I killed my entire group

[bolen]

This has never happened to me before. We were playing our Kalamar campain in "sometimes they come back" and all three characters were wiped out.

Here's what happened: the cleric did not heal himself but all the other char. But he ran first into battle. I did not know this but he only had three HP. he droped as soon as he closed in on a skeleton.

The brave ranger tried to drag his dying body away so he would live. in the process he droped. The ranger was supposed to be helped by a barbarian. but a fear spell made the barb run like a little girly man. By the time he regained his senses the other two had fallen and were dropping HP.

Then the Barb (who had previously killed two ogers by himself) failed his save when the ghoul-priest hit him. OOPS all dead.

I guess I have some more undead and a revenge adventure for next week.

 

[Wolfspider]

Could you give some more details, please? What were they fighting exactly? What levels were they? What did your players think?

 

[Henry]

How about this, rather than hitting the campaign reset button:

Everyone starts in a sea of blackness. They can't figure out (1) why they aren't in paradise, (2) why they hurt so much, and (3) why paradise smells like sewer water and rotten plantlife.

When they come to, they find themselves, near death but not dead, covered in leeches to promote blood loss, bandaged and chained to a dungeon wall. The Ghoul-priest has saved them for a ritual calling for living blood, and wishes them to die in an exquisite manner (go wild with the ritual - it will make your players want to escape all the more).

They have to fight against the minions, against the leeches, and against the natural hazards of whatever godforsaken place they are located.

In short, give them not death, but a fate worse than death. You may have more fun than resetting.

 

[Zappo]

Good one, Henry.

 

[Ristamar]

You killed the whole party.....?

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU WIN!!!!

 

[Orco42]

I have come very close to killing the whole party a couple of times.

But either they get lucky or they get wise and the survivors run.

I only fudge a roll when I do something stupid (which I admit I have done in the past). But if they plays are too dumb to run when they are outmatched they could die.

I don't think its too big of a deal that they died. It seems that they made bad choices.

Ristamar- Nice!

 

[James McMurray]

I have to agree with Orco42. It sounds like they definitely deserved to die. What the heck was the cleric thinking when he charged into battle with only 3 hit points?

It sounds to me (and I admit I'm working on limited knowledge here) that the group was under the impression that they couldn't be killed. I bet your next campaign won't see near as amny foolishly suicidal charges. In fact, ts been my experience that players come out of that situation gunshy, and your next campaign will have hardly anyone wanting to risk themselve. It may take two campaigns to find that middle ground of intelligent risks.

Of course, as I said, I'm inferring a bunch here, so I could be wrong.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I recently killed off half my player's characters. The last two are much more cautious now that they know I'll squish 'em like a bug if they ask for it.

 

[Pielorinho]

We recently had an almost TPK -- only the monk escaped, due to his excellent tumbling and running skills.

We made only one boneheaded mistake, and that one we only realized in retrospect: we left a secret door unguarded behind us, cutting off most PCs' chance of escaping.

Of course, the DM was as stunned as we were, as PC after PC dropped and died.

Ah, well -- the luck of the dice! My next PC is gonna be a tankmonster: a sixth-level halforc barbarian/fighter/tribal defender with a greatsword and the potential to do 200+ points of damage a round. And that's before great cleave kicks in.

Daniel

 

[bolen]

Sorry about the lack of details. The party consisted of a L2 ranger, L2 cleric, and a L3 Barbarian. The situation was this the party just killed your basic evil cleric of a death god that all towns in D&D seem to have for some unknown reason. the town which they had saved was giving them a celebration banquet.

The party hears a screem from the tavern's kitchen. It turns out that the cleric they had just killed a day before had come back (hence the module's name) as a Ghoul.

The cleric died because the player was dumb. the other two died due to bad rolls and being overconfident.

I like your idea henry. I had some players not come (as is usual for our group) What should I do with them?

My Idea was for the campain to start over a few years latter and have the PC's battle the town which now has been overrun by this death cult.