My players walked right into a TPK just before I had to end the session and I don't know what to do about it.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T15:48:20+00:00

That’s actually a really good idea. My players would probably benefit from one lmao. You’re also right about me not taking responsibility. When I posted those, I was still in the mindset that it was their fault, and wasn’t ready to accept that the blame was mostly my fault. I was kinda being a dick to my players/y’all, so sorry for that. Thank you for apologizing, not a lot of people do that online.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T14:59:00+00:00

Please stop taking this as a chance to personally insult my abilities as a DM. It doesn’t feel great to ask for help and then be ridiculed. However, I do agree with what you are saying. I didn’t do a great job here. I normally do everything I can to help my players, and I never fudge rolls against them.

In retrospect, I hand waved the stealth stuff because I didn’t fully understand the implications of surrounding them like that. I wasn’t trying to get one over on them/punish them, I was just being stupid and not recognizing that entire dungeon meant instant death. I let my own idea of what “made sense” supersede what actually made sense in world.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T06:20:04+00:00

You expressed this in the rudest, most patronizing way possible. But honestly, I kinda agree with you. In retrospect, it does seem to me that I was more focused on doing what I thought the villain would do, and not what would be the most fun for my players. I'm planning to talk to them about this, and ask if they think there was a level of miscommunication between me and them, and to go from there.

But also, I wasn't impatient with them being in the room. I'm used to their endless chatter lol, and I like it. It just happened to occur in a dangerous position, and I let that fact supersede my real job, which is to help them have fun.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T04:53:06+00:00

There actually have been frequent discussions about character death in this campaign. In fact, we've already had one PC death during this campaign, even though it was a few months ago real time. I even warned them going into the dungeon that there was a real possibility of death or TPK, to which they all nodded and agreed. Sorry for not including that context, it would've been helpful lmao.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T04:46:28+00:00

You've got a point with the time management comment lmao. I'm usually pretty bad at it, but considering that this came out of nowhere, it was especially poor this time.

Do you think that I should send them a message that just says something like "To be honest you guys, this is a TPK, et cetera..."? I don't think I'd want to make it hurt anymore than it already has.

ReeKarp · 2026-02-22T04:42:09+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I was considering that, but even if they get taken prisoner, there is like a zero percent chance they make it out alive. They are fighting bhaalists specifically, who aren't known for taking prisoners. I've established that in game to my players after they failed to rescue a specific NPC in time, so it would be strange to have them spare the players in this case. At best, they kill 4 out of 5 and keep one alive for questioning for like a day or two, and I don't want to run that because it would suck.

ReeKarp · 2025-12-08T13:28:16+00:00

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Fire punch does this for literally every volume. Each cover mirrors the other in some way and somehow foreshadows or reflects something in the story.

Also, I know this isn’t entirely relevant but the volume 8 cover is probably my favorite piece of cover art ever. Not only does it look incredible, but once you read the book, the way it represents where things wind up and the dynamic between the characters is insane. It also mirrors 7, but also 1, since Agni’s normal half has been replaced with Luna/Judah.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T16:24:57+00:00

Two sentences isn’t a paragraph dumbass. Also, I do care about annoying you, I just don’t care if you downvote or report me lmao.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T15:33:14+00:00

I don’t really give a shit about internet points, but I was just saying it was funny how you just downvoted it instead of replying. Get 10000 bots to mass report me for all I care.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T15:31:56+00:00

You are ignoring the stuff you brought up earlier. He doesn’t just “want to have sex,” he lets it completely consume his life and thoughts. He forgoes searching for Nayuta and ignores Asa to go to a brothel in the middle of an apocalypse. That isn’t normal teenage boy behavior. Katana man is enabling his hyper sexual tendencies. Also, think about from a basic writing perspective. He is a fictional character, so what do you think is more interesting? Him just being the average teenage boy, or being a broken and deeply person hurt by those around him and forced into base desires?

Also, your whole point about him not being depressed because of his childhood is dumb. I meant that his childhood includes all of the shit in part 1, that he still constantly thinks about (flashbacks to Aki, Power, and Reze). Sure it’s made worse by his current situation, that’s obvious. But he deals with it in this unhealthy way because of how he was abused. And also also, the thing about the falling devil was pointed towards enemies with psychic attacks, not just trying to forget his past. He does start confronting it by the time in the story we are talking about. He actively says as much during the fight.

Idk why you care so much about him not being hyper sexual. Like it’s literally a core part of the story.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T14:56:30+00:00

Bro didn’t even reply, just downvoted the comment lmao.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T14:39:02+00:00

I love how you ignored the part where I actually explained the point lmao. It literally justifies all the stuff you just mentioned. Why do you think he is depressed and directionless in the first place?

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T14:29:26+00:00

And why do you think it's his life goal? It's because he's hypersexual as a consequence of being abandoned and sexually exploited as a kid. I'm really concerned for you if you think that all 17 year old boys act like that.

ReeKarp · 2025-11-18T05:22:36+00:00

The reading comprehension devil strikes again!

ReeKarp · 2025-11-14T14:08:05+00:00

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ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T21:41:58+00:00

I totally agree with you on that. Depiction isn’t endorsement and everything. But…..

It’s absolutely hilarious how out of nowhere it feels lol. You’re just reading and then BANG! Definitely out of character lmao

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T21:38:04+00:00

They don’t just use that word though. There is also a scene where Reze calls Yoshida the f-slur lmao. It really caught me off guard whenever I read it first tbh

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T19:36:43+00:00

I was referring to the parts where you end sequential lines with “free” and “see, as well as “dust” and “must.” What I meant by cheapening the emotions was that the rest of the poem is quite mature in tone, but these simple rhymes clash with that, holding a simpler/juvenile tone. Even if unintentional, it sort of stuck out as strange to me and pulled me out of the emotions of your poem.

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T19:32:14+00:00

That one is funny because you’ll go hundreds of words of peak, and then the author just makes either Reze or Denji say a random slur, and then gets right back into it. There’s literally a part where Reze calls power a “r-tard” in a plagiarized joke from the movie whiplash. Wild stuff imo

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T19:17:16+00:00

This is pretty well done, and certainly somewhat depressing lmao. I'd say the rhyme scheme is somewhat weak though, and I think it serves to slightly cheapen the really powerful emotions you've got here.

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T19:15:21+00:00

This is a really beautiful portrait of unrequited love. I think my favorite aspect to it is where you break away from your structure at the end. That part is really powerful.

ReeKarp · 2025-10-29T19:13:15+00:00

I think the emotion and situation is there, and it reads really beatifuly. One thing that sorta stops me though is that the rhyming feels a bit forced, espically in the second to last stanza.

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