CSJones
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- May 6, 2020
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Not writing prompts, just some ideas I came up for original Isekai protagonist deaths that could actually factor into the plot instead of being an unimportant part of the backstory, if anyone wants them. I'm sure some of them - if not all of them - have been done before in some form or another, but if so, maybe you can use them as a springboard to come up with another original idea.
- Character dies of a wasting disease; on being reincarnated, is delighted to have a fully-functioning body again and his heroic resolve comes from his determination to make the most of it.
- Character's method of death determines their new form. Die in a fire = Get fire powers. Drown = Become water spirit. Decapitated = Reborn as a dullahan. Perhaps there's a karmic element where dying in a heroic manner gets you a better starting build. This would work best in a series with a bunch of characters who all have different powers determined by their deaths.
- Multiple people die in the same place and are all given intersecting roles in the isekai world - as if they're in a play - and keep running into each other throughout their travels. E.g., protagonist is one of five people who dies in an apartment fire. So, somewhere in the isekai world, there are four more people who will recognize him and be crucial to the plot somehow. Taken to the extreme, this could be like: 200 people are killed in a plane crash. As protagonist travels through the isekai world, he finds out every other character he's met so far has been one of them reincarnated.
- Character cycles back and forth between reality and Isekai world every time he dies, but retains his knowledge, so the plot carries across both. For example, in order to invent a certain modern technology that would be extremely useful in the isekai world, he has to get killed in a battle, come back to real life, and study enough to become an expert before he dies again.
- Black comedy idea: Character commits suicide on learning you go to an isekai world when you die. Turns out this is very much frowned upon, and as punishment, he's given the shittiest possible form. He has to spend the rest of the story overcoming his terrible build and being made fun of as the loser who killed himself to become an isekai protagonist.
- This one's not a method of death, but an overall concept: Depressed character dies and is initially happy to escape reality, but finds that all his problems have followed him into the isekai world, just in fantasy form. E.g.: Was broke IRL, now perpetually low on gold. Hated his boss IRL, now hates his party leader. Incel IRL, now harem members keep dying or having to leave the story before he can slam. However, it turns out this is due to a curse from centuries ago that all the same problems would follow him from life to life, and now that he's back in a world where magic is real, the plot is about him figuring out how to break it and finally find happiness. Maybe he was a jerkoff in all his past lives (which is why he was cursed in the first place) and he has to get better as a person during the adventure before he can finally overcome his problems.
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