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C.Penguin
2010-01-25, 10:29 PM
My group is going to be starting the third part of a three-part campaign soon, and I am looking for a really cool and memorable way to end it, with a final boss/event that they will remember for a long time (granted it will certainly be memorable because it is the only campaign we have ever finished completely, but that is beside the point).

I have a few ideas in mind, as well as some input from my players as to what they want out of the ending, but I want to get the opinions and/or ideas of people on the forums as to what an epic or really memorable ending would be. This can be from a video game you've played, a TV show or movie, or even something that you've experienced in your own campaigns that you have ran or played through, I just want to get some other really stand-out ideas that will make the end of this 3-year adventure really memorable.

I dont necessarily mean memorable in terms of the BBEG or anything either, although that is an option, but I mostly mean a cool twist I could throw into the battlefield or the environment, or a sweet enemy I could have them face, basically anything that would really affect them in a striking way, and while I want it to be tough, I dont want it to be a guaranteed party-killer, in case you couldn't already guess.

Zeta Kai
2010-01-25, 10:35 PM
Send them to Hell, & let them blow it up.

They may live; they may die. But they'll remember it, if you try. :smallamused:

Matthew
2010-01-26, 05:17 PM
Have they got an adversary? Underground cities and weird world ending rituals are always good.

Asheram
2010-01-26, 05:20 PM
My group is going to be starting the third part of a three-part campaign soon, and I am looking for a really cool and memorable way to end it, with a final boss/event that they will remember for a long time (granted it will certainly be memorable because it is the only campaign we have ever finished completely, but that is beside the point).

I have a few ideas in mind, as well as some input from my players as to what they want out of the ending, but I want to get the opinions and/or ideas of people on the forums as to what an epic or really memorable ending would be. This can be from a video game you've played, a TV show or movie, or even something that you've experienced in your own campaigns that you have ran or played through, I just want to get some other really stand-out ideas that will make the end of this 3-year adventure really memorable.

I dont necessarily mean memorable in terms of the BBEG or anything either, although that is an option, but I mostly mean a cool twist I could throw into the battlefield or the environment, or a sweet enemy I could have them face, basically anything that would really affect them in a striking way, and while I want it to be tough, I dont want it to be a guaranteed party-killer, in case you couldn't already guess.

So, what's the story so far, boss? We need something to work with here. ;)

What's the setting?

-Want them fighting the elementals aboard the BBEG's planar skiff while randomly jumping from plane to plane?
-Or do you want them slaying the ancient dragon that've crowned itself king over the area?
-Perhaps cutting the chains of the crippled god, so that he will defeat the BBEG that chained him; only to turn upon the heroes in his madness and throw them across time, toying with them before coming in for the kill.
-What about leading the army of the known world against the undead legions of the necromancer king?
-Have you thought about letting them fight the BBEG in an active volcano, hopefully stopping his eldritch ritual before he harnesses the energy and unleashes an unstoppable spell upon the world?

C.Penguin
2010-01-26, 11:09 PM
Yes I'm sorry I suppose I should have clarified. The BBEG is an Elf warlock/magey type guy who's body has been possessed by a malevolent outsider of considerable power, but who can only act through a mortal proxy. The main characters dont actually know this, however, and in fact since this is the third part of a three-part deal, and because only one of them has been playing the same character throughout all three parts, none of them actually know who the BBEG really is.

One of the main themes with this campaign has been time travel. The PCs started off in a regular setting populated mostly by Humans, and they chased a rogue-ish adversary named Malak across the world, until they finally cornered and defeated him at the top of his tower-fortress. But Malak was able to escape and in doing so, tore down his tower with magic and forced the PCs to go through a portal which lead them 1000 years into the future.

The second part was in a sort of d20 modern/3.5 hybrid setting, that combined rules and situations from both rulesets. This was ultimately a very short-lived part, as it was harder than anticipated to work the two rulesets together and keep the story going in a totally new setting, so I scrapped it, giving every player the choice to play a new char or continue with their current one. Only the PC that played the same char from the first part (a half-dragon Dragon Shaman) continued, which opened up all sorts of neat story stuff.

The final part is 2000 year previous to the modern time (or 1000 years before pt 1). The Dragon Shaman has been sent back by a sort of demi-god called the Lorekeeper (a character that I played from an old campaign, but only one of them has figured that out), to find this Elf demon-mage (who is possessed by the same demon as Malak, the rogue from pt 1) and stop him before he gains the power that sets the world on an inevitable spiral towards destruction (which culminates in pt 2, but the PCs dont see that).

