Debts for an Emmisary of Death - Help Please!

[sandchigger]

I'm glad you liked the idea. I pulled it from the nether realm (see? I can keep things PG-13, too!) as I was reading the replies. This might make an ideal job for the personification of Death, though. Since the tithed souls aren't necessarily dead when they're sent to Hell according to legends.

[JediDresden]

I think I can work with it though.  Thanks.

[Becq]

Here's an ultra-fluffy (ie, G-rated, let along PG-13) way of dealing with the issue, if you need it:

Her sponsor, Death, is actually one side of a supernatural coin, with the other side being Life.  Drawing too deeply from Death upsets the balance, resulting in her being compelled to serve Life in some way.  In effect, the Debt points really reflect the balance that needs to be restored rather than an actual favor being done.

Another less fluffy option to add to the other suggestions:

* Compel her to "not intervene to change the fate" of someone she cares about who, without her help, would die.

[sandchigger]

I'm not sure I'd want that in my games (though YMMV of course). Maybe if a character were an emissary of Karma or Balance or something else. Would you let the Winter Knight burn off debt by starting wild fires?

[Becq]

I'm not sure I'd want that in my games (though YMMV of course). Maybe if a character were an emissary of Karma or Balance or something else. Would you let the Winter Knight burn off debt by starting wild fires?

Normally, I wouldn't go for either suggestion (yours, or mine).  I was just looking for a kid-friendly alternative to the situation at hand.  And there doesn't seem to be a lot of obvious kid-friendly options when compels relating to favors owed to the embodiment of Death are involved.  Given this, it occured to me that improvisation might be an answer to the problem -- not as a general house rule, but as a way to address this specific out-of-character issue.

[mithrandirthewhite]

burn off debt by starting wild fires?

Was that an intentional pun? 

[ways and means]

If I wanted to compel an emmisary of death it would be to do the thing Mort did in Terry Pratchett's Mort namely funnelling important dead people to thier respective afterlifes. Perhaps the nastinest kid friendly compel for an emmisary of death would be to send someone who deserves it to hell, on the one hand it is justice on the otherwise you are dooming someone to an eternity of horror (an act which could be seen as monsterous in its own right). If the player also happen to be religious you could funel a good person to hell for not believing in God though at this point I would you say you have crossed the moral event horizon into to really nasty. 

[sandchigger]

Was that an intentional pun? 

Of course it was.