How did you handle your TPK?

[ForceUser]

So, at this point, the heroes from The_Universe's Kingdom of Ashes (see sig for link to the story hour) are 12th level warriors in midst a battle with all odds against them...

Though it probably won't result in a TPK, it very well could... so, I was just wondering if, in any of your long-running games, have you experienced a TPK?

If so, how did you handle it? Did you just quit that game? Write up new characters at first level? The same level as the characters that died?

Just curious.

--LizzyB

We recently restarted a long-running campaign with 10th & 11th level characters and I killed five of them in the first battle.

Well, behind the screen. I only allowed the initial death. I couldn't bring myself to destroy the campaign at the very first session since restarting from a 3-year hiatus. That would have sucked.

Now that we have a few sessions under our belts, though, no mercy.

 

[Kalendraf]

My previous weekly campaign hit a TPK a little over a year ago. They'd been playing for just over a year and were in the 10th-12th level range. They had the option to get raised, but decided against it. We started a new campaign instead. Several of them had grown tired of their characters and wanted to try something new which is something that can happen if you play the same character week after week for over a year.

 

[the Jester]

My last tpk, the party had an out: a cohort had been left behind with the means to bring back the cleric, who could then bring back the rest. But if they hadn't had the foresight to do that, we'd have gone on with our other, lower-level game exclusively for a while.

The time before that the universe ended, and I started a new campaign world a few weeks later at the behest of my group.

 

[Yair]

In my one TPK, the party was foolish enough to get itself killed. They planned how to storm a wizard's tower *while standing on her doorstep*, having just gotten out... needless to say the wizard was suprisingly well-prepared for their onslaught.

I offered the party to hit the "restart button", but being the good sports that they are they accepted their demise and just moved on to newer, better, campaigns. Well, newer at least.

Now, of course, I've come close several times, but usually I fudged the dice. Not anymore though - I've recently thrown off the DM Screen, and woe be to my players

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

whoops!

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

In this case it is entirely because of player actions with a clear acceptance of the consequences. While I think a TPK is quite unlikely, surprises do happen. Just want to make sure that it's clear that the DM did not railroad us in any way. Heck, the whole situation is the result of us looking at a plot device and saying "Yeah? Screw that, let's rock!" I, at least, have had a blast with it, so no hard feelings here.

Indeed, AIM... I am in no way upset if any of us die-- or all of us-- just want to know how others handled it in the situation that all of our characters do happen to pass on.

A couple characters in our group have refused the offer of ressurection (had a little talk about it)-- so, some of us simply won't be coming back at all.

And, oh yes, it is our own fault.
DM: "I think you guys should probably just direct the battle for the next 45 minutes..."
Players: "Screw that?! Maintain our safety?! NO WAY! Look at that horde of 25 super powerful lizards that you said we shouldn't fight-- I'm going to kill it!"

... sometimes, we really do get ourselves in over our heads.

I love it!

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Now, of course, I've come close several times, but usually I fudged the dice. Not anymore though - I've recently thrown off the DM Screen, and woe be to my players

Oh, boy... our group has had some fun with the restart button in the past-- Wishes and the Deck of Many things are a BAD combo...

But, because we've hit the restart button, again-- it's become a lot less appleaing to me (which is why my character would refuse ressurection, if offered).

I guess I don't know how the other characters feel... but, now, our situation is our own doing-- no DM intention to kill-- so, the restart won't even be an option, here.

 

[Thanee]

We only had one TPK (in Necropolis, still 3.0), but everyone was happy about it (noone actually cared for their character anymore at that point, which was probably also what led to the TPK in the first place) and we gladly quit the campaign and focused on a new one with 3.5, which is a lot more fun.

Bye
Thanee

 

[JoeGKushner]

Depends.

I've used FFE's Dungeon World a time or too. That is what it's designed for in some ways. I've also used Oathbound, another place where the dead can be restored as part of the campaign switch.

Otherwise, it's usually time to roll up then ew characters. If everyone was wiped out, it's back to 1st level. Otherwise, depending on the level of the survivors, anything from -1 to -3 levels.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

My one TPK under 3E was the result of a combination of an extraordinarily poorly designed encounter in a published adventure -- Forge of Fury, for the curious -- and a group of players that behaved, for some reason, as if they had script immunity. The encounter was inevitably deadly as written, and the players completely ignored the steps I took to make it surviveable.

I'm curious if anyone else has the problem I have with TPKs ... they depress me. Seriously, whether as player or DM, when a TPK occurs, I completely lose my desire to play the game for quite a while. The thought of having to pick through the scraps of the campaign to salvage what can be salvaged ... it's just blah.

Anyway, to answer the question, after my group was wiped out in Forge of Fury, we took a hiatus for a month or two from my game while another player DMed. Then we started fresh, with the Maiden Voyage adventure, leading into Freeport. That campaign is still going strong after three years, despite a disastrous failure in The Banewarrens that has produced a slowly spreading blight on the world. (Think the Black Circle, in Roger Zelazny's Amber novels.)