Have you ever finished a campaign?

[wingsandsword]

I normally PC, but in my 6 years of gaming, I've run 4 campaigns.

A d6 Star Wars RPG, it went about a year and a half, then just fizzled (the PC's were overpowered and I was an inexperienced GM and couldn't handle it). You could say it went out in dramatic finish though, the last game was the PC's helping to fight off Stormtroopers at the Battle of Sluis Van (the big battle at the end of Heir to the Empire).

A 2e D&D game, it went about a year, completed it's plotline, and went out in a big dramatic finish. My friends tell me it's big conclusion was my finest hour as a GM.

A 3e D&D Forgotten Realms game that went for a few months and just fell apart as the players couldn't get together to game anymore, and I just ran some adventures poorly (running a few pregens out of Dungeon that were mediocre adventures, and my heart wasn't really in running them, apparently it showed).

A d20 Modern Dark*Matter game, it's still in progress and has been running for about 10 months, and I have a conclusion planned but at the current rate, it's at least a year away.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I've never finished a campaign in my 25 years of gaming. The group I was in for about 14 years didn't have a cohesive story arc or anything that might be called a campaign, it was just lots of strung together adventures. Since then I have yet to have a group stay together long enough to finish one. Usually the DM moves a way, or I move away or the group just goes bust.

 

[scott-fs]

I've finished two campaigns. However, in both instances, the ending got a bit rushed and it really would have been better if I had just let it peter out rather than force an ending onto it prematurely. So now, if I feel players (or myself) losing interest in the current campaign, I'll just suggest starting a different game and maybe come back to the old one eventually. Though, I haven't actually had to try that yet.

In the game I'm currently running, I suppose I can say that it will have 2 endings. One that has occured, and a second more evil ending.

The first ending of the campaign was as mentioned previously after the 12th session. The group consisted of a Human Paladin, LG Human Ranger, CG(N) Half-Elf Rogue, Dwarf N Druid. There was an Elf Fighter/Wizard, but he didn't show up for the last couple sessions. They completed the Sunless Citadel, and managed to defeat Belak. I had already planned for the campaign to take a break and another DM to take over so that I could play for a change (I had also hoped that the DM that would be taking over would've learned some things, as it was a while since he had played D&D or ran a game).

Well, when we finally returned to the campaign, I had lost most of my interest for D&D (much prefering HarnMaster), and we lost 2 players (Paladin and Fighter/Wizard). Eventually the Ranger player dropped out as a result of Real life reasons (but returned with a new character a week later... he was getting bored not being able to play and was able to work out the Real Life situation). The remaining characters (Druid and Rogue) had gotten swept off to Ravenloft. About two weeks ago when I was pondering the campaign, I officially declared that the campaign was over after the Sunless Citadel. What continued was simply a spinoff with some of the previous characters in a new situation.

In this current campaign, I plan to end it when the Rogue betrays the Druid by attempting to kill off the Druid and/or Animal Companion. The Rogue wants to become an Assassin, and he hasn't fully understood that the audition job to join the assassins will not be all that easy.

I think if we hadn't taken the campaign break when we did (around Christmas) that it would've resulted in a brutal TPK.

 

[scott-fs]

To do this, I've decided to be very selective on who I let into the group.
The players must...
1. Commit to showing up 75% of the time for the next year.

In my present game, I have had decent attendance from my players. We do have one transient player, but I haven't considered him very much a part of the game. He's really only there because he's bored.

I suppose my "standards" are a bit higher, and I want atleast 85% attendance. When I calculate attendance, any time a player lets me know ahead of time that they won't be able to show up is only considered to be a half absense. For instance, over the course of 10 sessions, if the player is unable to make it to 2 sessions, but let me know ahead of time, that would be 90%. Yes I had problems with players not even telling someone they were busy.

When the campaign took a break after 12 sessions, I had given a special attendance reward. 85% or better gave 1,000. 75% gave 800. 65% gave 600, 55% gave 400, 50% gave 200XP.

2. Be people I who I would enjoy hanging out with in another social setting.

This is a given.

3. Have two updated copies of their character sheet--one for them, and one for me, the DM. That way, if they don't show up, somebody else can run their character.

Generally character sheets stay with the GM. As we play at my place I had kept the character sheets for a couple characters I played in another GM's campaign. The GM didn't particularly "like" it that I retained my character, but if he demanded, I would've had him make a copy of my sheet for his purposes. I was planning to have players maintain 2 sets of character sheets, but never got around to it.

Will this work? Has anybody else tried this? In fact, has anybody finished a campaign (player or DM)? That is, finished as in 'all loose ends are tied up and the characters have retired and the world may have been saved in a climactic way."

