allies make and ignoring the usual dice pool limit of 6. Once those 8 dice are gone or the scene ends, death comes.

The Shade comes to collect their soul, sympathetic to their plight, but resolute in their duty. They will escort them to the Black Sands, where they can be woven once more into the fabric of life.

The player is now faced with a choice.

- The character's soul can go willingly to the Black Sands. The player will create a new character and work with the GM to be introduce them to the party. 
  - Optionally, they may transfer a Trait or Strength from the dead character to the new character, in excess of the Trait and Strength limits for characters (with the GM's approval).

- The character can reject the cycle of rebirth, loathe to give up on the purpose that drove them in life. They will rise again as an Unfinished, with a gaping hole left in their body where they were fatally struck.
  - This character must define a short term goal that was pressing enough for them to forego the chance at rebirth. Once this goal is accomplished, their character dies, never to return.
  - The player replaces their character's heritage with that of the Unfinished and at least one Trait, showing that their character has been irrevocably altered.

- The character can reach out in desperation, to an Outsider who will give them a new lease on life, for a price. They will come back, but as something new.
  - They must replace a trait or ability of the Outsider's choosing with one that marks them as part of the Outsider's retinue.
  - They will also be given a new goal, to be accomplished alongside their current goals.
  - The Prince Beyond Knowing, The Beast of Entropy, and Sevest, Monarch behind the Mirror are three such beings looking for a foothold on the Disc. There are many more.

They might cheat death for a time, but whatever choice they make, there is no coming back. No way to undo what has been done. The disc knows nothing of resurrection, only change and rebirth.