When does a TPK occur?

[steenan]

I haven't had a TPK in a long time, due to the play style our group prefers. Single deaths, yes - typically heroic last stands, letting others get to safety. But not TPKs.

But there have been some in the earlier phase of my gaming. Most of them in situations that didn't seem dangerous but the dice decided otherwise, or when PCs started fights against overwhelming odds because players thought that they'll overpower NPCs just because they are NPCs.

The most memorable one was a TPK 5 minutes into a game session. The PCs saw a group of raiders looting a village. I expected them to just observe and maybe help the villagers after the bandits left. However, despite my warning that the raiders outnumber them 10:1, players decided to call a challenge and attack. Two arrow volleys later the PCs were all dead, not having even reached the bandits.

 

[innerdude]

The appropriate answer to this question is, "Whenever the GM darn well feels like it."

 

[drydenofasturia]

Yay for TPK!

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

I just learned another method to cause a TPK.

Put a big red button labelled "Push this to cause TPK" in a dungeon. Watch as someone inevitably pushes it just to see what happens.

 

[Celebrim]

I just learned another method to cause a TPK.

Put a big red button labelled "Push this to cause TPK" in a dungeon. Watch as someone inevitably pushes it just to see what happens.

I very nearly had something like that happen in the next session.

There was a box labelled, "Contents could potentially destroy everything in an a hundred mile radius." Naturally, someone just had to open the box to figure out what would happen. *rolls eyes*

Then that someone decided the best bet would be to try to burn it away with a wall of fire. Fortunately, he decided to test the theory with a burning hands spell first, and with a small amount of DM prompting and metagaming he was able to avoid killing everyone. But yeah, that's the problem with big red buttons. It doesn't matter how obviously stupid it would be, someone wants to push them.

 

[pdzoch]

I wonder if the reason some of the parties foolishly tempt a TPK is because they so often encounter events that they often encounter and defeat dangerous foes that they become somewhat dull to "dangerous" situations.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Legatus Legionis]

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[Lanefan]

The only full TPK I've ever had happened when an already-weakened party entered a room and the party's number one warrior - who was in good condition and leading the group - was immediately psyonically controlled by an undead enemy. He simply chopped down the rest of the party as they arrived, with help from his controller, then was kept as a near-mindless slave until he died of thirst a week or so later. This would count as a "sub-boss fight".

I've had two near-TPKs. One was, again, when a powerful party member was turned against the party...this time by a party NPC who was in fact an enemy out to kill 'em all once they'd got her close enough to the adventure's goal that she could finish on her own. The charmed (well, dominated) guy; a Bard with a lot of Thiefly abilities, would call a party member over to check out something he'd found - always, conveniently, just out of sight of the main group - then strike without warning. He got half the party before the rest of 'em wised up; and if they hadn't got suspicious he could easily have got 'em all. (best of all, the spy NPC then helped finish him off; earning herself loads of trust which she used to good effect later...) This would count as a ... not quite sure what, actually; so "other".

The other one was a situation where the party ignored lots of fairly obvious warnings along the lines of "abandon hope all ye who enter here" and entered here anyway. Three massive demons appear - vastly outgunning what was a fairly powerful and large party - and lay waste to the place; meanwhile the roof caves in behind to prevent escape. The only reason it wasn't a total TPK is that the module has the character who triggers all this teleport to a random location elsewhere; also someone else managed to teleport out of there on their own. This would, I suppose, count as a "trap" which I just realized I forgot to vote for.

Lan-"all in all, however, in my experience while individual characters can often die on a whim there may be nothing in this universe more resilient than an adventuring party taken as a whole"-efan

 

[megamania]

TPK has happened only twice for me. Each time it was 'Other'. Other for me was really bad character decisions where they felt I would go easy on them. For an example-

Eberron.
Darguun.

The group has climbed a hill side unnoticed. They spot a training exercise of hobgoblins on horses. What do they decide to do? The five level 4 characters decide to charge and take on the thirty horse back trained soldiers.

What was to be a
"flavor" piece in my game became a TPK because they thought 1) they were suppose attack them 2) I would allow them to win ah-well