How To End Your D&D Campaign! (Ep. 206)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Professor DungeonMaster shows how to end a D&D campaign in style. The final episode of the Veiled Society Campaign.
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"Not if I'm the one who kills the party."
Never change Deathbringer.
He won't.
Can't wait for a deathbringer storyline complete with minis and terrain.
The Veiled Society campaign and episodes have been very inspiring and insightful. Thanks.
Thanks, Eric!
I’ve had the great fortune of running an eleven year campaign to conclusion, a true lv 1 to lv 20 (twice over for some players); this is great advice on how to get that amazing ending! We even had an epilogue session post the ending fight for players to give us their PC’s aftermath in detail.
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
It’s so true that everyone wants to start a campaign, but few want to play it through to the end. In nearly 40 years of gaming, I’ve only been a member of one campaign that went from beginning to end over the course of two years. Lots of fond memories though.
Turns out everyone wants to watch the video about starting a campaign but nobody want to watch one about ending one! This views on this video is really lagging. Thanks for watching!
Answer : Total Party Kill (and spam the Mortal Kombat " FATALITY! " sound clip after the last player falls). You're welcome :^P
Thank you!
Sometimes they just have to die
@@ronniejdio9411
If they are the type of players that drone on tirelessly about their history with DMs like daddy issues that YOU need to fix, they (their characters) need to die that much more. The hobby has a sizable % of said people that get on message boards and form weird support group like conversation threads.
I like how you and Deathbringer bantered at the end. I would like more like that.
Slower progression makes it more special and rewarding. I remember getting to level 2 with my 1st character and being hyped I got to roll another die for hit points. That extra die was a big deal.
Now days level 1-3 feels like a speed bump instead of an entire campaign in and of itself.
I concur.
I feel that campaigns that don't end may be more of the open / sandbox type - which is something that D&D groups may be more likely to adopt. As a GM I personnally always think first of what will be the end game for a any campaign I build, so that I or the players don't loose sight of the goal. And even if the goal is to save the world, I try to keep the means rather grounded as well.
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
Liked instantly when I heard the Amadeus laugh. You sound like so much fun to play with. One of these conventions!
The one thing I don't like about session zero is that it's a session, meaning I have to wait another week (or sometimes two) to actually play.
Not if the session zero is also a funnel. Thats how i like to get around it.
I agree. See my session zero video.
Oh boy, another TPK video!
With a T-shirt like that, I can picture Deathbringer doing a joint tour with Samurai (Cyberpunk 2020) and Maria Mercurial (from Shadowrun)
Hopefully one day!
Indeed. I believe my biggest mistake as a game master over the years was not realizing that the ending is as integral to the story as any other of its phases.
Yep. Thanks for sharing!
Rocks fall. Everyone dies. Your way is way better!
Seriously, polling the players is a great idea. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for watching, Mike!
Deathbringer is a healthy father figure. Sigma grindset.
Sigmas represent.
Glad you dig him.
The sigma male dungeonset
Your notebook is a thing of beauty.
Thank you.
Good advice. Just had a campaign fizzle.
Next time you'll crush it!
Pumped that you made Deathbringer shirts, and that they're in tall sizes!
Pumped that you're buying one!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 That's where you're wrong, I'm buying five, if you have children's sizes!
Prof. Dungeon Master, this channel has been incredibly useful. I'm a former player of Marvel Superheroes back in the late 80's and the crew of pal I used to play with has recently reconnected to play D&D. One of my sons (10 year old) witnessed us playing (we play on zoom) and he wants to play with his friends. So thanks for all the tips, as I plan out a campaign for them and get them hooked on RPG games. I think his crew of friends will really enjoy this as they are creative and have great imaginations.
Thanks for watching! Teach the children well!
that's a good point, we need to close campaigns more
This has quickly become my favorite "D&D" YT channel. This is great advice to someone who has only ever actually *finished* two campaigns over the course of almost 20 years.
Thank you, Sir Heckler. This video is performing poorly, so I really appreciate your kind words.
