What to do and where to start after a TOTAL PARTY KILL?

[jasper]

TAKE A BOW. Send me $99.99 for you evil dm trophy.
Ok. Seriously. Talk with the players. Do you still want to play TOA? If so what are their back up pcs? I would start off in the Port. I would allow them some insight in to Chapter 3. And you will have to reset and rebuild Chapter 4. Just reset Chapter 5.
If they don't want to play in TOA asked where they want to go.

 

[Jester David]

I plan on getting the new characters caught up to speed by having Grandfather Zitembe from the Temple of Savras inform them of all the relevant knowledge that they would otherwise be ignorant of, just to make the game run smoothly. But I wonder if i should have the new players face off against the boss battle that ended the previous groups lives? this would be sort "rematch", and I'm not all that convinced it would be that fun. What do you think? Should they have a "rematch" against the boss with the new characters? Or should i say that that boss was killed by someone else or died in some other way or just left the scene (or something else?), and just let the players skip it and proceed further into the game?

My question would be: which boss battle? That's key to answering.
Were right at the end of the tomb? Was it one of the final two bosses? Do they have a lot of tomb left?

Otherwise, it might be interesting to move forward as if the players failed and the plan succeeded. After godhood is achieved, it makes sense that the soul monger would be turned off and resurrection magic would work again, but by that point anyone who had ever been raised would have died.

 

[iserith]

Situations like this argue for my longstanding policy on players having backup characters that have some established fictional reason that they can be tapped in straight away when character death occurs. Too late for that, I suppose, so I think your current plan is fine: Have an NPC tell the new characters what's going on and where the previous character left off. Perhaps the NPC has this information by way of divination spells or the like. Change up the boss fight a little bit to reflect the impact the last party had on it (perhaps the NPC or monster has a lingering injury) and add some additional threats that the NPC warns them about, just so that it's not a total repeat of the last battle.

 

[Imaculata]

You start a new campaign arc.
Honestly, this is generally what I've done when I had TPKs. The world goes on, the bad guy wins or partially succeeds if it's an end of the world kind of thing. Then again I don't use published campaigns very often or heavily modify them for my own use so you may want to get more use out of the book.

Combination
The BBEG has won, or is winning because the heroes failed. You play a session or two with a different party and the aftermath and potentially a pretty desolate world. Some divine being/god decides they don't want this and send a party back in time to pick up where the old group failed. Show the players the consequences of their failure before they get a chance to fix it.

I think either of these two scenarios is a great solution, because it shows the outcome of the failure. If the players get to retry like nothing had happened, then they can't really lose.

It helps if the big bad can actually win, and the consequences of the party's failure is felt in the campaign.

In my current campaign I had the villains attempt an assassination of an important and beloved npc, and the villains succeeded. This ushered in a memorable chapter in the story; one filled with grief, anger and a desire for vengeance. It raised the stakes, and made the players feel what it is like to lose. But it was also the start of a new plot line, with new opportunities to get revenge, and new trials and tribulations. The players picked up the pieces, and now had additional motivation to succeed.

I think sometimes the villain should win. Plus you can also use the loss of their characters to make something truly memorable. Maybe their deceased heroes are remembered by the people. Maybe they are immortalized with statues and songs? It can make the story really resonate with your players.

 

[Nytmare]

I agree with the "ask your players" consortium. I'm always a big fan of the players coming up with not just their characters, but the entire idea of what their group is and what the groups goals are.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

At my table it means I'm on the hook for 6 victory shooters and I start to question if I should have fudged some rolls or something. But as I mock their foolishness it becomes clear that it was all worth it. Then I tell them to roll up a new batch of chumlies if they want to take another crack at with the B team, or if they want to start afresh. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the other side of the screen but it quickly turns into steely determination to put me in my place.

 

[Klaudius Rex]

thanks to all who responded, i really appreciate the help.

ok so to add clarity, here's what happened in my group.

My group found out about the Lost City of Omu very early in the game (like 3rd level). For those of you not running ToA, Omu is the gateway/location in which the group needs to find in order to get to the next part of the adventure, in which the book recommends you be at least level 5 before entering.

I wanted them to play around in Chult a bit more, so I made a bit of fluff up telling them that Omu was a hidden/lost city, and only accessed magically from the great ruined city of Mezro. I just wanted them to explore the jungle a bit more and level up, but i soon found out that the book had little info on Mezro and many locations had very sucky gameplay and almost nothing to do with the game.

So, i basically decided to put the garden of Nangalore in Mezro and made the medusa in Nangalore as my version of a "mini-boss" to beat before they can get access to Omu. So ultimately, they died fighting the Zalkore the medusa in Nangalore (that i relocated to Mezro), and therefore, they cannot get access to Omu since they didnt beat her and died in battle.

So now, they are starting new characters and essentially need to get to Mezro (Nangalore), but im wondering whether i should still keep the medusa there. Or should i just have them be able to get to Omu without beating her, and have her go elsewhere or be killed by another group like the Red Wizards (who are also looking for a cure for the Death Curse and are also in Omu).

if you didnt like that i relocated the Gardens of Nangalore in Mezro, let me know as well. Im good with constructive criticism.

let me know what you think!

 

[cmad1977]

Maybe the Medusa can be bargained with? Distracted?

 

[Tony Vargas]

So ultimately, they died fighting the Zalkore the medusa in Nangalore (that i relocated to Mezro)...

So are they dead, or could they be statues...?

 

[Klaudius Rex]

So are they dead, or could they be statues...?

they were all turned to stone by the medusa. essentially, its still a total party kill, since there is no one who can possibly bring them back...