#tpko

[crouteann]

wips from the ilya and strahd comic… it was supposed to be an illustration first and then i started going “but what if…… but what if!!!!” (read: it had been like 5 years since i made a real comic page and this felt like a safe space to dip my toes in again!)

ive basically been focusing on my art since october and the improvement from november when i started to last month when i finished the pinch hitter spot art was kinda crazy. theres already things i wish i could change about the comic but it looks really good and im proud of it okay!!

(more thumbnails from the illustration ideation phase under readmore)

i think the first one here is what kinda made me want to do a comic tbh, it was definitely the last thumbnail i did before i started swerving to comic thumbnails!!!!

[boymounter]

okayyy so you really shouldn't hand over the githyanki egg huh

[blancamz]

So I play and occasionally DM games of D&D. Those of you that play the game know that sometimes there's an NPC that's supposed to be fodder of some sort, no character portrait, maybe a name at most. And then sometimes that Nothing NPC, though character action, develops a personality and becomes a Something NPC.

That I feel is the case with Jekked from Wild Beyond the Witchlight. She's just supposed to be an underling for the brigand Agdon Longscarf, but a confrontational interaction with the party, a shorn tail and a TPKO have made her a little bit bigger in my mind.

I think I'll repost this to the Dungeons & Drawings tumblr blog, @dungeonsanddrawings. I ain't posted nothin' there in a dog's age.

[little-miss-doe]

I feel like I have a spicy take about the combat in Ep 91 because no part of my DM brain was clocking this as a "real TPK" threat.

The whole thing immediately gave me the vibe that a TPKO (Total Party Knock Out) was one of the story paths designed for this encounter, leading into a fade to black ending/"you all wake up in a cell" next session. This is something Otohan could have probably done expediently with the backpack echos in only a few rounds. And before anyone is "Otohan said they were gonna kill them!" ... stop ... NPCs/enemies are avatars of moving the game forward and giving the PCs motivation or reaction material. They are (almost) never the actual intention of the DM in a game.

Having run and been a PC in more than a few intentionally deadly/actually TPK games in my life ... Matt didn't really seem to be doing many of the things I would expect a DM leaning into that would do. At least nothing that wouldn't overlap with a highly competent foe specifically designed to 1v the action economy of a large party. In games like this if a DM wants to kill a party ... they just can. The DM will "win" 100% of the time, whenever they choose to.

At the start of the encounter I kind of mapped out the story paths he was likely expecting. There had been enough telegraphing since they got to the moon that an Otohan rematch was going to either happen while they where there or have to be creatively avoided. I could argue there was some power level/available resource miscalculation on Matt's part here but ... only a little.

[bugsnax]

feel like i've been on the verge of a panic attack all day long and idk why lol

idk if i should call out of dnd.............we're about to start a big fight against 2 pirate crews (it might end in a tpko tbh) and it might serve as a distraction

BUT ALSO last week it was really crowded in the store it takes place in and i got suuuuuuper overwhelmed and kinda shut down

[larnax]

finally beat both sets of travelers. i love that therion ran merchant bc i can only imagine tressa in the audience whooping and cheering watching him spam hired help and debuffs, assuring your B team that she taught him everything he knows, meanwhile h'aanit sits there watching alfyn run hunter so she can wait to ask him when he grabbed essence of redeye like she's dealing with a dog that was chewing something she couldn't see before revealing it was a guy's foot.

tressa/alfyn and h'aanit/therion are absolutely the power teams of their respective battles. olberic and cyrus have the same problem in that they do a lot of damage but not in an interesting way so unless you make the mistake of entering the fight with your squishies they're mostly just annoying gnats while you're trying to focus on the real enemies. primrose and ophilia are similarly utilitarian, if you let them charge up they'll do annoying shit but otherwise they'll just kind of die on their own eventually. meanwhile tressa/alfyn will beat your fucking ass if you try to buff your team or debuff them and once they've stopped fucking around either of them can TPKO you with a charge attack if you're not in top condition, plus alfyn renders your debuffs/buffs mostly useless because he doesn't even need to charge to wipe your slate. h'aanit/therion are more straightforward, you can counter them using game mechanics and h'aanit does frequently just do a lot of damage, but incite is surprisingly effective when one of the others starts charging. therion is straightforward but mean: he takes your shit and you can't get it back until you hit him enough, which is hard to do, especially when paired with h'aanit who can use leghold trap and incite to be Very Annoying when therion's sealed your EX skills and you were really banking on provoke all to doe aoe weapon damage.

[wolfthekid]

Well. Today in the land of Faerûn, some very wild things happened. Our group continued through the overworld, dominating the hag and stomping a group of Githyanki who were looking for the artifact. However, the real craziness was what went on in the Underdark.

We had already started exploring the Underdark previously, fighting a Spectator and going through the arcane tower. We cleared a lot of the underdark following this, completely decimating the duergar on the beach before they could do much. This definitely bolstered our confidence. Up to this point we had been pretty much manhandling most of what the underdark threw our way. So when we hopped on the boat to the Grymforge we may have been a little too confident.

