So you've killed all the adventurers!

[shilsen]

Wow, you are vicious. *hats off*

So they keep telling me

It would have been even worse if I didn't normally have only 1 or, more rarely, 2 fights a session (I think we've had two sessions out of 50 where we had 3). So PCs almost never go into a fight with less than full resources.

After losing two PCs in the first session of my new higher-level campaign, I'm going to do something similar and introduce the Dork 20 deck. I was already going to do that for the low-level game starting this weekend (with one experienced 3.5 player out of 8!)

I really like the Dork 20 deck, coupled with the Swashbuckling cards created by barsoomcore. I'm currently giving PCs three cards a session, with them allowed to give up two (not necessarily from the same player's hand) to survive a death blow/effect. Was originally doing three, but my players claimed they didn't have enough

What level is your higher-lvl campaign?

 

[Nightfall]

Shil,

Nah you're not vicious. You're just a blood brother DM after my own black heart.

 

[Kafkonia]

What level is your higher-lvl campaign?

It's a 15th-level evil campaign, just as a change of pace. I've got to deal with a Dread Necromancer, a Druid (who missed session 1), an ur-Priest, a Drunken Master, a Sorcerer who loves fire, and a Stonechild Fighter (the last two being the ones who bought it in session 1.)

I'm running them through the Golden Palace of Zahadran right now; at first I was concerned that they'd be overpowered (it's a 14th level module), especially when they... uh... killed the BBEG in the first fight... Lousy destruction spells.

But this is a real beer'n'pretzels game, even moreso than our usual ones; as one player put it, it's the "don't get too attached to your character" game.

 

[Nightfall]

Kaf,

If they get too cocky, have them be hired to find a priceless relic hidden in the reaches of Rappan Athuk.

That should make them consider their powers.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Kaf,

If they get too cocky, have them be hired to find a priceless relic hidden in the reaches of Rappan Athuk.

That should make them consider their powers.

"Dear Adventurers,

I seem to have accidentally dropped my wallet in the Black Pool in the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. Be pals and go get it for me.

Cheers,

-Mordenkainen."

 

[Nightfall]

Dungeon,

Hey if you pay people enough money, they'll do anything. Take a look a reality TV.

 

[Agamon]

Funny you should ask. It happened last night. This time around, the campaign is continuing with a new group. I rarely do that, but the original party was on an important mission and the new group is going to be sent by the patron to find out what happened, at which point they'll get waste deep in the problems and things can continue.

My last TPK (and nearly evey one before it), the campaign was over. The PCs were too individually invested to just have new guys show up and continue, it made no sense whatsoever.

When we restart, it's often a new setting and sometimes a new game. No difinitive answer for that though, it depends on what we all decide (or what I decide if the players don't really care).

 

[Agamon]

The situation can't arise in my game. PCs get swashbuckling cards or action pts which can be used to stabilize them at -9 if a blow or effect takes them below -10. So, at worst, they can all be beaten down to unconsciousness, with presumably a couple dying if all their cards/pts run out. After that, depending on the particular scenario, they may wake up with all their stuff gone, may wake up as slaves, etc. and have to deal with the consequences of the defeat.

This isn't a bad rule. In fact, I did it last night. The fight actually took place partially in the baddies jail cell room. The party got beat down and woke up inside the locked cells. The players were none too smart about it though, easily escaping the cells, but not healing up enough to not get beat down again. And I had to go with the "Fool me once" rule, and kill them all instead of recapture them. There was no other option that wasn't completely silly or overly debilitating to the PCs (like maiming them all).

 

[Agamon]

*has had only one TPK* But I'm waiting to start a few more when I get to run Age of Worms again.

Hey that's we were playing! HoHR. And it wasn't the

Spoiler

mind flayer

. It was the

Spoiler

dopplegangers in the jail cell, and the invisible stalkers in the weapon-filler pool room

. Yes, together. Nothing like a 7th level party fighting

Spoiler

an EL8 and EL9 together in a very dangeous environment

!

 

[LogicsFate]

Start a different campaign, same campaign world, new goals, same locale, new characters?
...or...
Switch genres altogether and play a different game?

Might take a different game but eventually come back to the same world, maybe a few years later. It's great telling PCs stories of their old PCs through the eyes of the NPCs. Sometimes the stories live up to what they did, sometimes there a joke.