Regarding Character Death

This has been a topic that has been on my mind for sometime now - especially since discovering old school games and being a believer in the rules light/player agency philosophy.

I know personally when I make a character there is effort put into it in regards to the background and personality traits of said character. Even if it is just a paragraph or two. None of my characters are ever only a soulless collection of numbers and a list equipment. Even if I decide to let my character develop more in play in regards to both personality and background I still jot down a few bullet points. In my experience a lot of players have a similar mindset when creating characters. 

So, when a character dies a pointless death it sucks for the player, can cause angst with the other characters, or send some ripples in the story depending on how meshed the last character was in the plot lines. This is in addition to how a pointless death could drive new players away from the hobby. By a pointless death I mean some thug getting lucky in the alley, a random critical, fall off a two story roof, etc. The list can really go on and on.

Do not get me wrong, I have not problem with character death's when they do something stupid (I recently read a play report about a character in a dungeon running into the unknown parts of a dungeon to get away from some Golems he triggered.....), start a fight with things they should not have, not retreating when they need to, a run of bad luck (the part was climbing a cliff and had rope. The Kobold character was at the very top and slipped - failed the roll, each of the five other characters he passed failed their rolls to catch him, the koboold failed a last grab for the end of the rope, and failed a grab for a bush. Needless to say the Kobold did not survive the sudden stop.), or play through a scenario that is over their head. In these situations, GM's should not pull punches and let the consequences play out when the character pokes the bear.

"It is a perfect organism whose structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. It's a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. I won't lie about your chances...but you have my sympathies." - Ash, Science Officer of the Nostromo

With that being said, I still think those well earned or deserved deaths should happen with a purpose. The character should be injure what they are fighting, be able to yell out an important clue to their other party members, advance the situation a tad, or in some way enjoy a decent heroic death - even if it was a stupid death.

The creator of Gamma World has some input on character death as well:

What happens when the character hits 0 hit points and they are suppose to be dead or dying (and you don't want to use RAW)?

I have come across some really great options to give characters a chance to survive as they are laying on the dungeon floor, fading in and out of consciousness, as they watch their fellow party members fight on. There are not in any order;

•  Cavegirl did an amazing post on her blog about playing chess with death. I think this adds a lot of flavor to the situation and the world. Plus, it allows the GM to run death as an NPC with a personality. Ever since reading Terry Pratchett's Color of Magic I have viewed and treat the character of Death with that type of flare. 
• Dungeon World has a Last Breath mechanic that kind of ties into the above option and you could use both together. "When you’re dying you catch a glimpse of what lies beyond the Black Gates of Death’s Kingdom (the GM will describe it). Then roll (just roll, +nothing—yeah, Death doesn’t care how tough or cool you are). On a 10+ you’ve cheated death—you’re in a bad spot but you’re still alive. On a 7–9 Death will offer you a bargain. Take it and stabilize or refuse and pass beyond the Black Gates into whatever fate awaits you. On a miss of 6-, your fate is sealed. You’re marked as Death’s own and you’ll cross the threshold soon. The GM will tell you when."
• There are the various death and dismemberment tables out there. The way the work is, once you hit zero hp you are down and out of the fight. Any damage past that you have to roll on a death and dismemberment table. One of my favorites is the table from The Glog. Though, the one I currently use is this Crittable or "On a Table for Avoiding Death". It is a lot of fun and I just use the simpler option listed in it (roll 1d6 + negative HP damage and consult the table). 
• I was part of a fantasy LARP many moons ago and when a character died they had you draw from a bag that had beads in it. If you drew a white bead you survived but were injured and needed time to recover and all of that jazz. If you drew a black bead, your character died. My memory is a little rusty but I think your first death there were 9 white beads and one black bead. Then with each subsequent death, the white beads were reduced by one but the black beads increased by one so there would always be ten beads in the bag. I like this option as it shows how characters run out of luck or Death runs out of patience. GM's could easily change up the odds and only use 8 or 6 beads to create a higher percentage of death. Though, if I dropped it to 6 beads I don't think I would increase the black beads as a 1 in 6 chance is pretty fair across the board.
• I can't forget to mention the classic all players get -10 or -Constitution before death. This is functional but I find it boring and not very cinematic. 

There are plenty more options out there but I think these stand above the rest (except for the last one). Go crazy but remember death with a purpose and enjoy all of the stupid deaths.

I will leave you with one last piece of advice...