TPK: It Has Its Upside

Ah, the Total Party Kill. In classic Old School gaming this happens when a wandering monster roll generates something the party just aren't equipped for - or after a succession of hilariously dismal rolls. In roleplaying Meme-lore it happens when a frustrated GM unleashes Cthulhu in Power Armour on recalcitrant players.

Then there's the TPK that's simply a consequence of NPCs acting intelligently and using their powers in the same focused and uncompromising way that player characters do. This raises some issues. In a game like The Magus Hack - or any game of modern wizardry - the NPCs are going to be immensely powerful. If they wanted to, the Evil Cultists or Soulless Technocracy or Demon Princes could snuff out the PCs at their leisure. The only reason the PCs survive is because the NPCs have other things to do, other priorities to focus on. But what if they do, only momentarily, give the PCs their full and unkind attention? What then?

My favourite solution is to let my players roleplay the bad guys for a session and engineer their own destruction. This achieves a number of things. You get an extended cut-away where the events behind-the-scenes are revealed: we get to see the villains, their relationships, their powers and their motives, all represented sympathetically. Yes, the players will learn some campaign lore that their characters don't know, but I've always found my players quite capable of managing that distinction.

The players also get a thrilling holiday from their own characters. They get to play powerful NPCs with dramatic abilities and - and I think this is crucial - they get to use those abilities in an unrestrained way. Playing your own character is a fraught business and you always worry: should I exhaust that die? should I make that Hubris roll? is now the time? am I doing the right thing? In a villain cut-away episode, you don't suffer these anxieties. You have a pretty tight focus (destroy the heroes) and you cheerfully throw everything you've got into that task.

There's something pleasing about seeing your own characters as NPCs - seeing them the way they look to the people who are normally NPCs.

Perhaps most importantly, it allows something very bad to happen to treasured PCs without a feeling of powerlessness and victimisation. The players (if not their Player Characters) are still 'winning' even as they destroy their own PCs.

And of course, they might not succeed.

I'm offering the handouts used in the game, which might interest you if you like reading up on developed NPCs and plotlines in other people's campaigns - or if you're curious about the sort of characters a game like The Magus Hack throws up - or if you're looking to 'poach' some NPCs for your own modern wizardry games.

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The Story So Far

The PCs are a group of street-level Magi who have taken over the sanctum of their old mentor: Babylon Tabernacle is an invisible airship tethered to the roof of a South London tower block where Pastor Zep once invited the homeless to make their home. The Babylon has the TARDIS-like property of having more space on the inside, such as a dungeon that once held the chained and masked Nazarene. It was home to Pastor Zep's angelic lover Genevieve, before she abandoned this dimension as a doomed timeline. There's a working forge, occult library and a window viewing other worlds and timelines.

The Player Characters are:

• Dt Bobby Kimber, a street magus and hexslinger with a sister Alice who is a paramedic at Guy’s Hospital. His Vauxhall Astra was damaged in a recent battle with Redcaps.
• 'George Smith', amnesiac warrior from the Dark Ages who fought against the Fae and their Pendragon as part of King Mordred’s Iron Legion. He is an old foe of the half-Fae champion (and mass murderer) Gawain.
• Edgar Raven, a street magus and time traveller, caring for his daughter Delilah who is at Guy’s in a coma. He has a potent artifact: a temporal grenade salvaged from the British Museum (it looks like an egg).
• Luke, a traumatised victim of the Fae concentration camps who suspects he is an incarnation of death. He wears the Crown of Thorns but has not yet unlocked its powers.

The team's problems stem from a raid on the British Museum to retrieve a basilisk egg to appease the gorgon Erisbe. This drew the wrath of London's Fae overlords as well as the rival Magi serving Morguse Orkades, some of whom died when the Museum was demolished and all of whom seek the Crown of Thorns. On top of that, they drew the wrath of Erisbe by not handing over her egg.

The Villainess: Morguse

Has Morguse has survived incognito since the Dark Ages (when she was supposedly murdered by her son Gaheris)? Or has she returned with the Fae to possess a new mortal body? In her human identity, she occupies a luxury apartment in the Shard and runs an IT firm, OrkTek.

