What to do and where to start after a TOTAL PARTY KILL?

[Harzel]

thanks to all who responded, i really appreciate the help.

ok so to add clarity, here's what happened in my group.

My group found out about the Lost City of Omu very early in the game (like 3rd level). For those of you not running ToA, Omu is the gateway/location in which the group needs to find in order to get to the next part of the adventure, in which the book recommends you be at least level 5 before entering.

I wanted them to play around in Chult a bit more, so I made a bit of fluff up telling them that Omu was a hidden/lost city, and only accessed magically from the great ruined city of Mezro. I just wanted them to explore the jungle a bit more and level up, but i soon found out that the book had little info on Mezro and many locations had very sucky gameplay and almost nothing to do with the game.

So, i basically decided to put the garden of Nangalore in Mezro and made the medusa in Nangalore as my version of a "mini-boss" to beat before they can get access to Omu. So ultimately, they died fighting the Zalkore the medusa in Nangalore (that i relocated to Mezro), and therefore, they cannot get access to Omu since they didnt beat her and died in battle.

So now, they are starting new characters and essentially need to get to Mezro (Nangalore), but im wondering whether i should still keep the medusa there. Or should i just have them be able to get to Omu without beating her, and have her go elsewhere or be killed by another group like the Red Wizards (who are also looking for a cure for the Death Curse and are also in Omu).

if you didnt like that i relocated the Gardens of Nangalore in Mezro, let me know as well. Im good with constructive criticism.

let me know what you think!

Few ideas -

Possibly a different (but no less unfriendly) mini-boss has vanquished the medusa and now occupies Nangalore. The new party could (maybe should) find evidence of the medusa's demise before reaching the new boss. This makes for an interesting experiment:
will the players respond with inappropriate optimism ("Yay, we don't have to fight the medusa again!"), or appropriate paranoia ("OMG, what could have taken out the medusa?") ?

Alternatively, the new resident/invader might have imprisoned or enslaved the medusa*. When the new party enters the area, perhaps some surviving eblis servants approach the party seeking help to free their mistress. In return for her freedom and help defeating her captor, the medusa might grant the party the access they need (unless they piss her off, as I assume the original party did).

*Possibly by the subterfuge of obtaining the urn containing the medusa's lover's ashes and threatening its destruction unless the medusa complies. In this case, the party may 'just' need to locate and wrest back the urn from wherever the interloper has it secured.

Of course, you'd need to come up with the identity and motivation of the invader.

 

[Klaudius Rex]

The medusa is a relatively minor encounter in ToA though they are one of the creatures who know the location of Omu.

However, I was wondering how a TPK happened unless everyone looked at the medusa and everyone failed their saving throws. In general, I've found that once the first character starts turning to stone (or even just has to make a saving throw) the rest tend to avert their eyes and try to come up with ways to deal with it without looking at it. I've played several encounters with basilisks that have a similar effect.

Anyway, since the characters aren't actually dead ... it is possible that an NPC like Artus Cimber or perhaps one of the guides from Port Nyanzaru (depending on character alignment and goals) might come along and free them from the petrification, perhaps in exchange for some service (a number of the guides have personal quests that could be used).

All of our players averted thier eyes, which made it hard for them to hit the medusa. One player even used his shield to cover the medusa's upper body (which i ruled granted her cover) which also made it hard for them to hit her. She also had a pet constrictor snake, and later, a few ebliss birds joined the fight. If PCs avert their eyes, they "cannot see the medusa until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again" making her very difficult to hit.

Even if Artus Cimber or another NPC come along and rescue them from petrification, then those NPCs would have to contend with the medusa as well. And that probably means killing the medusa off screen. i appreciate the help, but the players are all making new characters at this point.

 

[ZizBaja]

Have the characters wake up in new bodies. That would be cool. And eventually find their old gear in the deserted boss room if they really really want their gear back. Just an idea

 

[ClaytonCross]

I'd ask my players, or at least do my best to gauge their preferences.

Personally, as a player I'd want to have another go at the BBEG, but it doesn't makes sense to arrive at that point with a brand new group of PC's; also, a brand new group of PC's needs some time to get up to speed as an actual group. So I'd want to start over at some prior point, and spend a little bit of time working towards "Revenge". I'd also want it to make sense, as far as the overall Campaign Plot goes.

