My First TPK

[Numion]

Players really hate to surrender. This is pretty much universal in rpging, but doubly true in D&D where losing your gear is worse than losing than your life.

You know, a portion of real life people kill themselves if they lose everything they own. I have no trouble believing that D&D PCs would realistically act the same, since the bunch seems pretty obsessed with loot.

Why this is I dunno, perhaps they don't want to give up control over their characters. Maybe they think being imprisoned will be boring. Maybe they fear having their PCs humiliated by the GM. It's like conceding in a board or card game in which you've obviously lost but the final victory will take time to achieve. There's no sense dragging things out. You've lost, move on to the next game asap.

Death is usually preferable to capture. Personally I wouldn't let my PC get caught alive, unless there are some special circumstances. It just would feel too much like losing. Fleeing is not the same; I'd just come back stronger the next time. Better spell selection, tactics tailored to the now known enemy, etc..

 

[Nifft]

Never count on the players surrendering.

I feel the need to expand on this.

Never count on the PCs doing anything specific. If your plot requires that they choose one particular action, they will innately sense it and behave differently. Or at least that's how it may feel to you.

From their perspective, the 'obvious' choice may not be obvious at all.

Cheers, -- N

PS: There's a nasty word for DMs who require that players guess the one correct course of action...

 

[derelictjay]

I feel the need to expand on this.

Never count on the PCs doing anything specific. If your plot requires that they choose one particular action, they will innately sense it and behave differently. Or at least that's how it may feel to you.

From their perspective, the 'obvious' choice may not be obvious at all.

Cheers, -- N

PS: There's a nasty word for DMs who require that players guess the one correct course of action...

QFT

 

[green slime]

You know, a portion of real life people kill themselves if they lose everything they own. I have no trouble believing that D&D PCs would realistically act the same, since the bunch seems pretty obsessed with loot.

LOL!

Death is usually preferable to capture. Personally I wouldn't let my PC get caught alive, unless there are some special circumstances. It just would feel too much like losing. Fleeing is not the same; I'd just come back stronger the next time. Better spell selection, tactics tailored to the now known enemy, etc..

I dunno. Lots of RL & adventure stories include imprisonment, daring escapes, failed escapes, turning the tables on previous tormentors, regaining lost McGuffins, stolen/looted heirlooms, it seems strange to exclude these possibilities.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Congrats!

 

[green slime]

Never count on the players surrendering.

Not counting on it and including it in the realm of possibilities of the actions they can take are vastly different.

I guess I play with more, non-vile NPCs, willing to accept surrender and respect life than most DMs.

 

[Doug McCrae]

There is a way to get surrendering to work I think. Be upfront with the players that they have to surrender and DO NOT NOT play out the fight. Say something like - "Okay guys, for tonight's session to work, you'll all have to start off in prison." Then you can do your escape from prison bit.

One other method to capture the PCs is non-lethal damage. I just remembered (doh!) that in my current campaign the last session ended with the PCs all KOed, and the next may (or may not) begin with them prisoners of the dreaded Order of the Emerald Claw. It being at the end of the session was key though, I didn't plan for them being captured and if the PCs had won the fight, there would've been no problem.

 

[Slife]

Ahh yes my first TPK was just as glorious! The slaughter was magnificent! You can now truly call your self “DM”.

My first TPK was even better! I wasn't even playing in the same game as the characters who were killed!

 

[jdrakeh]

But I find it very hard to believe that any of this would be true about a campaign that had only reached 2nd level. Surely it's barely got off the ground.

Emphasis mine. That (for me, anyhow) would make it all the more annoying, while serving as a giant red flag for things to come.

 

[Numion]

I dunno. Lots of RL & adventure stories include imprisonment, daring escapes, failed escapes, turning the tables on previous tormentors, regaining lost McGuffins, stolen/looted heirlooms, it seems strange to exclude these possibilities.

Sadly, nowadays the news also hold a fair deal of stuff about imprisonments worse than death. But yes, in literature this usually isn't the case.

I think that the more important factor for players is the loss of control for his PC, which is understandable (IMO), since that's the only control the player has in the game to begin with.