What to do when the campaign is over, but the players aren't ready to move on?

[george moshingt]

Alright so this will probably be a bit long winded but bare with me if you will.

My players and i have played 4 different campaign over the course of the last 6 years or so. All of these campaigns have been set in my own homebrew world and they have all essentially been extensions of one another, sort of making them all one long story.

*You can skip this part if you wish*
I'm gonna detail the campaigns as simply as possible here.

• Campaign 1: a group of adventurers(my players obviously) meet one another and begin going on various adventures. Eventually an army of demons begin to invade the material plane. The group searches for a way to defeat the demons and save the world. Along the way they learn the gods are being killed off. The campaign culminates in the players learning their friend and helpful NPC ally was the secret villain all along. He is a demi god killing off the gods in order to wipe all the world to essentially restart reality.
As it turns out the denizens of this world as well as the gods are mainly from another world which was consumed by a great darkness. The gods moved all of their people to this world and subjugated the rightful denizens, then wiping memories to erase their crimes.
The players manage to defeat the BBEG, but not before he kills the last god destabilizing the world. a great cataclysm befalls the world.

• Campaign 2: the world is stabilized after the cataclysm 600 years prior(not going to go too much into detail on the world state as that was covered for my players in a 20 page PDF i wrote up). The players are a group of adventurers attend a school to obtain their adventuring license. The graduate and are hired by a kind king of the country the school is in. The group does lots of adventuring, and uncover enemies, and secrets of the world. Another country invades their home killing the king and the royal family. The group rallies behind the daughter of the king(also an adventurer) and defeats the evil king. However upon his death he leaves behind some ominous and strange last words, leading the group to believe there was more to the invasion then they first believed.

• Campaign 3: A group of dragon gods once used mortals as their tools of war, eventually the mortals rebel against their gods. Many years later the most vile of the dragon gods returns once again. The players meet one another at a tavern and eventually team up to defeat the evil dragon god, forever banishing not only that dragon god, but them all to another plane forever more. Years later the world is invaded by new gods and strange mortals from another world.
Thats right this campaign was a secret prequel to the original.

• Campaign 4: A few years after campaign 2 a group of individuals living in the country that invaded in campaign 2 seek to find a better life(due to the countries crimes the are now treated poorly and subjugated by another king) by becoming adventurers. The do fun adventurer stuff. Eventually an army of monster who many many years ago threatened the world reemerged. The group fights them, but eventually learn the are just the vanguard to a great coming darkness(the same darkness that destroyed the first world, and the thing the "evil" invader king was trying to prepare for).
After creating an army and teaming up with their characters from campaign 2 the players manage to defeat the great darkness. However they learn shortly there after that the darkness cannot truly be defeated and what they faced was just a small portion of it.
making the ultimate sacrifice the player characters attain god hood and give up their mortal lives to ascend to another plane in order to hide and protect the world from the great darkness forever more.

*takes a deep breathe*

ok so now that all of that is out of the way, we completed this last campaign and everyone seemed pretty pleased with the conclusion. And then it happens i tell every one that is the end of the campaign and at next weeks meet up we will discuss what to do next. Does anyone else want to try their hand at DMing? Should we run a modules?
it was like letting all the air out of a balloon, apparently no one else wants to DM and no one is interested in playing modules. So i offered to create a new campaign in a homebrew like before, but admitted it would take some time.
now as it turns out that not what they want either, they want to continue on in the world we have been playing in.

So now here is my problem, i dont have anymore stories to tell in that world, that story is finished. Sure we could just do some fun adventuring with no wide arching narrative, but its pretty clear thats not what my players want. I just feel like playing anything in the world will feel under developed and unimportant in comparison to what we have already done, and will leave everyone feeling unsatisfied. However if i try to come up with some new grand story with a scary BBEG it will either under cut our last story, or feel insignificant.

What should i do here? DO i just stick to my guns and tell my players we can either run a module or play in a new homebrew. Or do i give in to their desires and against my better judgement as a story teller try to make a new campaign in our current world.