The algorithm did not show me this video. I am most displeased. Thankfully it showed me your next video. Speaking off I'm off to watch that one.
Solid Professor Dungeonmaster wisdom. Really good points and ideas. I wouldn't mind finally DM:ing or playing a campaign to the end. I don't think I've ever participated in one such in about 30 years of playing.
Do it! And thanks for sharing!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I'll give it a go 😉
Your Amadeus laugh is great. Love to see campaign conclusion.
Great advice, professor!
In my opinion, a positive addition is that "it's ok to have a lame ending if you just got started finishing your games. You'll have new opportunities to finish new games, so keep trying!"
It's just because you have awesome endings and as an admirer I feel the need to be as great as you as my standart. It's a bit pressure sometimes hahahaha
Thanks for the great video!
I'm not that great. The players make the game great. Rock on!
I've learned to avoid campaigns like the plague. Run a one-shot or at most five sessions and wrap it up. Warhammer Fantasy 1E is great about this. Your character dies, is missing body parts, or goes insane. No unrealistic expectations to meet.
Love WF!
So in WHF you just die, or get maimed and go home?
@@bully_hunter_4206 There's a cycle. You start out healthy but barely competent. You get advances but they are offset from critical wounds (you get a critical wound every time you go below zero W-hit points) and insanity (you get one insanity point for every critical wound and if you survive long enough to get five insanity points you get a psychological condition like alcoholism, a phobia, etc.). So the game gives with one hand and takes away with the other. In the end your character ends up dead, insane, or unable to continue to go on unless the story ends first.
Typical critical wounds are lose an eye (messes with vision and night vision), arm broken or incapacitated, broken jaw or vertebrae, destroyed shoulder joint, arm torn off at the elbow, concussion, shattered ribs, punctured lung, broken hip or thigh, etc. You have to drag them to the barber surgeon for surgery. Most doctors are quacks and there's very little magical healing. There's no cleric class to speak of. Not uncommon for characters to survive the combat if you can stop the bleeding but die on the operating table or die in recovery from infection or disease because the barber surgeon drank the alcohol instead of using it to sterilize his instruments. You can always use a little gunpowder to stop the bleeding, but that will leave a burn as well and if you screw it up you can blow off a limb.
Moral of the story is never give Chaos a fair fight because you will come out of battle changed and not in a good way. And yes the game is fun because there's always tension. Your character is never safe, not even after the battle is over. Fireball is a first level spell.
Yesterday ended a 3y campaign, levels 1-23. Modron march + dead gods + our own adventures... we had a blast. 😊
There is an older module called "The Apocalypse Stone". Perfect way to go out with a bang!
I have that module!
Its d&ds kobyashi maru
Another Idea for your "merch store."
You should get a bunch of vests and monogram them with "Dungeon Craft" on the right chest panel. You then sell them as +1 vests of protection.
That's possible.
Honestly, you don't need to go anywhere after saving the world. You can just make another world saving plot, just like how you can make another save the town plot. The story doesn't need to continue to one-up itself. However, there are ways to go beyond saving the world, especially if you're really creative. You can move on to saving other worlds, saving the multiverse, saving history itself, or even just having the players save themselves. Moving on from saving the world doesn't have to mean you move on to something greater than that, after all. It can just mean moving on to something different. As long as it's challenging and it's a good story, your players won't care.
I carefully craft a climactic campaign conlusion bit by bit, session by session, week by week over the course of several years. Bring all plots to together, tying up any loose ends. Then &, only then, once we reach the grand finale the campaign fizzles unresolved. Works every time.
"Night Meting With Munchburger"? 😂 Love your videos, professor. You are an inspiration!
Thanks so much for watching!
Good timing, I’m just about to end my own campaign! Big bad is a vampire riding a dracolitch, should be dangerous.
What’s a mighty dracolich doing serving a lowly vampire? 😉
Let me know how it works out!
