Ending of a D&D Campaign

[Shayd3000]

I just wanted to say I ran the last session of my 5 (or maybe 6?) year running D&D Campaign. We played the 8 modules by Wizards that srted with Sunless Citadel and ended with Bastion of Broken Souls. Two of the PC's that started in the campaign at first level actually made it to the end! I wanted to say it was great fun to take a group of players from beginning to end of a campaign and to actually end a campaign on a high note and with closure.

One thing I decided to try was to have everyone write their "retirement" story. That is, for the last session, I asked everyone to write a story telling about their character, what he/she does, where do they go...etc etc. Just like the denoument of an epic movie or something, where everyone goes their own way. I really wasn't sure how it would go, but I was hoping it would be better than "Ashardalon is dead, the end." well, not that abrupt, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, it whent better than I could have possibly hoped for. Each player, in turn, read their story out loud to the rest of the group. Some retired from the adventuring life, some closed up personal story threads that were still open, and some even started new story threads for their characters! All in all it was very satsifying, and was a great end to an epic story that ran for over 5 years of play. I would highly recommend this approach. It feels just like finishing a novel, or series you've spent a long time reading. IN a way, its kinda sad to see the end of that game and for those characters to move on.

But, on the flip side, someone else is taking over GMing for a while, and I get to PLAY!

George

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Glad to hear it!

Another end-of-campaign idea I heard of was a ENworlder (I think it was Doc Midnight) who, when his players finished the game, were each given one wish. Except that the wish was of far greater than normal power and it could be as selfish as they wanted. Kind of like how you did it. My favorite was the paladin who only wished to know "The Truth".

Anyway, glad you hear you had a good time!

 

[Gwaihir]

I once ended a campaign by having the characters accidentaly summoned by Merlin to a hill in Scotland in 1940.

"You are not the heroes I was hoping for?" was his comment as he introduced himself, noting that the nation had reached its darkest hour and had need of heroes.

I wrote up a little blurb for each character. The fighter died at Sword Beach on D-Day, the Wizard was involved in the Manhattan project. I think the ranger survived the war as an operative in occupied france and retired to the Carribean afterwards.

 

[IronWolf]

I just wanted to say I ran the last session of my 5 (or maybe 6?) year running D&D Campaign. We played the 8 modules by Wizards that srted with Sunless Citadel and ended with Bastion of Broken Souls. Two of the PC's that started in the campaign at first level actually made it to the end! I wanted to say it was great fun to take a group of players from beginning to end of a campaign and to actually end a campaign on a high note and with closure.

Congrats! Sounds like a fun game. It is nice when a long running campaign ends on a high note!

 

[Shayd3000]

Thanks, yes, I found it very satisfactory as an old-timer GM to actually complete a long running campaign and have a story actually wrap-up.

I didn't hurt to tell the players that these characters could come back ina future campaign, or may appear in "guest spots" for future games of mine.

The WW2 ending is interesting, though I think my group would have rebelled at me narrating an ending for them. I am positive its a good technique for some games, but most of my players are story tellers for their characters, so I figured they should do it

I've done the one wish thing before, we call them "divine wishes" to distinguish them from the wish spell. A divine wish is basically the power of the DM granting the wish. The last time I did this in a campaign was for the ending of the "God War" [?] Campaign that brought the Forgotten Realms from 1st to 2nd edition. I thought about doing the wish thing on this one, but felt the "prize" the players got at the end was enough anyway. I also looked at using the Bastion as a "tap" or whatever its called from Mongoose's Book of Immortality, to lay the groundwork for an immortals campaign using that volume later. I didn't go with that, ut I think its still open as an option for the future, since the denizens fo the bastion did give that special cool power to the PC's at the end.

George

 

[haakon1]

I once ended a campaign by having the characters accidentaly summoned by Merlin to a hill in Scotland in 1940.

That's so cool. Of course, as a player, I would have wanted to play out the scenario.

 

[The Lost Muse]

That's so cool. Of course, as a player, I would have wanted to play out the scenario.

As would I.

 

[shaylon]

Wow! This is pretty refreshing to see. Usually long campaigns end because of something bad (people quit, grow out of it, etc.) but you are still going strong just in a new campaign.

Good luck as a player!

-Shay

 

[Herobizkit]

Ignore this.