richl@lumiere.UUCP (Rick Lindsley) (01/17/86)
I think a will is the only logical thing to do. I was surprised to find the following scenario happening time and again in our group: A character would die. His or her possessions, were of course, remaining. And the player would be forced to bring in a new, low-level character. He would magically appear somehow in the campaign and then announce, "yeah, I am Bletch's second cousin. Hi! I'd like his enchanted sword and amulet against undead; he would have wanted me to have that." *And the characters would give it to him!* I was GM, or else one of my characters would have complained. At the very least, I would insist that we see if the guy left a will when we returned to civilization. In the meantime though, I'll appropriate that sword, thank you. "He would have wanted me to have that." In the worst case, I would appropriate the items, and, unless they were very DISTINCTIVE items, perhaps mourn the loss of my poor companion, who fell over the cliff and took all his magic with him. Sorry relatives, there was nothing left. Of course, we have the benefit of playing in a game with no alignments. If I were Lawful Good I could probably justify the first but certainly not the second. But you get my drift. I reminded them a couple of times of playing the characters realistically, and after that everybody started getting attacked by lightning bolts. Funny how magic dissolves in lightning ... Rick Lindsley