Another (very unexpected) D&D 3.5 TPK

[TrollSlayer]

This time I think I'll try a Gestalt D&D 3.5 game based around the concept of two CG Outsiders fighting against evil and tyranny however they can.

Here's the character sheets:
Aleran, Ghaele 1/Freedom Paladin 1
Outsider (Chaotic Good)
XP 0
Str: 15
Dex: 14
Con: 16
Int: 14
Wis: 16
Cha: 15

HD 1d10+3
13 HP
Bab +1 (Melee +3, Ranged +3)
+2/+2/+2 (+5/+4/+5)
AC: 17

Low-light vision
Darkvision
+4 vs. poison
Languages: Celestial, Infernal, Draconic, Common

Aura of Good
Detect Evil
Smite Evil 1/day

Power Attack

Spells 4/3+1
Prepared: Light, Detect Magic, Cure Minor Wounds, Read Magic
CLW, CLW, Protection against Evil, Shield of Faith


Skills: 10*4
Knowledge (the planes) 4
Knowledge (religion) 4
Knowledge (nobility)
Spot 4
Listen 4
Concentration 4
Diplomacy 4
Sense Motive 4
Heal 4
Language: Common
2 skill points

10 GP
Greataxe 1d12 x3
Chainmail +5



Salasu, Djinni 1/Planar Rogue 1
Outsider (air, chaotic, good)
XP 0
Str 15
Dex 19
Con 14
Int 19
Wis 10
Cha 12

HP 10
Spd 20 feet (30 feet fly)
Bab +1
+2/+2/+2 (+4/+6/+3)
Languages: Auran, Celestial, Common, Ignan

Telepathy 100 ft
Sneak attack +1d6,
Trapfinding

Flyby Attack

Skills: 12*4
Escape Artist 4
Knowledge (nature) 4
Listen 4
Spot 4
Move Silently 4
Hide 4
Spellcraft 4
Search 4
Survival 4
Swim 4
Disable Device 4
Tumble 4

40 GP
Shortbow 30 (1d6)
Longsword 15 (1d8 19-20/x3
Studded Leather +2 AC 25

What situation do Aleran and Salasu find themselves in first?

Discover the location of the rough maze.

There's a labyrinth hidden under the thriving cosmopolitan city of Smid which has been acting as a central base to a group of local fiends. What do Aleran and Salasu have to go on to find this labyrinth?

Disrupt / A project.

What sort of project?

Haggle / The mundane.

Aleran and Salasu stumble across an attempt to kidnap a peddler in a desolate back alley. There are two half-fiendish humans, and they've already bound and gagged the poor peddler.

Init? I'll roll all five at once, first Aleran, then Salasu, then the half-fiends, then the peddler.

38 = 2_[d20]+6_[d20]+4_[d20]+17_[d20]+9_[d20]

Does the second half-fiend attack the PCS?

No, but...

But not in melee. He shoots at Aleran.

10 = 10_[d20]

10+7=17, he hits.

8 = 7_[d8]+1

8 damage, gulp. That leaves Aleran at 5 HP.
Does the peddler try to move?

Yes.

Does he succeed in moving farther than like 5 feet?

No.

Salasu shoots the other half-fiend (who hasn't moved yet)

20 = 14_[d20]+6

Hitting.

6 = 5_[d8]+1_[d6]

And knocking his enemy down to 1 hit point. Does the first half-fiend attack the PCs?

Yes.

Ranged?

Yes.

He also shoots Aleran

15 = 8_[d20]+7

Missing, thank goodness. Aleran charges the first (wounded) half-fiend, attacking it

9 = 4_[d20]+5

Missing. Badly. Does the second half-fiend still attack ranged?

No, but...

He attacks Aleran in melee. Does he make a full natural-weapons attack?

No.

Slashing at Aleran with a battleaxe?

Yes.

20 = 15_[d20]+5

Hitting.

10 = 6_[d8]+4

And knocking Aleran down to -5 HP. Shoot. The peddlar still tries to escape, failing?

No, but...

He struggles to escape his bonds, actually succeeding. Salasu shoots at the wounded half-fiend

8 = 3_[d20]+5

Missing. Just my luck. Does the half-fiend retaliate?

Yes, but...

In melee. He runs up to and slashes at Salasu with his battleaxe,

22 = 17_[d20]+5

Hitting. Obviously. I swear RPGSolo hates me.

10 = 6_[d8]+4

Knocking Salasu unconscious.

Do the half-fiends finish off the PC members right then and there?

Yes.

Another TPK. Huh. And I wasn't actively trying to kill my characters, this time (actually, I planned on taking this campaign at least to level 7).

