Random thought about TPKs in #dnd
What if the DM just... stops. And like, doesn't have the monsters kill all the PCs. Pulls some deus ex machina.
Like the dice aren't my boss, I don't have to do what they say
I feel like any DM who runs the monsters in a TPK happening to the party had to at some point decide that a TPK is what they wanted to have happen
@epiceneVivant I think there is more than one kind of TPK.
1) DM has it out for you, decides to make sure the party dies.
2) PCs have made poor choices, and then had bad rolls. So a rough fight gets deadly.
3) Confluence of good DM rolls and bad PC rolls. It should have been a fight that challenged the PCs, but everything turned up in the baddies favor.
For 1) yeah the DM should just not do that, maybe reconsider why or if they want to be a DM. But for 2) and 3) you gotta let the dice tell the story for losses as well as wins.
I think there is grey area around 2) but fudging dice rolls either way is something you have to consider carefully as a DM. There are times you do want to do it, but it shouldn't be something you do to subvert player agency.