@Anne O'Nymous exactly. That’s one dead vampire.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Very storybook ending, the party triumphed after a ferocious battle, using their minds and magics to their fullest and finding unexpected and creative ways to defeat their enemy.
I had actually hoped for it to be a tad more gruesome, but that's the way the dice played out and everyone was pretty happy with how it turned out so there isn't really more to ask for.
I had watched this video before but forgotten.
Then on day of last session I realized I hadn't prepped stuff that a final session should have. So I whipped up the final boss fight which involved timers.
Didn't use dangerous place, but boss showdown and countdown came to me instantly.
I love the Wolfgang laugh! Just perfect!
This is my new favorite Dungeon Craft video!!! So much valuable knowledge shared in it.
My campaigns that I run also level up extremely slowly and my players actually prefer that (they are all for the most part 20+ year D&D veterans).
Thanks, Rhett. This one is pulling in fewer views and I was feeling down. May all your rolls be 20s!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 That is insane. I left a comment in the FB group to check it out. Those numbers gotta come up, this video might be the best D&D video on TH-cam to date!!!
Thanks, Professor! B6 The Veiled Society was the first adventure I ever ran, starting back in May 2001 using 3rd Edition Rules. I wish back then I'd had the knowledge that you shared. That campaign is still going 20 years later and 1 of the families from B6 still makes appearances in the campaign to annoy the players. They're all 19th level now and I'm getting ready to wrap up the campaign.
Also, I used your "Caves of Carnage" series as the basis for the campaign I'm running for my daughter and her friends (ages 10-12, plus 1 dad). They are loving it, and while I changed a few things to make it a little less grim for them, I kept most of it. We just played our 9th session this past Saturday and after 9 sessions there are only 3 of them who have advanced to 2nd level (the other 3 are still 1st). A few retainers have died, some insanity has been gained, and Johann Brunner, the Anthropologist, got away after the characters knocked his mask off to reveal that he was not a monster, but a human. We'll see if he returns. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Keep running for those kids!
Can't wait to start our next campaign.
This really needs to be talked about more. So many of us are obsessed with the dream of a multi-year epic that we rob our groups of the opportunity for satisfying endings.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I am running a two year campaign that is nearing the end (homebrew, so I can prolong or shorten), but we have agreed to make it a trilogy; 3 separate campaigns that tie together into one story. That way do the players get their ending to at least one campaign, and I get to tie up loose ends instead of building endlessly in the sandbox.
For the same reason am I going to curb the level likely around 8, as I can't have lvl. 20 PC's roaming around without the plot going boinkers.
@@jenschristensen1774 That's a great solution! I've had players reluctant to end a campaign but found it was an easier sell if the new campaign was a "sequel" in the same world.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Thanks for the great content!
We just finished a campaign. We had to stop a super weapon against an overwhelming force. It was such a blast.
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
Years of play with the same level !? I don’t know if I (or my friends) could do that. But I would love a smoother leveling up with 5E, that’s for sure. A game where you can gain (or trade) features without becoming OP. Give the players a feeling of progression, with changes that doesn’t break the game. I don’t like the idea of capping HP, but I would certainly reduce it to a few HP per level (maybe a d6 for warriors and a d4 for the rest). Slow the progression of spell casting and limit the number of multi-attacks for warriors. That way the characters can go on and continue adventuring without becoming too strong.
World of Darkness and other skills-based games answer this with incremental points in abilities and such as you gain experience. D&D's rigid X feature at X level system eliminate the possibility of much "smoothness".
Best XP system I've seen is just 300xp per session. In 3.5e or 5e, you get through 1st to 3rd fairly quickly and then slow down from 4th to 6th over six months before crawling. If the campaign is going well and you keep going, its a year for about 8th and two for 10th (assume weekly play). By those levels you are invested in the characters and plot vs. powerful abilities and it means the DM has a much better idea of your abilities, how to challenge you, and not end up overpowered.
My current group got pissy when they found out they weren't going to level up at the end of every session. All they want is more power as fast as possible so they can be more efficient and brutal murder hobos.
