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Scissors
2007-08-24, 01:50 PM
So my group just finished a campaign we've been playing for about five years. To wrap it up, we dragged a smallish sound system and a computer full of music into our playing area and pulled a 12-hour-ish all-nighter until 7 the next morning. By the end, almost everybody's character was dead in an epic-scale PvP battle that culminated with the survivors facing down a lesser deity (which proceeded to dispatch all but one of the PCs involved in the showdown).

Anyway, twofold question here: what, as the DM, would you do after that (I typed up a plot summary and a "damage report" describing the fates of all the major characters and the campaign setting) to finish things, and what's the most badass way you've ever closed a lengthy campaign?

Citizen Joe
2007-08-24, 02:06 PM
Wait for the Players to pay for the pizza, grab a couple slices and say "Rocks fall. You all die." Then turn on the DVD of some awesome movie.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-24, 02:52 PM
Wait for the Players to pay for the pizza, grab a couple slices and say "Rocks fall. You all die." Then turn on the DVD of some awesome movie.

You echo my thoughts with an eerie and unrelenting accuracy.

Crow
2007-08-24, 02:58 PM
Ah yes, those incredible campaign-ending moments. The ones where when all is said and done, everybody feels like they are walking out of a hollywood movie.

I wish I had some better advice for you, but I will give you this;

When a great story arc comes to a great and climactic end, sometimes, it's better to just stop right there, and leave the rest to the imaginations of the players.




One of our campaigns ended with a fierce battle on the plane of death. Everybody had died once already, and to die here would mean not just another death, but utter annihilation. Almost all of the combatants were evenly matched, and each player faced off with a single enemy. As the players dispatched their foes, the leader of the enemy group refused to go down, and was methodically killing them off one by one.

The party shaman, already badly wounded, and straddling the thin line between life and utter death, unleashed one last spell, mustering as much power as he could. The spell struck the enemy leader completely unaware (he thought the shaman was done for), and destroyed him forever. The shaman saved the lives of the entire (remaining) party, but the drain from his spell was too much for him to handle (which he knew when he cast it), and he ended up dying, saying a few parting words as he drifted in oblivion.

We ended it right there.

SadisticFishing
2007-08-24, 03:02 PM
People tend to mess up campaign endings. In our only two that ever ended, the DM tried to make something far too epic.

I know how mine's ending (my players want to go epic though, so it won't be the real ending) will probably be the 37 int LE lich anima mage coming back from the re-dead and casting a chained Otto's Irresistable Dance on the players, then claiming the powers of Ascension to Godhood for himself.

But who knows, maybe they'll *actually* manage to stop him.

Scissors
2007-08-24, 03:04 PM
Having the players fight each other actually worked out pretty well :smallsmile:

'course, just about everybody died.

Citizen Joe
2007-08-24, 04:05 PM
If you ever saw the series finale of Joss Whedon's Angel, you'll see that you don't actually have to go THROUGH the fight, just hint at it.

ranger89
2007-08-24, 04:12 PM
To the OP: First, kudos for actually seeing an epic campaign through to its bitter. Our longest campaign was about two years long and due to real life obligations, we never got to finish it (:smallfurious: ).


People tend to mess up campaign endings. In our only two that ever ended, the DM tried to make something far too epic.

In my experiences, I completely agree that a lot of campaign (be the epic or just a few sessions) get screwed up at the end. For some reason though, my group (we all take turns as DM) tends to screw up by not being epic enough. :smallannoyed:

Yakk
2007-08-24, 04:23 PM
500 years later...

Players roll new characters. World, torn apart by the epic confrontation, nobody really knowing what happened...

It could either kick off another campaign, or be crafted to be a "summing up" mini campaign that has the players play through the results of their epic god-killing world-changing battle.

Fax Celestis
2007-08-24, 04:29 PM
Two examples, coming from games I've run:

First: "Okay, you've saved the world. Now, roll up your children so they can do it too."

Second: "Congratulations, you've survived Gehenna. Unfortunately, when you killed Augustus Giovanni in the middle of that huge ritual, guess what happened: You made it misfire, and now a giant meteor is headed this way. Also unfortunately, due to Gehenna, you are now all normal humans. Redeemed humans, certainly, but you're back to being mortal.

"...now would be a good time to roll up some werewolves, so you can prevent the Apocalypse."

Funkyodor
2007-08-24, 04:40 PM
Great campaign ending that I've experienced involved a mid-lvl titanic battle that our DM said was coming up next week. Then when we all show up he has us do out some cards as us with only 1st lvl abilities. WTF? We start in a small town setting, my character runs the small Inn/Bar/Diner. The other PCs have other jobs, our Mage/Cleric was the village cleric, Theif worked as a handy woman along with one of our NPC Gnome tinkerers. Well, long story short as we fight off the ruffians that tried to come-in, drink and eat their fill, then scamper off without paying, our memories come back. We entered the lair where the BBEG and Minions were, and failed. Due to diety manipulation we were re-introduced into the weave as slightly different versions of us(Fates / ? / Loki alliance) as a last ditch attempt. We had one try to eliminate his minions so that things change when "The Real Us" try to eliminate the BBEG. We each had a baddie that did us in either because he knew what we could do, or because he was a real bad 'butt'. So we all split up to face our foes, who are just as powerfull but don't know we are coming.

GenLee
2007-08-25, 12:18 PM
I had fun writing up and handing out 1-paragraph "where are they now" updates on the PCs and some NPCs after the Final battle, starting with "The ship sails home, and everyone has a party and then disperses to their lives...." These led to some fun discussions about PCs' future lives, including romances and marriages, and "gee, wouldn't it be great if the next campaign followed X to ...."
I also let anyone whose mini I had painted keep them.
I wanted to get some OOTS-style avatars drawn for the PCs, but ran out of time.