Hi! So my players and I had a game last night and as the title says there was a TPK. This happened because the players went into a major battle with a flawed strategy that was not going to (and did not) work and they left major sections of the dungeon filled with enemies.
So here is the story, they essentially went into this dungeon to save their friend from being used in this draconic ritual. So they go through the dungeon skipping some rooms along the way (mostly be accident, but a few on purpose) that we full of kobolds. Once they made it to the final room they looked in through the key hole and formed a plan. This plan did not work. Once they decided to run they found out that they couldn't as the Kobolds who they had left alive barricaded the door. This is when they all died.
So my players first said that they felt that I was being unfair. So I told them that they were not necessarily dead but just unconsious and captured by the kobolds, as I felt bad for making the combat very difficult. This gave them the idea that I had planned this all along as a plot twist (eventhough I didn't) which made them annoyed.
Overall this has made me regret letting them keep their characters alive. What do you think, was I being to harsh in combat? Should I have let them keep their characthers?
Thanks in advance! Leave comments below.
Ok - might as well chuck in my tuppenceworth......
First off, watch your cognitive bias - you're very first line states "This happened because the players". This immediately says you don't think it's your fault, or an unfortunately happenstance, and therefore you're not in the mindset for discussion, only validation. It's ok and perfectly natural (everyone does it), but I'd definitely say take a moment to open your mind to the possibility everything is your fault. It's almost certainly not, but you should be prepared to accept the possibility.
A rough rule of thumb is:
let players suffer the consequences of their decisions, not their mistakes.
What does that mean? A quick definition.....
A
Mistake is the incorrect assessment of the situation due to misinterpretation of, lack of knowledge of, or forgetting about, the facts.
A
Decision is made by analysis all the facts, and choosing to place more importance or emphasis upon one or the other to justify a course of action.
So in this instance, the players appear to have made a few mistakes.......
1) They thought the dungeon was dynamic. Threats in a room would stay in that room.
2) They thought they'd mitigated other threats. They thought they'd remain undetected until the fight was done.
3) They misread the difficulty of the upcoming fight and the BBEG's power level.
4) They hadn't properly planned for an exit strategy, not realising they might need one.
They then made some decisions.......
1) They assessed their abilities, and came up with a combat strategy to win the fight.
2) Faced with how the fight was going, they had to choose between fighting on, or running.
Generally speaking, most mistakes are understandable except when you know all of the facts. In your case as the GM, you do. You know that not searching every room means they won't understand the scale of the threat. You know the kobald's they deliberately ignored (If that's what you meant by skipping rooms on purpose) were going to patrol and/or react within seconds once the fight started. You know that the kobald's will attempt to block escape. You know a good strategy is vital to kill the BBEG........However, your job as GM is to hand out these facts to the players
only when they find them, and if they don't have all the facts, they are guessing, or assuming, rather than choosing to do something where they know there's risk involved.
So here you can see the problem. Correctly you let them face the consequences of their decisions. Their plan wasn't good enough, the consequence for this was they got beat up. Good. Then they chose to run, and the consequence of this was not "winning" and leaving their friend. However, what ultimately killed them, and what feels like a 'gotcha' or unfair, is you made them suffer for their earlier Mistakes. This is the root of the problem.
A very simple analogy is you present the players with two rooms, each contains a key. They have a black box with the word "Noctum" written on it. They go into the first room, find a key with "Helios" on it, and open the box. A powerful demon pops out and kills them immediately. In the other room is a key with "Noctum" on it, they didn't get to. Now had they found both keys, they might've made a different choice. Had they searched the library they might've found an old tale about a demon in a box and how it's his name that traps him. Maybe they might've made a history check and heard about this tale. Maybe they'd take it to the local wizard......but no. They were presented with a key and a box and made the reasonable assumption one opened the other, not knowing all the things you the GM know. Now they are dead.
Everything up to the point the demon appeared were simple mistakes. However, if the Demon appears, gives them a speech about his vast ancient power, you make the players roll religion checks and inform them this dude looks properly, 20+ level badass, and they STILL choose to fight? Cool, let them die. That was their choice.
.......That's my opinion on the matter anyway, FWIW......
