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Author Topic: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?  (Read 3417 times)

HappyDaze

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« on: November 20, 2019, 11:36:45 PM »
So the party gets wiped out and the group is faced with figuring out what to do next. Do/would you generally prefer to:
1) Make new characters and jump back into the same game/campaign?
2) Try a different campaign with the same game (with same or different GM)?
3) Try a different game (with same or different GM)?
4) Something else?

What if it is a near-TPK? Say that 4/5 characters die and there is no reasonable chance that the 5th can/will restore them, does the answer change?

Does the amount of time the group had been playing this particular campaign change those answers? I would think that a TPK in the 2nd session is likely to feel different from one in the 22nd session.

Opaopajr

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2019, 11:46:08 PM »
Depends on the group and game state. You always have to factor the human element; we gather in this hobby for pleasure, not work. You also have to acknowledge the game state; some endings are just that, endings, as in not recoverable.

If there are hirelings and henchmen, and or a Stable of PCs table, then it is easier to recover. This is actually a huge strength for classic dungeon crawling. But sometimes a palate is satisfied, or still in shock, and a fresh perspective cleanses the palate... and there's many ways to do that. :)
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Razor 007

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2019, 12:47:28 AM »
Ok everyone, welcome to the Shadowfell!!!
I need you to roll a perception check.....

ffilz

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2019, 12:56:32 AM »
I joined the reboot of an OD&D play by post after a TPK. I thnk play by post is pretty easy to reboot. On a near TPK, any players interested in still playing on would roll up new PCs and continue.

My interest tends towards sandbox games so there isn't a plot derailed by losing most or all the PCs.

For my weekly Roll20 gaming, I think it would depend on the interest of the players.

HappyDaze

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2019, 01:12:25 AM »
Quote from: ffilz;1114521
My interest tends towards sandbox games so there isn't a plot derailed by losing most or all the PCs.

It's a little different with the 5e hardcover adventures. Inserting a new band into them at the same point the old PCs were at only works if the new band is made at a similar level and this makes it feel like the PCs didn't die/fail, they just changed clothes (and classes, etc.). If they are not elevated to the level of the deceased, then you're going to need some side quests to get back to the level you need to be to be effective in the main adventure, and I think that's likely to kill interest in continuation.

ffilz

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2019, 01:20:14 AM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1114522
It's a little different with the 5e hardcover adventures. Inserting a new band into them at the same point the old PCs were at only works if the new band is made at a similar level and this makes it feel like the PCs didn't die/fail, they just changed clothes (and classes, etc.). If they are not elevated to the level of the deceased, then you're going to need some side quests to get back to the level you need to be to be effective in the main adventure, and I think that's likely to kill interest in continuation.

True, again, if I'm running a sandbox, I don't have an adventure I'm invested in running so the new party can go off and explore something else.

S'mon

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2019, 02:06:34 AM »
I usually start a new campaign. I had a session 1 TPK where we just restarted with relatives of the dead PCs. I often go back to the TPK setting years later with a new group playing in the aftermath as it tends to create a dramatic underdog villains-won setting.

VisionStorm

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2019, 02:08:27 AM »
Sounds like an excellent opportunity to roll new characters and try out something else. Anyone want to play some Dark Sun? I'm in the mood for some long legged elves and cannibal halflings. :cool:

Granted "it depends!" Like all things in life. But if the old party wiped out and there's no coming back might as well try something fresh--get the creative juices flowing. Probably on a different game or setting. Different GM or not depends on whether the GM was an asshole or the group died of its own stupidity. But since I'm usually GM it's probably gonna be the same.

Any survivors will likely retire traumatized by their party's deaths and become a cautionary tale for not rushing a dragon's lair like a pack of drooling idiots. They will probably show up at a tavern or something if we ever play in the same world again to give new adventurers some advice on how not to be retards--keep their healers safe, always check for traps and NEVER rest in the middle of the wilderness without someone keeping watch or setting up a bunch of alarms for the inevitable night encounter that will happen even if they take all these precautions. But at least they'll have advanced warning when the time comes.

JeremyR

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2019, 02:43:07 AM »
Their back up characters rescue their bodies and have them rezzed at the local temple (or reincarnated).  In old school D&D, players should probably have more than one character, plus assorted henchmen.  Not all of whom go on the same adventures.