In my years of gaming (only going back to about '96) I have never once played in a game which actually finished. The campaign I presently run has been my longest game in history, running at 16 sessions, although I've personally considered the campaign over after the first 12 (I'm only running it because one or two of the players have characters that they feel "attached" to).

All other games I've ever been involved in went no more than 6 sessions. I suppose most of our DMs had ADHD ;-)

 

[William Ronald]

I have completed many different campaigns, using "story arc" as the definition of a campaign. Sometimes, the conclusion of one campaign feed into the beginning of the next one. For example, those potential threats who were balanced by an enemy defeated by the party now can make the big moves they have postponed for ages. This is an example of the "law of unintended consequences" where the actions of PCs can sometimes have repurcussions they did not imagine. I think this adds a sense of realism.

I can't count how many campaign story arcs I have completed in some 24 years of gaming. Many were during a gaming group that I was part of for some 21 years. The gaming group collapsed, however, there are some good memories -- even if the group ended badly.

Getting back on topic, I think that the conclusion of a campaign story arc can help add a sense of richness to a setting -- whether one uses a commercial product or a homebrew. As an example from 1st edition, the A series had a continuing story arc that my old group used a few times with variations. The sense of having eliminated a great threat is good for players, and adds a sense of history to a group. In terms of a setting, it also provides stories for DMs and players to introduce to new group members. It also gives new characters some accomplishments to look up to, and perhaps a few in-game role-models.

 

[Asmo]

Nope, never completed a campaign,they´ve all fizzled, and I´ve been playing more or less since - 89. Can´t count them all- I really hate it.
I´m in a high level game at the moment, and the dm shows all the classical signs of dm-burn out... :\

Asmo

 

[Bloodstone Press]

Usually, but not always. Sometimes we get to a reasonable stopping point and decide to pick it up again in a few months, after we've played some other stuff, but we almost never get back to those campaigns that we abandon.

 

[EricNoah]

Oh my, yes. Three Planescape campaigns (2nd ed) and a Forgotten Realms campaign (3rd ed) come to mind immediately, each with definite endings and satisfying conclusions.

An Underdark campaign (2nd ed) ended with a TPK; that was no fun but I was kind of stuck with no way out of that one.

The only campaign that I've run in the past 10+ years that just kind of petered out was a Birthright campaign (2nd ed), and even that ended in a "good place to end."

I've played (as a player, not DM) in 3 campaigns in the past 5 years -- two are still going, and one did just kind of die out (right when 3rd edition came out!).

My current AU campaign is still pretty new. I'm not sure how long we're going to stick with this; I haven't found the "shape" or "uberplot" or whatever you want to call it -- we're mostly just exploring for now. Usually I have some kind of end vaguely in mind but not this time...

 

[SlimeGuru42]

I was in a 2 year Star Wars d20 game that ended very nicely. From level 1 to 18 and from Rise of the Empire to the middle of the Rebellion, with it ending close to the New Republic. Best campaign I've Ever been in. Ever. Those characters have become like living legends in our group, most of them have catch phrases, and their names can be used to describe an archetype.

It ended in a very pleasing way. The soldier was dieing slowly from lightsaber wounds, the ancient Sith battlestation was going to destroy the non-force sensitive population of the galaxy. The by the book Jedi's childhood love who was a fallen jedi repented and sacrificed her life to stop the weapon from working. The jedi master martial artist gave his life to save the soldier, since the soldier was a great leader and was as he put it, needed more than a weapon against evil in this time of rebuilding. We met with Luke to help with building the academy and we all went our seperate ways. We agreed that it was his school and we wouldn't interfere. I got very misty-eyed.

Best game ever.

 

[Evilhalfling]

I have run the endings of 2 campaigns-
One we were planning on taking a break from, and eventually going back, but it looks unlikely. They ended at 12th level, ending a year of summer and
killing a BBG, but were warned that he would return.

The other was a high school game that picked up again after college. It ended with the players going to the Abyss, layer of Kali (indian) patron to Hextor. The paladin of Heironus picked up gray, hardened skin along the way. They reached the portal home, The mage fled home, then the 9th lvl cleric of pelor sacrificed himself to close the portal. The paladin held off the demons then dove through a random door. He was spit out onto a random plane, arriving on an alternate world where the party had never existed. This plane had been overrun by demons (from an apocolypse prevented much earlier). He rode out into the dawn to stop demons from destroying the last outpost of man, and his skin turned to gold as his god joined with him.
The End

One of my fondest memories,
nearly a TPS - total party sacrifice