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You are playing a campaign of any game you can think of. You run into some tough enemies, and -boom- total party kill. What do you do? Are you starting where you left of in the same campaign with new characters, or do you play something else entirely? Something between these two extremes, maybe?

I've only encountered two TPKs. One resulted in the fact I did a little DM intervention and saved two of the party members so they could 'recruit' new blood. (Though they did eventually raise an old character alongside a new one.) The other resulted in me completely changing campaigns because I couldn't see it going on without the same or even similiar PCs.

So while I had two different results, the changes meant we did do things differently from then on.

Quote from: Benoist;441615You are playing a campaign of any game you can think of. You run into some tough enemies, and -boom- total party kill. What do you do? Are you starting where you left of in the same campaign with new characters, or do you play something else entirely? Something between these two extremes, maybe?

Depends on the DM and players.

I've played in games which ended in TPKs, where the game ended completely.

I've also played in games which ended in TPKs, where we started again with new characters in the same campaign.

You missed an option.

Usually yes but sometimes no depending on the specifics.

If the Players like the setting and the system and there is an appetite then a new Campaign can start in the same world.

I voted No, because generally, we keep playing in the same campaign.  However, sometimes a TPK has effectively ended the campaign, but for most groups I've played with, this is rare.

Each TPK that I have presided over was the result of positively stupid decisions by the Players. I choose to just start over with something else.

Quote from: jibbajibba;441619Usually yes but sometimes no depending on the specifics.

Under the options of a poll, that would be a "Yes" vote and a post to point out the exceptions.

The campaign is the characters, not the setting, the NPCs or the over-arching plot. It's what the specifc set of characters brings to the campaign that matters and is of interest.

You can run a new set of characters in an existing setting and continuity and that's cool. But it's an entirely different campaign.

It depends on the structure of the campaign and the plot going on.

For example, in our current Dark Heresy game, we haven't lost anyone yet but if we did, our Inquisitor would simply assemble a new team of acolytes and send them on the trail of the first group.

On the other hand, our Shadowrun ended with a de facto TPK (two dead, one in jail, I retired after escaping a city-wide manhunt by hiding in a Z-Zone) and we decided to let the game die, since a lot of the fun and story was driven by the specifics of the characters (I played my own grandson as a organlegging, narco-terrorist; someone else played an old Shadowrun character from a previous campaign years ago, etc.)

Depends on the game.  

I've had CoC campaigns with multiple TPKs and we continued the campaign arc with new characters who were sent to investigate where the last group vanished or who received a bizarre journal in the mail from one of the dead characters.

Sandbox games easily recover from TPKs, but often the players rather move on to another RPG or we switch GMs as a change of pace.  Its a good switching point.

However in story arc games, the TPK often means Big Bad Wins so even if the world continues, that arc is done and new characters means new campaign.

I'd have voted "Yes, usually, but not always," had there been a similar option...

Seanchai

Most of the time I continue. I leave it up to the group. So far in my HackMaster 4 game I've had 2 TPKs and we're still going.

During our long 3e campaign during high-school, we had about 3 TPKs.  We kept going with the same campaign -- often leaving little "memories" of the old character behind, or tying in a new character with the old.

For ex, the tower we were exploring had old bits of armor, weapons, and other personal trinkets that the original party had dropped.  And one of my newer characters was on an assassination mission to take out my previous one, unawares that his target had been killed already.

Quote from: Benoist;441615You are playing a campaign of any game you can think of. You run into some tough enemies, and -boom- total party kill. What do you do? Are you starting where you left of in the same campaign with new characters, or do you play something else entirely? Something between these two extremes, maybe?

I'm not sure we've ever had a TPK...but I'm sure that it would be a "depends"...I mean, if it was STOP THIS GUY OR THE WORLD DIES and we get a TPK...yeah, probably a new campaign.

But in most cases, it would be a "Well, you guys still wanna keep playing, but with new guys? Or do we bust out [This Other Game] instead?"

same campaign going on 27 years now.  3 TPKs in that time, 5 more near TPKs, just hit 50 full time players (I don't count tourney or short term) and 159 PCs.
Just
call
me
ourtlier....

Quote from: LordVreeg;441722same campaign going on 27 years now.  3 TPKs in that time, 5 more near TPKs, just hit 50 full time players (I don't count tourney or short term) and 159 PCs.
Just
call
me
ourtlier....

Jebus.  Some of these groups are online, right?

