julien
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Post by julien on Jan 8, 2012 11:38:24 GMT -8
I've been running a campaign of an homemade fantasy game for about a year and a half. It's been a lot of fun, and i've reached what i thought would be the end of this campaign last week. But my two players have asked to continue with the same characters. So i've began a new story, 5 years later, for them. I really believe it will be fun.
How do you bring a campaign to an end ? Of all my years of gaming, when I think about it, i haven't ended many campaigns, most of them have died while the gaming group (with me as a GM most of the time) went on another gamer, promising to come back to the original one later.
So what do you do about it ?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2012 14:24:18 GMT -8
I'm usually the same as you... they don't end, they just sort of die out. Either the group breaks up, or I get tired of running it. I've been in a few that ended, but they seem rare.
The best options I can think of for really ending a game are:
1) Find a way to have a final scenario that gives the PCs pretty much everything they want. No reason to continue, if they've now achieved fame/fortune/love/contenment/whatever.
2) I did this one recently. Pause the game. I had my PCs in a flight from *all* the major factions of the campaign. They finally chose one, and took off (into space) to a place they were told they'd be safe. It's basically a "fade to black" thing. I *have* an idea for a continuation, years later in gametime... but I won't do it for quite awhile, if ever. But meanwhile, we all got a fairly good sense of closure, at least for now.
Anyway, just my thoughts. I have little experience with actual endings, so I"m making it up.
--Pukka Tukka
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Jan 8, 2012 17:54:45 GMT -8
I tend to think that a large percentage of RPG campaigns don't end, but rather simply die out as you guys have already said. That certainly has been my experience, so I can't really give any practical advice julien. Just theory and what I would do if it were me ending a game.
Pukkatukka has a pretty good suggestion. As he said, have the characters achieve all their goals. Give them everything they hoped and wished for, everything they fought (and maybe died) for, everything they spent the campaign striving for. Maybe even a little bit more on top of that. The mini-cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.
That's a nice, happy, 80's movie or typical blockbuster ending though. Which may be exactly what your players and the story are calling for. But if you're running a darker toned game and if your players can handle it, I think that failure is an option as well. Note that I don't mean a Call of Cthulhu type ending where the PCs all sacrificed themselves to close the gate to R'lyeh. That is still a success; it just came at a very high price. I mean real failure.
Some of the more compelling and memorable novels, movies, and TV shows end with failure, uncertainty, ambiguity or defeat. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men comes to mind right now. If you haven't read that book, go read it now. I'll wait...
Done? OK. So, I don't think anyone would say that story ends with a success of any kind. Still, it's a great story that sticks with you for a long time. I think that would be a valid way to end a campaign. Not every campaign, mind you. Not even most campaigns, but a few. In campaigns where the point of the game was to a) tell a compelling story regardless of the outcome, and b) to set a specific tone it could possibly work. But only if your players would enjoy that kind of an ending. They would probably feel cheated if you sprang that sort of an ending on them with no warning whatsoever.
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Post by ironnikki on Jan 9, 2012 7:31:09 GMT -8
Obviously, the most important thing to happen at the end of a game is some sort of closure. The story needs to reach a good stopping point. Think about a series of books; the plot needs to reach a point similar to how one of the books might end.
If you're truly reaching the end of a campaign, however, I can only think of two ways to end the story. Either the characters succeed in achieving their goals, or they fail to achieve their goals (which sometimes, but not always, means death.) I would leave that part up to the players, personally- put them through a final, particularly tough encounter. I like to think of this as the "grand finale." Of course, this would require more work than preparing other encounters, but if done right, I think that the players would appreciate a positive outcome just as much as a negative one, especially since it wasn't forced upon them.
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azuretalon
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Post by azuretalon on Jan 11, 2012 13:50:50 GMT -8
This may sound like a lame cop out answer, but I have seen campaigns run too long and fade away. If you find a good stopping point, end it then. My Dragon Blooded Exalted game I meantioned had this ending. I could've rolled more PCs to replace those fallen and changed the whole campaign and everyone loved it and wanted more, but I kinda fell into a good end point so I left it there.
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Jan 11, 2012 16:21:03 GMT -8
If you find a good stopping point, end it then. I second that notion, whole heartedly. As a player, if I'm enjoying my character and the story that's going on around them, then naturally I want things to continue indefinitely. It's like watching your favorite TV show. You keep thinking "Give me more! Just like that! Oooh yeah... don't stop!" (I supposed you could use a sex metaphor too, like I just did. ;D) But honestly, how many TV shows have gone downhill and started to suck after hitting the later seasons? And I don't mean the good kind of sucking either . (Yeah. More sex jokes.) As azuretalon said, why continue a story past it's prime, especially when you've got a logical stopping point that nicely wraps up most of the character and story arcs? End on a high note so that you don't run the risk of diluting your player's enjoyment.
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Post by jazzisblues on Jan 12, 2012 23:27:53 GMT -8
I'm afraid this is going to be a wholly unsatisfying answer ...
It totally depends on the game.
My SW Slipstream game ended before I could actually bring it to conclusion though the conclusion was very well set.
My previous Pathfinder campaign ended with the characters retired after a continent crossing campaign.
There's not a hard and fast rule. Usually though they just sort of peter out.
JiB
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Post by thomaswhodoubts on Jan 18, 2012 10:08:55 GMT -8
How to end a campaign?
Easy.
Start a new one. Promise to alternate for a few sessions, then get them hooked and you're off and running.
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Jan 18, 2012 23:46:35 GMT -8
Easy. ... Start a new one. I laughed pretty hard at this. It only works if you're the one GMing the next game though. If you're trying to get someone else to GM the game it might not work so well.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2012 5:08:51 GMT -8
Easy. ... Start a new one. I laughed pretty hard at this. It only works if you're the one GMing the next game though. If you're trying to get someone else to GM the game it might not work so well. Ah... to be in a group where someone else also GMs sometimes... ... a girl can dream... ;D
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julien
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Post by julien on Jan 19, 2012 13:47:47 GMT -8
it happens ! I play with at least 5 gaming groups currently. at least 60 or 70% of the players are also GMs ...
thanks for all your advices.
I've been working on the game i've mentionned for many many years, letting it sleep for a few years at a time, only to wake it up when inspiration war there.
Our last game left the players heroes of a kingdom, friends to a dragon, chosen by a mysterious force to be its champions, and quite rich.
With this money they could have retired. and in fact they did, for 5 years. They opened a school for the gifted (X-men style only in a fantasy setting). In theses years they learned about themselves, about the world, and so forth.
Because they wanted to continue playing their characters, they were called by old allies to act as diplomat on a border crisis. Two factions claiming the same fortress. They have met the two factions before and count them as allies.
So this campaign will not end soon...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2012 4:25:39 GMT -8
The best advice for ending a campaign? Plan on having an ending... What I mean is say: I'm going to run a 10 session game... And here is how it is going to end... Look if you start a game out like that, you are going to get a story with a beginning, middle and an end. And if it isnt "the bestest campaign in the whole wide world" thats okay. Just start another one afterwards. Not every campaign is going to be your Opus. Think of it this way, if you have an ending in mind then you have something to build towards every session.
It's the difference between reading The Hobbit and The Wheel of Time.
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