TLDR: After competing a long running narrative over 4 campaigns and many years, the story we were telling has ended. However the players are wanting to continue on in the world and keep the narrative going.

[Mellack]

It sounds like you are fine with DMing and the world, you just don't know where to go with it. So have an idea session with your players. Ask what kinds of things they would like to see their characters doing. Run a guild/nation/church? Search for a legendary item? I bet that talking with them could trigger some ideas.

[nickl_2000]

I would be honest with them. Literally tell them that you have no ideas left in the world and you want to try something new and different.

I can't say what others players would say, but I would certainly be (and have been) understanding understanding of a DM wanting to do something else.

[george moshingt]

It sounds like you are fine with DMing and the world, you just don't know where to go with it. So have an idea session with your players. Ask what kinds of things they would like to see their characters doing. Run a guild/nation/church? Search for a legendary item? I bet that talking with them could trigger some ideas.

You have the heart of it. But the problems becomes I know my players pretty well at this point, and the way the like to scale up is to become stronger then their previous characters or at least match them. So in campaign 1 they were adventurer that stumbled into a situation and managed to defeat a demi God. In campaign 2 the were adventurers that chose their path and became master warriors the fought off nations and set off on a path to greater strengths. Campaign 3 the fought a god. And campaign 4 the ascended to God hood.

I just don't know where to go from there. I know that they will complain that their current characters are so much weaker then their last ones. But if I scale them up to where their last characters ended it kind of under cuts that story. That's why I'm trying to step away from that world, so that won't feel compelled to Compare their new characters to their old ones.

[Keravath]

It depends what YOU want to do. Do you want to continue DMing? What levels did these campaigns span? 1-20? Is there a level range you haven't played that might be fun to explore? Do you just feel tired of the world and want a chance to play for a change? Are you even interested in running another campaign in the same universe?

However, if you are looking for plot continuations, you've already mentioned at least one in your campaign descriptions. The original gods came from another world destroyed by darkness and displaced the original inhabitants and wiped their memories. In the latest campaign, your characters have taken over the position of these gods that were destroyed by the demigod in the first campaign and are protecting THIS world from the darkness.

What about all the other worlds? You have a multiverse before you and a world spanning darkness. This world may be safe for now with the new gods protecting it. However, other worlds need protecting and may have very different manifestations of this darkness. In addition, does the darkness itself have a source somewhere in the multiverse?

I think the players may want to continue because they have a feeling that the job isn't done. The characters have assumed the position of gods and are keeping the darkness back from this world. That may be heroic but true heroes wouldn't give up, they would find some way to destroy this supernatural darkness once and for all. In addition, if there is a supernatural darkness that can't be extinguished then there should also be a supernatural good but this wasn't mentioned in any of the campaign synopses.

Perhaps, the darkness is spreading because its balance has been imprisoned or contained allowing the darkness to expand across worlds with little resistance. In the grander scheme of things, what is one world of an infinite number of worlds worth? The answer in the limit approaches zero :) .. even though it is priceless to its inhabitants.

Anyway, its really up to you. If you want to continue with another campaign set in a linked world, you could. Perhaps the one where the light is imprisoned or perhaps one where there are clues to what is really going on.

[J-H]

You're the DM. The choice is yours. "Guys, I need a break. Someone else needs to DM for a while" is a normal thing to say.

That said, if everyone including you wants to stay in the same world, you could limit them to a lower power campaign that ends at a lower level, like levels 6-9, with slower leveling. The players? Goblins trying to keep their tribe safe. Maybe they migrate. Maybe they fort up. Maybe they make a treat. Either way, limit their class choices (to things that make sense in setting), and have them have to fight off adventurers and terrifyingly huge monsters like Owlbears and Hydras.

