I'm DMing Dungeon of the Mad Mage and we just had a TPK on floor 9. The players have all agreed they'd like to make new characters instead of any plot stuff keeping them alive or resurrecting them.
Now I don't want to run them through all the previous floors in full, that would basically restarted the campaign. Which brings me to my question: does anyone have any advice on doing an expedited run through of the previous floors with new characters? I can't have this new group encountering absolutely nothing just to speed their way to the current floor, but I also don't want to force them to actively and completely play through each floor again.
What are their thoughts on encountering their PCs as necromantically animated undead or something? Maybe it would be fun to fight twisted, corrupted, evil versions of themselves... depending on the circumstances of the TPK.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Long time ago, 1990s or early 00s, there was a board or miniatures or maybe TTRPG whose name I'm forgetting, but basically it posited dungeon crawls in the game world were basically game shows or reality TV shows. I don't know how it played mechanically, but the lore to the game as presented in marketing and old forums was pretty fun and fascinating.
To that end, maybe these characters are the next line of contestants, with a Bard "host" escorting them to where the first party left off. You can keep in BioWizards idea, but rather as a challenge have them be necromantic "talking heads" for the show providing color commentary on the new crew. Rather than do a complete rerun to the TPK point, if you feel they have to earn it, as the Bard's audience is probably feeling too, pick the "greatest hits" of the dungeon so far and see how this new crew works through them (assuming the party is a different make up).
All that said, you might want to check in with what your players are up for. Do-overs can be frustrating, especially if it was a slog up to that point. I think having them done some stuff they've done as other characters is still warranted to pressure test the new build, and you can use that notion to have them play through the other party's highlight reel.
I realize you don’t want to, I’d just hand wave it. Start them with characters the same level as the ones that died, and tell them these new people faced and overcame the same challenges. Break that fourth wall for 10 seconds and then get back to playing, rather than contriving some extended situation to explain it.
The players already know what happened and what’s happening, why bother with the illusion?
My problem with that simple of a hand wave is there are a lot of things in this dungeon that the first party missed or willingly chose to go past. This new group of characters has the opportunity to make a lot of new choices on maps that were already visited but not entirely cleared.
The problem with handwaving this dungeon is that part of the challenge is dealing with the next room having exhausted some level of spells, potions, or taken damage previously. Start at level 9 as fresh character and you may find the dungeon runs a lot easier than you expect. Just something to consider
Haven't run this yet, but as I understand it there are factions on some of the floors that the PCs can interact with. Did your players make any deals with a particular faction or did they just murderhobo their way through everything?
If they have you can use that as a way to expedite their travel through the previous levels - if the PCs made an alliance with X group to kill Y group, then the new PCs can capitalize on that by making a deal with X group for safe passage or something. Or maybe the remaining creatures the first group didn't kill have begun to take over the rest of the levels but haven't completely yet, so there is a threat but not the same amount of dungeon crawling they previously faced.
I'm DMing Dungeon of the Mad Mage and we just had a TPK on floor 9. The players have all agreed they'd like to make new characters instead of any plot stuff keeping them alive or resurrecting them.
Now I don't want to run them through all the previous floors in full, that would basically restarted the campaign. Which brings me to my question: does anyone have any advice on doing an expedited run through of the previous floors with new characters? I can't have this new group encountering absolutely nothing just to speed their way to the current floor, but I also don't want to force them to actively and completely play through each floor again.
Duran. Fellow drinkers, adventurers, and 3 strings, I have recovered at great expense.
3-strings, "He wouldn't lower the bucket until they...."
Duran, " a journal chronciling the tales of an adventuring party which made to level 9".
So for a small fee have the owner of the Yawning Portal sell them a journal from the old adventureing party.
If I was in this situation. I would not run mad mage again with the new characters. I would run another module then incorporate what happened to the previous party in the lore of the world. The npcs could tell of their story. Put them in the history of the new story and have maybe a npc ask the new players to find out what happened to the ones that died.
That way the players have a new start, the mad mage has a chance to rebuild and then the players can go there if they choose to.
They haven't cleared out each floor in its entirety, the floors of this dungeon are large and there's a lot you can miss/choose not to do and still find the exit to the next floor.
I don’t know if I’m too late but if the players simply want to pick up from where they had left off then I’d suggest the teleport spell. Open the game by saying that the new party are ultimately trying to get to the final floor of the dungeon themselves. To do this they have made contact with a conjuration wizard who knows of the dungeon but hasn’t been there himself. The high probability of mishap means that the spell sends the new adventuring party off target so rather then sending them to the final room of the dungeon they end up appearing on the 9th floor, and will have to fight their way through the final few floors in order to get to their final destination.
