6 Players. 11 Deaths. Uh Oh.

Game Master Arvindh asked today in the Roleplaying Tips Community:

Yesterday, I ran my first ever Shadowdark game… and MAN! WHAT A RIDE!

So simple, so beautiful, so fast and so deadly!

6 players. 11 deaths.

And they didn’t even start the damn adventure. Like not even get to the adventuring site!

The hilarious session of Shadowdark ended when the party was TPKed to the soundtrack of Fireflies by a flying fire spider elemental at night.

I have some questions:

  • How do new player characters end up in the adventure (assuming players roll up new characters at the table)?
  • If players can always roll up characters, how does a TPK happen?
  • And if players are so squishy, how on earth do they last long enough to… say… reach the adventure site? My players ended up dying at the first random encounter en route to the adventure site.

Great questions, thanks Arvindh. Here are a few tips.

How do new player characters end up in the adventure?

If you are in the habit of introducing at least one new NPC every session, you can use the same approach for a PC.

Otherwise, some ways I’ve used in the past:

  • Friend or relative of the dead PC comes with a quest or to join up.
  • Patron sends help.
  • Random encounter where the new PC is in a situation and needs help.
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If players can always roll up characters, how does a TPK happen?

A Total Party Kill wipes the entire party. This often means severance of plot. No survivors to tell the tale, recruit help, and all that.

It also means whipping up an entirely new group with new party backstory.

The GM task now is deciding whether to resume your plot and figure out how to fit the newbies into it, or starting a whole different plot.

A patron might recruit a rescue party to continue the mission, or a Big Bang Event could start a whole new ballgame.

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How do weak characters last long enough to reach the adventure site?

You can reduce the number of encounters. You can choose a Target Difficulty Level of Easy. You can signpost ways to resolve encounters without combat.

Yesterday, after an encounter with heat shadows doing ambient damage as we passed, my GM pointed out that we could’ve used torches to beat them. That got me thinking along those lines for the next encounters.

So consider doing a quick retrospective with your players to coach them on other ways the situation could’ve been resolved. New players and experienced ones used to grinding to the last hit point will appreciate learning they have options beyond hack and slash.

Finally, encourage teamwork. Shadowdark lets the GM award XP for good gameplay. Use these rewards to call out teamwork, clever tactics, and good ideas that help the party punch up.

Arvindh, I believe you have access to my combat course. It covers your questions in more detail, plus has modules on profiling characters and setting up battlefields to give you levers to change difficulty on-the-fly.

How about you, Roleplaying Tips Game Master? Any tips for Arvindh and his group?

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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