@@whatareyoudoingyouidiot342 It's up to you to set the stage for your campaign and address those things when assembling the group. There should be no surprises for that kind of thing.
There are a lot of level-less RPGs out there that work just fine. My favorite now is Index Card RPG. No levels, just loot. So progression is like a constant rollercoaster ride as loot comes and goes, gets used or destroyed, and more found all the time. Levels are very video gamey is many games these days, as is the illusion of 'balance'. Chuck balance and levels both out the window and things operate pretty great.
Only ONE campaign throughout my party's 2+ years of playing tabletop had actually ended properly, with a final boss and proper conclusion and everything.
Every other time was simply because we had enough and wanted to move on, I never had a planned end point for them anyway...
I guess 2 if you count that one time the party helped in the acceleration of time to bring about the reset of the universe, essentially resulting in a TPK leading to the next campaign but... Ehh?
Thanks for the video as always!
Thanks for watching!
Sounds like a super-fun game!
This video is perfect timing for me. I run a campaign for my wife and two young teenagers. This is only their second campaign. They are now level 9 and have actually finished the campaign with the big battle, but they don't really know it and want to continue on. It's like the end of the first movie in a potential series. They have saved the day, but have found themselves in a whole different place.
Love the channel! I've picked up and used a lot of great techniques, especially for the last big battle.
Cool! Glad when things time out.
Great topic! Keep the good work.
let me know what other topics interest you!
You're the man! Thanks for another awesome video.
Thanks for the comment!
I'm notorious for not ending my campaigns. However the last one we started at level one and beat the BBEG at level twenty, nine months later. It felt so good to bring the epic campaign to a definitive end.
As a prospective newbie DM I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and experience with us! I'm anxious about a campaign just fizzling out so knowing that I can set a time when the campaign will definitely end is reassuring. I'm very much put in mind of classic WFRP scenarios where the party rocks up into town and has 3-7 days to solve the mystery/foil the plot or be destroyed by demons/skewered by Skaven!
Shadows over Bogenhaffen and Power Behind the Throne rock!
I cannot tell you how helpful this video is! thank you!!
You are very welcome!
good advice for a rare topic!
Thank you!
Great video!
I always end my campaigns with their character change. They discover who they are, where they came from, what they purpose was, why were they chosen, etc. E.g. guy joins the campaign not knowing who killed his family when he was young. He finds the culprit, who was the villain(or worked for) all this time
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
As usual you are a scholar and a gentleman!
Thank you!
We play online for only three hours or so every two weeks so we need to be efficient to get things done. We've been running a lot of classic TSR adventures of late so at our pace that ends up being about six months for an old 32 page type adventure. I like the idea of knowing a few key bullet points of things to achieve by the end so you can steer the game in that direction and trim out any excess items that could derail the campaign.
I enjoy the Karameikos setting a lot myself and am planning some hybrid of Eye of Traldar/Kill Bargle/Dymrak Dread as a sort of trilogy to get the PCs from level 1 to about 5.
I like the idea of an urban/political/organized crime campaign based around Veiled Society too but I think I'd do something different for that and will definitely listen to all of your videos here related to your campaign.
Different it cool! Do your campaign, always. But watch more DungeonCraft!
Nice video timing! Me and my group are 2 sessions away from finishing out current campaign
Cool!
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Thanks1
Did I read things about skaven in your notes? Very cool. Always fun fodder to throw at any group.
yes, you did. Rodemus' family are inbred with skaven.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 as a warhammer fantasy player since 3rd ed and more specifically a Skaven player since then, I'm glad to see whenever someone uses them in their games for antagonists and such. They are great fun and very versatile foes.
I've finished 2 out of the close to ten I've run over the years actually end, and one of those was only 4 sessions. The other was 13. sometimes I'm the one running out of steam, other times it's schedules not meeting up. Sucks having friends on different schedules
I agree about the scheduling. Thanks for sharing you thoughts.