Of course, the higher level of the Corsair Greymon and his group was a little scary. They had us outnumbered and were about our level. But the biggest issue wasn't that. Apparently Greymon was not messing around, because as we were talking he rushed our bard. And when I say rushed, I don't not mean just attack. No. His first and only instinct was to run up and shove him off the moving boat.

It was unbelievably funny, and one of the last things we expected. They kept trying to shove us but fortunately we could handle it. The wizard avenged the Bard by thunderwaving Greymon off the boat. He also had an animated undead with him, who turned much of Greymons crew into zombies as well as the fight dragged on. In the end, 80% of Greymons had turned and we were able to get the Bard back before getting to the forge.

Most of our time at the forge went well, save for a few minor mishaps. We decided to attempt to free Nere, which is something I missed in my own playthrough (he was already beheaded when I found him). I was firm about not approving him, you know, killing the innocent workers around. So I stepped up and we got into combat. We didn't long rest before the battle so we were a little low on resources. Despite this we were actually doing pretty well. I not only almost one turned Nere, but I disarmed him and took his weapon. Where it went south is when one of the enemies thunderwaved our bard into the lava, and someone else took down our sorcerer. With me being the only one left with down on the main battlefield, I was ripped to shreds as the wizard could do nothing but watch in horror. He tried to book it to the boat and while he did make it, he couldn't use it. This was our first TPKO.

Second attempt was still rough, but was a lot better. We rested before and went in aggressively. I immediately disarmed Nere and one turned him, getting rid of any threat he could've posed. The wizard got up very high and cast Haste on himself, proceeding to sling spells left and right. Our bard has a very strong dual crossbow set up and was able to hold his own very well too. The sorcerer, who normally holds his own pretty well, got bullied by one enemy in particular and was in and out for most of the fight. He doesn't have mage armor either so that didn't help.

We ended the session by leveling up to 6 as we entered the adamantine forge, which will prove to be... interesting for our party.

[thechekhov]

What was your most chaotic moment in your DnD session's, where everything went wrong or something absurd happened?

I have made a post about it before, but I’m still relatively proud of this one.

Also in no particular order:

- Every single character failing their strength check to open up a simple tomb door by rolling four 8s in succession (all with different modifiers). 

- The characters were warned about The Windmill well in advance, and told NOT to approach it.  - They approached it.  - They went inside and tried to tell the Normal Middle Aged Woman* who lived there that the windmill was technically THEIR property because they were currently in the possession of the deed to the windmill.  - Consequently got TPKOed by the hags and got one of their team-mates killed. - That team-mate, a Grave Cleric, is now temporarily in the body of a 7 year old human girl while they try to find a diamond large enough to perform the Resurrection spell. 

- Party is now Three Dads and Their Kid dynamic, which they have been using to their advantage to garner sympathy. Overall, not too bad of an outcome.

- More recently, they broke into the house of their Target that they planned to assassinated For Cash and ended up with way more moral dilemmas than anticipated, and nearly got captured by guards who were alerted to their Breaking and Entering.

There’s probably others I’m forgetting, but for now, the druid is being carried off in the mouth of a mechanical dog, the Rogue/Fighter is stuck on the roof, the Artificer legged it, and the 7 Year Old is going to Baby Jail. 

It’s been fun.

[crouteann]

ALSO some less old traditional concept art for Finn’s old performance outfits and his “rogue” outfit-- then some fallon and kitt. I need to do more of this, the copics + pen feels really nice for getting concepts out

[mokeymokey]

I'm mad that you can't name your guys though let me name them let me kiss them mwah let me hold them and weep for them when I get tpkoed

Pokérogue is so fun omg the pokemon part of my brain is like being activated for the first time in so many years. It's just like pure pokemonning without the busywork and drudgery of the main series games that I no longer have patience for in my old age

[alliedn]

Our first tpko! 🥲🎊

Malakay, our warlock, has been kidnapped by his old abuser.

Neosis lost. Again.

[stilldrawing]

Nav and Fargie hug after a rather close shave with a pickaxe and near-TPKO.

[ope-scuseme]

praise our Lady Uen we were blessed by her merciful light!!🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Saube, Ingot @lichfucker, Aal @ope-scuseme and Whitlock @army-of-bee-assassins: We had a TPKO (Totally Party Knockout)

JD @keplercryptids: But did you die?

[audanddragons]

Idea, so i don't forget:

Begin a party at high level, say 15-20 depending.

Put them through an incredibly difficult dungeon adventure.

When they inevitably "fail" (some sort of planned would-be TPKO or earlier if it happens naturally), describe them dying....

And then waking up, as lvl 1 versions of their characters, aware of their previous memories, but mysteriously missing their high level equipment. If they are casters, should they attempt a high level spell they knew previously, it will simply fizzle or not work in other ways (be creative!)

Play through long campaign, only to end up at the same dungeon again, this time hopefully better equipped to deal with it....

[larnax]

CHEREN YOU MOTHERFUCKER

[ladedanixie]

ok they are going in spent once again. I dont think this is gonna be a tpko and it looks like the traps worked. But i live for drama and I cant remmeber the last time I was this excited for a fight