[george moshingt]

It depends what YOU want to do. Do you want to continue DMing? What levels did these campaigns span? 1-20? Is there a level range you haven't played that might be fun to explore? Do you just feel tired of the world and want a chance to play for a change? Are you even interested in running another campaign in the same universe?

However, if you are looking for plot continuations, you've already mentioned at least one in your campaign descriptions. The original gods came from another world destroyed by darkness and displaced the original inhabitants and wiped their memories. In the latest campaign, your characters have taken over the position of these gods that were destroyed by the demigod in the first campaign and are protecting THIS world from the darkness.

What about all the other worlds? You have a multiverse before you and a world spanning darkness. This world may be safe for now with the new gods protecting it. However, other worlds need protecting and may have very different manifestations of this darkness. In addition, does the darkness itself have a source somewhere in the multiverse?

I think the players may want to continue because they have a feeling that the job isn't done. The characters have assumed the position of gods and are keeping the darkness back from this world. That may be heroic but true heroes wouldn't give up, they would find some way to destroy this supernatural darkness once and for all. In addition, if there is a supernatural darkness that can't be extinguished then there should also be a supernatural good but this wasn't mentioned in any of the campaign synopses.

Perhaps, the darkness is spreading because its balance has been imprisoned or contained allowing the darkness to expand across worlds with little resistance. In the grander scheme of things, what is one world of an infinite number of worlds worth? The answer in the limit approaches zero :) .. even though it is priceless to its inhabitants.

Anyway, its really up to you. If you want to continue with another campaign set in a linked world, you could. Perhaps the one where the light is imprisoned or perhaps one where there are clues to what is really going on.

I brought up playing in another world within the same reality, but they seemed opposed to that idea as well. I think they feel a connection to the world and the characters they have met along the way and they don't want to move on from that.

As for a bit of further explanation, the great darkness is just the term I was using for characters in game. The great darkness is actually the origin point of all creation. They are the first being to ever have existed and they created further life, but life began to spin off on its own and create more life. In response the great darkness chose to destroy everything that had been created.

I viewed the great darkness not as an evil, but rather an eventuality. Like death in the real world it can be kept at bay, staved off through various means, but in the end it will catch you. All things must end eventually sort of thing.

[george moshingt]

You're the DM. The choice is yours. "Guys, I need a break. Someone else needs to DM for a while" is a normal thing to say.

That said, if everyone including you wants to stay in the same world, you could limit them to a lower power campaign that ends at a lower level, like levels 6-9, with slower leveling. The players? Goblins trying to keep their tribe safe. Maybe they migrate. Maybe they fort up. Maybe they make a treat. Either way, limit their class choices (to things that make sense in setting), and have them have to fight off adventurers and terrifyingly huge monsters like Owlbears and Hydras.

I actually prefer to DM much more than playing. I struggle with playing a character because I often power build and then become bored with my borderline broken character (I've tried not to, but I always end up doing it) so DMing works better for me.

I love the idea of a low level low stake campaign, especially the idea of playing as typically monsterious races(I'm big on morally grey, there is no black and white morality type of stuff). I just know my players will push back against that. They will view like a one shot and ask me when were gonna get to the "main" game(this has happened previously when I ran a lower level under dark game).

[False God]

What should i do here? DO i just stick to my guns and tell my players we can either run a module or play in a new homebrew. Or do i give in to their desires and against my better judgement as a story teller try to make a new campaign in our current world.

TLDR: After competing a long running narrative over 4 campaigns and many years, the story we were telling has ended. However the players are wanting to continue on in the world and keep the narrative going.

Stick to your guns.

BUT

Maybe offer to pass on your world notes on to one of the other players, or even collectively all of them, and offer them the opportunity to add to your homebrew world. Perhaps they will see that this world is quite full and done, and realize that nothing more can be added. Perhaps they will come up with something new that you never thought of and add to the world.

But ultimately I think it is time for someone else to DM. Your table seems collectively set against all your alternatives, which is not a good place for a DM to be in. But since they seem in agreement on what they want to do, I'd argue that it's time for one or more of them to take the lead on that.