Nowhere to go after you saved the world? Sounds like the perfect time to start a spelljammer campaign to me
Good answer.
GReat video SO IMPORTANT. Inspired me to send the wrap up to my disintegrated campaign. They basically just needed to meet for one final closure session but I’m just gonna text it to them and let it unfold over that.
Death ringer with the TPK haha
Deathbringer reminds me of chaos warriors from Heroquest, the ancestor of the Warhammer Fantasy rpg.
I think one of the reasons that a lot of campaigns end at level 9 is because at that point they are pretty much super heros and beyond that gets more and more ridiculously powerful. I personally like level 5 the best because levels 1 to 4 make the players feel vulnerable, which is good to start a humble beginning, but once they reach level 5 they really start to feel like heros. I will allow level 1 to 2 happen very quickly, then 2 to 4 a little slower and 5 to 9 I get them to level up gradually. I think if the players are running character classes that are new to them then it is useful at levels 5 and 6 for the players to get most familiar with the different features of their characters to get a good grasp of their full potential. I tend to find as a DM that most of the new features that are given when they level up tend to be forgotten about so it would almost be better to go the way of the old school D&D games and only increase hp and occasionally increase stats so it would feel a lot simpler.
You are correct. This is a major theme of this channel: high levels suck. Players THINK they will be fun, but they're actually boring.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I wouldn't say higher levels suck per se but it is a totally different play style which is not what most players would be completely invested in. Now that I think about it, I might consider a session for my players to temporarily enter the bodies of transcendent demi-god avatars in order to stop a very powerful enemy from doing serious damage to their home world. This sounds like an epic scenario that my players would enjoy but maintaining this level of enjoyment beyond that would be hard to do.
Thanks Prof! what i'm doing at the moment as a new DM, after having run Lost mines of Phan, we decided to do a 'new game plus' where the PC's start a new campaign with the same char but now the threats are greater! they are currently in a 'it's the vietnam war but with goblins' type of campaign and are really loving it!
Cool!
Thumbs up for the defiant gurgle-laugh.
Thanks! That was an improv thing.
I didn't get a notification for this video, just got lucky and stumbled across it. I am a sub and my notification bell is set to "all videos". What is TH-cam doing?!?
I don't know but they do weird things. That's why creators say "Check to See if You're Still Subscribed."
What about an epilogue episode where you revisit, brainstorm and say goodbye to the characters after X years? When we know that we're not coming back to the same characters or world again, that kind of session feels really cathartic.
Could be a cool idea.
The storyboard you showed reminds me of one for an anime different things happen the director approves it or disapproves it and th none other things happen kind of unique I think I'm gonna use it for my campaign
Cool!
I am just starting my first campaing and it is funny to get recommended this video hahahaha
Lol. I also have one about starting one. Good luck!!
Everyone wants to scene where they and their friends march toward the horizon, treasure map in one hand and sword in the other. Nobody wants the session where you're driving the wagon through mud and tree roots back to town, wondering how much lighter the treasure will be after your best friends' funeral.
This is something I've been considering with my main group (I have two right now). We've been playing this main campaign for some time now and the players are level 13. I was attempting to get them to 20 but we switched to a secondary campaign for various reasons and now I'm having loads of fun in the new campaign. Especially after learning a lot about pacing and other various DM loose requirements. So now, I face the task of trying to wrap up the main campaign without it feeling rushed and hitting other plot hooks they may still be interested in. I'll have a sit down with them at some point to work it all out.
Let me know how it works out. Good luck!
I've had a more than 50% success rate in ending campaigns over the past decade. Before that I don't remember. Most of those successes were for games which lasted less than 20 game sessions. Though I did have one end in 37 sessions over 15 months.
I have a better sense of what works now, and that really helps. Most of the games that petered out were because of schedule changes, or the birth of a child. And one more was because I was burned out and so excited about the chance to have a PC that I dropped it (not my proudest moment). Should've finished that one.
I'd like to increase my 50+% success rate, so this video is helpful.
