Here Lies Tom
Death is the original's most famous moment, so it gets a full beat instead of a text box: the news, the burial and the epitaph. Then the part that makes it last: the grave stays on the trail, at the same mile marker, for your next run and (opt-in) for other players. The tone is a blend: sincere, with room for the party's own humour.
The four beats
1 · The news
"Tom has died of typhoid." The classic line, kept word for word. Then the date, the mile marker, one line from each survivor, and who takes his tool (the ox goad) with the party keys A–G. Lose a person, lose a role, unless someone picks it up.
2 · A site and a marker
By the trail: travellers pass it, and it's the one that gets shared. Under the cottonwood: shade, and a morale bonus. On the rise: seen from afar, but it costs two hours. Markers: stones (free), a cross (1 h), or a headboard cut from the wagon (uses a board, −10 lb capacity).
3 · Carve
Three short lines carved into the board as you type, shown close up on the pad. Suggestions come in our voice, from sincere to wry. The original let you write an epitaph too; we make it tactile.
4 · Years later
The grave persists at its mile marker: weathered board, flowers from passers-by, and a count of travellers who paid respects. On your next run you pass your own dead. With sharing on, other players pass them too (opt-in; epitaphs are filtered and reportable).
Open questions
Sharing default
Should other players' graves be on by default, or opt-in? Local-only graves still carry across your own runs.
Moderation
A word filter plus reports? Or show only graves from friends and seeds you share?
Phase 2
Graves as world objects with triggers: on:pass_grave (morale), and an heirloom left at a grave that a later run can find.