For instance, EGG has Mordenkainen, Yrag, later Bigby (apparently originally a henchman)

Or you could have a lich or something do it, then geas them to do something nasty.

HappyDaze

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2019, 02:57:54 AM »
Quote from: JeremyR;1114528
Their back up characters rescue their bodies and have them rezzed at the local temple (or reincarnated).  In old school D&D, players should probably have more than one character, plus assorted henchmen.  Not all of whom go on the same adventures.

For instance, EGG has Mordenkainen, Yrag, later Bigby (apparently originally a henchman)

Or you could have a lich or something do it, then geas them to do something nasty.

Characters are only level 2-3. They can not afford the cost to raise even one of them.

They have no back-ups, and even if they did, the fight they lost is boarding a pirate ship, not a static dungeon. Their dead bodies are likely stripped and thrown overboard to the sharks (there's always sharks).

lordmalachdrim

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2019, 07:28:15 AM »
New characters, same world. Maybe a few years in the future and the big bad/foes have had time to move forward in their plans. Now the new players are fighting to clean up the mess caused by the failure of the prior group.

Steven Mitchell

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2019, 08:21:43 AM »
We periodically have "campaign reboots" even with no characters dead.  Could be a new system, new setting, new characters, or all of the above.  Often is a new focus on theme or tone.  It's something that we often discuss in the social time around sessions.  A TPK merely accelerates that process. :)

Since I nearly always run something that is at least half sandbox, it's not that hard to do new characters.  Right now, I've got two different groups, but one of those groups has multiple characters already, due to interest in pursuing another angle with a different set of characters.

Omega

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2019, 10:06:35 AM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1114515
So the party gets wiped out and the group is faced with figuring out what to do next. Do/would you generally prefer to:

What if it is a near-TPK? Say that 4/5 characters die and there is no reasonable chance that the 5th can/will restore them, does the answer change?

Does the amount of time the group had been playing this particular campaign change those answers? I would think that a TPK in the 2nd session is likely to feel different from one in the 22nd session.


Varies from group to group and table to table. And it should be explained before campaign start if the safety net is off, or really small. Or explain that if the players somehow wipe themselves out then its roll new characters time most likely. Again, depends on alot of factors.

wayyyyy back in a thread here I recounted a session with Jan and Kefra that ended in a 66% TPK after Jan's halfling Ranger got eaten by a giant frog and Kefra's elf Druid got ambushed and killed by a giant swamp weasel while she was scouting in giant snake form. Which left me to recover her head after finding it and carting that back to a town with a suitable temple that could raise her. Jan started a new character and Kefra and I would have as well had all our characters gone down and nothing intervened. Which was unlikely considering the location. We also came across the bodies of one of the other tandem groups the DM runs in the same region as they had met a total party loss. This was not the first or last of these. Our group though survived usually more or less intact after some effort. Apparently one of the other groups was less inclined.

Length of time in the campaign can be a factor. But more telling is how aware of the lethality of the setting. Example: When running Albedo I make sure the players are aware that the combat system is very lethal and that getting shot, even with the advanced medical of the setting, could be fatal. So they know every firefight could be their last.

Ratman_tf

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2019, 11:33:07 AM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1114515
So the party gets wiped out and the group is faced with figuring out what to do next. Do/would you generally prefer to:
1) Make new characters and jump back into the same game/campaign?
2) Try a different campaign with the same game (with same or different GM)?
3) Try a different game (with same or different GM)?
4) Something else?

What if it is a near-TPK? Say that 4/5 characters die and there is no reasonable chance that the 5th can/will restore them, does the answer change?

Does the amount of time the group had been playing this particular campaign change those answers? I would think that a TPK in the 2nd session is likely to feel different from one in the 22nd session.

It depends on the campaign. I've done the gamut of -

Having an NPC recover the party. The chararcters were only "mostly dead".
Having the results stand and the players roll up new characters.
Switch to a new campaign.
Start a ressurection quest, where the spirits of the deceased can return to the land of the living by going on an adventure.
Start a ressurection quest, where the survivors can bring back the deceased by going on an adventure.
etc.
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EOTB

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How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2019, 01:59:00 PM »
Completely up the players
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