cybereverything
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 15
Preferred Game Systems: Narrative
Currently Playing: Cortex+ (mostly) not-quite Steampunk Pirate Viking...thing.
Currently Running: rotating GM for above
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Post by cybereverything on May 11, 2016 20:50:36 GMT -8
Searched for a thread on this, couldn't find one - feel free to point me to it and say 'SHAME' loudly if I missed it in my search. A campaign I joined a bit over two years ago - it predates me by another two - is ending in about a fortnight. 'Deep hibernation' says primary GM. He tapped me to be creative partner on a new thing, but in the meantime, as the current character team leader, I'm looking for ways to make this 6-8 hour finale something unforgettable. Theme is desert cyberpunk, but almost anything goes. I'm mostly looking for things you, readers & posters, recall as being fantastic ways to say goodbye to a series.
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Post by Kenigma23 on May 12, 2016 8:22:48 GMT -8
It was all a dream?
The characters were in the imagination of a little kid playing with a snow globe?
Joking aside, I’d go with final confrontation with “Big Bad.” All players have the opportunity to live or die, to sacrifice for the greater good or overcome a giant obstacle….typically the Big Bad’s MacGuffin.
Everyone’s story-lines should be wrapped up, for good or ill. Tie them together if possible.
Alternatively you could go with an “into the sunset” type of thing with a “who knows where they’ll be next” theme.
There isn’t much to go on in your post so I’m just speaking generic….
I think the key is each person should get their moment to shine and do that thing they do so well. Unless the game is super dark they should “win” at the end.
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Post by darthsolo on May 13, 2016 14:05:15 GMT -8
... Everyone’s story-lines should be wrapped up, for good or ill. Tie them together if possible. ... This. A suggestion is taking every NPC the players really enjoyed or truly despised and bring them back for the grand finale. Packing as much of the campaign's long history into the end, I think, would be very memorable.
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Post by alverant on May 13, 2016 17:53:59 GMT -8
Don't be afraid to kill anyone. It doesn't matter how important an NPC or PC is, they can be on the chopping block.
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Post by Kenigma23 on May 16, 2016 7:28:18 GMT -8
... Everyone’s story-lines should be wrapped up, for good or ill. Tie them together if possible. ... This. A suggestion is taking every NPC the players really enjoyed or truly despised and bring them back for the grand finale. Packing as much of the campaign's long history into the end, I think, would be very memorable. That too.
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Post by Bill Roper on May 16, 2016 8:55:07 GMT -8
Theme is desert cyberpunk...
After bringing back the favorite NPCs, defeating the Big Bad, and making sure EVERY CHARACTER has a stellar memorable moment where they did "that one amazing thing", perhaps you find The Great Oasis and begin a new era for the denizen of the desert.
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on May 16, 2016 13:57:19 GMT -8
as the current character team leader, I'm looking for ways to make this 6-8 hour finale something unforgettable. Use Microscope to define what happens to the world moving forward (maybe the next few decades - or 100s of years if some of the characters can live for long periods of time through technology or fantasy races. Or even if they don't live long, explore the next few 100 years to see where the world goes. This gives everyone power to define the knock-off effects of the characters and what happens in the future. And when you're done, maybe you have a new world to start another campaign from.
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Post by jonas on May 25, 2016 21:04:51 GMT -8
If it's desert cyberpunk, throw in a cyber sandworm from Dune. ;-)
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dnddad
Journeyman Douchebag
They're bullywugs aren't they Pat...
