"Teen D&D: More Knock, Knock, Zombies and a TPK!" Topic

Yet another Tale From the Library Teen Room:

Our last installment saw the intrepid heroes (unwittingly) sucker punch the Big Bad and wipe him out (way too much luck on their side). On his person they found a strange rod shaped like a human skeleton. The cleric (Chaotic Good) tried to pick it up and was repulsed by a sense of overwhelming evil. So the Neutral wizard gave it a go, felt nothing, and started waving it around. (Yes, I don't bother with the "attunement" rule, as it's a waste of time, arbitrary, and not nearly as much fun as experimenting on the spot with a magical item of unknown powers and shaky provenance. )
Up rise four zombies, whom the other PCs (mostly all Good) opt to slaughter on the spot while the wizard argues that they could be useful, because what good is a corpse anyway? And that's where we had left it, which actually had me scrambling to come up with a solution to produce a more satisfying ending to the tale…
And at that point, we pick up our story again.

Unwanted zombies dispatched, the group proceeds to further explore the dungeon, promptly falling into a classic pit trap. After some mucking about with solutions for that, and discovering that no, no matter how athletic he is, a 3 foot tall halfling cannot do a standing long jump of 10+ feet, they come upon an oddly well-made door for a goblin dungeon. As they bash it with axes (never bothering to check and see if it will open), the wizard starts hearing a voice which points out how brilliant his idea of putting corpses to use was, and that the others simply are not worthy of his genius, etc., etc.. Then, as they encounter a chamber filled with a pile of bones (and weapons), two things happen: The bones become skeletons, and the wizard attacks the party!
Much chaos follows (no pun intended), and they keep triggering the magic that revives the bones (making two fights with skeletons). The wizard manages to make a save to break the possession of the evil rod, and drops it…and then, as they decide to flee the skeleton chamber (good idea), he picks it up again!
Yep, repossessed in a heartbeat… And this time he actually uses the rod and summons more zombies. But now the wielder is possessed, so rather than passively waiting to be un-undeaded, these zombies follow the will of the rod and attack the party!
A wild melee ensues, with the (now hacked-off) halfling barbarian attacking the wizard and knocking him unconscious, and then attacking the Chaotic Neutral rogue who decides to pick up the loose rod! (Possessed PC #2…)

During the fight, the zombies roll horribly while attacking a cleric who carries a wooden shield (actually an apple barrel lid…part of the plot). Goofing around, I mimic the zombie hitting the shield and say in my best zombie voice, "Knock, knock."
Teens: "Who's there?"
DM/Zombie: "Zombie."
Teens: "Zombie who?"
DM/Zombie: "Braiiiinnnnssss."
The teens think this is hilarious.

The next zombie also attacks the cleric, and misses.
DM/Z: "Knock, knock."
T: "Who's there?"
DM/Z: "Zombies."
T: "Zombies who?"
DM/Z: "More braiiiinnnssss."
Hilarity.

Another round, another miss.
DM/Z: "Knock, knock."
T: "Who's there?"
DM/Z: "Zombie."
T: "Zombie who?"
DM/Z: "Braiiiinnnssss." DM as Me: "He's a zombie. He only knows the one joke."

(Why yes, I am a Dad. Why do you ask?)

And that's how it went, until the zombies started hitting…and wiped out the party! Yep, a TPK by an evil demonic magic rod and four zombies.
Teens: "We're all dead?"
Me: Yes. And since you failed to rescue your friend, he has been possessed by an evil Lord of Death who is raising an army of undead to conquer the world…and your corpses are in the front lines.
Teens: "Whoa! That was awesome!"

They loved it. Totally got p*wned, and loved every bit of it.
Teen: "What are we gonna do next week?"
DM: A new adventure with new characters.
Teen: "Can we roll them up now?"
DM: Go right ahead!

And so they gleefully began consulting the PH, rolling up their characters, selecting equipment, choosing backgrounds, rolling up starting cash— "Hey guys! I get 2d4 times 10 gold pieces, and guess what! I rolled two 4s! I've got 80 gold pieces!"
Try not to spend it all in one place.

The cleric's player, who had been pretty much talked into having a cleric in the last adventure because they needed one, discovered he liked running a cleric and rolled up a new one.
"Hey, guys! New rule! If I can't touch something, NOBODY touches it!"

And the adventures continue…

Epic!

Madcam.

Cool.

and your corpses are in the front lines.
Teens: "Whoa! That was awesome!"

:D That's funny!

Bravo!

LOL, love it, sounds like a blast!

That sounds wonderful! What a great thing you are doing, exposing young people to such a "retro" pastime. I salute you! (And rather wish I could play in the next game myself…)

The nerd in me must ask: which edition of D&D are you using? Do you use figures? Sorry if both questions have come up before.

Teens: "We're all dead?"
Me: Yes…
Teens: "Whoa! That was awesome!"

You should run Call of Cthulhu next, in that case.

We use 5e (or rather what I've grasped of it) as that's the edition we have at the library and what the kids will encounter the most with their peers. Quite honestly, though, I tend to get certain details muddled with my past of Holmes D&D, Gygax AD&D and Mentzer D&D, not that it matters that much.

We used plastic unpainted figures on a Chessex BattleMat (mat donated by fellow TMPer Moonbeast, along with almost all of our rulebooks, campaign books, dice and other accessories!). The figures were D&D/Ral Partha plastics from the old Dragon Quest beginner boxed sets for the adventurers, and plastic monsters (orcs, standing in as goblins and zombies) from the D&D Board Game: The Wrath of Ashardalon.

This is my fourth year of running the program, and it's always a huge success. I now know of four distinct D&D groups that have formed out of the program (our goal), two of which meet at the library, and two of which meet at the players' homes. If you allow for changeover as groups add and lose players due to moves, etc. (our "original" group now is all completely new players!), the number of groups formed is closer to six.

I've had interest from adults in their own program. I think I'd like that; it would be fun-- but not nearly as much fun as these newbie teens are!

Nice to know the kids didn't feel bad about losing their characters. I've heard stories of adults throwing tantrums when their characters died.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to throw at them next.
I was going to do an "explore the ancient, derelict wizard's tower" adventure I created (one of my best, I think), but alas, you have to have a wizard to even get in the place…and they didn't make a new one. (Really, it's a significant puzzle element, and a fun one, so I'm passing on it.)

Next is an abandoned dwarf mine…and they have no dwarf! (Plus, though I created it while unaware of the starter set's "Lost Mine of Phandelver" campaign, the concept is a bit too similar. Ah, the danger of tropes.) This one too would be better with a wizard along (not strictly necessary, but handy).

Third is a lengthy combination wilderness and (highly lethal) 4 level dungeon adventure which no group has completed in the time allowed, and I just can't see giving this a go with kids whose summer plans will likely cause them to have to leave the program for previously planned family vacations, camps, etc..

Fourth is a quasi-mystery adventure with a complex mechanical puzzle element that only two groups have ever figured out (the latter with significant hinting). Having watched this group in action, I'm not certain they're gonna be up to the mental challenge… Still, maybe? Unfortunately, there are seven PCs, and this group has shown a tendency to split in different directions (a headache for me), and this adventure has "you go here, we'll go there" written all over it when the group is large.

Last, I could do the classic "The Chapel of Silence" adventure from Dragon #50 (modded for 5e and with a backstory tweak). I did it last year, and since it involves PCs being cursed so that they're unable to speak, is a lot of fun to pull on overly loquacious teens!

In any case, more tales to come!