Suggestions for ending a campaign in 10 easy steps?
- Thread starter RandomUsernamehmimo71
- Start date
Thanks guys! I laughed out loud every time I read another BBEG heart attack scene. Now I gotta explain it to the wife....
I like #5 - if you watched TNG, one of my favorite episodes was the one where you saw more and more of the next time around and Data finally kicked them out of it with his 3 pip programming (or was it 4? oh well). Something similar where they start trying things to get out of it ... or they get stupid and start doing antics with precise timing like that movie "groundhog day" - then they really screw the world and it doesn't restart.
I like the VR thing - on a similar note, how about a last scene described where a novelist sits back from his typewriter, reads over it (mentioning a couple of high points of the campaign), says "naw, they'll never believe THOSE stories!", crumples up the page and turns out the light to "try again tomorrow."
I like #5 - if you watched TNG, one of my favorite episodes was the one where you saw more and more of the next time around and Data finally kicked them out of it with his 3 pip programming (or was it 4? oh well). Something similar where they start trying things to get out of it ... or they get stupid and start doing antics with precise timing like that movie "groundhog day" - then they really screw the world and it doesn't restart.
I like the VR thing - on a similar note, how about a last scene described where a novelist sits back from his typewriter, reads over it (mentioning a couple of high points of the campaign), says "naw, they'll never believe THOSE stories!", crumples up the page and turns out the light to "try again tomorrow."
SpringPlum
First Post
One thing that we always like at the end of a campaign is the revealing of the 'traitor' -- an NPC who has been with us from nearly the beginning.
Make it one of the players. Sit 'em all down, assign them numbers, roll a d6, and point to that player. They've been a traitor all along.
Make it one of the players. Sit 'em all down, assign them numbers, roll a d6, and point to that player. They've been a traitor all along.
Chimera
First Post
Nah, they're all traitors. That innocent widget they just recovered for the good Wizard is actually the last thing he needs to complete the Total Destruction of the Entire World Device.
The PCs show up and hand it to the happy Wizard. He takes it over to this strange device and plugs it in. There is a brief whine and then...
nothingness.
World gone, game over.
The PCs show up and hand it to the happy Wizard. He takes it over to this strange device and plugs it in. There is a brief whine and then...
nothingness.
World gone, game over.
FireLance
Legend
1. A mysterious, heavily cloaked guy shows up and offers them the choice of drinking a red potion or a blue potion.
2. The party defeats the BBEG, and when they pull off his helmet, they find that he's actually the innkeeper, who's been trying to scare people away from a gold mine.
3. The party is TPK'ed by a kobold BBn20/Ftr20/Rgr20/Rog20/Clr20/Sor20/Blk10/MyTh10/ElKn10/ArTr10/Asn10.
4. The party defeats the BBEG and the King holds a ceremony to honor them. During the ceremony, someone accidentally summons an ancient horror and everyone goes insane.
2. The party defeats the BBEG, and when they pull off his helmet, they find that he's actually the innkeeper, who's been trying to scare people away from a gold mine.
3. The party is TPK'ed by a kobold BBn20/Ftr20/Rgr20/Rog20/Clr20/Sor20/Blk10/MyTh10/ElKn10/ArTr10/Asn10.
4. The party defeats the BBEG and the King holds a ceremony to honor them. During the ceremony, someone accidentally summons an ancient horror and everyone goes insane.
Last edited:
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Bran Blackbyrd said:
Go to 14.
-Hyp.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
frankthedm said:
Seriously.
-Hyp.
Willowhaunt
First Post
As long as one of the PCs would be a traitor, go ahead and make 'em into a real one! Approach the player outside of the game and tell him a shady NPC approaches him with an offer he can't refuse...
On that note, you could just say one of the PCs has been under a high-powered charm or domination spell the whole game. Just reference some obscure saving throw they missed in one of the first sessions.
The VR one would be funny, I've been waiting to pull such a trick in a game I'm running. Even better you could have someone approach their PCs to tell them that they're beta-testing a new MMO game, something like Everquest 3, etc. Their PCs are actually beta testers who took the game too seriously and believed it was real...
(maybe their PCs are the players themselves who have taken the new video game too seriously, if they are big computer gamers and you really want to mess with 'em!)
Even better, tell them their characters are actually normal people who were delusional or high throughout the whole campaign. They've been wandering around the steam tunnels or the insane asylum from day one, thinking it was a fantasy world.
Deck of many things works. Just make sure they don't draw the card that gives 'em wishes or they can wish away the events caused by the deck.
If one of the players draws void, the campaign can end right there...
On that note, you could just say one of the PCs has been under a high-powered charm or domination spell the whole game. Just reference some obscure saving throw they missed in one of the first sessions.
The VR one would be funny, I've been waiting to pull such a trick in a game I'm running. Even better you could have someone approach their PCs to tell them that they're beta-testing a new MMO game, something like Everquest 3, etc. Their PCs are actually beta testers who took the game too seriously and believed it was real...
(maybe their PCs are the players themselves who have taken the new video game too seriously, if they are big computer gamers and you really want to mess with 'em!)
Even better, tell them their characters are actually normal people who were delusional or high throughout the whole campaign. They've been wandering around the steam tunnels or the insane asylum from day one, thinking it was a fantasy world.
Deck of many things works. Just make sure they don't draw the card that gives 'em wishes or they can wish away the events caused by the deck.
If one of the players draws void, the campaign can end right there...
demiurge1138
Inventor of Super-Toast
Random portals to a variety of planes are always fun, especially if you use the ol' "trapped portal takes you somewhere and all your items elsewhere" bit.
Barring that, create a ludicrously overpowered encounter that, although it seems possibly beatable at first, turns out to be either a TPK or an encounter from which the few harried survivors flee from. Then, end with an American Graffitti style summation of (the surviving) everyone's lives, even crucial NPCs. Go into ludicrous detail, revealing plot twists that nobody ever would have suspected. Keep going. More. More. Eventually, everyone will walk away.
Demiurge out.
Barring that, create a ludicrously overpowered encounter that, although it seems possibly beatable at first, turns out to be either a TPK or an encounter from which the few harried survivors flee from. Then, end with an American Graffitti style summation of (the surviving) everyone's lives, even crucial NPCs. Go into ludicrous detail, revealing plot twists that nobody ever would have suspected. Keep going. More. More. Eventually, everyone will walk away.
Demiurge out.
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