Is there anybody who revives one or more PCs to life?

No.

Didn't think so. Oh, well. Time to make new characters.

[Hail2U!]

TPKs seem to be your expertise with this website :V

Though, in the case of solo RPGs, I don't think the character you're playing as should die, because that just kills story opportunities. Of course, there's some situations where an enemy wouldn't reasonably kill an enemy, but I play for the plot so just ending it with a death determined by the dice doesn't sit well for me.

[TrollSlayer]

Yeah, that or the RNG has developed a secret grudge against me! (In the case of HQRPG, though, I was actively trying to find opportunities to kill the characters - for some reason, it's absurdly fun to impale your lowly little schmucks on an RPG system designed to be lethal)

I will admit that I was rather disappointed when both characters died this time around, but over time I've come to appreciate the role of character death and loss. When one plays an RPG in a gamist manner like I do (and most other D&D players, I suspect), the threat of loss has to be omnipresent, for exactly the same reason that chess is only fun when you can lose. If you can very well lose a game, that makes victory all the more sweet when it does occur, and also makes the actual gameplay much more suspenseful and fun. A game cannot exist without competition.
The difference between playing solo and with a group is that the very presence of other players alone provides for competition: who in the party can kick the most butt. This is what makes character optimization attractive: though in most group games characters never ever die, the threat of 'losing' is always there because if you don't rock as hard as everybody else, you 'lose'. In other words, the competition is player-versus-player.
But in solo play, inter-player competition isn't an option, unless you're schizophrenic. Thus, the competition has to occur between you and the system. If the system can't very often and very plausibly 'beat' you, the competitive and gamist aspect of play is suddenly minimized as you always win.
Granted, PC death isn't the only way to lose a game (for instance, JF over at the SoloNexus blog recently lost a 9Qs session against the system by failing to achieve his goals), but it's definitely the most clear-cut and satisfying way to lose. The loss is final, insert new coin to play again.
In practice, I've found that fudging rolls and character deaths leads to a loss of overal satisfaction for me in the long run.
Anyway, hence my 'let the dice fall where they may' philosophy.

The only thing I really hate about PC death is that chargen and setup takes a comparatively long time in d20. For this reason I think I'm going to tone down future encounters against my PCs. Particularly during the squishy early levels of play.

I'd love to hear what others have to say on this topic.

[Hail2U!]

I don't really fudge rolls solo, I just interpret those outcomes as not leading to outright death. I'm more keen to go with player death if I'm doing a roguelike. Hmmm, I wonder how you can do one of those in RPGSolo?

[TrollSlayer]

Yep, to each his own. I personally like a harder, more lethal RPG aesthetic, but whatever you like is great as well. That's the beauty of playing RPGs solo: you get to tailor your experience exactly how you like it.

Roguelikes/Dungeon crawls would be playable using a random dungeon generator of some type, like the one in (I think) the AD&D 2e DMG. One feature that I'd really really like to see included in RPGSolo (and that would greatly facilitate this sort of play) is the presence of a simple, customizable, digital battlemat.

[mark]

Roguelikes/Dungeon crawls would be playable using a random dungeon generator of some type...

I've been playing around with the idea of adding something like this.

One feature that I'd really really like to see included in RPGSolo (and that would greatly facilitate this sort of play) is the presence of a simple, customizable, digital battlemat.

How would it work and how would you use it?

[TheRoqueTrader]

I've also been thinking about the digital battle map.

I don't think it needs to be very complicated at all, a simple system that allows the player to add their own complexity. All you need I reckon is a grid (or hex map) where you can load up counters to represent each character on the map and allow them to be dragged by the mouse into different squares. You could have a few simple set pieces you could place down that would act as terrain, even just large boxes and simple shapes that just lets the player know where the terrain is on the map.

As a little luxury feature you could enable users to upload their own images for counters and terrain though of course then those images need to be stored somewhere, perhaps they would only be temporary files that disappear once you reset the map for the next battle. Then the player would simply have a folder on their computer full of images they like to use which they can just load up when they need.

I think having it as a quick little pop up like Marks Adventure Glyphs would be wonderful.

[TrollSlayer]

Roguelikes/Dungeon crawls would be playable using a random dungeon generator of some type...

I've been playing around with the idea of adding something like this.

One feature that I'd really really like to see included in RPGSolo (and that would greatly facilitate this sort of play) is the presence of a simple, customizable, digital battlemat.

How would it work and how would you use it?

Simple. A grid, walls/borders formed by clicking two corners of grid squares in succession, and drag-n-droppable tokens that represent objects and snap to the grid by default.