The Accidental TPK

[Reynard]

I have been re-reading my old KoDTs lately, and around issue #69 or #70 there's a humorous little strip in which the Knights suffer one of those player driven, accidental TPKs. When B.A. designs his dungeon, he includes (for simulationist purposes) a sphere of annihilation as a means of waste disposal and takes pains during the design process to keep the PCs from, well, being annihilated. Of course, this being KoDT, the PCs, once they get on the scent, refuse to let up until each and everyone of them is destroyed. of course, its KoDT, so it's all very fun and over the top, but it actually rang kind of true for me.

IME, most cases in which a TPK occurred or was imminent, it was usually player driven. PCs refused to flee or they thought they had some trap or trick figured out or they pushed one room farther, knowing they were already hurting, or whatever. And, just as with the Knights, when it happens it usually becomes the DM's "fault", perhaps even a "screw job".

Have you experienced player driven accidental TPKs? As a DM? As a player? How did you deal with it (them)? Do you warn the PCs that it is coming and try and steer them away or let them forge ahead into oblivion? As a player, do you see it coming and press on? Blame yourself or the other party members or the DM?

 

[bh2]

I DMed Return to the Tomb of Horrors... The PCs all jumped through the sphere of annihilation... I sorta encouraged them though, since I really wanted the campaign to be over with.

 

[Gilladian]

This may not help, since in all my 30+ years of playing (most of it as DM) I've never experienced a TPK. The closest we came that I can remember was when (as a player) my evil MU stole the spellbook of the other MU in the party, and took off with it. His greed overcame his common sense, in other words.

The other PCs chased him down, there was a brutal battle in which he magic-missiled the thief to death, and the fighter then clobbered the MU. We were only 2nd level, so it wasn't a very epic scene! The fighter and other magic user lived, but our evil campaign was definitely over.

Oh, I do remember a game where most of us jumped into TOH's sphere of annihilation - but it was definitely the DM's fault for allowing the first victim to go in and come back out briefly before being annihilated; so we did a reset, and I think we all got scattered and slowly died in later rooms... but does TOH really count? I don't think so! It's designed specifically as a death-trap.

Player-driven campaign disintegration, however, is a phenomenon I am only too familiar with. It usually seems to revolve around casual games that have no clear reason to exist beyond "get treasure". The PCs get bored, start picking on each other, and there it goes, downhill...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

nearly TPK... twice at Night below (converted to 3rd edition on the fly):

1st one: attacking peaceful goblins in their cave, the barbarian the only one not killed, which was fair, because he was the only one who actually protested killing harmless goblins

2nd one: me a bit annoyed, player refusing any warnings to go int dangerous terrain ringing the alarm bell and going into a dead end, searching for secret doors a very long time... enough for the bandidts to be fully prepared...

 

[Protagonist]

I DMed Return to the Tomb of Horrors... The PCs all jumped through the sphere of annihilation... I sorta encouraged them though, since I really wanted the campaign to be over with.

Ditto'd. Excpet I didn't really encourage them, the huge gargoyle chasing them down the hall did

 

[roguerouge]

The one TPK was the one time I wasn't there. One of the major pushes towards it happening? Misreading climb check rules. So, in desperation, a PC jumped off a cliff at someone grappling another PC. I'm told that it all went downhill from there.

 

[Rhun]

Almost every TPK my players have suffered has been player driven. I always try to give them a chance to escape, or to surrender and be taken prisoner, or some out. Players just rarely ever take the out.

As a player, I'm not sure I've ever been part of a TPK.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I forgot:

ADnD 2nd edition... night below again:

nearly our whole group was TPKed by mind flayers... stunned by mind blast and nearly eaten... nex session i could convince my DM that technically i failed a saving throw which resulted in death... activating my ability to reroll that throw (good old ADnD ministrel knight)... i made that saving throw and the party was saved.

 

[jmucchiello]

I was DMing. I had a bad guy I wanted to introduce for them to take down later. No, they attacked. When the main fighter was dominated and started taking other characters out, they still attacked. When the bad guy pointed this out and said all he asked for was safe passage from this room, they still attacked. The bad guy was unreachable because of the room layout and so the mage who was completely ineffectual (and lacking dispel magic) decided to run. So technically it wasn't a TPK. But even when the guy wiping the floor with you is suggesting that hostilities stop, they pressed on.

Luckily the campaign structure was conducive to starting new characters without losing the main plot so they did get to kill the bad guy later.

 

[demiurge1138]

The thread title is a little misleading--I've never experienced an intentional TPK. Of the TPKs I've presided over, they've generally been more due to poor luck or poor encounter balance than willful bad decisions on the player's parts.