It's the final end of their story.
The game goes on.
Your "re-try" begins with a blank character sheet.
I agree with that. I've only ever seen 3 TPK's, 2 in D&D.
1) Shackled City Adventure Path (SCAP). First module. I was a player. Fought the monster who guards the entrance for the upper to lower dungeons. Most of our weapons were ineffective, and PC's started going down fast. All but two PC's -- the thief and my wizard -- were killed. We went back to town and got an NPC friend to help us. She got killed too, but we finally killed the monster with a new tactic. Other players roll up new characters, many for the second time in this module.
2) SCAP, first module. Reconstitued party gets through much of the deeper level, until the "boss fight". Everyone but my wizard and one new character goes down quickly. The new survivor runs for the elevator out. I think hard for moment, run for the elevator or run for the chasm with an underground river and jump in? I choose the elevator. Both PC's are chased down and killed.
Later, I bought SCAP in book form, and discovered the guardian monster was supposed to be a role-playing/negotiation encounter, not a combat encounter, but none of us spoke any language it spoke. D'oh!
As for the underground river? What if my PC had jumped in? I HAD to know. Actually it wasn't a river, it was a pool with no outlet and tall steep walls around it, so definitely inescapable: "Anyone who falls from the bridge lands in a 70-foot-deep pool of icy water . . . rhe real danger comes from the water's cold temperature; see "Water Dangers" in the DMG, page 304, for drowning and hypothermia rules, if they become necessary." Ouch!
Anyhow, that campaign ended right there, and we started over with new PCs and a new, unrelated adventure.
