V9: Declaring Death

This page is part of the Official Amtgard V9 Alpha-Playtest Rulebook.

• The Amtwiki is the official home and primary source for Amtgard V9 Rules as of February 25, 2023.
• These rules are currently in Open Alpha Playtest. See the Playtest Disclaimer for more details.
• To learn more about Amtgard V9 Development, please visit Amtgard.com.
• To view the current Amtgard V8 ruleset, please see the Amtgard V8 Rulebook.

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Declaring Death

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

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

Calling Dead

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

Calling Dead may also occur before the actual killing blow as a good faith gesture or safety accommodation in a number of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:

1. Players may call themselves dead when a strange interaction occurs and it is determined that the player should have died, or would have died, somewhere in the confusion. Other times untangling the result of an engagement is too difficult so a player might simply call themselves dead to acknowledge the ‘worst case scenario’.


2. Players who are sensitive or otherwise averse to physical strikes may call themselves dead on the approach of an attacker to avoid being struck.


3. Players who are at risk of a real-life medical or safety issue and need to quickly remove themselves from play may call themselves dead to avoid interrupting play with a ‘Safety’ or ‘Hold’ call.

In each of these instances, the attacker most likely to have caused the death of the player is considered to have dealt the killing blow, and may activate any relevant abilities as though they had done so.

Taking a Death

‘Taking a Death’ is the act of declaring oneself dead for any reason that does not fall under ‘Calling Dead’. This is commonly used for tactical advantage in games where the player dying would be more beneficial than staying alive in their current state.

1. Players who ‘Take a Death’ cannot be revived and may only return to life by respawning; they may not activate any ‘on-death’ effects such as Fight After Death; and do not benefit from any effects that prevent Death.


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. 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 game mechanics. For example, 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.