Learning to Love TPKs: A High Risk Variant

[lamproswc]

So I'm returning to D&D after having played a lot of video games. One thing that strikes me as kind of weird about D&D now that I'm back: The assumption is that the players win every encounter. It kind of takes some of the drama out of the game. So, I want to set up the game so that there's a high chance that the players can lose any given encounter - and figure out how to keep this from derailing the plot. Here's what I'm thinking about:

-When you're reduced to 0 hit points, you're "wounded" and can take no action. You can't be reduced below zero hit points. You also can't be affected by healing spells unless the caster takes a full minute to cast the spell. (Will the lack of a "combat res" screw things up too badly?)

-If the whole party is "killed", they wake up with killer headaches a few hours later in some suitably unpleasant circumstance. Ie, if they were trying to keep the bad guy from getting away, now he's gotten away. I'd also like some sort of mechanical "Death penalty", but I can't think of a good one.

-What sort of Encounter Levels should I throw at the player to make them sweat to win, and how many encounters should I throw at them before they have an opportunity to rest? I want roughly a 20-40% chance of TPKing in any given game session. It doesn't need to happen all the time, but it has to be a realistic possibility. This is the hard question, and any help is much appreciated. I think if I get this variant working, the game sessions will be a lot more thrilling and the players will feel much prouder of their combat skills.

Thanks,

Alex

 

[RigaMortus2]

If this is the route you want to take, where death is highly likely yet not permanent (just like 99.9% of the MMORPGs that are out there), then I would suggest a setting similiar to .hack. While I don't know much about anime or .hack, the basic premise is people stuck inside a MMORPG. I think if you had that as a setting, rather than a traditional fantasy setting, it would be a good way to describe your death penalty to the players.

Another thought... You could also say that the gods directly intervene everytime the players are about to be TPKd. Then you have some story elements for the players. Why do the gods only intervene when they are about to die? Will the players start to feel invincable once they realize the gods will save them every time? What if the gods decide NOT to save them next time, should we risk entering every dangerous encounter with reckless abandon assuming the gods will always have our backs? The gods should also penalize the players in some way (as you suggest). Perhaps casters can not cast magic for 24 hours. Perhaps they get a "bad luck" curse and all attacks/skills automatically fail for a certain amount of time (1hr per character level)?

Perhaps in your world there are magic shrines scattered about, and if you pray at these shrines (and make offereings), when you die, you automatically get rezzed at the nearest one. In this example, you are "paying a penalty" in advance, before something bad (like a TPK) happens. The penalty would be money or some sort of offering, for the future, should the players sucumb to a horrible death.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Just set your campaign on Ysgard then you won't need to implement new rules or worry about TPKs or death. On Ysgard all who die in combat are ressurected as if by True Ressurection the next day.

 

[phindar]

You might be talking about something like this from Tresure Tables. Most encounters should have some method of continuing even if the party fails.