as an "epilogue", our DM decided to reveal that our whole two and a half year long multi arc campaign that spanned lvl 5 - 11 was a prologue. we have a campaign wrap-up/session zero tomorrow. so excited.
Your DM sounds incredible. I wish I could play in a campaign like that - or better yet, run one. How did the campaign go? And if you're responding to this after the session zero happened, how did that go, too?
I am SOOO happy for you! My game is only a few sessions old and I would be heartbroken if my character (The Angus’ Bane, Minotaur Barbarian) doesn’t get his complete story arc. Being able to basically restart your campaign with the same group sounds like something out of heaven to me! Good luck with the new campaign!
I have always had campaigns end with a fizzle, except for my very first module of LMoP that was an intro game for most of us to DnD. That one had a short epilogue we improv'd on the spot. Iirc we took the money we earned and opened a cool nightclub with our bard in the city, with our new buddy the Spectator guardian coming with us to be the disco ball :)
I'm a fan of sequel campaigns / one shots. Even if you don't play the same character, the players get to re experience places and see how their first characters changed the world
A great way to gain closure into the game even if the campaign ends up breaking apart before the grand finish is using story arcs and time skips. I tend to have a time skip (in game time of 1-12 months) whenever a major story arc ends. That way the characters can tell what they will do on their "time off" from adventuring. In a way if the campaign breaks down, that recent timeskip will work as an epilogue scene. In my games this does backfire though because my players start liking the world and their characters even more, because of this immersion that comes from the time skip and they end up still wanting to play more and more. I will be posting a video of my time skip ideas on my channel at some point.
I've had the pleasure of finishing a couple of games. Most in World of Darkness but just recently, two 5e games that culminated together in a joint epilogue. A beautiful send off. That's three under my belt now. Soon, I'll be going for a fourth :)
We are finally nearing the end of our three-year campaign where I have been the DM. We have laughed, cried, conquered, and experienced the greatest joys together. I don’t know how we will say “goodbye” to this sweet little world we all created together…..but I really appreciate this video for allowing me to view it as a celebration instead of a tragedy ❤️
Currently finished two long term campaigns with the same group. We use the way of having the epilogues and "talk" as their own session. Both giving time to players given thought to were they would send their character. While they also prepare questions and I answer any they might have. Also usually drop the promts for the next campaign setting
Ending a campaign I've been running for three years today, so I'm rather glad I stumbled across this. Though I've experienced a campaign coming to an end once before, we didn't really have much of an epilogue or proper ending. Now, I hope we can end this one well.
My current game is halfway through my planned material, but we might only have, like, eight or ten sessions left, so this video is absolutely perfect. I like the ideas a lot, and I'm excited to wrap up my first big adventure. I like the idea of a meta discussion and talking with the players beforehand. Thanks for the video!!
Just had my finale yesterday--this video was exactly what I needed. The tips let me give my players complex and conclusive epilogues that were the perfect capstone to our adventure. Thanks again!
From watching that intro I suddenly thought about starting a dnd campaign with a story that fades into the campaign, then at the second to last session recap the story through that same storyteller shaping the story based off of what happened then the players can see how it ends and finish the story
Two years ago I did a short 5 session campaign with some folks I had met through an on line mobile app game. The epilogue of the short campaign ended up being a success so we decided to start fresh with a new batch of characters….. the epilogue was also the beginning of session 1 for the current campaign. Two years later and we are a few sessions away from closing out this campaign with everyone ending at lvl 16. I have the epilogue written in a similar fashion as the one that started it all, with a difference……. I’m handing the keys to the world I created with a bunch of awesome friends to another DM, where I get to finally play a PC in the world. I’m looking forward to it. To give some history, the world I use was created in the late 1980s and I have had over 30 different players in that world over the years. Typically the campaigns would end because life happened and we all ended up relocating, so we would do an epilogue to the campaign as a send off to the group, I would write a story in a similar fashion as Tolkien at the end of the LOtR that they got to take with them. I miss some of the folks, but they don’t play anymore. Four years ago my son got into playing and he found my old books and read through my notes including the epilogues. The epilogue was told through the eyes of a Bard by the name of Winshire the Woodshaver at the end of every campaign. Sometimes the epilogue was in a tavern over a flagon of Ale…. Other times it was to a group of children at a local festival of some kind. In every case the players would roll play someone other than their character to get some of the back story of their character as well as play out the speculative future of their character as we wrapped things up. I’d take more notes and put it in the file for later use. The DM plans on using the epilogue as his session zero since we will be starting at lvl 0 for his campaign. I’m looking forward to this.