I really agree with this. It seems like bringing them in at the same point is a little strange. If you could have them come in from the beginning but with bosses defeated and enemies scouring the destruction of the last group. The idea being you build the new group up to expect a big fight as they follow the path of the last group seeing what they have done to recognize the power of the group that fell before. It also means you can bring the new group in a couple levels lower and have them earn their way back up while learning to work together. At the same time it would be almost a complete homebrew in rebuilding the path for the new group to fallow through the old path.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

To the OP, [MENTION=6807408]Klaudius Rex[/MENTION], TPK's are RPG's way of saying "...PLOT TWIST!".

Like others have stated, when I get a TPK (and I get more than my fair share, to be sure!) I smile, sit back a bit, then chat about the encounter that just killed them. I usually give out some "DM info", like how many HP's the bad guy(s) had or had left, explain any reason for ineffectual attacks or other odd things that were going on, etc. Usually after about 10 minutes of everyone going over what happened and what they could have possibly done different, we take a vote. We vote to either roll up new characters, or switch it up to a different game system.

Of special note, from what I'm reading of your posts, am I correct in saying that when you say "roll up new PC's and have them continue"...are you letting them roll up characters of the same level? If so...STOP! Bad DM! Bad! Ok, now that my initial grognardian curmudgeonitis is saited, the reason why I believe new PC's should be 1st level (or REAL close; I use "average PC level of group, rounding down, -2 with a maximum starting level of 3rd)...is because the ONLY penalty for failure in the game is death. And even this is potentially mitigated. If a DM simply allows new PC's to be the same as the last one...what's the point? Just let the player play the same character and keep going. Hell, don't even use "death" as a thing; equate all "death" results to "defeated". To me, however, in a fantasy setting at lest, not having actual death of PC's lessens the enjoyment rather drastically.

Anyway...I'm with others: When a TPK happens, the bad guy wins. Whatever he/she/they/it was trying to accomplish is successful to some degree. If I need to I'll roll 1d100+50% to see just how successful (yes, the least successful is 51% and the most is 150%; bad guys can 'get lucky' too!). Usually this means a town is messed up, maybe a country, perhaps even a large section of the world. I never have "world ending" events, however, because they would be an impossibility in a world where actual gods exist. Also, if I ever DO want to have an apocalypse...I'll get to use my old "Apocalypse" box set from Role Aids. (look it up...cool stuff Role Aids use the make...).

So...have the bad guy 'win'. Let the players start new 1st level PC's. Describe what happened from the new PC's perspective. Start with "So, what do you do now?". Keep playing.

There is NO SUCH THING as "ending a campaign" with one single exception: when the DM says "We're done with this world/game. Lets play X now". If the DM ever goes back to that 'world/game', then it simply didn't end; just keep playing from where you left off (as a DM you should have a fairly accurate timeline and know the exact date the last PC's adventured/died).

Bottom Line: Enjoy your victory. Let them make new 1st level PC's. Describe what those new PC's have experienced in the last X amount of time (since the bad guy won, after all).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Nytmare]

I really agree with this. It seems like bringing them in at the same point is a little strange.

Aside from personal preferences, there's no reason why all of that couldn't happen in fast forward.

 

[ClaytonCross]

Aside from personal preferences, there's no reason why all of that couldn't happen in fast forward.

I don't disagree. I would also say that in general a stripped down version where the last characters opened all the doors, beat all the major bosses, and killed most or all of the minions, so the new characters are fighting "refills" will easily go much faster. On top of that while I don't like meta-gaming, its hard to have player walk up to two doors that their last characters went through finding the traps on the left and the path forward on the right and them to pretend they don't know. Its much easier just to say, "you see blood under a door on the left with an apparent sprung trap and clear tracks from about 4 or 5 individuals leading through the open door on the right." All in all, if the "re-cap story" for the new characters caught them up in 1/4 the the time, I don't see any issue with it. It just needs to give a little narrative and let the group feel them selves out a little before putting them against an encounter that wiped their last characters. Also, its not uncommon to cause them to lose a level or two when they die, which they could recover fighting wandering mobs and alternate paths on the way their so that they are not under powered. Its not really a punishment, so much as a rewind, like having a flash back episode for a new character added to a show, so that the audience or in this case the players, get a chance to know and invest in the new characters. Otherwise, their would be very little impact at the lose of any characters to the players in the same repeat fight an multiple wipes would be more likely due to players not understanding their characters and roles in the team, at the same time being more boring since their is zero build up between attempt and only a repetitive lose which will make them want to move to a new campaign.