hammymchamham
First Post
for TPKs? Personally, I make sure I have enough d6s for the players to roll up stats at the start of every game....
well, i've been GMing for 20+ years now, and i've never had a TPK. i don't think i've ever (permanently) killed a single PC, either.Ramien Meltides said:Ah yes, the TPK. I figure it probably happens to every GM sooner or later.
this is where we part ways. i am NOT an advocate of open (non-fudging) rolling for DMs. this is the sole reason for your TPK -- you can't modify the results to bring about a more dramatic or more satisfying conclusion.You see, both my friend and I are dedicated to Open Rolling... we feel it's the only truly fair and impartial way to run a game, so we refuse to fudge and roll everything where everyone can see it.
i hope i'm not coming off sounding too adversarial, but if you allowed yourself to fudge a few rolls every now and then, you'd never get that feeling of being behind the 8-ball.My point is this... I could sense the DM's nervousness as the fight came into that last round. I knew he was feeling the same thing I had felt during my TPK... that feeling of being behind the 8 ball.
it's all about being flexible! as far as your situation, you didn't realize the half-dragon was too powerful until the battle was already raging. but you could've removed a handful of hit points or whatever to make it easier to take down as soon as you realized the combat was heading toward a TPK. what's really more important, your "integrity" about keeping to the adventure as planned NO MATTER WHAT or the enjoyment of the group as a whole? who really would've suffered if that half-dragon had a few less hit points than originally planned? you'd of course give out less XP for defeating it, but at least the campaign could continue...2 - The half-dragon ogre, while a cool bad guy to fight, is way too powerful for the CR listed.
My friend had a similar problem... the gnoll encounter was planned when he had 7 players in mind, and only 5 were able to show up for the final battle. No doubt this influenced our chances of success.
Ramien Meltides said:
How do you folks out there recover from TPK situations?
thundershot said:What's the best way to deal with this?