​Morguse leads a cadre of junior Magi known as the Circle of Air & Darkness. Rather than being traditional Magi, these agents are people Morguse has bestowed a Fae soul: instead of gaining Hubris, they become more Fae and less human.

• Wintersong (Elois): the mind-render; Morguse’s lover and the leader of the team, she has become increasingly erratic. She died at the British Museum but Morguse resurrected her but she came back … different, more Fae than human.
• Runesmith (Einar): the Swedish giant; this burly muscle-man has a gentle disposition and holds the team together. He specialises in anti-magica and summons ‘trolls’ to do small tasks, such as creating useful items or jinxing enemy equipment.
• Shadowbride (Milena): the assassin; a former Russian spy, Shadowbride is a cold-hearted professional killer who specialises in teleportation and shadow manipulation. She was close to Rufus (who died at the British Museum) but no one else really trusts her.
• Grimvarg (Guyon): the werewolf; a one-time Welsh gangster and bare-knuckle boxer, Grimvarg spends more time as a wolf than a man. Everyone knows he is losing his mind and his animalistic behaviour is increasingly weird. He survived the British Museum when Lowell and Rufus both died but won’t reveal how.

Two other agents, Rufus and Lowell, died at the Museum.

The players chose one of Morguse's agents to play, with the mission of tracking down the Babylon Tabernacle, extracting the Crown of Thorns (with Luke's decapitated head still attached, if needs be) and deliver some bloody chastisement to the upstart Magi. ​

Morguse's Fae ally Agravain has another instruction: bring back the PC George Smith for Gawain to torture at his leisure.

​Elois is a one-time folk singer and one of the first to be recruited by Morguse, first as a lover, later as an agent. She still adores her mistress. Elois was almost killed in the destruction of the British Museum but restored by Morguse. However, she still bears disfiguring scars and is the most Fae of the agents, with crystalline scars across her body and eyes of smoking helium. Her specialism is in Charm and Divination, which she uses to raid, remove and alter memories.
Roleplaying traits: You are suffering physically and spiritually and this expresses itself in impatience, aggression and acts of pointless cruelty; seek to impress Morguse by being just like her: imperious and cold.
Roleplaying magic: You used to sing your magic, but now your Hallows manifests as a shrill screech that tends to crack glass and trigger nosebleeds. Your crystal scars glow and spread and similar crystal veins appear briefly on your targets. Anyone targeted by your magic experiences intense cold and lasting numbness.

STR 9  DEX 13  CON 10  INT 11  WIS 15 CHA 15
LVL 5 HD d6 19hp  HALLOWS d8  FAE d10  MunDmg d4  MagDmg d8
CHARM d10  DIVINATION d8  ABJURATION d4

Fluid Caster:  You can combine Divination/Charm in magical effects without any penalty.
Magical Affinity (Memories): You only exhaust Casting Dice rolled for magic effects involving memory-manipulation on a 1 (1-2 for Major Spells, Minor Hexes never exhaust).
Magical Focus: Gain +2 free charges toward Duration.                                                               
Mentor: Morguse Orkades is a powerful Magus who guides your advancement. When you gain a level, you can choose an extra Virtue instead of rolling to improve your Stats (factored into your current build).
Opaque: Roll with Advantage to avoid detection by guards or surveillance cameras.
Warded Bones: Powerful Wards are painted as tattoos; you are automatically considered to be Warded against magical detection or scrying at all times with a Power 8 (so 3rd level PCs must put 5 extra charges into such magic).
Words of Pain: You can use CHA to make attacks against an opponent who can hear and understand you, inflicting Magical Damage and incapacitating (but not killing) opponents brought to 0 HP

​Einar is the most human of the Circle, an amiable Swedish giant of a man. It’s no secret that he loves Elois but his feelings are unrequited: she only cares for Morguse. Einar is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant but doesn’t like to advertise it and often gets into conflict with Milena who is willing to use violence to solve most problems. He uses his Abjuration and Summoning magic to ward and bind creatures, especially Fae spirits (which he calls ‘trolls’) who build useful devices or jinx enemy equipment.
Roleplaying traits: You are slow to anger and good natured in the most extreme situations. Threats to Elois might rouse you to fury and Milena is uniquely able to get under your skin. You feel immense pity for Elois and Guyon, who you see psychologically disintegrating, and you do what you can to keep them human. Although you dislike violence, you believe that once a fight is started, it must be won at all costs. Lowell and Rufus both died at the Museum and you are processing your grief slowly; it might manifest itself in a titanic rage.
Roleplaying magic: You trace runic symbols (your Hallows) on things using chalk or an etching knife or place rune-inscribed stones on or around targets. These runes then imbue the target with powers or summon trolls into objects.

