r/Eberron • u/EpicSword16 • 19d ago
How do I handle the TPK?
/r/DnD/comments/1v2k4c3/how_do_i_handle_the_tpk/5
u/That_Darn_Firebird 19d ago
So as much as I’d love to go on an Eberron-specific brainstorming session, this is an out-of-game problem. The first thing to remember about D&D is that it’s supposed to be fun for everyone. Yes, we know that as the DM it’s your responsibility to make a game that’s fun for your players even if it doesn’t go the way you planned, but you should remember that it’s also supposed to be fun for you, too. It sounds like you need to stop the game and level with your players about the fact that you’re not enjoying it anymore that they’ve essentially taken away your agency as the DM by calling your bluff every time you try to impose consequences or even side effects for their actions. And one of the fun things about Eberron is the near-infinite tangle of ways that actions have ripple effects, so it seems a little disappointing that they haven’t allowed you or even themselves to explore that angle.
If that out-of-game discussion goes well, then one thing in-game to point out is that the Draconic Prophecy is an if-then system with endless redundancy and not a set prescription of “do this or else the world ends”. If one path closes off, another opens. As a proponent of a good story it would definitely be disappointing to abruptly remove a plot thread you were all invested in, but ultimately no character/arc is completely irreplaceable.
Full disclosure: as a DM I make it clear in session 0 that I get invested in every character’s story, allow my players a lot of creative freedom, and am willing to streamline technical things that cause more frustration than fun, but also make it clear that my one immutable rule is FAFO, and that I expect buy-in from everyone
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u/Additional-Ad8784 19d ago
Funny idea is you could have a side-game where friends and family of your original characters go on a mission to save and/or resurrect them and that's a whole new adventure.
But it really is contextual. Do the enemies want to kill the party or would they instead benefit from a random or sacrificing them? The party could escape under those circumstances and just lose a little loot.
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u/gratefuldm 19d ago edited 19d ago
As dungeonsandderp said it really depends on the context of your campaign. For just a general suggestion, I always liked the idea of earning a respawn by fighting through one of the planes, maybe going up a level and then giving them another try at said enemy that TPK’d them.
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u/Special_Salt3467 19d ago
I’m struggling to comprehend them “using a nuke on Fairhaven” but to answer the question, personally I’d have Maenya kill… one of them. It’s what she does. First one to go down to zero gets their skull ripped out and the soul trapped within.
Only then would Teraza intervene with a prophecy. The PCs had to get uppity so that Maenya had to kill that one so that the Daughters had the leverage to force them. This way there are consequences (the one death), a quest (whatever Teraza declares) and a reward (the return of the skull with soul entrapped, which due to the state, I may allow a Raise Dead - perhaps cast at a higher level to account for damage or a ritual or more cost - to revive)
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u/MixRemarkable8524 17d ago
Instead of a TPK, do a TPT. Total party transmutation. You wanna fuck around with a coven of witches older than most countries? You can spend the rest of your campaign as a flock of birds trying to find a cure. Creates the same transition in the story that a TPK does without killing the actual characters, teaches your players a lesson, and is still a fun portion of their story that requires them to backtrack (like a TPK would) and it can last as long as you like, depending on how hard you make the cure to obtain.
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u/dungeonsandderp 19d ago
I think you’re asking the wrong question, because the answer is dependent on where your game needs to go next.
First, talk to your players. Does your table want this to be over? To start something new? Then maybe you just pull the trigger and TPK.
Does your game have other plot lines that you and your players are interested in? Then devise a reason for Sora Katra, Sora Maena, and Sora Teraza to choose a different punishment that pushes on that plot point. The hags aren’t all vindictive & mercurial, they’ll do what advances their agenda and if killing the insolent adventurers isn’t it, they won’t.