What happens when you get a TPK in the tutorial dungeon?

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slo_matt
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What happens when you get a TPK in the tutorial dungeon?

Post by slo_matt »

I started my first Swords and Wizardry campaign a few weeks ago. We're playing weekly on Roll20, and we have a decent Discord going throughout the week.

The first play session featured a six-PC party. I believe we had two fighters, a cleric, a MU, a thief, and an elf Fighter/MU/Thief.

I chose the module Halls of Bone for our tutorial dungeon so we could all gain some proficiency with the rules and initiative system, run some combats, etc.

The group reached the boss without too much trouble, but they had some questionable tactics in that last battle, and the dice did not treat them nicely. We ended up with a TPK.

I was a little worried I'd lose some players over that, but they all seemed to agree it was a fun session, and they rolled up new characters. We also gained yet another player, bringing the group to seven. This time, the group consisted of two fighters, a paladin, two MUs, a cleric, and a thief.

In the next game, they went back into the Halls of Bone to retrieve the bodies of their fallen characters. A few of them had been turned into freakish undead by the boss monster, so that was fun.

But a remarkable thing happened in that session. The players started talking to each other. They made good tactical decisions and baited the boss monster into an ambush. There were even calls like "hold the line!" when one of the fighters wanted to move out of position.

The dice, once again, were not kind. This time, though, the players had good enough tactics to absorb it. The boss monster never stood a chance.

At this point, I think the TPK was a good thing. Almost especially in the first game. My players learned that I would play fair but go with the dice. They learned survival is on them. The tension level in the second game went right up when they knew the risks were real.

That's what the OSR is all about, folks. The thrill of adventure and the possibility of failure.

I just thought I'd share.

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merias
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Re: What happens when you get a TPK in the tutorial dungeon?

Post by merias »

Great story, also welcome to the forums :).

I think learning when and how to fight is a big part of OSR-style play, and it sounds like your group realizes that, which is great. Still, TPKs do happen sometimes, just due to bad luck. I've had a few in my games over the years, one of the funniest was a TPK 20 minutes into a mid-level S&W game with two PCs facing a large spider, or what they thought was "just" a large spider... turns out it was a spell-casting spider who made short work of them with web and hold person.

I agree about playing fair - our group usually plays on roll20 and all of the combat rolls are done in the open. As a player I always appreciate a ref. who does that.

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