History Main / DwindlingParty

So you're TheHero on a dangerous quest, you gather a [[TheSquad squad]] and even rally those RagTagBunchOfMisfits to your cause. Battles are fought, CharacterDevelopment is had, FireForgedFriends are made, and [[EverybodyLaughsEnding hearty laughs are shared by all]]. Then your friends start to die. One. By. One.

* '''Suicide Mission:''' The heroes know [[YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive they have no chance to survive]], but give it their all [[HeroSecretService to ensure that the Hero makes it]]. Expect to see a lot of {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.

* ''MassEffect '''s final mission can be like this if you don't prepare properly and/or make bad decisions for assignments. In the worst case scenario, only Joker makes it out alive.

* ''MassEffect 2'''s final mission can be like this if you don't prepare properly and/or make bad decisions for assignments. In the worst case scenario, only Joker makes it out alive.

* The ''Film/{{Doom}}'' movie had all of the marines get killed off one by one.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Jake and his lover are the only named characters to survive the final fight.
** Norm and Max survive, as does Mo'at. [[spoiler:Tsu'tey technically survives the battle but dies afterwards]]. On the human side, Selfridge survives. ([[spoiler: Eytukan and Grace die before, Trudy and Quaritch die in the battle]])

* '''Suicide Mission:''' The heroes know they have no chance to survive, but give it their all [[HeroSecretService to ensure that the Hero makes it]]. Expect to see a lot of {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.
* '''Hunted:''' The protagonists are [[ClosedCircle trapped]] and hunted by a killer, monster, or some other deadly agent out to kill them all. They look for an escape or means of beating it as it kills them off.
* '''Escape:''' The protagonists are in a very hazardous place like a jungle or desert, and have to fight the elements rather than a killer (though a SuperPersistentPredator is usually involved here).

** A bit more credit than that, please! During the mission, you have to assign someone to perform a specific task. You should make this decision based on your understanding of the characters, and their loyalty to you. If you choose poorly, that teammate, and sometimes more that one, dies as a result. The mission continues, but their deaths linger.

*** Or did [[spoiler:Quaritch die? He may return in the sequel due to cloning and may not be {{killed off for real}}.]]

* ''{{Berserk}}'' does this with the Eclipse that ends the Golden Age arc (and the anime) with Griffith's FaceHeelTurn leaving the entire Band of the Hawk[[hottip:* :with the exception of Rickert, who was not with the Band when it all went down and thus was the only other survivor]] branded for sacrifice. The Hawks' Raiders pretty much get slaughtered ''en masse'' by the monsters from hell, but as the horror continues, each of the important members of the Hawks go down one by one until only Guts and Casca are left. And then it all goes to hell.

* ''[[DwarfFortress]]''. Every single game turns out to be this way, unless you decide to quit early. At least they tend to die off in amusing fashions.

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''. Every single game turns out to be this way, unless you decide to quit early. At least they tend to die off in amusing fashions.

* In one episode of ''{{Angel Beats}}'', while the group is dodging traps set for Angel on their way to Guild, they are gradually all 'killed' off, leaving only the two most central protagonists. Except, of course, they're already dead, so it's impossible for them to die; the 'dead' members are all back by the next episode.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Jake and his lover are the only named characters to survive the final fight.

* TerryBrooks' {{Shannara}} series has used this a few times. There's the Elven Hunters sent to protect Wil and Amberle in [[TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy Elfstones]], who are murdered by The Reaper in a very slasher movie-ish fashion. Then there's Jair's party in [[TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy Wishsong]], Wren's party in [[TheHeritageOfShannara Elf Queen]], and the entire main cast in TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara (although there are at least a few survivors in that one).

* ''{{Berserk}}'' does this with the Eclipse that ends the Golden Age arc (and the anime) with Griffith's FaceHeelTurn leaving the entire Band of the Hawk[[hottip:* :with the exception of Rickert, who was not with the Band when it all went down and thus was the only other survivor]] branded for sacrifice. The Hawks' Raiders pretty much get slaughtered ''en masse'' by the monsters from hell, but as the horror continues, each of the important members of the Hawks go down one by one until only Guts and Casca are left. And then it all goes to hell.

* In ''The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn'', one of the [[WhamEpisode most universally praised episodes]] of the ''Series/DungeonsAndDragons'' TV show, the kids have to help [[TheMentor Dungeon Master]] get to the titular locale to restore his powers so he can save them all from the BiggerBad. So important is this quest that at various points one hero after another has to be left behind, either due to a separation that leaves them in a dangerous locale or to [[YouShallNotPass hold off some terrible threat]] so the others can go on. By the time they reach the dungeon and are facing off with [[BigBad Venger]], only [[TheCape Hank]] and [[TeamMom Sheila]] are left. Of course [[EverybodyLives everyone makes it]] (albeit by the skin of their teeth), but it was one of the most suspenseful and exciting episodes of the series.

* ''{{Predator}}''.

* ''{{Avatar}}''. Jake and his lover are the only named characters to survive the final fight.

*In ''The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn'', one of the [[WhamEpisode most universally praised episodes]] of the ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons And Dragons]]'' TV show, the kids have to help [[TheMentor Dungeon Master]] get to the titular locale to restore his powers so he can save them all from the BiggerBad. So important is this quest that at various points one hero after another has to be left behind, either due to a separation that leaves them in a dangerous locale or to [[YouShallNotPass hold off some terrible threat]] so the others can go on. By the time they reach the dungeon and are facing off with [[BigBad Venger]], only [[TheCape Hank]] and [[TeamMom Sheila]] are left. Of course [[EverybodyLives everyone makes it]] (albeit by the skin of their teeth), but it was one of the most suspenseful and exciting episodes of the series.

*In ''The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn'', one of the [[WhamEpisode most universally praised episodes]] of the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' TV show, the kids have to help [[TheMentor Dungeon Master]] get to the titular locale to restore his powers so he can save them all from the BiggerBad. So important is this quest that at various points one hero after another has to be left behind, either due to a separation that leaves them in a dangerous locale or to [[YouShallNotPass hold off some terrible threat]] so the others can go on. By the time they reach the dungeon and are facing off with [[BigBad Venger]], only [[TheCape Hank]] and [[TeamMom Sheila]] are left. Of course [[EverybodyLives everyone makes it]] (albeit by the skin of their teeth), but it was one of the most suspenseful and exciting episodes of the series.

*In ''The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn'', one of the [[WhamEpisode most universally praised episodes]] of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' TV show, the kids have to help [[TheMentor Dungeon Master]] get to the titular locale to restore his powers so he can save them all from the BiggerBad. So important is this quest that at various points one hero after another has to be left behind, either due to a separation that leaves them in a dangerous locale or to [[YouShallNotPass hold off some terrible threat]] so the others can go on. By the time they reach the dungeon and are facing off with [[BigBad Venger]], only [[TheCape Hank]] and [[TeamMom Sheila]] are left. Of course [[EverybodyLives everyone makes it]] (albeit by the skin of their teeth), but it was one of the most suspenseful and exciting episodes of the series.