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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: HappyDaze on November 20, 2019, 11:36:45 PM

Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Opaopajr 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. :)
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Razor 007 on November 21, 2019, 12:47:28 AM
Ok everyone, welcome to the Shadowfell!!!
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: ffilz 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: ffilz 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: S'mon 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: VisionStorm 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: JeremyR 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze 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).
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: lordmalachdrim 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Steven Mitchell 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Omega 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Ratman_tf 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.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: EOTB on November 21, 2019, 01:59:00 PM
Completely up the players
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Chris24601 on November 21, 2019, 10:10:53 PM
I can legit say in all my years of gaming I've never played at a table where enough PCs died to qualify as a TPK. Most of the people I've played with tend to be of the "if it's a fair fight, you're doing it wrong" variety and that includes the understanding that if the fight is NOT lopsided in your favor then you fall back until you can make it lopsided in your favor (you might take a loss or two in the process, but way less than if you'd stood and fought).

We've still had some pretty high lethality games, but even then it was a death every couple sessions, not TPKs.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: VisionStorm on November 21, 2019, 11:33:08 PM
Quote from: Chris24601;1114634
I can legit say in all my years of gaming I've never played at a table where enough PCs died to qualify as a TPK. Most of the people I've played with tend to be of the "if it's a fair fight, you're doing it wrong" variety and that includes the understanding that if the fight is NOT lopsided in your favor then you fall back until you can make it lopsided in your favor (you might take a loss or two in the process, but way less than if you'd stood and fought).

We've still had some pretty high lethality games, but even then it was a death every couple sessions, not TPKs.


Yeah, I don't think I've ever had an actual TPK either. Multiple deaths? Maybe. But never a full TPK that I recall. But I answered with what I WOULD (hypothetically) do anyway cuz the OP seemed to be phrased like a thought exercise rather than relying on you actually experiencing a TPK.

Characters in my campaigns tend to die almost invariably of player stupidity--often with plenty of warning and strong implications that if the players continue along that path their characters WILL die. In my games player idiocy is the #1 cause of character death.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Psikerlord on November 21, 2019, 11:51:43 PM
New PCs and completely new adventure. Even better new system/genre too. Keep it fresh!
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Melan on November 22, 2019, 03:08:46 AM
The more casual the game, the easier it is to keep going with new characters. If a canonical sandbox game loses a team, you can assemble a new one from the available character pool and keep going. At our last OD&D game, a pair of green dragons killed off the first exploration party, so the players just rolled up a new bunch, or took out different PCs, and sent them into action (while giving the dragons a wide berth! :D). If it is a game with long plot arcs and characters being embedded in multiple social contexts, it is hard to break the continuity without damaging the flow of the campaign.

This also increases over time. Usually, in the beginning of a long-running campaign, characters are not very well developed, and fairly disposable/interchangeable. Our latest full campaign suffered an almost-TPK at session five (https://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/2019/10/blog-beyond-erillion.html), and we could reboot it successfully (although there was a reorientation period while the new PCs found their way). Once you get to mid- and high-level characters with long histories, a lot of organic development, and many ties to the world, losing a PC means losing some of that texture, and if you lose all or nearly all, you essentially lose the campaign. Of course, in standard D&D, you have fairly good access to raise dead and perhaps wish, even if it does cheapen death and injury.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze on November 22, 2019, 03:13:38 AM
Quote from: VisionStorm;1114638
Yeah, I don't think I've ever had an actual TPK either. Multiple deaths? Maybe. But never a full TPK that I recall. But I answered with what I WOULD (hypothetically) do anyway cuz the OP seemed to be phrased like a thought exercise rather than relying on you actually experiencing a TPK.

It was a thought exercise when I posted it. However, I knew the PCs were going into a potential TPK and they knew it was going to be a tough fight with a possibility of defeat. We played it tonight and it was a disaster. One PC went down in turn 2, but the cleric got him up with healing word. On turn 4, the captain (a bandit captain with a rapier instead of a scimitar) rushed in and skewered the cleric with two rapier hits and a dagger hit. The cleric went down to 0 hp and things got bad very quickly after that. The PCs suffered from some terrible rolls--the barbarian only once rolled above a 6 on an attack roll, meaning she missed with 5/6 of her attacks. The bad guy wizard (a 4th level caster) used Thunderwave upcast to level 2 and rolled max (24) damage. This killed one (previously injured) character outright and knocked another to 0 hp and off of the side of the ship into the water--not a good situation to be in when unconscious. So yeah, the TPK happened.

Everyone still wants to play D&D with me running it, but not the same campaign. They are OK with failure and want to try something new.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: nope on November 22, 2019, 10:21:39 AM
The only TPK I've ever had in a campaign I was running was because I was running it for a single player, whose character died (a story which I posted over in the "natural animals as enemies" thread).

He made a new character from the same cult, and was charged with finding out what happened to his previous character. Which he succeeded at, then killed the monster that ate his previous character, then bled out in the snow from his wounds.

So, a double "TPK" I guess! :p We both had fun with it.

