Voluntary TPK?

[DungeonmasterCal]

There is always the infamous "Pitch Black Portal" AKA Sphere of Anihilation....

Shuffles feet and looks uncomfortable....tries to leave room without being noticed....

 

[rexartur]

Volunatry disband

Voluntary disband

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Possible Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!









Not exactly a voluntary TPK, but I was running a group though the old Temple of Elemental Evil (converted to 3.0, at the time). They had this great concept of being performers (strongman, acrobat, geek, etc.), but motivation to explore was a bit of a hassle. Their name? Frog in a Frog Productions. This was applied after a battle near the moathouse with some giant frogs. One of the frogs swallowed a party member, and a second, hungry and not bright frog, swallowed the first frog (I think he crit missed his target or some such thing.)
Anywho, on to the Temple proper. They captured the priest of the area with the earth elementals that arise from the ground and patrol the pyramid. After a gentle interrogation and not a single sense motive check, they "coerced" the secret from the priest. The priest told them they had to pour a ewer of blood on the pyramid (the truth was they had to pour the blood on the elementals head). Into the room , and the geek volunteers for the duty, along with one of the other members. To the pyramid, and the geek decides, at that moment, that the priest may not have been forthcoming with the truth. The elementals approach. The geek "presents" the ewer of blood. The elementals pound both of them into paste. The rest of the party looks on, horrified, and then disbands. Never to adventure, or even perform, again.

Soon I will be re-running that module as The Temple of Existential Evil for Hackmaster. And aside form a couple of move-aways, it'll be the same players.

Insert evil giggle here.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

The Head of Vecna? (Somebody had to post it...)

That has to be one of the funniest stories I've ever read. And whether it's true or not (I suspect it is), I've seen players just like that.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

The Head of Vecna? (Somebody had to post it...)

Oh, its been a long time since I've read that one. Still make me laugh.

 

[Sheltem]

So let me get this straight:

1) You gave a carrot adventure hook, by dropping a hint about a source of old obscure power.

2) You players were intrigued enough by it to adventure to find it, or conversely you inteded it to be your adventure path and encouraged them to go to it.

3) Upon finding the carrot you are surprised that your players take a bite from it and die.

Actually, satori01, it was in a larger dungeon complex overrun with living enemies. somewhere they found what appeared to be a talking boulder. This being mumbled something about this pool and the "Test To Great Power". They searched for it and found it in an area devoid of all live. Noone there to guard this source to power or anything. Still they went on with this instead of going back to their original quest.
So please believe me, I did not lead them anywhere explicitly to get them killed and they were warned indeed.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Except a "Test To Great Power" can sound an awful lot like, "Jump into the pit, fight the cool creatures at the bottom of it, and come away with a magic weapon!"

 

[Seeten]

A Test of Great Power sounds, to me, a lot like, "Needs more research to see what we're up against". Test of Great Willpower? Great Power of Self-Control? Who knew? Obviously not them.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I generaly find,(and you might of done this), if you want to place realistic highly dangerous situations, you need to place hints with your players to stock up on the needed supplies. Tales of the horrible burning melting death to be found at the carrot, having animal companions, summoned monsters, or npc jump in and die, remains, etc etc.

What seems obvious to the DM creating the adventure is not always so to the players.

Uhm... There's a "pool of boiling viscous liquid" and you have to give them hints so they won't just jump in? I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. If they're not smart enough to try the "water first", by holding a stick into the pool, or even a finger (and even that is stupid), they deserve death. Darvin hath spoken...

 

[Darkness]

Two PCs pretty much were willing to end it all after the person they both loved (seemingly) died.

The city was under invasion, so they threw themselves at all enemies they could find, not really caring about the odds. More than once, the odds were quite bad.

They slaughtered them all and, when all was said and done, became heroes, though.