STR 15  DEX 13  CON 15  INT 9  WIS 11  CHA 12 
LVL 5  HD d8 25hp  HALLOWS d8  FAE d6  MunDmg d8  MagDmg d4
SUMMONING d8  DIVINATION d6  ABJURATION d8

Amiable: Roll with Advantage on Reaction Tests, treat Fae as one lower for interacting with humans.
Anti-Magica: When you Dispel or undo another magical effect, each charge you expend to increase Power creates +2 Power. Moreover, you always Test at Advantage to undo other magic.
Field Medic: While resting, heal another character for 1d6 HP
Hardy: Roll with Advantage to resist drugs or poison.
Mentor: Morguse Orkades is a powerful Magus who guides your advancement. When you gain a level, you can choose an extra Virtue instead of rolling to improve your Stats (factored into your current build).
Mystic Armour: You have magical protection: roll your largest Casting Die and gain AP equal to the result (the Casting Die does not exhaust when doing this). You can re-roll the Die and replace your AP whenever you rest (just like normal armour).
Shaman: Gain +1 automatic charge on casting rolls to summon or bind spirits or enter the spirit world.
Warded Bones: Powerful Wards are painted as tattoos; you are automatically considered to be Warded against magical detection or scrying at all times with a Power 8 (so 3rd level PCs must put 5 extra charges into such magic).

Milena Sokolova is a former Russian assassin and the most dangerous member of the Circle, being skilled in knife-fighting and firearms as well as surveillance and intrusion. She uses Evocation, Alteration and Divination to teleport through shadows or manipulate shadows as illusions or assailants.
Roleplaying traits: You are the consummate professional killer, unphased by violence and anticipating betrayal all the time. The emotional toll of your work expresses itself in your drinking (vodka) and smoking (Sobranie Black Russians). You despise Guyon for his filthy hygiene and lack of professionalism. You anticipate being called upon to kill Elois when she becomes too Fae. Before you do this you will tell her that you are Morguse’s new lover. You respected Rufus who was killed by the mummy’s warriors at the Museum; as a professional courtesy you will avenge him and the Magi of the Babylon Tabernacle are mostly to blame, especially George and Bobby who sealed them off.
Roleplaying magic: Your Hallows always involves shadows: stepping into them, casting them, summoning things made out of them. Your own shadow frequently misbehaves, taking on forms that represent your true feelings or monstrous intentions.

STR 14  DEX 15  CON 13  INT 11  WIS 12  CHA 12 
LVL 5  HD d8 24hp  HALLOWS d6  FAE d8  MunDmg d8  MagDmg d6
ALTERATION d8  DIVINATION d8  EVOCATION d6

Athleticism: Roll with Advantage when jumping, climbing or swinging.
Fluid Caster: You can combine Alteration/Divination (e.g. teleporting) in magical effects without any penalty.
Illusionist: When you create illusions (using Alteration or Charm), you make the Casting Test at Advantage and the Power is your Level +2 for purposes of resisting magic that sees through them.
Iron Will: Roll with Advantage to resist mind or emotion control.
Magical Focus: Gain +2 free charges toward Damage.
Mentor: Morguse Orkades is a powerful Magus who guides your advancement. When you gain a level, you can choose an extra Virtue instead of rolling to improve your Stats (factored into your current build).
Surprise Attack: Your first attack in combat inflicts twice as much damage if it hits.
Warded Bones: Powerful Wards are painted as tattoos; you are automatically considered to be Warded against magical detection or scrying at all times with a Power 8 (so 3rd level PCs must put 5 extra charges into such magic).