Anyway, nice video.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences, Ron. I really appreciate your viewership. May all your rolls be 20s!
Great topic!
I like all the advice here, I think talking with your players about what they would like is key. I have found that it can be hard for an ending to live up to expectations. Endings are difficult, see 95% of all series finales or trilogy endings for examples.
Yep. It's tough to stick the landing.
These days, I try to make my campaigns modular, with each modular having a satisfying conclusion. It also prevents me from planning too far in advance which keeps me reacting to the choices the PCs are making to influence future encounters. If I feel a module is starting to fizzle, I try to reach the end of it so the PCs can take a break and return to the world later if they want.
Approaching a conclusion of current module with the PCs in a town they recently saved from Orcs, only to be sandwiched between 2 armies fighting for the town's strategic position. I truthfully don't know what they are going to do (will they try to evacuate the townsfolk, make friends with one side to destroy the other, run away, make a final stand, try to assassinate the commanders) but it will probably end up with the town being destroyed.
What a great series! Really informative!
Thanks, Mike!
5 or 6 bi-weekly sessions with 3-5 players is the sweet spot in my opinion and experience with being a DM, might as well just aim for that from the start and have a satisfying conclusion instead of letting it taper off....people get bored, I get bored running a long campaign. I've been running Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden for about 12 sessions and we haven't even moved onto chapter 2. The players have cancelled twice now and I feel like its time to move onto something different, even if only temporarily. Its just such a massive campaign.
If they're cancelling that often it's time to move on.
None of the party's founding members are alive as each player's had at least one character die and be replaced with a new recruit, just not all at once. The survivors of the battle with the Big Bad Evil Guy go home and retire on their vast piles of wealth and newfound influence, passing the torch to a new generation of up and coming adventurers to go be movers and shakers in the world.
That's how it plays out in my head at least. I've never been a DM before.
Thanks for sharing!
Good to see Deathbringer chose the "Blake's Seven" option to wrap up a campaign 😆
That's a deep cut. +100xp for you!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Well on the way to second level now 😅
PDM takes DM’ing to the next level!
Thank you!
Man, I hit all three of those in my 9 month public campaign. No one everyone came back. I had a big showdown on a timer with epic forces on each side, the players had several tasks to complete including the theft of one of the seven artifacts on the fly to create a mini apocalypse that would stop King Oberon from shattering the Ley Lines in the campaign world which end the use of magic in a large area that he intended to use an a FOB and populate with Fomorians. The fighter had the last artifact in the form of a sword that was stuck in the other six artifact s that formed a cube. One inserted the "Tears of Fire" were called from the heavens and would destroy the entire 100 square miles. Problem was the fighter knew that he was likely going to die because the "Tears" would arrive in 1d20 rounds (rolled a 14 in the open for dramatic effect) and to rep his hands from the artifact sword he needed a Natural 20 rolled. Several character stayed to guard their escape gate while one other "helped" the fighter tear his hands free (the help gave him advantage on the roll). On turn 13 on the second roll the fighter rolls a Nat 20 and all who have not died as of yet escape through the gate as the "Tears of Fire" rain destruction down on Oberon (who also leaves), his gate to the UnSeelie Court, and his Fomorian Army. Lots of cheering as the group which started 12 strong that night, had 8 survive - barely.
The cool thing is not everyone made it out. There was a sacrifice that had to be made. THAT is heroic.
My first decade-ish campaign ended with disinterest.
My second (5-6 years, A SpaceMaster Privateers game) ended with the players being pivotal in the defeat of the opposing stellar empire. The "last session" was a summary epilogue of a few paragraphs.
My current (Rolemaster) game at 7-8 years so far is a handful of sessions from ending with either beating or losing to the massed forces of the Void. I have both endings sketched out as to "what happens after".
-
edit: With the Privateers campaign, my players can choose to continue with existing or new characters in following down some leads on a precursor civilization.
With my current campaign, we could continue with a Rifts-style campaign of world-hopping through magical gates left over from the invasion of the Void.
