Frequency of TPKs?

[Cerebral Paladin]

There have been several recent threads about TPKs. Some of the comments have made it clear that the frequency of TPKs varies a lot from group to group. I was curious about some overall patterns.

For purposes of the poll, I suggest the following definitions:
1. A TPK is literally that--if one PC survives, or the group almost all died but survived somehow, don't count it.
2. Don't count unusual games with really high frequencies-- Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu in convention settings, etc.
3. If you run really long or really short sessions, you may need to adjust the frequency categories. A 3-5 hour session is what I think of as normal, so I would count an 8 hour marathon as two, and a weekend of gaming might count as 5 or more. Be reasonable, but obviously precision isn't necessary.
4. Count both games GMing and PCing.
5. Never means it has literally never happened in a game you were running/playing in, except for the exclusions suggested in rule 2.

For my experience, I put never. I've been in some almost TPKs, but no actual TPKs. I've probably played roughly 1000 sessions.

 

[Nifft]

I've only been involved in one game which ended in a TPK.

What we did was dissolve the group, reform a new group (without the old DM), and play a totally different campaign for years. The TPK wasn't the only issue, of course, but it was the proverbial straw which broke the group's back.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Crothian]

I joined a new group a few years back. We have had 4 TPKs since January 05 (only 3 ended the campaign). I guess we average 45 4-5 hour sessions a year. So this week will mark about the 445th session I've had with this group. This is the 9th campaign but some of those lasted a few weeks because of DM scheduling issues.

From 95-05 I was in an out of a few groups and I can only remember 2 TPKs though we had many campaigns, some lasted a few years others a couple of weeks. Before that was mostly high school and earlier gaming and we had lots of campaign, lots of characters, but never a TPK like you describe. We did have a character or two always live even though we usually tossed them and started a new campaign. No idea how many sessions these years had.

 

[Bullgrit]

I've been playing D&D since 1980 -- Basic D&D, Advanced D&D1, AD&D2, D&D3. Off the top of my head, I'd estimate I've probably seen (mostly as a DM) upwards of 6 to 8 full TPKs. 10 to 12 (maybe even to 15) if I included "almost" TPKs where only one PC survived the situation.

I think about half of my TPK/almost TPK experiences have occurred in the last 6 years, playing D&D3 with my latest group.

Bullgrit

 

[Nyeshet]

I haven't exactly kept track over the years, but my impression is that they are rare. Far more often at least one or two will manage to get away, and those whose characters died will rejoin the group with new characters.

Also, if things start to look they go worse than expected, I tend to have the foes switch to non-lethal damage so as to capture the party - or at least one or two. Those that get away can then mount a rescue mission rather than search for new party members.

 

[FreeXenon]

Our primary DM usually kills us off in a TPK at about 12-15th level which is a running, well, I do not want to call it a joke, joke. That is just the way we roll in these parts.

Our last campaign that ended (3.5) not due to disbanding due that pesky thing called life, ended up with a TPK against a Red Dragon. 2 of the players were not there, however, and with them I think they would have survived. =) I was one of the MIA players. =( I am sad.

However our current campaign will continue until Darksun comes out and then we shall start anew. I am really excited! Yea Darksun! =)

 

[Ahnehnois]

It's happened, but not often. The last time, the party was only two, so that made it easier for it to happen.

(Incidentally, who's played thousands of sessions? Even at ENW that's got to be a rarity.)

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

(Incidentally, who's played thousands of sessions? Even at ENW that's got to be a rarity.)

I figure I've probably averaged 30-90 sessions for the last 15 years. One game every two weeks would be about 25. Add about 2-4 cons per year, with 5-10 games per cons (more back in the day, less now), and that puts my low year average around 35ish. A top year might be averaging more than one game session per week, minus some holidays, plus call it 4 cons for a total of an extra 30 games--so I've probably had years when I played more than 100 sessions. If we assume 60 as an average, that's 900, and I probably played a total of 100 times before I started playing heavily in college.

I'm aware of other people who have played a lot more than that, or for significantly longer periods of time. So I figure there are probably a bunch of people who have played 1000 times, plus or minus. Some of the people who've been playing actively continuously since the early '80s or the '70s might be up around 2000 or 3000. Much above that is really hard, but I bet that there are a handful of people who've played 4000 or 5000 sessions. But that requires heavy play (more than twice a week, or twice a week plus meaningful numbers of cons, or the like) for decades.

 

[IronWolf]

I joined a new group a few years back. We have had 4 TPKs since January 05 (only 3 ended the campaign). I guess we average 45 4-5 hour sessions a year. So this week will mark about the 445th session I've had with this group. This is the 9th campaign but some of those lasted a few weeks because of DM scheduling issues.

This.

 

[Goonalan]

One TPK (I'm a DM) in 29 years of play (with some gaps here and there), one other almost TPK- 2 PCs killed, 3 other PCs Ko'd then healed up by the bad guys and sacrificed one/day while the new PC group tried to rescue them, this was in Goodman Games Forge of the Mountain King and happened approx. four weeks ago.

The actual TPK was my first ever game of 4e, with a group of players that had been with me for most of the 29 or so years- Irontooth in KOTS, sadly three of the five players that day vowed never to play 4e again, and true to their word have never been back. In fact I think they stopped playing D&D that day... sad. I however stuck with 4e and have been loving it ever since.