Have you ever deliberated TPKed a party to set the stage for another campaign?

[Mercurius]

I think I got the idea from an old module of the early 90s, Vecna Lives maybe? In that module, the players played iconic Greyhawk wizards - Mordenkainen, Drawmij, Bigby, etc, and the DM led them to a TPK that set the stage for their "real" characters to save the day in a longer campaign, against Vecna of course.

Now part of the reason this was an OK "Kobayashi Maru" thing to do was that the players' real characters weren't actually killed - it was supposed to be advertised as a fun one-off playing iconic characters, but in fact was the prelude to a more dramatic, larger story. But doing this to the actual characters of the players is another thing. I think I could pull it off with my group, because A) We haven't played in six months or so and B) We were using characters they made with the playtest rules, and we only played a couple times. Meaning, there's little personal attachment to their characters, but if done right it could still be used for the intended purpose: drama and surprise.

So the general idea I have would be to pretend we're going to continue using those characters, but then lead them to facing some Forgotten Ancient Evil Being™ who is returning to the world to kick ass. They all die, but with the experience of facing this Forgotten Ancient Evil Being™ and knowing something monumental is taking place (or perhaps wondering why the DM put the through such a seemingly pointless, but surprising experience). Then I'd fast forward to their new characters, who would eventually encounter various strands of story that could lead to an encounter with the Forgotten Ancient Evil Being.™

Anyone done something like this before? Deliberate TPK to set the stage for something grand and exciting?

 

[Tormyr]

Normally, I would be really careful with this as it could be construed as breaking the social contract between you and your players even though you have good intentions in mind. This is especially true if they are invested if they are invested in their characters. Since that does not seem to be the case, it could work. As long as your players don't feel betrayed, it could set things up well for the players to get revenge through the new characters.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yep, it was Vecna Lives you're thinking of...and yes, I have done that. In each case in particular, it was necessary for the PCs to be dead in order for the campaign to proceed.

In one, they became undead in the thrall of an evil Necromancer, but found themselves to be (strangely) still intelligent and (mostly) free-willed. The challenge was to regain full control of themselves and overthrow the Necromancer.

In another, the PCs journeyed through the afterlife, doing this and that, until they returned from the dead, fulfilling a prophesy about heroes returning from the ashes to defeat a great evil.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'd just tell them that you plan to have to have a really short wind up of the campaign with these characters (or a just a single adventure or so with them if they haven't been played before) and then you plan not to come back to these characters, and ask them if they are okay with that. Of course you don't tell them how short, or in what way you are going to end it. If they say they are okay with it, and they aren't too attached to their characters, it's probably not going to ruffle feathers TPKing them like you described.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I think something like this could be pretty cool, but you need to make sure your players have the right expectations. I would not be doing it with PC's that the players have been running for any length of time. I'd probably limit it to a one-shot or, 2-3 sessions at most and I'd use higher-level pregenerated characters. Let the players know up front that they will be playing with these characters for just a few sessions.

The closest I have done to something like this was when I ran my group through the 3.XE version of the Tomb of Horrors. I got them to create higher level characters plus a back-up character for a one-shot that I was going to run them through (I didn't tell them it was Tomb of Horrors). That way my players came in with the right expectations and weren't upset when someone died within the first hour!

 

[Ricochet]

My upcoming campaign will start with a TPK - only for the party to be ressurrected to a few weeks before the nasty business takes place, in order to go forth and stop the catastophe from happening.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I haven't done so, but this idea has some dramatic merit... Maybe I should think about it.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I haven't done this yet, but I've had several campaign ideas that would start this way. I need more time to game, dangit!

My current favorite is the one where I have the players make up PCs who are... not evil, per se, but all have some sort of terrible sin or mistake in their background. Then kill them all in the first game, and have them wake up in Mephistopheles' care. Basically, it's the start of a Brimstone/Ghost Rider-by-way-of-D&D campaign; the PCs are out collecting souls who have avoided or escaped from Hell, all while trying to redeem themselves enough to not go back when it's done.

 

[wedgeski]

Likewise, I've made notes on a couple of campaigns that could start this way. As long as you bring the players along for the ride, I think it will work really well.

ALWAYS make sure your players are happy with whatever kooky campaign concept you're intending to run for them. My first 5E campaign proper will begin at 10th level and starts with the hoary "You wake up with no idea who you are or how you got there..." I made damn sure all the players were okay with that old chestnut before putting pen to paper.

 

[delericho]

No, thankfully not - I considered it once, but it would have been a mistake.

However, what I have done is used an unplanned TPK to set the stage for the next campaign.

(I should note, though, that I consider the situation described from "Vecna Lives" somewhat different - it sounds like the players are essentially given temporary one-shot characters for that use, so would have fewer expectations. I'm not aware of having done that ever, but it's not particularly problematic when used like that.)