I also have the main beats plotted out for a new space-based campaign that combines elements of the Janissaries book series and Stargate Universe, as well as a fantasy campaign inspired by several computer RPG's I've played like Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and various book series I have read.
It really depends on what my players vote to play.
Let them decide--as long as you dig it. Thanks for sharing!
Wow i guess i feel sorry for most folks. Been playing since 77. Almost always finished campaigns. Been playing with the same group of 7 every Sunday since 96. Our campaign's run 18 months to 2yrs. I have had a Saturday morning group since 2015 and have completed 4 campaigns. I have a waiting list of folks who want to play.
I think the best advice is to really only concentrate on "THE NEXT SESSION!" Try to make the next session the BEST. If you do that they will keep coming back for more!!!
Absolutely. I often say that. It's the key.
For your next campaign diaries series can you go through how you decided what adventure to convert?
With so many modules to choose from how do you choose? Are you looking for them to meet a certain criteria, if so what are the criteria, or do you just pick one and make it work?
None. These episodes take 2x as long to produce as other episodes. I’ve filmed episodes in 20 minutes that have gotten 4x the views. As for picking them, something needs to speak to be on a visceral level. Like I love James Raggi’s “Better Than Any Man.” Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are going to invest months of your life in something, it should be a game you love. Now I’m off to create a clickbait video. Thinking of “Matt Mercer Quits?!l
I heard about a DM, brilliant lady, she starts her games at 20th Level, it's nuts.
I can't imagine how she does it but that sounds like an interesting experiment to try out for a one shot at least.
Maybe the PCs are on undead-level-drain-island :)
@@raymondlugo9960 No she said she just builds the combat encounters around them being level 20, she wants them that way because they have their full tool kit.
Making them lose levels would kind of defeat the purpose of them being max level right?
There are exceptions to every rule.
I just ended my 2nd campaign
Everyone got “good/ neutral” ending expect for one player and the player totally understood why I did it this way. His character went AWOL a year ago and left his lord and his people to die. When he went back to pay respects to his fallen lord. The lord’s son was in charge and asked him “if you want to pay respect then you need to bring honor yourself and handed him a sword to commit seppku. The player left with a double (someone who cuts off the head of the person who cuts their belly open.
Then player decided he couldn’t go through with it and he left and decided to wanderer the land. I said “you wander the land tormented by this guilt . You help heal people but ultimately you can not heal your lost honor. When you pass in life your spirit wanders aimlessly as you did in life.
If the player did go through with the ritual suicide he would have been rewarded with being able to live.
Thanks for sharing!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1
Thank you!
With my campaign, I took an interesting approach. I had an (similar to Sauron) campaign. I also wanted that story to end a very specific way (for very sweeping, essential reasons). However, for gameplay, that started to seem problematic. So I decided that while the enemy is vanquished, it came at the price of the Kingdom. My campaign is about warring Houses left over from the Kingdom and trying to rebuild the society. I have already decided that society WILL be rebuilt. How that come about is determined by the players.
Cool. thanks for sharing!
Agree on "small scale" campaigns are easier to close up. I´m planning a set of campaigns (3 or 4) that go from "street level" up to "high fantasy save the world", through the PC´s descendants. Probable 5-6 levels per campaign, and starting them at higher levels each time (1st campaign starts at lv1, second at level 2, and so on). That way I can play a bit with "inherited abilities", and even if players don´t go beyond 10th level they still have unique abilities, product of their own previous games.
Sounds cool!
Sounds like the end of Gangs of New York!
Love that movie. And yes, I know--Cameron Diaz. But it's still good.
All right fine, I'll join your patreon. You put too much work into this channel. I truly appreciate your grimdark sensibilities and knowledge of English.
I truly appreciate your patronage.
