Drawing towards the close of a campaign... it's tougher than I thought.

[Pielorinho]

My PCs are only 9-10 level, and I've got tons of loose ends: villains that have gotten away, cults that are only half-destroyed, prophecies that are ignored, wars being fought in other countries, and so forth.

Next session, I've also got a PC coming back into the game for a short while, and have to come up with an explanation of what he's been up to for the past half a year or so.

And then it occurred to me: he's been off tying up loose ends! I talked with the player, and we agreed that he's been adventuring in a different group for that time, finishing off one of the cults and killing a pesky demon that plagued the other PCs for a long time.

It'll definitely make my campaign more manageable, and it's a trick I plan to use again. If a player is absent for a long while and then returns to the game, give him the task of tidying up loose plot threads while he was away.

Daniel

 

[Henry]

Don't be afraid to leave stuff hanging. Who said you had to wrap everything up, anyway?...Real life leaves lots of unfinished tales -- so should your campaign.

Double "Amen" to that.

TV Example: Long after Buffy the Vampire Slayer has left the air, its fans will still wonder what the heck was up with the Cheese Guy from the 4th season. Even though the creator has said "there's no explanation for him," Fans will STILL be wracking their brains over that little bit of insanity.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Don't be afraid to leave stuff hanging. Who said you had to wrap everything up, anyway?...Real life leaves lots of unfinished tales -- so should your campaign.

Well, I'm torn. On one hand I'm a big fan of adventure storytelling that wraps everything up... or, at least, everything that was left hanging that begs closure.

On the other hand, and bear with me here, the thing I always say that I like about the movie JEEPERS CREEPERS was that things weren't explained. The monster had odd things in its lair, behavior, etc... most weren't even discussed. Why were people frozen in a hole beneath an old church, when the thing seems to pretty much just eat people? The fact that it followed people based on scent led to a great discussion about the car's air freshener being what he was after.

Still, I think I like wrapping things up. I'm looking forward to it now. In that dread way.

Just play to have fun, instead of feeling like you have to jump through some self-imposed hoop, and you'll be just fine.

Ahhh, but I need that hoop. I set out to make something from the start, something bigger than I thought I ever could. I'm not what you could call a man of discipline. I need these little exercises now and then. The hoop is self-imposed, and the hoop lifts and supports Doc Midnight's ever more-and-more impressive game cleavage.

 

[Piratecat]

Huh. I blunder forward blindly, having faith that I'll figure out something cool when the time comes. It seems to work well for me.

 

[Darkness]

ACK! You're going to end it all?

The only thing that stops me from going into a tizzy at that thought is the hope that I will be able to read the next PCat campaign from the beginning.

I'm sure that Piratecat will run other games that he just might write about, even if he ends the current one some day.

 

[Desdichado]

The hoop is self-imposed, and the hoop lifts and supports Doc Midnight's ever more-and-more impressive game cleavage.

OK, I'm not quite sure that's an image I needed right now!

 

[Dr Midnight]

OK, I'm not quite sure that's an image I needed right now!

 

[Berk]

TV Example: Long after Buffy the Vampire Slayer has left the air, its fans will still wonder what the heck was up with the Cheese Guy from the 4th season. Even though the creator has said "there's no explanation for him," Fans will STILL be wracking their brains over that little bit of insanity.

That was an inside joke between the writers, joss, and half of the cast.

 

[Henry]

That was an inside joke between the writers, joss, and half of the cast.

I have an even better one from the same series: The praying Mantis Monster eggs from the first season. The school ostensibly blew up about two years later, but we NEVER saw anything about the eggs again.


Main point is this: If you DON'T wrap up every little detail, don't let it make you fret.

Oh, and Doc?

Don't ever do that again. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.... EVER.

I have to go take a melon-baller to my eyes now. I'll be back soon.

 

[Pielorinho]

I have to go take a melon-baller to my eyes now. I'll be back soon.

Hey, if you don't mind a recently-used and still slightly bloody melon-baller, you can borrow mine.

Good thing I'm a touch typist.

Daniel