D&D 5E First TPK Players got frustrated

[Imaculata]

Recently my players were crossing an ocean on their ship, when they encountered a Megalodon. They did not need to fight this beast, but they chose to do so because the challenge was there. They wanted to kill it. While they were pretty well armed, they may have underestimated their opponent a little. But I made sure to foreshadow to my players that any battle with any seamonster is going to be tough. And so they knew going into this battle that it could go south at any moment. Much to their surprise, the beast pulled off an unexpected move. It swam underneath the ship, and then suddenly jumped out of the water on the other side, and tried to swallow two of the players that were shooting at it from the forward bow. It caught one of them, and dragged him underneath the surface of the water. This character could have died, and he nearly did. But due to quick thinking on his part, he managed to escape within an inch of his life. Now fortunately for him he didn't die. But if he had, it still would have been perfectly fair, because:

-I made it very clear that sea monsters are very dangerous
-They know I'm not afraid to kill player characters.
-I made it clear the beast was very large and could swallow them whole with ease (and it did!)
-They attacked the creature when they didn't need to.
-They underestimated the creature.
-He got swallowed due to poor positioning on his part.

So had he died, it would have been despite the players being properly informed. Its a series of poor decissions that almost got him killed. I think it might be good to ask yourself if you gave your players enough information to make good decissions. PC's can die at any time, but a complete TPK is a rare thing. So it may be good to look at what you as a DM could have done differently to avoid this.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Sorry, nothing useful, just one-liners:

Were you expecting the PCs take one room at a time, killing all kobolds in each room then move to the next;

It's the D&D way!

I would consider rolling up new characters in to play in the same campaign against the same protagonists...

No wonder there was a TPK, if the PCs were going in against the protagonists...

I just grow tired of the "recommendations" that DMs/Players should never do something that is a lot of fun and has been working well for decades. It's usually the stuff that's hard to do well that people seem to decide that it just shouldn't be done. The problem is that the "right" way to run an RPG is getting narrower and more restrictive.

Some of the things that have been working well for decades are only working well because we spent years blindly groping out how to do them well. Now, someone in the groping stage can come here and be told he's doin' it wrong. The internet: making your life easier. ;(

 

[S'mon]

My approach when this happens is to talk through with the players how it turned out from my POV and why they failed/died (avoiding "you suck" type comments). Some player groups welcome real risk, especially if they've suffered at the hands of GMs who won't let their PCs die. Sometimes the players did not understand the developing situation. Sometimes there was a miscommunication. I try to be clear as possible when running battles re the dangers, but often players interpret THIS IS REALLY DANGEROUS as "flavour text" and ignore it.

My general view is that it's best to establish early on that the risk of defeat & death is real. Then players will adjust their tactics accordingly. If it happens repeatedly the GM may need to adjust too, typically by offering lower-threat adventures.