I feel out of it. How do you end campaigns?

[RangerWickett]

I finished my campaign last night. It's . . . difficult to end a game. Not in any sort of "having a hard time letting go" sense, but simply that it's hard to make an ending work in-game.

The previous session (detailed here) was the climax, and everyone enjoyed it. Hell, a lot of folks on these boards were entertained by it too, so I was thrilled. Only one player was a little disappointed, and that was just because he didn't get do much that was helpful in the climax, but he still was entertained by it.

Last night was supposed to be us wrapping up the last few plot threads. We didn't have time to roleplay through all of it, so we ended up going into round-robin synopsis mode, with me saying the major stuff, and them chiming in on what they did. No rolling required, just reasoned and fair storytelling.

The group previously had worked with a group called the Bureau, which is similar to the setting's 'Men in Black.' They had found the Bureau to be incompetent (more a result of me not being as ruthless as I should have been, rather than the Bureau actually being incompetent). The Bureau should have offered to work with them to help put things right, but I as GM was a little irritated that the group had never respected them, and so I had the Bureau tell them to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. Even though the group had saved the day, they hadn't earned the right to be outside the law.

The party laughed at the Bureau and went on with the resolution, glad to be rid of them.

One character got the happy ending he wanted. Another resolved the plot that had gotten him into the group in the first place, and then like a knight errant he set out on the next adventure. One character had the burden of being a hero taken off his shoulders, since his powers were taken from him, and he went on to live a mostly happy life.

One player wasn't there, and wouldn't be back for over a month, so since she had already accomplished what she wanted, there wasn't much to do for her. She survived, and we said she went on a journey for the aid of a lost friend.

Then there were the last two characters, and this is where I screwed up. One of them was a vigilante, a man who had often strayed close to villainy, and the other was a good man who saw the world as corrupt, and who wanted to overthrow the government (this guy, Rob, was the one who felt that he had not accomplished much in the climax).

The vigilante was killed by an enemy the party had never dealt with, and Rob was arrested by the Men in Black, as they had warned him. His memory was erased, his magical powers stripped of him, and he was set out to be one of the many loonies who wander the streets. Some faint memory tugged him to travel, and he wandered his way to New Orleans.

The final scene of the epilogue was the ghost of the vigilante returning on Halloween, locating Rob, and bonding with him, using his spiritual power to return Rob's memory. Together, the two set out to bring down the Bureau.

I just didn't like that final part. I stayed up for an hour or more, lying in bed, thinking of how I should have done things differently. After how good the game was, I was disappointed at the very end of the ending. Everything before that I was happy with. I don't know if it's just that I didn't want the Bureau to be bad guys, and I was pissed that the players wanted to destroy them, or if perhaps I feel bad that I kind of gave them an unhappy ending.

But the players seemed to enjoy the ending.

What would I have done differently if I'd had taken more time to think about it? I'm a bit conflicted. Half of me thinks I should have let the PCs win entirely. Rob, who wanted to overthrow the government, would be arrested, mind-altered, have his magic taken, and then turned over to the government for trial and execution. But his message would have carried on, and the people he wanted out of power would have been ousted. The vigilante would have gone to New Orleans on Halloween because he's supposed to, which was where the old villain would have tried to kill him, but the vigilante could have gotten the drop on the guy and defeated him.

But the other half of me wanted to make the Bureau competent at the end, arresting and keeping imprisoned Rob, the vigilante, and another PC who were basically criminals. I could have ended with the final note of them getting a special day pass to New Orleans, to see a Michael Jackson concert (which, if you'd read the climax post, would make sense).

I dunno. I guess it's too late to change what happened in the game, but I regret not getting it the way I wanted it the first time. It seemed to satisfy the players, if not thrill them. Maybe next time I should just confer with the group and we could collaborate on an ending, which I could write a synopsis of.

How should one end a campaign?

 

[Buttercup]

How to I end campaigns? With a TPK. Is there another way?

 

[Crothian]

My current campaign is going to end with a climatic battle verse a demi god!!! I'm predicting a TPK and that has some of my players delaying it to get power.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

In my experience the quickest way to end a campaign is for a couple among you players to break up, then everyone take sides.

