How have you handled TPKs?

[MerakSpielman]

...Dream Sequence.

Holy crappola! The one thing that my college creative writing teachers said was absolutely sure to make you fail the class was to have your story's "surprise" ending be the whole thing was a dream or in some other way didn't really happen. "The potential for it to be done well is vanishingly small," I believe he said, "To the point where major, famous writers have attempted it with marvelous style and dignity, only to have the entire story fail dramatically."

I wiped out an entire party of 1 and second level players with a Yellow Musk Creeper and 4 Gnoll Yellow Musk Zombies...

Wow! Somebody besides me has recently used Yellow Musk Creepers/Zombies? Amazing! Read my story hour to see how a similar scene went for me, but the monsters were toned-down a bit to make it an appropriate "starting dungeon" for a new campaign.

-

I like Trainz's True Resurrection idea... but to add a little twist - have the party be raised a century later, after the grand evil they fought to destory has succeeded in taking over the world. A last-ditch effort by a band of rebel freedom fighters allowed them to raise the failed heroes of the past - for one last attempt to save the day.

Or you could play a one-shot game where the players all play the members of an elite rescue-squad, sent by allies of the players to "get 'em out of there!" A quick shift from whatever style you usually play to a fantasy special ops commando style could be quite refreshing. Also, it's not every day you get to rescue yourself.

 

[Hjorimir]

Last time I had a TPK it gave me enough experience to hit 12th level (man it was nice having a feat and a stat increase at the same time; I took a point in Charisma to better bluff my players and selected Evade Player Crying feat seeing how I had invested in the perquisites of Dodge Dice and Laugh at the Dead).

 

[Harlock]

Well, I'm also hoping to get some true stories of what sent others into TPK and what they did about it.

I love the idea of having the PCs take over the monsters/NPCs who killed them. They could even have "friends" if another PC or two is needed.

DiFier, brilliant. They may have to deal with a whole new world and their enimies would no doubt know the legends about them. And overestimate them. They'd also come after them with various Soul Jar type attacks to prevent them from rising again.

Haven't had a TPK since 2nd Edition. I was running a modified A1-4. Characters met a doppleganger posing as a slave. Took pity on the poor fellow. Then he convinced them to split up, the slave took the party rogue on a goose chase for a "back way in" and a good backstab or two later, the rogue was dead. The other two characters ran into a Basilisk. They both failed their save vs. petrification. What could I do about it? They were dead. I informed them that splitting up is hardly ever a good idea and let it serve as an object lesson.

These days the party seems fairly intelligent. They haven't bit off more than they can chew again... yet. I used to fudge rolls, but I've kind of stopped that, and let my players know, since I wanted the Scarred Lands to be a dangerous place. If a TPK happens again, well, I'll take my campaign to a new region and hand the players blank Character Sheets.

 

[Rel]

I like Trainz's True Resurrection idea... but to add a little twist - have the party be raised a century later, after the grand evil they fought to destory has succeeded in taking over the world. A last-ditch effort by a band of rebel freedom fighters allowed them to raise the failed heroes of the past - for one last attempt to save the day.

I did this once for a one-shot game, but the TPK was done by DM fiat, not due to any fault of the players. I had the PC's sitting around a table at a tavern, celebrating their most recent exploits. The door banged open, they turned to see who it was...it was a Medusa. I turned the lot of them to stone without so much as a saving throw.

Years later, they were temporarily turned back to flesh because the whole region had been taken over by the Medusa (The Stone Lord) and the party was the last hope of the resistance. The catch was that the magical elixir used to transform them back to flesh only lasted a week unless they managed to mix the blood of a Medusa with it.

They got right down to business with little of the dilly dallying and table talk that often accompanies the game.