Background:
An encounter ends in a TPK when either of two circumstances happen. First, when the heroes are all dead or fled and second, when the Revenge is sunk. If the Revenge is sunk then it reappears next time with full wounds etc. But what happens if the Revenge is badly damaged but not sunk, and all the heroes are killed/fled? By RAW the Revenge would seem to appear at the next encounter badly damaged. Some people are unhappy about this so the question comes up. There isn’t a clear answer in the rules, just an absence of an answer, which is enough for some players but not enough for others. It can also lead to an easy double TPK if a party does not have the cash to heal (repair) the Revenge before setting out on the high seas again.

Question:
If an encounter ends with the last hero dying and the Revenge is not yet sunk, is the Revenge considered sunk by the
monsters and thus next appear fully healed?

Answers:
A1. Yes, the Revenge is sunk by Monsters who board it after the heroes are gone and it reappears fully healed at the next
encounter.
A2. No, the Revenge is not sunk by the monsters. The Revenge keeps all it’s damage unless the party spends time to heal it at the shipyards.
A3. Something else?

In the background you use the acronym "TPK", it might be better to spell out "Total Party Kill". I would certainly assume anyone reading it would understand what you mean, but based on some previous FAQ answers I wonder a lot of times about the qualifications of the people answering the FAQ. Then at least they could search the Sea of Blood Rulebook PDF to find what the heck you are talking about, lol.

Also, I've looked in the FAQ, Rulebook and searched the forum, so forgive me if this question has already been answered. But you state that a Total Party Kill occurs when all heroes are dead or have fled, but the rulebook just says only if all heroes have died. It also says a Party Flight occurs only if the Revenge sails off the map. Exactly what happens if all the remaining heroes flee the map, but the Revenge is still on it? Is it an instant TPK? Does the Revenge just keep sailing until it is sunk or sails off the map? Like I said, sorry if this has been asked but I looked and did not find an answer.

Oh and as to the question I'd also say that RAW is pretty clear. But like you say some people want further clarification, and the question and answers look good. Anything to try and help the heroes out in SoB I suppose is probably a good thing.....

In the background you state that TPK occurs when all heros were killed or fled. This is not correct, flight of heros does not lead to TPK according to the rules.

This leads to further questions which might be added above (after rewording):

If one or more heros fled the map, and the rest of them is killed, does this end the encounter if the Revenge was not sunk? If yes, does the OL earn CT for the heros that fled?

If one or more heros fled the map and the Revenge is sunk, does the OL earn CT for the heros that fled?

Does the OL receive CT for sinking the Revenge at all, heros on the map or not?

Revision:

Background:
An encounter ends in a Total Party Kill when either of two circumstances happen. First, when the heroes are all dead, and second, when the Revenge is sunk. If the Revenge is sunk then it reappears next time with full wounds etc. But what happens if the Revenge is badly damaged but not sunk , and all the heroes are killed? By Rules As Written the Revenge would seem to appear at the next encounter badly damaged. Some people are unhappy about this so the question comes up. There isn’t a clear answer in the rules, just an absence of an answer, which is enough for some players but not enough for others. It can also lead to an easy double Total Party Kill if a party does not have the cash to heal (repair) the Revenge before setting out on the high seas again.

Further, there is also an intermediate circumstance that has no resolution. What happens if some (or all) heroes fled the map but the Revenge is still on the map? Not all heroes are dead, so no Total Party Kill result. The Revenge has not left the map, so no Party Flight result. The monsters have not all been killed/NPC ship sunk, so no Party Victory Result.

Question:
If an encounter ends with all heroes dying and the Revenge is not yet sunk, is the Revenge considered sunk by the monsters and thus next appear fully healed?

Answers:
A1. Yes, the Revenge is sunk by Monsters who board it after the heroes are gone and it reappears fully healed at the next encounter.
A2. No, the Revenge is not sunk by the monsters. The Revenge keeps all it’s damage unless the party spends time to heal it at the shipyards.
A3. The battle continues without the heroes until the Revenge is either sunk or drifts off the map. If at any time the Revenge has Anchor lowered and the OL has no way of damaging the Revenge and no monsters who can man Stations then the battle ends immediately. In this case, or if the Revenge drifts off map, the Revenge keeps all it's damage/heals all it's damage (one) .
A4. Something else?

Question:
If an encounter gets to the situation where some or all heroes have fled but none remain in the encounter, what happens?

Answers:
A1. The encounter continues without any heroes until the Revenge either sinks (Total Party Kill result) or drifts off the map (Party Flight Result). If the encounter is with monsters who do not have any ability to damage the Revenge, nor any ability to man Stations (eg Darkwind) and the Revenge has a lowered Anchor when the last hero dies or flees, the result is a Total Party Kill/Party Flight (one) result.
A2. The encounter ends immediately in a Party Flight result.
A3. The encounter ends immediately in a Total Party Kill result. The OL does/does not (one) receive CT for heroes who fled the map.

Notes for us: I did make a clearly wrong assumption about mixed flee/dead heroes being a TPK. Thanks for picking it up. I think the question about whether there is CT for sinking the Revenge is... a step too far for me, but if you really think it should be added in addition to the other coverage, speak up please. If there is no more discussion/comments/pointing out errors in this thread in the next 2 weeks or so, this post (less comments etc) will be the final addition to the FAQ proposals document from this thread.

Ok, CT for sinking the Revenge might really be a step too far.

On the other hand, sinking the Revenge has no benefit / penalty beyond the hero party losing their game week action - it even might be a cheap way out for the heros, they might even consider sinking the Revenge themselves to save repair/healing costs.

Otherwise, Q&A look good to go for me.