Of course, I have PLAYED in games where there were TPK's. One of them I was a bit sour about, because the GM had randomly (and secretly) rolled up a trait for the cyborg character with amnesia, which turned out to be a mini nuke that detonates when the character goes negative... he bit it, then incinerated the rest of us, none of us including him ever having known about the secret "power" prior to that moment. :o
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze on November 23, 2019, 01:29:41 AM
As a follow-up, this is the first time I've ever had a TPK in one of my games. I've certainly had PC deaths on occasion (even happened once in an FFG Star Wars game where it's pretty hard to do), but nothing quite like this. I didn't set the encounter up to be a TPK, but the PCs didn't take any real steps to prevent it and then luck (i.e., dice rolls) was just not in their favor. But...

As the battle went on and it became increasingly likely that they were going to lose, I started to enjoy their failures. I've long enjoyed celebrating the PCs' victories along with the players, but this time I was actually having a blast mopping the floor with them. Oddly enough, the other players found it fairly enjoyable too once everybody was dead (other than the fact that the game was over about 90 minutes earlier than we usually play).

The players do appear to have gleaned that I won't pull punches (two of them play under another DM that fudges dice rolls and regularly throws softball encounters) and they seem to be applying this insight toward their new characters. Their new PCs (starting at level 3) are far better built to support one another and the players are even talking about the need to avoid using head-on frontal assault as their sole tactic. So, this TPK might just be a win overall.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: mAcular Chaotic on November 23, 2019, 02:46:37 AM
Quote from: Antiquation!;1114669
he bit it, then incinerated the rest of us, none of us including him ever having known about the secret "power" prior to that moment. :o

OK, I laughed. The more I think about this the funnier it gets.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze on November 23, 2019, 04:23:32 AM
Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1114772
OK, I laughed. The more I think about this the funnier it gets.

Not its intent, but I consider it a cautionary tale against randomness in character creation.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: nope on November 23, 2019, 01:48:37 PM
Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1114772
OK, I laughed. The more I think about this the funnier it gets.

Looking back, it was kind of a funny way to go aside from our attachments to our characters. To be fair, the GM was as surprised / disappointed as the rest of us and offered us a do-over or retcon of the situation; we declined, feeling it would have ruined the spirit of the game. We built new characters instead, although our interest in the campaign became flagging and it puttered out a few sessions later.

I'm not sure what his rationalizations were for including that random ability. Perhaps the player requested it remain secret because of his character's amnesia, or the GM insisted on it? Not sure, don't remember hearing one way or the other.

I'm glad you got a laugh out of it though. It was a truly unexpected and ridiculous way to die. :eek:


Quote from: HappyDaze;1114775
Not its intent, but I consider it a cautionary tale against randomness in character creation.

Well, perhaps not an inherent issue with randomness in character generation, but rather keeping secrets about PC's secret from the players themselves. It can work in very specific styles of games, but rarely works out in a trad RPG setting IME. Sort of like revealing how a Dependent bought as a disadvantage turns into the main villain (they were evil the whole time!) which could occur as a bait-and-switch with even regular point-buy systems. Random chargen has its uses.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: crkrueger on November 23, 2019, 04:08:56 PM
Depends on how long it takes the GM to stop laughing out loud whenever he thinks about it. :D
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Omega on November 24, 2019, 02:58:45 AM
I only laugh if it is the players own fault after ample warnings. I also have no sympathy at all in such cases, which have been mercifully rare.

Otherwise I suggest options if there are any or failing that, pause the game so everyone can roll new characters. Usually I have new characters join in at the same level as the old unless a player asks to start at 1 again. Some do, some do not, and some will or won't based on the situation.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: VisionStorm on November 25, 2019, 05:04:17 PM
Quote from: HappyDaze;1114766
As a follow-up, this is the first time I've ever had a TPK in one of my games. I've certainly had PC deaths on occasion (even happened once in an FFG Star Wars game where it's pretty hard to do), but nothing quite like this. I didn't set the encounter up to be a TPK, but the PCs didn't take any real steps to prevent it and then luck (i.e., dice rolls) was just not in their favor. But...

As the battle went on and it became increasingly likely that they were going to lose, I started to enjoy their failures. I've long enjoyed celebrating the PCs' victories along with the players, but this time I was actually having a blast mopping the floor with them. Oddly enough, the other players found it fairly enjoyable too once everybody was dead (other than the fact that the game was over about 90 minutes earlier than we usually play).

The players do appear to have gleaned that I won't pull punches (two of them play under another DM that fudges dice rolls and regularly throws softball encounters) and they seem to be applying this insight toward their new characters. Their new PCs (starting at level 3) are far better built to support one another and the players are even talking about the need to avoid using head-on frontal assault as their sole tactic. So, this TPK might just be a win overall.


An awesome end to a tragic tale of woe.

Quote from: Omega;1114860
I only laugh if it is the players own fault after ample warnings. I also have no sympathy at all in such cases, which have been mercifully rare.

Otherwise I suggest options if there are any or failing that, pause the game so everyone can roll new characters. Usually I have new characters join in at the same level as the old unless a player asks to start at 1 again. Some do, some do not, and some will or won't based on the situation.