[george moshingt]

Stick to your guns.

BUT

Maybe offer to pass on your world notes on to one of the other players, or even collectively all of them, and offer them the opportunity to add to your homebrew world. Perhaps they will see that this world is quite full and done, and realize that nothing more can be added. Perhaps they will come up with something new that you never thought of and add to the world.

But ultimately I think it is time for someone else to DM. Your table seems collectively set against all your alternatives, which is not a good place for a DM to be in. But since they seem in agreement on what they want to do, I'd argue that it's time for one or more of them to take the lead on that.

O man I kinda like the idea of seeing the looks on their faces when I hand them my campaign/world notes. 3 separate 30-40 page pdfs detailing factions, history, religion, etc, various drawn maps, a good 15 pages of character bios for various important NPC. Plus pages of character artwork and detailed political structures for countries they never even visited. Also like 50-60 pages of hand written notes and important information(with awful penmanship) written in no disernable order and with no methodology in mind, nearly impossible for anyone to make sense of aside from me.

Haha I'm pretty sure they would give up on trying to make anything work with that almost immediately.

[JonBeowulf]

O man I kinda like the idea of seeing the looks on their faces when I hand them my campaign/world notes. 3 separate 30-40 page pdfs detailing factions, history, religion, etc, various drawn maps, a good 15 pages of character bios for various important NPC. Plus pages of character artwork and detailed political structures for countries they never even visited. Also like 50-60 pages of hand written notes and important information(with awful penmanship) written in no disernable order and with no methodology in mind, nearly impossible for anyone to make sense of aside from me.

Haha I'm pretty sure they would give up on trying to make anything work with that almost immediately.
I hear this was how Tolkien started...

[Oramac]

I'm going to reply before reading everyone else's replies.


What should i do here? DO i just stick to my guns and tell my players we can either run a module or play in a new homebrew. Or do i give in to their desires and against my better judgement as a story teller try to make a new campaign in our current world.

IMO, do both. Go ahead and create a new campaign in this homebrew world of yours (which sounds awesome, BTW), but let your players know that it will take A LONG TIME. In the meantime, if we want to play, someone else needs to take the reigns and/or we run modules for the foreseeable future while I (which is to say, you) flesh out the new world.

Perhaps your new campaign is again a time jump into the future. The last jump from C1 to C2 was 600 years (I think), so maybe this jump is 1200 years? A lot can change in 1200 years.

[da newt]

I'd be tempted to lean into the idiom "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Next campaign starts off in a corner of your world that they have not explored before with new low level PCs, as things slowly progress in scope/scale eventually the party comes to understand the powers that be are kinda jerks and start to work to right their perceived wrongs only to eventually discover that the new pantheon (their old PCs) have become full of them selves and the absolute power of godhood - they have become the BBEG and the new team has stop their tyrannical selfish ways ...

Start somewhere new and proceed slowly with normal adventures slowly building to the big reveal ...



But also keep in mind you have every right to just say you want to do something else - you are not beholden to the desires of your players forever. Set your boundaries.

[J-H]

If you want to DM, and want to stay in your world, but don't have a story to tell, ask the players.

What dangling plot threads were unresolved?
What events have they set in motion that could provoke a new adventure?
What area of the world do they want to visit that they have not before?

Have them each generate 3-5 plot hooks for you, and see if they come up with enough that your creative juices get flowing again.

[Gungor]

ok so now that all of that is out of the way, we completed this last campaign and everyone seemed pretty pleased with the conclusion. And then it happens i tell every one that is the end of the campaign and at next weeks meet up we will discuss what to do next. Does anyone else want to try their hand at DMing? Should we run a modules?
it was like letting all the air out of a balloon

It might be that you dropped this on the players before they were ready to "let go." This campaign was a big part of their lives (and yours) for many years and while the story arc came to a natural closure, they are going to be sad when told it is time to "say goodbye" and hold out hope that it doesn't have to end. Really not much different from finishing a great series of novels, or an excellent television series, or a multi-movie epic.