The biggest idea that I had was that, since each of the characters has played 3 characters, I bring them all back at the end for a final showdown against this demon-guy, which would bring the opposed party to more than ten chars, and while normally I would be leery of this, none of my players are optimizers, so it would be more like a normal "small group of fighters combats a way tougher enemy." I also realize that the dragon shaman who has played one char the whole campaign would be at a numbers disadvantage, but I have given his a few rewards for sticking to one char over the course of such a huge story.

Hopefully that is enough data to form something cool.

Also:


-Want them fighting the elementals aboard the BBEG's planar skiff while randomly jumping from plane to plane?
-Or do you want them slaying the ancient dragon that've crowned itself king over the area?
-Perhaps cutting the chains of the crippled god, so that he will defeat the BBEG that chained him; only to turn upon the heroes in his madness and throw them across time, toying with them before coming in for the kill.
-What about leading the army of the known world against the undead legions of the necromancer king?
-Have you thought about letting them fight the BBEG in an active volcano, hopefully stopping his eldritch ritual before he harnesses the energy and unleashes an unstoppable spell upon the world?

All of these are fantastic ideas, I appreciate the help/suggestions!

Pharaoh's Fist
2010-01-26, 11:10 PM
Fight on the moon.

El Chupaqueso
2010-01-26, 11:25 PM
I'll do you one better.

Fight THE MOON ITSELF.

C.Penguin
2010-01-26, 11:33 PM
Fight on the moon.


I'll do you one better.

Fight THE MOON ITSELF.

Haha excellent. We're you two going for trying to fit into the storyline or just totally epic and rediculous?

kaiguy
2010-01-26, 11:37 PM
I was going to say that I once had my group fight goblins in mine cars racing down the tracks a la Indiana Jones.

But I can't beat fighting the moon.

They enjoyed it though...

kirbsys
2010-01-26, 11:40 PM
The planar skiff thing is amazing, and something I might just steal for my own campaign...

As for your game, perhaps the entity which has possessed the sorc is in fact soul-chained or something on some hidden part of the cosmos. The players could have an epic fight with the sorc in front of (or if he's big enough, on) the real BBEG, trying both to slay his mortal vessel as well as stop him from being released.

Asheram
2010-01-27, 07:14 AM
The planar skiff thing is amazing, and something I might just steal for my own campaign...

I'm glad you like it. :smallsmile:



As for your game, perhaps the entity which has possessed the sorc is in fact soul-chained or something on some hidden part of the cosmos. The players could have an epic fight with the sorc in front of (or if he's big enough, on) the real BBEG, trying both to slay his mortal vessel as well as stop him from being released.

What I'm seeing here is a timeless demi-plane that lies outside the normal timeline and can therefore access all the different time periods in the regular world.
It's where the BBEG has his lair, and where he'll fight you by calling upon minions from different eras, and perhaps letting you fight multiple versions of himself.

Perhaps there's a control system for the plane, to what gates it can open.

Or that the death of the BBEG makes the plane slowly collapse, and they're forced to get out somehow.
And if they don't manage to get out, they're flung back to the beginning or the end of the universe.

Totally Guy
2010-01-27, 07:28 AM
My previous campaign was going to end with a climactic battle atop a dam. An an unstoppable iceburg was sliding along the path to crush the cities of Elf and Man and the BBEG was going to destroy the dam!

But the player instead fought the BBEG at home before he got there. They put sleeping powder in his cake.

So the dam was intact.

So I had the iceburg split open against the dam and big dumb ice giant came out to mindlessly destroy stuff!

But the players just mind controlled the giant to move the ice burg somewhere safe for them.

But at least they saved the cities and killed the BBEG and there was a whole quest about finding an identical cake when all the shops were closed... In fact most of the session was devoted to cake related activities.

megabyter5
2010-01-27, 08:09 AM
A mighty hero the PCs all respect has been incapacitated in some way, and doesn't believe they can beat the BBEG. He makes a sarcastic reference to victory cake when they get back.

They fight the BBEG's host, and it is surprisingly not that tough. They return to said hero, who then turns out to be the real BBEG in disguise, and not even using a host. The victory cake was of course a lie.

Beelzebub1111
2010-01-27, 08:42 AM
Have them destroy a major landmark in a setting. For instance, before I arrived they turned White Plume Mountain into White Plume Crater.

bosssmiley
2010-01-27, 09:19 AM
Nick Mark Hall's idea about them fighting their way to the beating heart of serpent Asmodeus (you know, him that is Nessus, not the humanoid projection) for great archdevil shanking justice. Rip off Dante.