Posts: 200
Preferred Game Systems: WEG D6 Star Wars, Shadowrun 2nd, Battletech 3rd, Mechwarrior 2nd, AD&D 2nd, AFMBE rev, Savage Worlds Deluxe, Usagi Yojimbo, Marvel Super Heroes Advanced
Currently Playing: Frostgrave & Boltaction
Currently Running: from my problems
Favorite Species of Monkey: Spong
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Post by dnddad on May 26, 2016 9:51:01 GMT -8
We just finished a campaign after 5 years of playing. Our DM really loves to write out the end before it happens and we flipped it all on him in the final moments. We were awakening gods during this final session and collectively instead of following the rails laid down for us we stopped what we were doing and killed all the DMs NPCs(which he was planning on becoming the patriarch-gods of our characters.) His face seriously dropped when after we banished Cthulhu and stole the words of power from the vessel(the DMs Mary-Sue,) he started reading the "ending" he wrote, we interjected and said we kill that character now... He didn't know what to do. So much fun!
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on May 27, 2016 13:07:23 GMT -8
We kinda had an ending like that, except our GM told us that all along we were supposed to have caught on that Nyarlathotep was on our side trying to keep Cthulhu asleep. We collectively told him that there was no way in the past year and a half of gaming that we would ever have picked that up as our final moments of the game were to reset the timelines and close all the "Rifts" that were created.
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arnej
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 9
Preferred Game Systems: GURPS, Hero, Blades in the Dark, DnD 5e
Currently Playing: GURPS, Hero, DnD 5e
Currently Running: Blades in the Dark
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by arnej on Jun 2, 2016 10:07:23 GMT -8
Don't be afraid to kill anyone. It doesn't matter how important an NPC or PC is, they can be on the chopping block. What is this, Game of Thrones? arnej
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Post by Kenigma23 on Jun 2, 2016 10:09:55 GMT -8
He said "anyone" not "EVERYONE"
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arnej
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 9
Preferred Game Systems: GURPS, Hero, Blades in the Dark, DnD 5e
Currently Playing: GURPS, Hero, DnD 5e
Currently Running: Blades in the Dark
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by arnej on Jun 2, 2016 10:12:18 GMT -8
Along the lines of the Microscope exercise, have each player privately write their "Ten Years Later" thing, wherein they elaborate on how their life went after the Climactic Final Ending. Assuming they survive, they get to reveal this in a campaign denouement.
Sure, some guy will make himself president of the world, but who cares, the game is over anyway, right?
arnej
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on Jun 2, 2016 13:54:22 GMT -8
Sure, some guy will make himself president of the world, but who cares, the game is over anyway, right?arnej Oh my god, I care! That president is going to lay the groundwork (or maybe better yet, just be some background presence) in the next game. We've pretty much ended a campaign that we played sporadically for over a year. One of my best friends is playing Gorcoq, Dwarven Cleric worshiper of Cthul Cthuks My Cthok. He's a downright dirty bastard. (I don't think he's ever healed anyone.) And NOW he gets to decide the outcome of his character? Next game: Call of Cthulhu. Or Dread.
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cybereverything
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 15
Preferred Game Systems: Narrative
Currently Playing: Cortex+ (mostly) not-quite Steampunk Pirate Viking...thing.
Currently Running: rotating GM for above
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Post by cybereverything on Jun 9, 2016 23:11:07 GMT -8
Here's the thrilling conclusion: The Primary GM brought back, from out of state, the player he co-created the game with. No one expected it. (His character had been relegated to 'background decker NPC' for about a year and a half since he moved away.)
Dead characters aren't! Living characters are actual Physical Masks on ones we thought were dead, and their originals are dead! A telenovela come to life. At least no one had a twin...or...
And then we fought our parallel universe doubles in a shady back-room 'poker room.' This led to each of us having attempts to justify our existences. The wrench-throwing player threw wrenches, the non-committal one decided to stay in limbo, the decker sacrificed himself for a disembodied spirit of a 11-year old girl so she could stay alive and not become an alien intelligence. So we definitely all got our major scenes that embodied our playing styles and character development (or not.)
Then I went on vacation, in real life. On the plane, I read Microscope. With luck, I'm dragging Primary GM over to my place tomorrow so we can work out the new game. I finally got an idea for the end bracket Period today, from a Canadian Cthulhupunk band's 2005 album...
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