I need help badly!! And I'll try to make this easy to follow:
I need help fast-forwarding my game's plot in order to bring the campaign to a close much quicker than intended.
I have no idea how to do this, simply because a major plot-point was revealed that by all rights should lead to its own little subplot, but now that's going to get in the way of getting to the finale before I have to move.
The details: (spoilers for Lost City of Barakus, so please stay out if you're playing that!)
1. The players are in the dungeons of a place called Barakus, and they know that imprisoned here is the vile lich, Devron, who has been behind several bad things that befell the group earlier in the campaign.
2. It was just revealed to them that they need to collect 3 artifacts that will help them activate a powerful weapon (which they do not have yet -- the Sword of Kel) that will ignore most of the Lich's defenses (damage reduction, resistances, etc.).
3. The PCs also know that one of Devron's lackies has control over an artifact that can warp other's minds, and has been sort of the behind-the-scenes reason for a lot of bad things the player's faced (this would be the Stone of Madness).
So, to sum up, the players are expecting to:
- find 3 keys to unlock the power of a sweet weapon (they've already found 1 or 2 of the keys)
- find that sweet weapon (they have a vague idea where it is, but no specifics)
- destroy the thing warping people's minds (they have no clue where this is)
- go fight Devron and finish the job once and for all
All of that was planned for another 15 or 20 sessions, but the reality is because of school and sudden plans to move, I only have maybe 3 sessions to handle this.
Do I ignore the player's expectations, and just kind of dump them into the final area? Do I ignore the powers of the Sword of Kel and the Stone of Madness, and just give them the ability to fight the Lich (on easier terms, anyway, which is what the Sword would have given them), and maybe ignore the Stone of Madness entirely? Is there a way to give them this stuff without being anticlimactic?
I'm not sure what other details might be useful to you folks, but I definitely need your help in figuring how to get them to the final encounter and make the previous 6+ months of play come to a satisfying conclusion for my players!
As an aside, a TPK might be fun, if done right, but I still want it to be climactic, not just a cop-out.
Help me ENWorld, you're my only hope!
I need help fast-forwarding my game's plot in order to bring the campaign to a close much quicker than intended.
I have no idea how to do this, simply because a major plot-point was revealed that by all rights should lead to its own little subplot, but now that's going to get in the way of getting to the finale before I have to move.
The details: (spoilers for Lost City of Barakus, so please stay out if you're playing that!)
1. The players are in the dungeons of a place called Barakus, and they know that imprisoned here is the vile lich, Devron, who has been behind several bad things that befell the group earlier in the campaign.
2. It was just revealed to them that they need to collect 3 artifacts that will help them activate a powerful weapon (which they do not have yet -- the Sword of Kel) that will ignore most of the Lich's defenses (damage reduction, resistances, etc.).
3. The PCs also know that one of Devron's lackies has control over an artifact that can warp other's minds, and has been sort of the behind-the-scenes reason for a lot of bad things the player's faced (this would be the Stone of Madness).
So, to sum up, the players are expecting to:
- find 3 keys to unlock the power of a sweet weapon (they've already found 1 or 2 of the keys)
- find that sweet weapon (they have a vague idea where it is, but no specifics)
- destroy the thing warping people's minds (they have no clue where this is)
- go fight Devron and finish the job once and for all
All of that was planned for another 15 or 20 sessions, but the reality is because of school and sudden plans to move, I only have maybe 3 sessions to handle this.
Do I ignore the player's expectations, and just kind of dump them into the final area? Do I ignore the powers of the Sword of Kel and the Stone of Madness, and just give them the ability to fight the Lich (on easier terms, anyway, which is what the Sword would have given them), and maybe ignore the Stone of Madness entirely? Is there a way to give them this stuff without being anticlimactic?
I'm not sure what other details might be useful to you folks, but I definitely need your help in figuring how to get them to the final encounter and make the previous 6+ months of play come to a satisfying conclusion for my players!
As an aside, a TPK might be fun, if done right, but I still want it to be climactic, not just a cop-out.
Help me ENWorld, you're my only hope!
