Life after TPK?

[Rel]

I would definately NOT unkill them. I like for there to be a sense of "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." This applies especially if the party was doing something stupid (like looting during the fight).

As for starting a new game or waiting for 3.5, I find that times like this are good for taking a break from the genre for a bit. I ended a campaign about this time a year ago. It wasn't a TPK or anything, just a good stopping point. Other members of the group were willing to run a game but needed a bit of time to get prepared. So I ran a brief Star Wars d20 "mini-campaign for about 4 sessions. It was a breath of fresh air and everybody felt recharged to crank up with D&D again.

At other times in the past we have spent several sessions playing board games or watching movies when we took a break between campaigns. I think this can be even more important when you are the only GM. It helps keep you from getting burned out.

 

[Sakzilla]

What if...

Have a relative of one of the now-dead players hire a group of newbies somewhere else to find them. Keep things vague, using different pronounciations of the name of the missing son or something, but slowly lead them through familiar terrain as they gain levels.

At some point they will figure out what they are doing, and see one of two possibilities:
A. We can get our old characters back if we find them quickly. And they charge off.
B. We can get our old characters loot if we hurry, and inform the chump family member that Bob-son or whoever was killed in this cave by this beasty, and we'd need far more compensdation to go back.

Assuming they get to the cave/location in the first place, the re-animated party is now an adversary, even using catchy phrases or affections that the players may have developed. If possible, find a way to match up the dead character with the player who created it. Or use the dead party, call sign PK Alpha, as a hit and run deal, maybe capturing a character every once in a while.

This may have been an arch bad guy for the current campaign. Turn him into the arch bad guy for the gaming group. Between subverted characters and intel that arrives in the nick of time (more lackeys?) he can always be one step ahead of them.

Maybe at the end he can even confront some party dude and tell him, "They never told you what happened to your father. Party Dude, I am your father!"

And party Dude screams "Nooooo. That's a lie. That's impossible." And then falls off the ledge into a Mind Flayer spawning cave. The end

 

[Judas]

[Edit] Plot already mentioned....[/edit]

 

[Mithriltooth]

While you wait for 3.5, how about bringing them back as Undead (Wraith, Wight, Vampire etc..). Possibly created by the Necromancer that killed them, and forced to work for him. Send them on a quest for Items that will lead the Necromancer to Lichdom.

Just a thought.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

As stated before, you could have them as Undead creatures...and if there is another party, THEY could kill off the Necromancer. Let the Undead characters pick up the Emancipated Spawn PrC from Savage Species, and its back to adventuring.

 

[Stalker0]

Re: What if...

Have a relative of one of the now-dead players hire a group of newbies somewhere else to find them. Keep things vague, using different pronounciations of the name of the missing son or something, but slowly lead them through familiar terrain as they gain levels.

I agree, this is a good way to do it. From a player's point of view, there are few things cooler than having a previous character's name come up in the game, especially if its a plot hook. Its like, hey my character is dead, but his memory lives on.

 

[Shiv]

Depends, but here's a thought.

If you really want the group to continue, despite being dead...

Immediately after they die, their respective patron deities pluck their bodies from the prime material, so that they won't be corrupted as undead (they are, after all, high-level, great heroes of the realm). The necromancer, in response to this, casts some horrid ritual that plucks their souls from their eternal rest and reward and traps them.

The souls now are trapped within some horrible, nasty prison realm. A plane aligned with the necromancer. A demi-plane. Whatever you want. What form they take there, what they are, how they can function, what abilities they have, is up to you. Maybe make it some sort of "change of pace" game, where the characters are recognizable, but their capabilities are changed for the purpose of being in the prison. Ultimately, they have to break out of this prison.

This can become as long or as short of a side trek as you want, but all the time they spend here, the necromancer is pushing his plans forward, so it would be in the best interest of the group to get out fast.

Once they free themselves from the prison, their respective patrons decide to reward them for not succumbing to the great goodnight easily. Everyone gets a ressurect. But maybe with some taint or curse or some such. Something to punish them for being stupid and getting themselves killed.

But at least they get the chance to continue, and with the imprisoning, time lost, and taint/curse, you've revved up their hatred for the necromancer.

That sounds fun, I think.

 

[coyote6]

The worst part is that I use Hero Points per the Forbidden Kingdoms. Basically +20 to a roll to get critics, skill checks, SAVING THROWS, etc... In both cases the playes wanted to "save" them because they get 200 xp per point for them and they were afraid they'd need them for the 'damage' based spells, not the all or nothing ones.

Heh, I've seen similar things happen. In GURPS, we let PCs spend XP to get rerolls. PC fails life roll. GM: "You want to spend a point and reroll?" Player: "No, I'm trying to save points!"

After it was pointed out that dead characters have no saved points, the player chose to spend the point.

For your group, if they want to "save" their characters, you might let them use their secondary characters to rescue the primaries. Perhaps the necromancer uses a ritual (this is Scarred Lands, right?) to raise the whole group as some sort of undead minions; but a friendly (or not-so-friendly -- maybe just another enemy of the necromancer) NPC points out to the backups that there's a way to undo the ritual's effects. Insert quest adventure here.

At the end, if successful, the PCs are restored to life. Of course, they may be missing some items . . .

 

[rkanodia]

One of the characters missed his save vs. Finger of Death in the first round (the monk-fighter), another killed by the traps on the chest during the second round.

I've been lurking enworld for a few days, getting ideas for my new campaign, and this post made me finally go and actually get an account.

Normally, I'd be a-ok with having the secondaries come in to save the main characters, or having a fun little jaunt with the PCs as slaves of the necromancer or something. But jesus-h-tap-dancing-christ-in-a-dumptruck, if your PCs are still trying to grab teh ph4tty l3w+ <i>after</i> bodies start hitting the floor, then they have clearly lost respect for the threat that the villains are supposed to present, and they deserve whatever comes to them.

I'd say either have the secondaries become the main characters, or just make the players start rolling up some new characters.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

In the immortal words of fight fans everywhere...
FINISH THEM!

Hey, they started LOOTING for Drax's sake. What kinds of fools do that?
They deserve what they got.
Roll up first level characters, and remember, teamwork.