V9:Declaring Death

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- The Project Phoenix (V9) Development Team

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• These rules represent a proposed ruleset for the Amtgard LARP. All references to the organization are used from that perspective, and do not represent current organizational policy or procedures. Amtgard is a trademark of Amtgard International.
• This wiki is the detailed, comprehensive form of the ruleset. You can find the condensed Quick-Play rules here. These are currently still a work in progress.
• To view the current official Amtgard rules, please see the Amtgard V8 Rulebook.
  

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Declaring Death

Players may declare themselves dead at any time, not just when they are actively killed. Upon death, a dead player must loudly declare "DEAD!".

Death declarations are divided into two categories: Calling Dead and Taking a Death.

Calling Dead

Calling Dead is the act of declaring oneself dead due to natural gameplay causes, such as when it is caused by another player or effect, like a wound to the Torso. This is the typical form of death declaration.

• Players may also Call Dead before being engaged in melee if they wish to avoid being physically struck. The attacker who is most likely to have caused the death of the player will be considered to have dealt the killing blow, and allowed to activate any relevant abilities as though they had done so. This interaction should be conducted in good faith and cannot be done if the attacker isn't actually trying to kill the player.
• Players may call themselves dead when a strange interaction occurs and it is determined that the player should have died somewhere in the confusion but the specifics are muddy. If untangling the results of an engagement are too difficult, a player might simply call themselves dead to acknowledge the ‘worst case scenario’. Similar to the above, the attacker who is most likely to have caused the death of the player will be considered to have dealt the killing blow, and allowed to activate any relevant abilities as though they had done so.
• Lastly, players who are at risk of a real-life safety issue may call themselves dead to quickly leave combat without interrupting play.

Taking a Death

Taking a Death is the act of declaring oneself dead for any reason that does not fall under ‘Calling Dead’. This typically refers to deaths taken for tactical advantage in games where dying would be more beneficial than staying alive in certain circumstances.

1. Players who ‘Take a Death’ are immediately severed and thus may only return to life by respawning. Further, this death does not count towards any prerequisites for the player or their allies.
2. Any player who deliberately kills themselves in a self-inflicted manner will count as ‘Taking a Death’. This includes but is not limited to striking oneself or knowingly running into an non-player hazard (such as a lava zone) with the intent to die. Allowing a team-mate or other player to kill you does not count as 'Taking a Death'.
3. Similar to Calling Dead, if a player 'Takes a Death' while another player is actively trying to kill them, the attacker who is most likely to have caused the death of the player will be considered to have dealt the killing blow, and allowed to activate any relevant abilities as though they had done so.
4. For roleplay scenarios, a player is only considered to have ‘Taken a Death’ if the death would break immersion or is otherwise only happening to exploit gameplay mechanics. A player who willingly sacrifices themselves to a volcano god would not count as 'Taking a Death' because it is in line with the roleplay.