Give them some space to work through their five stages of grief and let them come to terms with the fact that "it's over." Once they have had time to process the information I bet they will come around to other ideas, whether it be your new homebrew or even someone else taking a stab at DMing.

[KorvinStarmast]

And then it happens i tell every one that is the end of the campaign and at next weeks meet up we will discuss what to do next. Does anyone else want to try their hand at DMing? Should we run a modules? Let me tell you, as someone who was a forever DM from about 1982 to about 1995, with a single campaign on a ship for about six weeks (in the Navy I was) as a player being the sole exception, it is OK to tell other people:
"If you want to play D&D, I want to play D&D too, and I've been DM for long enough that I've earned the right to ask one of you to be the DM. In six years, if you haven't learned enough about the game to run one, either you underestimate yourself or you are a lamprey. "

Yeah, I said that once, almost word for word, and lamprey was one of the words for sure.

I didn't actually stop playing D&D until the early 00's, but I was sorely tempted now and again by being stuck with being the DM since nobody else would and because I am decent at it.

Your problem is that you seem to lack the backbone to tell them that. So, grow a backbone, and tell them that.

"I would love to play D&D with you all as a player character. Who is the new DM?"
And if nobody steps up, follow up with
"On game night, let's play charades. Diplomacy. Risk. Monopoly. {pick a board game}"

And Stick To Your Guns.

Hell, what do I know? Only lived this more than once.

The only reason I came back to D&D in 2014 was that I was promised that I could play, not DM. I made that a freaking condition of joining the group when my brother called me and asked if I wanted to play 5e with the usual suspects.

That lasted just over two years. OK, at least I got a ****ing break.

And, thanks to roll20 and this forum, I have found a couple of good DM's along the way.

Big shout out to PhoenixPhyre and KurtKurageous as DMs! You Both Rock! :smallsmile:
And a shoutout to MaxWilson, former GitPer banned (for reasons opaque to me) who ran a unique lash up of 5e with some AD&D 2e stuff thrown in. Still in touch with him, and played a one shot with him recently.

And if I were retired or in the correct time zone, I'd play in Dork_Forge's campaign In A Freaking Heartbeat! :smallsmile:
DF has game.

[animorte]

-snip-
Yes, everything that Korvin said. Sometimes you just need to play something else entirely. It’s ok to take a break, lend yourself that. Don’t leave it at the mercy of the other players.

I suppose I could count myself fortunate that the few people I am able to play with all like to DM at some point. I honestly would trade some of that just to be able to play more consistently though, if I’m being honest.

Love the shoutouts on those names too! I hope my schedule one day allows to game with some of the thrilling personalities in GitP.

[Sorinth]

At the end of the day talking to the players and simply saying you don't have the creative juices left to continue in this world right now is perfectly valid. Chances are even if they are hesitant to try a new world that a few sessions in they'll get hooked since they seem to really like your DMing.


That said if you are looking for ideas to get those creative juices flowing, remember you don't have to have every campaign face off against a world ending threat. You can have a campaign that culminates with a regular old ancient dragon fight. The dragon isn't a world threat, but simply the kingdom threat that the players care about.

If you wanted to keep the great darkness as the campaign center then it's probably fairly easy to "reset" the world by having a large time jump where the player gods from C3 have become forgotten gods. Then either have the wards they put up to hide and protect the world start to failing allowing the great darkness to start spreading it's influence/evil. The players then have to face the great darkness again and find a way to restore the wards. Or perhaps the wards the C3 gods setup had as a side effect cutting off the world from a major source of magic, so over time the world has become less and less magical until a very recent resurgence (Which unknown at the start if used too much will allow the great darkness to get a foothold in the world).

Another option if your players are interested would be to go with an "evil" campaign where the players are servants of the great darkness and are working towards bringing the great darkness into the world by overcoming whatever wards/challenges the C3 players as gods put up to protect the world.