When PCs die in my campaigns it's almost invariably as a result of player stupidity. The only regret I feel is on the player having wasted mine and every one else' time with things like playing a stupid evil character who tried idiotic things like kill innocents in broad daylight, cuz "evil", then had to be put down like rabid dogs when the guards showed up and they wouldn't go peacefully. I feel no sympathy for PCs who cause their own deaths or players who think alignment excuses idiotic behavior that would get people killed by people acting in self-defense.

I do feel sorry when PCs get killed as a result of bad rolls, but I can't remember the last time that happened and in D&D at least, after a certain level that's almost impossible (unless you insist on fighting an enemy actually stronger than you are, which takes us back to player stupidity).
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: RPGPundit on November 30, 2019, 05:58:05 AM
Most of the times that there's a TPK, I would consider it a time to end the campaign, unless there's a very good reason not to, or my players clamour for it to continue.

But if even one of the party members survive, that can be a very different story, particularly if the players are in favor of continuing. In my DCC campaign, the number of times that the entire party except Bill The Elf was wiped out has been so frequent that we invented the term "Total Party Bill".
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Omega on December 01, 2019, 12:18:47 AM
Really depends on the DM and players wether to continue or restart. Like everything else in gaming. Varies wildly.

Personally I have so far never had a group that wanted to restart rather than continue.

There was one TPK in the making in my first Shadowrun session that I myself decided to rewind to the start of combat as I had misread the combat rules and the Guards I had set up, one of the players pointed out, were actually pretty deadly vs the team who were just starting out. It would have ended in a massacre. Since this was my fault I deemed it best to just rewind a little and change the guards guns which were the problem.

In the tandem campaign I am playing in the game just continues as it is a very "world in motion" one. We have so far come across and helped recover one TPK that happened to one of the other parties in the area. And recovered a PC who had died and been abandoned by her party, who happen to be the vanguard group.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: mAcular Chaotic on December 01, 2019, 02:16:48 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;1115350
Most of the times that there's a TPK, I would consider it a time to end the campaign, unless there's a very good reason not to, or my players clamour for it to continue.

But if even one of the party members survive, that can be a very different story, particularly if the players are in favor of continuing. In my DCC campaign, the number of times that the entire party except Bill The Elf was wiped out has been so frequent that we invented the term "Total Party Bill".

What do you do after that? Have Bill make a new party? Do they follow the same plotline or do you do a timeskip and start something new?
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: tenbones on December 09, 2019, 11:31:58 AM
We TPK's last night.

Player's air-speeder, severely damaged, got its controls ionized by a lightning bolt and the PC pilot (a Gank killer i.e. cyborg) suddenly has his limbs and cortical implants fried... pancakes the speeder from 200ft up. Kaboom.

So *technically* one pc survived (Destiny points and successful nearly-impossible rolls ftw). But due to the complexity of the campaign in terms of all the stuff they were doing... carrying one with this one very advanced PC would probably not be optimal.

TPK's are fairly rare for us. But obviously they do happen. So this is literally what we did:

1) Discussed the validity of staying with the campaign and playing the ball where it lands. 1 survivor and a whole new team. Was it possible from my end? Sure, I could make it work. From the Players's - they were not particularly enthused.

a) Then the discussion of a whole new group in the same scenario, just from a different angle. The Players - had promise but it wasn't setting off fireworks.

2) Discussed the possibility of doing an entirely new campaign with the same system (FFG Star Wars) - I pitched the possibility of doing a Sith based campaign starting in the Sith Academy on Korriban (Old Republic). I had most of the campaign ready to roll. Players were *very* enthusiastic. We pinned this idea to dig deeper into any other possibilities.

3) I always offered for anyone else to GM. No one wanted to step up. Moved on.

4) I then toss out games I'm willing to run: right off the top of my head: keeping going with Star Wars or go to our ongoing Marvel campaign which we play episodically (we do a full story-arc as "an issue" - which runs as many sessions as needed until the story is concluded or everyone dies, then we usually do another game and let it rest). I'd always be willing to do some Talislanta, Savage Worlds: Deadlands, Fantasy, Interface Zero. I then trot out new stuff I'm interested in running - Mythras, Runequest, or whatever else.

5) Players then toss out their ideas of what they want to play and hash it out among themselves and I hold back but toss out details if they ask questions about possibilities.

6) We then eliminate the systems that are off the table. Then from what's left, I weigh in on the ones I'm more wanting to do. Then together we hash out the possible campaign themes if any. If we're picking up an established game then it's no big issue.

7) Thus far - it's looking like Marvel or Sith Campaign.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Bedrockbrendan on December 11, 2019, 11:02:25 AM
One thing I have done is a afterlife campaigns in the wake of a TPK
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: Omega on December 11, 2019, 04:49:23 PM
That is even suggested in AD&D.
Title: How do you prefer to move forward/on after a TPK?
Post by: HappyDaze on December 11, 2019, 04:56:06 PM
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1116198
One thing I have done is a afterlife campaigns in the wake of a TPK

With the primary exception of D&D, most games I play have "dead is dead" (OK, excepting Eclipse Phase too, where dead is just a setback).