TPK, total party kill

[Goblin-King]

If playing the main quests dead is dead.
New character, new name, no equipment.
Surviving players can however pick up a dead player's loot.
They might be interested in equipping their new comrade with their deceased friend's equipment though
In case of a wipe (which haven't happened yet) I suppose we would loose all gold and potions or something. You can't really play the later quests naked.

But if we are playing quickly made custom quests we definitely use "savepoints". No need to start over because someone thought it would be a fun idea to fill all the rooms with elite magic wielding chaos warriors.

[heroicbrew]

If playing an entire campaign, character death is permanent but the killed player can create a new character for the next quest. New name and backstory is required, and all you get is starting equipment. The rest of the heroes can share their gold with you in order to buy stuff before the next quest, but they don't have to. Most of the time there is enough gold in the party that the new character can afford to re-buy the items they previously had. If the entire party is killed, all players would have to create new characters and start the quest again at 0 gold and starting equipment. None of the official quests are so difficult that the heroes can't get back on their feet. The only time I've had this happen is when the heroes are making really dumb decisions, like splitting up and allowing the wizard to die an early death. They don't usually make the same mistakes the 2nd time around. Any lost artifacts I will randomly insert into the next couple of quests, as stated in the rulebook.

If playing a one-off quest, either created by myself or downloaded off the net, character death is also permanent, no respawning etc. Myself as Zargon will play more ruthlessly, Descent overlord style, in order to give the heroes a greater challenge. I usually give them a bit of gold to equip themselves at the start of the quest. Some of the quests I create have victory conditions, like the wizard must survive (the heroes are escorting the king's wizard through the dungeon, but he also acts as a player). This encourages more teamwork, and adds a different dynamic to the quest.

[Sjeng]

fantastic first post man! welcome to the forum Hope you'l enjoy yourself here, and I hope to see more of your posts and perhaps pictures of painted minis and games / quests etc

[bruenor]

Only ever had one TPK, and I had them fight in an afterlife situation to reclaim their bodies, they went up against all kinds of spirits and ghosts and wraiths that sort of thing, with the ultimate prize being Resurrection.
The thing that made it interesting and challenging for them is I halved the health points they would have in "real life", and told them that if they die in the spirit realm they die forever.

[heroicbrew]

fantastic first post man! welcome to the forum Hope you'l enjoy yourself here, and I hope to see more of your posts and perhaps pictures of painted minis and games / quests etc

Thanks! I just discovered this site, never realized there were so many people still interested in this game. I just recently dusted off my copy, found it while going through some old stuff - thought it was lost forever.

Only ever had one TPK, and I had them fight in an afterlife situation to reclaim their bodies, they went up against all kinds of spirits and ghosts and wraiths that sort of thing, with the ultimate prize being Resurrection.
The thing that made it interesting and challenging for them is I halved the health points they would have in "real life", and told them that if they die in the spirit realm they die forever.

That's a fantastic idea, I'm definitely stealing this one!

[Sjeng]

That is a brilliant idea Bru! Must write a mission for such an occasion. Please post a topic with your resurrection mission too Bru

[bruenor]

No actual map or mission, as I did it off the top of my head on the night, had nothing in place for TPK so winged it so to speak, was great fun and would like to see someone out it to virtual paper.
The best thing was they had no idea I was making it up as I went along, just stayed hidden behind my screen lol.

[Sjeng]

well, what do you remember? which monsters did you use?
I was thinking about using skeletons, zombies, ghosts and ghouls and other undead creatures
lots of tombs and crypts!

[bruenor]

I remember discribing everything looking like a foggy dream with nothing seeming quite real and that they had to make their way through to a glowing door.
I let them digest the fact they were all dead and then dropped on them the fact that they were I between death and life and if they didn't make it back to their bodies they would cross over.
Then they were told about the you die here you die forever and that the hit points had been halved so think carefully.
I used as many ghostly minis I had with me and blagged that some of the orcs and goblins were spirits of ones the heroes had previously killed.
Sadly not many of the minis were painted ghostly something I plan to rectify by having a couple of each type in ghostly colours.
I don't think I allowed any treasure searching can't remember rightly but it would be an ideal place for a magical hidden treasure.
I kept it fairly simple as it was designed to get them back on quests quickly.

Thinking back I didn't give an explaination as to why they had ended up in between life and death.
Maybe some kind of spell or something one of them carried as an unknown artifact.
I didn't have a map either but a couple would make it easier if anyone fancies having a go?

[Sjeng]

Sadly not many of the minis were painted ghostly something I plan to rectify by having a couple of each type in ghostly colours.

that is such a cool idea, wow. Now I need more orcs and goblins xD
I think I might paint a few zombies from my Mantic set as ghosts. I've got plenty of those anyway combined with some ghostly skeletons, ghouls and ghosts, and the haunts from the Bones kit, this will ROCK!