D&D (2024) Sunless Citadel Thoughs? Almost had a tpk.

[Zardnaar]

I've never actually run it before. Anyway fairly early on lvl 1 they encountered a fire and ice mephit. Between their AoE breath weapons and explosion on death ability it dropped 2/4 and came clise on the remaining two.

Still they enjoyed it and it seems well regarded online. Meepo went down a treat.

2024 makes it easier.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I've never actually run it before. Anyway fairly early on lvl 1 they encountered a fire and ice mephit. Between their AoE breath weapons and explosion on death ability it dropped 2/4 and came clise on the remaining two.

Still they enjoyed it and it seems well regarded online. Meepo went down a treat.

2024 makes it easier.

When I ran it for my players using 5E I want to say they were already 2nd or 3rd level by that point and thus while I leveled up the encounters, the chance of a TPK in the manner you described was not likely. But the players certainly still enjoyed the adventure. The vampiric Gulthias Tree is a favorite. Not surprising, as Chris Perkins grabbed it and inserted it into Curse of Strahd as well.

 

[pukunui]

I never played / ran it in the 3e era, but I kicked off a 5e campaign with the version in the Yawning Portal book. It began with a PC getting instakilled by the rats hiding in the rubble at the bottom of the rope. It was literally the first action of the campaign. The player just looked at me, stunned, and said "Now what?"

I think I ruled that his PC was just at 0 hp instead of dead, and we then went on to successfully complete the adventure with no further PC deaths (although she did manage to drop one to 0 hp temporarily). However, I do not like how the adventure is set up, and I do not like how faithful WotC was with its conversion to 5e -- too much treasure, and the magic sword at the end (Shatterspike?) doesn't play nicely with the way 5e works.

I don't think I'll ever run it again in this or any future (or past) edition.

 

[Reynard]

Oh No! Not a near TPK!

/sarcasm

Adventuring is dangerous business.

 

[pukunui]

Oh No! Not a near TPK!

/sarcasm

Adventuring is dangerous business.

I have had numerous near-TPKs over the years, but I don't think I've ever actually achieved a genuine TPK. We've always had at least one PC escape.

For instance, when I ran Curse of Strahd, one of the PCs survived the confrontation with Strahd in his crypt. His player decided to have him run away and join Mordenkainen in the mountains.

 

[Reynard]

I have had numerous near-TPKs over the years, but I don't think I've ever actually achieved a genuine TPK. We've always had at least one PC escape.

For instance, when I ran Curse of Strahd, one of the PCs survived the confrontation with Strahd in his crypt. His player decided to have him run away and join Mordenkainen in the mountains.

I am a pretty brutal GM in that I generally assume the monsters/villains are playing for keeps. I have killed a lot of PCs. But I think I have only has one or two TPKs in the last 10 years, and none in 5E.

 

[pukunui]

I am a pretty brutal GM in that I generally assume the monsters/villains are playing for keeps. I have killed a lot of PCs. But I think I have only has one or two TPKs in the last 10 years, and none in 5E.

I have killed loads of PCs in 5e. I have had several 5e campaigns end in near-TPKs, and my deadliest campaign of all was Tomb of Annihilation (the first time I ran it). I think 8 PCs died in Omu alone, including one who lived for maybe 30 minutes in real time.

 

[Zardnaar]

Oh No! Not a near TPK!

/sarcasm

Adventuring is dangerous business.

It was fun. Not complaining.

 

[Reynard]

I have killed loads of PCs in 5e. I have had several 5e campaigns end in near-TPKs, and my deadliest campaign of all was Tomb of Annihilation (the first time I ran it). I think 8 PCs died in Omu alone, including one who lived for maybe 30 minutes in real time.

Just to be clear since I might not have been, I have killed many 5E PCs, just not had a 5E TPK.

 

[pukunui]

Just to be clear since I might not have been, I have killed many 5E PCs, just not had a 5E TPK.

Ah OK. IIRC I have had at least 5 near-TPKs in 5e. The first time I ran both Legacy of the Crystal Shard and Scourge of the Sword Coast, they ended in near-TPKs. Curse of Strahd ended in a near-TPK as I mentioned above.

I had a near-TPK in Omu during my first run-through of Tomb of Annihilation; two PCs survived and joined a new party seeking to end the death curse. (Of course, one of the reasons ToA is so deadly is because of the death curse that prevents dead PCs from being revived.)

I had one near-TPK in Dungeon of the Mad Mage but we continued with a new party seeking to find out what happened to the first party.

The closest thing I've come to an actual TPK would be in my current Witchlight campaign when the party was defeated by Agdon Longscarf and his harengon brigands. If they had been fighting to kill, it would have been a TPK for sure. But they're robbers not murderers, so they just knocked the PCs unconscious, took some of their stuff, then handed them over to the local hag.