Oh you meant "In Game" ending.

 

[Crust]

I just ended my four-year campaign last March ('06) with Dungeon #123's Quicksilver Hourglass (heavily modified, of course). The group's party level was 28.

The campaign ended with the destruction of the PC's arch nemesis for the last four years (real time): a male half-fiend human evolved vampire sorcerer 19/blood magus 10/master vampire 3. The Elder (as he was known) had ressurected Acererak's spirit into the form of an atropal (which became his horrid "baby" bodyguard and pet project), used an eclipse epic spell to blot out Faerun's sun, and poised an army of undead to attack first Shadowdale, then the Heartlands, then Toril itself!!!!11.

I've ended campaigns with TPKs before, but not this one. The PCs were just too powerful.

The true ending of the campaign came with a brief discussion of what happened to each PC as they finally retired. That was a great moment.

There's no right way to end a campaign. However it ends is how it was supposed to end. The best parts are the moments of reflection AND the cameos of past NPCs in the new campaign!

 

[Piratecat]

I don't know. The concept scares me.

When I do, I won't end on a battle; we'll have two or three denouement sessions to wrap things up emotionally. Then I'll have one session which is just us sitting around, where the players get to ask me any question they want about the game, and I'll tell them the answer. They're really looking forward to that.

 

[Mark]

Then I'll have one session which is just us sitting around, where the players get to ask me any question they want about the game, and I'll tell them the answer. They're really looking forward to that.

Yup. That's always fun.

 

[ChristianW]

How to I end campaigns? With a TPK. Is there another way?

Agreed. Another approved method is flipping over the table and screaming at everyone to "Get out! You've ruined my vision, you worms!"

I've yet to have a campaign reach a nice, satisfying conclusion. They always die off due to boredom, people moving away and the aforementioned table-flipping and TPKs.

 

[genshou]

I like to end on a happy note, so the final battle is a session or three behind the end of the campaign, just like a good novel/series of novels has at least a few chapters of resolution after the final conflict is over. Often even if it didn't start that way, the game ends up being about a big plot by the end of the campaign, and after that the PCs sometimes go their separate ways, or they all semi-retire and become NPC semi-adventurers for the sequel game.

Oftentimes it's very cool to have the PCs fall in love during the campaign and marry NPCs or other PCs after they retire, so their children can be the next campaign's PCs. I've done this a few times, and it's been very exciting when the children find out their parents once faced and defeated a small-time villain, and now he's stronger and after the children for revenge...

Plus, it's kind of neat to see how the campaign world is affected many years later from the perspective of the former PCs' children. And to top it all off, the PCs all already have a reason to adventure together... their parents did it first.

 

[Kristivas]

I ended one campaign before the 'final battle'.

The PCs had spent a long time thwarting this corrupt Baron's plans. He was the kind of antagonist you love to hate. He over-taxed his subjects, took what (and whom) he wanted from the innocent folk, and even got away with murder on more than one occasion. The PCs had enough of this behavior five minutes after they met him. Over the course of the game, they'd hit him physically, emotionally, financially. They caused him to lose favor with the Prince. They'd even built up a small army of resistance.

Finally, the Baron used every single copper he had (even selling off his home) to build a force that could crush the heroes once and for all, because in his mind.. once the group was done, he would be able to weasle his way back into power (he'd gone kinda nuts at this point).

The game ended with the PCs in one of the resistance hideouts, making plans. All of the 'higher ups' of their organization was in attendance when a messenger broke in. He informed them that the Baron and his men were at the door and would soon break through and be upon them.

Half of the group wanted to flee, but two of the players were tired of running and hiding from the Baron. They both gave this really great, passionate speech about how they needed to stand, once and for all, in the face of tyranny and oppression. After convincing the rest of the group and NPCs it was time to make a last stand.. the group all got ready, said their goodbyes to each other in case they should fall in battle, then.. they threw the bars from the door and ran screaming into street and whatever challenge awaited them.

I never told them how it ended, who was out there in the street, or anything... Though I got cussed, they still remember that game to this day and recall it as one of their favorites.