[Dork_Forge]

Some people are scared of DMing, some people just want to ride it out and be players. Personally I would suggest the group rotate DMing oneshots in the interim. This gives everyone a taste of DMing with minimal commitment and gives you a break. Otherwise, providing you are happy to DM still, and only then, burnout is real:


If you want to DM, and want to stay in your world, but don't have a story to tell, ask the players.

What dangling plot threads were unresolved?
What events have they set in motion that could provoke a new adventure?
What area of the world do they want to visit that they have not before?

Have them each generate 3-5 plot hooks for you, and see if they come up with enough that your creative juices get flowing again.

This is excellent advice for what to do to continue within your world.


Snip

Korvin also has an excellent point, as DMs it's easy to get pigeon-holed or feel peer-pressured, it's a game and meant to be fun. If you don't want to do it for a while, then just tell them that.

Also, awww shucks Korvin, you flirt :smallredface:

[Unoriginal]

My advice is, with absolute certainty, "Stick to your gun".

Never DM something unless you actively want to. If you don't want to, don't know what to do or are just "fine" with it, it's a miserable experience that drains both energy and dedication.



That being said, I do have a question: what do you think about taking an existing module and adapting it to fit in the world you created?

[george moshingt]

My advice is, with absolute certainty, "Stick to your gun".

Never DM something unless you actively want to. If you don't want to, don't know what to do or are just "fine" with it, it's a miserable experience that drains both energy and dedication.



That being said, I do have a question: what do you think about taking an existing module and adapting it to fit in the world you created?

This is what I'm currently leaning towards right now. At least until I can figure something else out(some suggestions in this thread have been great).

Just modifying a module to be set in the world for the time being and if the creative juices start flowing then we can move on from there.

[Lord Vukodlak]

If they're so attached the world and don't want to leave it.... make the campaign getting back to that world. They're magically whisked away, mists of ravenloft style, spelljammer vessel, some sliders style portal device.

[KorvinStarmast]

If they're so attached the world and don't want to leave it.... make the campaign getting back to that world. They're magically whisked away, mists of ravenloft style, spelljammer vessel, some sliders style portal device.
We did a mini arc in "The Void" when the Fizban's book came out, and I used a few of the pre fab dragon lairs from the roll20 pack that came with the book on r20. Low prep, a few random monsters, and a dragon encounter in one of them. That worked well, so I did something similar with the other group in a different world, but that was mostly star spawn and aberrations.

[King of Nowhere]

You have the heart of it. But the problems becomes I know my players pretty well at this point, and the way the like to scale up is to become stronger then their previous characters or at least match them. So in campaign 1 they were adventurer that stumbled into a situation and managed to defeat a demi God. In campaign 2 the were adventurers that chose their path and became master warriors the fought off nations and set off on a path to greater strengths. Campaign 3 the fought a god. And campaign 4 the ascended to God hood.

I just don't know where to go from there. I know that they will complain that their current characters are so much weaker then their last ones. But if I scale them up to where their last characters ended it kind of under cuts that story. That's why I'm trying to step away from that world, so that won't feel compelled to Compare their new characters to their old ones.

the way you're saying it, it seems like they are just impossible to please.

my suggestion is, coopt them. Make a brainstorming session with them, and get them to participate in creating the premises for a new campaign.

ultimately, the dm does a lot of work for free. the players can participate in it, cooperating to create the best story. they can take up the burden themselves, by taking turns dming. they can also just relax, play and not put too much effort into it. but in this last case, they don't get to be choosy. they can help you find some new plot ideas, or they can accept what you can manage on your own; not helping but criticizing what you do is selfish.

So tell them that you are out of ideas for that world, and if they want to keep playing there they better come up with some ideas themselves. perhaps my own group spoiled me, but whenever me or the other regular dm is stuck or has dm fatigue, the rest of the party is there to support.