​Guyon Prosser is a Welsh gangster and bare-knuckle boxer whose constant crude joking belies a deranged personality. He uses Alteration to change his own form into animal shapes, especially wolves. Increasingly, he spends his time in wolf form and his personal hygiene and dietary preferences reflect this deterioration in his psyche. Guyon nearly died at the British Museum. When the roof fell in, he survived by eating the corpse of Lowell and absorbing his power of invisibility. Guyon hasn’t told anyone about this but is wondering if he should eat other Magi too.
Roleplaying traits: You are a foul-mouthed and offensive character who delights in disgusting other people, especially the uptight Milena and the gentle Einar. Elois frightens you, so you behave better around her. Become a wolf at any opportunity or behave in a wolf-like way even in human form. You no longer use cutlery or toilets. You’re thinking of abandoning clothes soon. You like to urinate on things you find attractive or interesting. Weirdly, this includes Einar.
Roleplaying magic: Your Hallows takes the form of lycanthropy and mostly involves shifting your own body into animal forms or behaving in an animal-like way (growling, howling, biting, urinating on things) or manifesting animal abilities.

STR 16  DEX 14  CON 14  INT 8  WIS 9  CHA 9  LVL 5 
HD d10 30hp  HALLOWS d8  FAE d10  MunDmg d6  MagDmg  d8
ALTERATION d10  SUMMONING d6  DIVINATION d6  ABJURATION d4

​Animal Whisperer: Roll with Advantage when dealing with animals.
Brawny: Roll with Advantage when you have to lift or break heavy objects or engage in wrestling or fisticuffs.
Burglar: Roll with Advantage to pick locks or disarm traps.
Criminal Contacts: You have ties to the criminal underworld, represented by a d6 Usage Die. You can roll this UD to obtain illegal goods, pick up information about crimes or criminals or to talk your way out of a confrontation with criminal types.
Mentor: Morguse Orkades is a powerful Magus who guides your advancement. When you gain a level, you can choose an extra Virtue instead of rolling to improve your Stats (factored into your current build).
Self-preservation: Roll with Advantage to avoid traps, ambushes or assassination attempts.
Shapeshifter: You can change form and function to a wolf. You retain your Traits, HD and Hit Points and use your Magical Combat Die. In this form you make Tests involving running, tracking and biting with Advantage. You cannot cast magic in this form.
Warded Bones: Powerful Wards are painted as tattoos; you are automatically considered to be Warded against magical detection or scrying at all times with a Power 8 (so 3rd level PCs must put 5 extra charges into such magic).

Planning Your Own Downfall

The villains don't know about the invisible airship or where to find the PC Magi but they do have one lead in the form of the disgruntled gorgon Erisbe, who runs a garden centre and pet store as a front to grow her reptile menagerie.

The players received this planning sheet to help orientate themselves and brainstorm a nefarious plan.

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So ... how did it go ?

Really well.

The players acted with ruthless efficiency. Grimvarg got his criminal contacts to put a bomb under Kimber's car. Poor Kimber was blown to pieces, but experienced it as psychedelic transference into the Underworld where his former lover, the chandler Molly, was waiting for him.

Erisbe proved an enthusiastic accomplice, but once they had learned from her where the PC Magi were located, Wintersong wiped her memories of the Crown.

The team teleported into Pastor Zep's apartment and murdered the homeless people sheltering there, much to Runesmith's distress. They discovered the airship tethered to the roof. Inside, Shadowbride performed her signature teleport to assassinate Luke with an enchanted knife. She sawed off his head to get the Crown of Thorns. Grimvarg devoured Luke's lover, the leanan-sidhe Maeve.

Runesmith dealt with George Smith by turning himself into a portal, so that George appeared in mid air, five storeys up, and fell to his death. This was the only setback so far: they were supposed to capture George alive.

Wintersong waited in the apartment to confront Edgar Raven on his return from the hospital. However, Raven received cryptic warnings from Bobby Kimber's ghost. He decided to use his time travel power to return to the start of the day and warn Kimber not to collect his booby-trapped car. Of course, this triggered a string of paradoxes, the result of which was that the temporal grenade in Raven's satchel detonated, blasting him into another timeline.

A timeline in which his friends are all alive, but not aware of being Magi.

A timeline in which the Fae invasion was defeated by the forces of Heaven - and London is ruled by tyrannical angels.

Now the players need to create alternative versions of their characters, in the hope they can replace, resurrect or merge with their dead characters in the original timeline.

​Assuming Raven can convince them that they are Magi.

Things just got outta hand ....