Thats what I would do if my players didn’t want to run the other rooms with their new players. I mean I think it’s important to note that a new character would change the flavour of the game completely so even the same situation is interesting from a different perspective so you could run it from the start again at least if I was playing that’s what I’d like to do but then that’s my personal preference. Ask your players and work out what they want to do.
I'm DMing Dungeon of the Mad Mage and we just had a TPK on floor 9. The players have all agreed they'd like to make new characters instead of any plot stuff keeping them alive or resurrecting them.
Now I don't want to run them through all the previous floors in full, that would basically restarted the campaign. Which brings me to my question: does anyone have any advice on doing an expedited run through of the previous floors with new characters? I can't have this new group encountering absolutely nothing just to speed their way to the current floor, but I also don't want to force them to actively and completely play through each floor again.
What are their thoughts on encountering their PCs as necromantically animated undead or something? Maybe it would be fun to fight twisted, corrupted, evil versions of themselves... depending on the circumstances of the TPK.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Long time ago, 1990s or early 00s, there was a board or miniatures or maybe TTRPG whose name I'm forgetting, but basically it posited dungeon crawls in the game world were basically game shows or reality TV shows. I don't know how it played mechanically, but the lore to the game as presented in marketing and old forums was pretty fun and fascinating.
To that end, maybe these characters are the next line of contestants, with a Bard "host" escorting them to where the first party left off. You can keep in BioWizards idea, but rather as a challenge have them be necromantic "talking heads" for the show providing color commentary on the new crew. Rather than do a complete rerun to the TPK point, if you feel they have to earn it, as the Bard's audience is probably feeling too, pick the "greatest hits" of the dungeon so far and see how this new crew works through them (assuming the party is a different make up).
All that said, you might want to check in with what your players are up for. Do-overs can be frustrating, especially if it was a slog up to that point. I think having them done some stuff they've done as other characters is still warranted to pressure test the new build, and you can use that notion to have them play through the other party's highlight reel.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I realize you don’t want to, I’d just hand wave it. Start them with characters the same level as the ones that died, and tell them these new people faced and overcame the same challenges. Break that fourth wall for 10 seconds and then get back to playing, rather than contriving some extended situation to explain it.
The players already know what happened and what’s happening, why bother with the illusion?
My problem with that simple of a hand wave is there are a lot of things in this dungeon that the first party missed or willingly chose to go past. This new group of characters has the opportunity to make a lot of new choices on maps that were already visited but not entirely cleared.
Have you asked the players if they would like to re-run the first set of levels? See what they would like to do.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The problem with handwaving this dungeon is that part of the challenge is dealing with the next room having exhausted some level of spells, potions, or taken damage previously. Start at level 9 as fresh character and you may find the dungeon runs a lot easier than you expect. Just something to consider
Haven't run this yet, but as I understand it there are factions on some of the floors that the PCs can interact with. Did your players make any deals with a particular faction or did they just murderhobo their way through everything?
If they have you can use that as a way to expedite their travel through the previous levels - if the PCs made an alliance with X group to kill Y group, then the new PCs can capitalize on that by making a deal with X group for safe passage or something. Or maybe the remaining creatures the first group didn't kill have begun to take over the rest of the levels but haven't completely yet, so there is a threat but not the same amount of dungeon crawling they previously faced.
Duran. Fellow drinkers, adventurers, and 3 strings, I have recovered at great expense.
3-strings, "He wouldn't lower the bucket until they...."
Duran, " a journal chronciling the tales of an adventuring party which made to level 9".
So for a small fee have the owner of the Yawning Portal sell them a journal from the old adventureing party.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
If they cleared the floors couldn't they just walk up to 9th floor?
If I was in this situation. I would not run mad mage again with the new characters. I would run another module then incorporate what happened to the previous party in the lore of the world. The npcs could tell of their story. Put them in the history of the new story and have maybe a npc ask the new players to find out what happened to the ones that died.
That way the players have a new start, the mad mage has a chance to rebuild and then the players can go there if they choose to.
They haven't cleared out each floor in its entirety, the floors of this dungeon are large and there's a lot you can miss/choose not to do and still find the exit to the next floor.
I don’t know if I’m too late but if the players simply want to pick up from where they had left off then I’d suggest the teleport spell. Open the game by saying that the new party are ultimately trying to get to the final floor of the dungeon themselves. To do this they have made contact with a conjuration wizard who knows of the dungeon but hasn’t been there himself. The high probability of mishap means that the spell sends the new adventuring party off target so rather then sending them to the final room of the dungeon they end up appearing on the 9th floor, and will have to fight their way through the final few floors in order to get to their final destination.
Thats what I would do if my players didn’t want to run the other rooms with their new players. I mean I think it’s important to note that a new character would change the flavour of the game completely so even the same situation is interesting from a different perspective so you could run it from the start again at least if I was playing that’s what I’d like to do but then that’s my personal preference. Ask your players and work out what they want to do.
Hope this helps 😊