TPK Thursday -- Killing the Story

Total Party Kill & Killing the Story

Faenym awoke to the sound of clashing swords.

His companions had deliberated over camping on the edge of the Cloak Wood, no fire. Snow was falling heavily, obscuring his vision, but he couldn't shake the sense of danger filling his mind. The sound of heavy footfalls lumbering through snow sent him whirling around just in time to avoid a stray arrow. Then he saw it, a goblin horde, cutting through the winter storm all around them. He quickly took heed of the situation. Davos lay half frozen, bleeding out from a deep sword wound, Gavin, already riddled with arrows, facing down a nasty looking hobgoblin. Rhogar, face to face with a cudgel wielding bugbear, and was that.. fur sticking out of his chain mail? Already, the scene looked grim, but he cleared his head and prepared what little magic he had left. Rhogar, frenzied from whatever vile curse gripped his mind, bashing recklessly against the bugbear's hefty armor to no avail, then fell from a mighty blow to the neck. Gavin fired off a final spell before collapsing from the hobgoblin's greatsword. Faenym knew the odds, he couldn't win this fight alone. He scrambled through his pack until he felt the familiar grain of the small wooden wand.  "Now or never,” he thought to himself, brandishing a last desperate hope. The wand exploded with a pulse of healing power, breathing life back into his fallen companions and shattering in his hand. The party reformed, shifting their focus on each enemy in turn, now with a consorted effort. Soon the snow was littered with the blackened blood of felled goblins.

Close Calls

Ok, so that wasn't exactly a TPK.

In fact, my players ended up pulling a miraculous turn-around thanks to a well timed Mass Healing Word and a considerable amount of crucial critical hits. Truth is, I've never actually had a TPK at my table. That was however, the first of many deadly battles that eventually led to most of the party dying out. One by one the plot of the campaign grew thinner, until only one character remained from the original fellowship. My players started stretching farther and farther until it barely made sense why they were following some lone bard into the depths of every dwarven stronghold he came across. A party wipe can cause a substantial blow to your campaign’s morale. Maybe you're a masterful DM and you weave the new characters seamlessly into the main plot, but that still doesn't account for the time and energy that player put into their character. In the end, I cut half of the original story, placed the Big Bad Evil Guy at the end of their current dungeon, and gave them all an ending they could get behind. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. I say all this to emphasize the importance of player buy-in. Without the investment of their role in the story, players can start to check out. Perhaps that's partially my failings as a DM, but I believe there's more to it. I could have dragged my group through another few months of grueling backstory, perilous mines, and villain monologues, but it wasn't what they needed. A TPK can drastically change the amount of agency a player has in your world. Unless you have players who are readily able to tie themselves into your story in a meaningful way, your campaign has a serious likelihood of loosing steam. That leaves you with a difficult choice, do you cut all ties, or push through to the bitter end?

Having the Talk

I eventually sat down with my players and had an honest conversation.

And for the most part, I think they appreciated that. More than one of them admitted to losing some interest in the story, especially considering that the player who had sent them on this wild journey had left the game already. We cut out the filler, killed the Big Bad, and saved the princess. Everyone walked away satisfied. Now this isn't always the situation. Some players might be so invested in the story that they want to turn over every rock along the way, but you have to consider the fun of the whole table. You don't want to find yourself a month down the road with everyone canceling last minute. We as dungeon masters have a lot to compete with these days and player buy-in can be a huge part of that. A few months later I started a new campaign, everyone rolled up brand new characters, and I found that my players were far more excited than they had been about the previous story. That being said, every table is different and you might find that your players enjoy the pace of a game with a higher risk of fatality. As long as they're happy with your shared narrative, then keep on throwing those desperate battles their way.

As always:

Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.

Written by:
Jordan Cribbs