Quote from: Peregrin;441727Jebus.  Some of these groups are online, right?

a few.  Steel Isle is online.  
Just had session 64.
Here's the main thread. (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?70258.0)

In recent years, all my campaigns have been planned as short (8-18 session) closed-ended ones. Once X is achieved, the campaign is over. So if there's a TPK, the campaign ends a few sessions early. So far I've only had one TPK, though, the most recent campaign.

Had plenty of campaigns where 1 or 2 PCs die, though. Usually it's one particular player whose characters get killed, he rolls up another and joins straight back in. He only risks his character's life when things are coming to a climax, though, so he only gets to play the new character for a session or two.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;441750In recent years, all my campaigns have been planned as short (8-18 session) closed-ended ones. Once X is achieved, the campaign is over.

So if there's a TPK, the campaign ends a few sessions early. So far I've only had one TPK, though, the most recent campaign. Had plenty of campaigns where 1 or 2 PCs die, though. Usually it's one particular player whose characters get killed, he rolls up another and joins straight back in. He only risks his character's life when things are coming to a climax, though, so he only gets to play the new character for a session or two.

I loved your RQ logs/stories.  they rocked.

It really depends on the game. Sometimes the game lends itself to rebooting after the TPK. One example of this is CoC where the new investigators can simply be looking for what happened to the last bunch.

On the other end of that spectrum, years ago in a Stormbringer campaign I ran the party died at the hands of Pan Tang sorceror and his menagerie of demons and warrior-flunkies. The players decided that it was a fitting end for the characters and we decided to move onto another game. Of course we had been playing the game for about a year so it's not like I didn't get any use out of the material I prepared.

Quote from: LordVreeg;441751I loved your RQ logs/stories.  they rocked.

Thanks.

He got his characters killed in other systems, though, too :)

Under most circumstances I'd say yes, but its not an ironclad rule.

RPGPundit

In general I think if the whole party dies, that's a good opportunity to try out something new - there are a lot of games and campaign ideas to play with. If the TPK were very early in the campaign I'd be more likely to start a new party of adventurers in the same setting so as not to let the idea go to waste entirely, but if we got several good sessions out of it, I think it's fine to let it have been short and sweet.

I let the group decide. Do we change to something else after a TPK or revisit the developing campaign with a new angle?

Sadly, one of my most successful (by success I mean everyone had a roaring good time) D&D 3.0 campaigns ended in TPK at level six. The group had a remarkably poor die rolling time that night and made enough poor decisions to fill a galleon to boot.

Of the four PCs, two were actually captured in the conflict that ended in "TPK." The group split 2-2 on whether to continue. Oddly, one of the dead voted to keep going and one of the prisoners voted to end it. I had the deciding vote and agreed to end it. There were some other factors in my decision.... BUT....

I've often wondered how things would have turned out if I had gone with my initial instincts and had the two new PCs make a rescue attempt. Water under the bridge now.

I voted know. Although, I must admit, we never had a total TPK. There were usually one or two survivors.

Never start off from where and when the TPK occurred, but if the game is one where it makes sense a new party can begin to pick up the pieces. In CoC it depends largely on where in the adventure the TPK happens; early enough new investigators can investigate what happened to the first group, late in a campaign we just sit back and watch the big horror occur.

No, it usually isn't the end of the campaign, but merely a wrinkle that can explored (or exploited ;)).

Quote from: 1of3;443513I voted know. Although, I must admit, we never had a total TPK. There were usually one or two survivors.

Yeah, but sometimes that whole one-or-two-survivors is its own can of worms.

RPGPundit

A TPK only ends the game in my group when it's close to the final session of that campaign anyways.

I've never seen a TPK from either side of the screen.  Someone has always managed to get away (some calls closer than others).

I do recall one occasion, GMing, where all the PCs were captured, and that could have turned into a TPK, but at the time it was more interesting to leave the characters imprisoned and have the players run 'backup' PCs who then struggled to rescue their fellows.

Quote from: VectorSigma;443971Someone has always managed to get away (some calls closer than others).

Personally, using this as a touch point, I've never considered just one character getting away to be a non-TPK.

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;444030Personally, using this as a touch point, I've never considered just one character getting away to be a non-TPK.

Well, it's not precisely a Total Party Kill if someone gets away, now, is it?  I mean, once we start talking about near-TPKs and potential-TPKs and all that, it's a whole different ball game.  I've been party to plenty of near-TPKs and a metric ass-ton of potential-TPKs.  But unless every PC actually kicks the bucket, I can't "count" it as a TPK.

Collective Pants-Shitting is not the same as a TPK.  Although it might be more satisfying, actually.

Quote from: VectorSigma;444042Well, it's not precisely a Total Party Kill if someone gets away, now, is it?

True, but, personally, I've found the effect is the same.

Seanchai