Two years ago I was running two campaigns a week. Two different groups of people, seven players in each group. Group 1 had mostly experienced players, everyone in late thirties to late 50's. Group two was a nice mix of newbies and old timers, ages 20 to 71, with most of them in their 20's. Then the pandemic hit; we stopped playing altogether. Almost two years later we are back to playing in person. Group 1 is intact. Group 2 melted away. All the young people moved away, or moved back home. One of the older players died of the Covid. Now I've lost groups to political reasons (never allow politics, real life politics, to enter your games), and to people moving away or not getting along or pissing off others. First time for pandemic though. Live and learn. Young people's lives are extremely chaotic and hard today, and they don't generally have a stable economic life. While some simply don't make good decisions, this is as true for 40 year olds and 20 year olds.
A few of times we've completed the module, and that's how the game ended. All the others just petered out thru DM burnout or everyone just not being able to get together anymore. One game ended because the DM and his Fiance broke up.
Thanks for sharing!
Although the end of my campaign is far far away, I find this advice useful. I have no idea where the story will go, but I hope to make it something fantastic.
Would you perhaps make a video about fleshing out villain organizations? Not just a BBEG but about the ways a whole organization might operate and how they work. Who does what, who's in charge, what small jobs are there and how do they feed into the bigger machinations of this organization?
How would corrupt guards work if they work for someone, for instance?
I shall cogitate. It's going in the idea notebook. It's kind of a niche thing but I will think about it for sure.
You are right, campaign idea for you tube start at high level and tell the story backwards, of how they came to be.
I'll think about that.
I think it depends on your group. I don't mind not finishing a campaign because it's about the social aspect for me. I would however like to eventually finish one.
Finish it!
Leveling up once every 4 years?! Your players are very patient.
They are!
My most memorable campaign finale (as a PC) was a TPK in the epilogue session, after we succesfully completed our grand quest. The party went to this High Temple of this God (of all good and beauty or something), where the pristesses summon Him to meet us. So they perform this ritual, dancing naked around us. But we were blindfolded because we were not worthy to watch them, only Him. So, this God appears, delivers his speech, and grants each character a Wish. We were all chatting, surprised and excited. But suddenly the Rogue speaks up and says: "You know.... I wish I could see these girls dancing naked around me too..." ;oP
Love rogues who screw up plots!
I like ending with an epic battle.
Always!
I ran a level 1-7 campaign as my first campaign. My players averted the bbeg's plans and saved the city/kingdom. We did a quick epilogue and it was lovely! I had no idea what I was doing but it sounds like I hit some of the same beats!Left a few loose ends we could pursue if they want to come back to that world. Running Strahd currently as my second campaign and...I'm not looking forward to a final confrontation and ending that campaign. It just feels daunting 😳
Also, kudos on the "Amadeus" laugh. That's perfectly awful 😄
Thanks for sharing. My players really hated that laugh. Such a simple trick made a great villain.
It would be great to see some video of your actual game.
It's on Patreon. My players are mostly women and they're shy about being on TH-cam. Patreon they're cool with.
The last campaign I played in ended a couple of weeks ago. Our nigh ubstoppable lvl 14 characters were finally presented with a chance to make a cosmic difference and fix the status quo. We all died gloriously with idiotic grins on our faces.
After our demise, the GM narrated what sort of after lives aeaited us. My necromancer was not lucky.
I also keep my players at the same level, but I keep them at a HIGH level, and then de-level the world. It gives me more versatility in storytelling, because one day they're saving a town from orcs, the next they fight an unrelated god, then the orcs try to resurrect the god, etc. and I can start fresh whenever I'm over a storyline or the pcs go to a new area. I can do comedy, horror, politics and action with the same characters and no fear of overwhelming the pcs. The journey matters, not the gameplay.
Splitting the party for individual spotlight is safe because each one has the capability of a mid-high level party on their own. The main, overarching plot keeps them going and ties things together, but I'm in no way beholden to it at any given time.
(the pcs are modern age superheroes who were magically transported to Faerun and are looking for a way home, if anyone cares)
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
Or you run a sandbox campaign. PCs may die or eventually retire. And because each player has multiple PCs, party composition can vary. But the campaign itself never ends. YMMV.