A couple of weeks ago I was playing in a 4e game which ended in a TPK. That’s Total Party Kill for those of you not current with the lingo.
A couple of bits of background info regarding the group…
1) This was the final session of a relatively long running campaign (more than two years), though I had only been involved for a little over a month.
2) This was unexpected. It wasn’t a planned end to a glorious campaign. We didn’t know it was going to be the final session.
3) The battle in which the party fell was a veeeery long affair (more than 4 hours).
4) I had a great deal of fun, and I think almost everyone else did as well.
5) The DM is the kind of guy that is heavily invested in the PCs and builds their backgrounds into the world around them, letting them alter the dynamic world in which they play.
—
The session ended with a forty-five minute discussion regarding what we should do after this event. The DM, being invested in the characters and the outcome of the battle, thought we would/should opt for a way out of the TPK. You know, a deus ex machina that would allow our PCs to come back to life and therefore be around for the next session. There are ways to provide this, in story, without being too far-fetched. The PCs were relatively high level (13th) and were fighting for one side of a huge conflict that had serious consequences for the world in general, so it may make sense for someone to think the party was of some importance and take steps to have them raised.
—
The DM wanted them raised more that the party wanted it. There are several reasons for this, but the one that was most apparent was that the players had been playing the same characters for a couple of years and, frankly, wanted a change. Not that they weren’t invested in the PCs (they were) or that they didn’t like the campaign arc (they did), but it was, simply put, a very enticing prospect to be able to generate fresh characters.
—
This conversation may have ended differently if even one member of the party had survived the battle. After all, the Raise Dead Ritual requires that some part of the body be saved and utilized as a main component in the ritual. If one party member had survived, that person could have been the one to save the tissue and get it, as fast as possible, to a high level cleric that could perform the ritual. Since no PC survived the battle, this was not an option in our game.
—
Ultimately, this worked out with all of us being excited at the prospects of bringing new characters into our ravaged world. The battle that saw the end of the original party was a world-changer – literally. The world that the new PCs is entering is a very changed place. Two years have passed since the demise of the original group and the continent is dominated by evil creatures. The players and the DM have turned out to be very happy with the new direction, even though the old characters died. They are still a part of the history of the world, and they live on as such.
—
I’m going to switch gears now and talk about how I feel about the Raise Dead Ritual, and whether or not it has a place in my gaming world.
—
To be honest, I don’t really like the fact that the players are able to raise their fallen comrades. I have two main reasons why:
1) If the option to get resurrected always exists, where is the danger in fighting baddies? I mean, seriously… if there are no real consequences to doing battle with powerful creatures, why are we even playing the game? In the example above, the battled was waged for an epic 4 and a 1/2 hours – why go through all that if the party is going to be magically raised after they all die?
This doesn’t make sense to me. Here is the alternative way to run the battles, which is a perfectly valid way to go if all players are agreed: If they can’t really die, then that should be stated up front and we can spend our time adventuring and telling narrative accounts of the battles, with little use of miniatures. Since the battle cannot result in death, it’s fine if we tell epic stories about how we won the battle – and faster too!
The bottom line is: I want my players to experience real consequences for their actions, so if we spend time on a battle, it can end in death.
2) Resurrection, as a possibility, doesn’t really make sense to me in the context of my homebrew world, Ruboryn. This would be something that was reserved for gods and extremely important people that had enormous effect on the world. Unless the players are very high levels, chances are they don’t qualify for either of those designations. To follow this up, if someone was god-like or extremely important, wouldn’t their legacy be better served by honoring their memory via good works and emulating their beliefs and deeds? If the PCs in my game get to be very high levels like that, almost god-like in power and deed, then when they die, they will be immortalized, but probably not raised. Because of this, the raising ritual is a very very rare thing in my game.
—
The bottom line is: if your PC is god-like in my campaign and they die, they are staying dead. Sorry, it just makes more sense to me.
—
What do you think? Am I being unreasonable? Does my position make sense to you? How do you run your game? How have you dealt with this in the past? As a DM or a player? I’m really looking for feedback on this one, so let me have it!
—
Until next time, I wish you good gaming!
~DM Samuel
I think the way the campaign continued was the best option. Players should feel both their success and their failure have impact on the game world. In this case the failure opened a very interesting campaign twist even if it meant the death of the original characters.
Resurrection is something very important and deserves a discussion. It has its presentation in the real world as well. You know world’s most fearsome warriors were those who were not afraid to die because they were told death is not the end. In the same way characters that know they can be raised should be more reckless in battle which may present a roleplay issue.
I am against resurrection as a whole. While it may serve well on certain occasions it also eliminates death as the ultimate penalty for failure. And death should always be that ultimate penalty.
Thanks for the comment!
I think there is something to be said for the ability to resurrect your comrades, for sure – but I also think there should always be the danger that a group of PCs will perish.
I try to be the type of DM that is willing to listen to my players and weigh any logical reasoning that they present, and then make decisions about the campaign that everyone is happy with – that includes issues around death of a character. As a general rule though, I think it is better to have death as a possibility, as the Ultimate Penalty, as you said.
You’re right that no consequences would make the group a bit soft and negligent. A good example would be the way one of my fellow DMs handled the Raise Dead issue:
It requires a long trip to a temple, specifically devoted to people who are rumored to have the ability to raise the dead. It also requires a huge investment of gold, or some very rare spell components. It may also require that the party fetch the components, or undertake a quest to earn the favor of the Raven Queen (or associated deity of death).
Meanwhile, the dead player is not forgotten, because they have RP going on in the afterlife. They have to justify to themselves and to their deity (since dead characters often are assumed to be at the side of their god) why they need to return to the world. This could require a solo quest as well, in the same vein as the Fade segment of Dragon Age: Origins where the main character was forced through solo puzzles without the aid of his companions.
This prevents Raise Dead from being a safety net, but does offer the party the chance to help fellow gamers. It also provides story arcs and entire sections of the game which may be altered. The only problem is getting this all done without either separate group becoming bored or disengaged.
It would also be possible to have the dead PC and the DM do a session before the group begins, where they convince their deity to let them try to come back, and they return to the world as a temporary ghostly form to assist the party in restoring them to life. They have large penalties, perhaps not being able to speak or be heard by party members, or entirely unable to communicate at all.
This protects the interest of the sort of player who makes one character and never wants to play another one. It also provides a quick and easy set up for a new storyline, even if it is just a bit of filler. Or, the ritual has far-reaching consequences.