[Oramac]

I'd be tempted to lean into the idiom "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Next campaign starts off in a corner of your world that they have not explored before with new low level PCs, as things slowly progress in scope/scale eventually the party comes to understand the powers that be are kinda jerks and start to work to right their perceived wrongs only to eventually discover that the new pantheon (their old PCs) have become full of them selves and the absolute power of godhood - they have become the BBEG and the new team has stop their tyrannical selfish ways ...

Start somewhere new and proceed slowly with normal adventures slowly building to the big reveal ...

I absolutely love this idea. Might borrow it after my current campaign completes. Lord know my players are borderline evil anyway. Wouldn't be hard to lean in to this.

[Lord Ruby34]

The advice everyone else has given is great, and that would be my advice too. However, if you want to keep playing in your current setting, and if our players want to play at the level of Gods, then you have the option of running Exalted if you're comfortable changing systems. DnD breaks down at high levels, so I can't imagine it would be easy to escalate a DnD campaign to that level.

[Kurt Kurageous]

May I suggest you think about conflicts? What you have done with your world and how the players have interacted with it provides many jumping off points for a new conflict. They like the world so much?

Well, an alien (fiendish) construction firm is looking to demolish it to build a bypass for the Highway to Hell. (hitchhikers guide...)

Or a strange new disease/plague has broken out, and it's a killer like the black death.

Or a key NPC dies under questionable circumstances.

Or a key NPC has their reputation ruined by intrigue.

Find a conflict. Throw it at the players. Let them figure out how to solve it.

[animorte]

I’m thinking a bit of AtLA. The whole time they’re overcoming obstacles and helping folks along the way to beat the bad guy. Once they do, the show ends, but the story does not.

There are plenty of comics that carry on various stories relevant to each of the characters. It shows development of towns and relationships since they’ve been gone on their mission.

[Samayu]

"This time we became gods! We can't wait to be even more awesome the next time!"

I think they need to learn that all good things come to an end. Tell they you appreciate how much they enjoyed your work, but it's time to move on. Do what you need to do.

Do you need to take a break and recharge your creative batteries by running a premade for a while, or by playing while someone else runs one, or bystepping back from D&D altogether? How long? Six months? And when you come back with a newly written campaign, what will it be (or what might it be, if you're not sure yet)? Tell the players what you need and what you think the outcome will be, and let them decide how they will react to this. Worst case scenario is that nobody wants to play D&D at all until the new campaign is ready.

[KorvinStarmast]

I think they need to learn that all good things come to an end. This is quite a good point. :smallsmile:

[Greywander]

I'm going to second the opinion that maybe it's time for one of them to DM. But I understand if you'd rather stay on as DM.

I was going to suggest a time skip, but you already did one! I'll also second the person who said that maybe it was time for another. Here's a couple spitball ideas; the main thing here is to radically change your world by re-contextualizing it with new elements. Technology being a big one.

My first idea is an Age of Discovery campaign where a new continent has been discovered and the players are in charge of the expedition to explore and settle there. Depending on how far the players want to lean into a colony sim, you can have NPCs take on more or less responsibilities for managing the settlement. The players have access to Renaissance level firearms and stuff, sort of a low-steampunk tech level. On this new continent are the last remnants of the original denizens of this world that the gods neglected to wipe out, along with their strange gods. Will they befriend them and go native? Or finish what the gods started? Or perhaps they can integrate them into their own society? Are their belief systems and moral codes even compatible? (This would be a great place for a cameo from campaign 3.)

My second idea, which could take place on its own or as a followup to the first idea, is to go a bit further into the future for a steampunk political thriller. Sort of a late Renaissance/early modern era (WW1 era?), with a high-steampunk tech level. Politics are the order of the day as nations prepare for war with new and powerful weapons. The threat to the world is no demon or monster, but the weapons made by men. In other words, someone is developing fantasy nukes, and the players have to keep the world from self destructing while forging alliances with various nations to build them up and tear down their rivals.