Not D&D but my group has managed to make it to the final stages of our Dungeon World Campaign and as the DM I’m really looking forward to seeing how this ends…
My fantasy high game ended with the party assembling and returning the Sword of the One True Prom King which, since it can grant a wish they used to make their immortal villain mortal, the sequel game now has the next crop of seniors having to contend with the cliques of the school all going into open warfare against each other to try and get their person elected prom king or queen to get their hands on it. (Because the sword can grant a wish and can only be drawn by someone elected prom king or prom queen.)
I'm the DM for a nearly 4 year long campaign, that is soon(ish) coming to a conclusion. My players have been awesome all the way through, and even though it's an online campaign, with people I don't know IRL, we've consistently played weekly, with only a few short breaks during vacations, sickness, etc. (We're currently on session 142, with campaign start in May 2019.) Due to the setting and circumstances, there have only been sparse nods to personal arcs related to their backstories, but the few there are, are slowly getting wrapped up. They're nearly done collecting the McGuffins that will allow them to escape the demiplane they've been stuck on since campaign start, but that will also get them into a confrontation with the current ruler of the domain, so it's basically "do or die" at that point. Here's to hoping that they make it (though I don't hold back, which they know)! And no matter what, there will of course be an epilogue, no matter how it ends :D The most riveting part for my players have always been the following Q&A mini-session, where they can ask any questions they might have about the plot, the world, unfinished/unexplored content, etc.
Yep, epiloges are wonderful to go through - even if it's just a short one where everyone explains what they wanted to do after surviving the end effectively. My party has a great plan for a one shot epilogue for our Borderlands-inspired campaign. We're gonna go kick the devil's ass to get our hexblade-pally out of his deal with him. We're gonna have a good time at level 20 >D
last time my campaign ended, the group who had only referred to each other as their class name found out the true name of the rogue who died in the final battle in order to resurrect him had returned to their starting town that had made the mass teleport that was used to save the peoples of their world, they sat and finally introduced themselves to each other and with no great evil or danger to overcome, they each took a coin and threw it over the map of their new world and then marked where the coins landed 'guess we know where we're going next, come along friends, lets see what this world has to offer' so in the end, they decided to explore their new world and see what was out there
My DM really doesn’t like epilogues. One of our campaigns literally ended with taking down the big bad and the GM said “you all fell fulfilled knowing you saved the world” and it ended there. They’re a great DM in other aspects, just not this.
Lol, they don't have to do the epilogue themselves! They can copy the actual plays that do this and just ask each player what they go on to do. If they just are bored by it I guess you're stuck, but if they don't want to do it themselves maybe the players can still give it a stab?
I always like to do epilogues for my campaigns but now for the first time I'm doing a sequel campaign which is in the same world around two years later. I'm kind of excited to revisit the world with mostly the same players but all new characters. This summer we did a one shot "interquel" with the entire original party to kind of set up campaign 2.
Been doing that for about forty years. For me it never stopped getting exciting whenever I started to write a new campaign. I've recently started the "Final Campaign" in that world... with players who've been exploring the world for the majority of the duration it's been going. They know it as well as I do, one them was at the first session. Every campaign I have run through that time has featured another new part of the world that they may have visited or passed through in the past, but while opening up the new places, letting them their own experience of the world by visiting favourite old haunts always works well. It may not be the "final" campaign, ever but it will finally provide answers to questions some of the players have wanted to know for over 30 years. Every new campaign starts with new Level 1 characters and they almost always try to visit "The Rat and Dagger" tavern in the port town of Tasskurr. It was bought and run by one of the original characters who is now in his seventies (character that is... player is in his 50s) but inevitably turns up along with some (ageing) NPCs who have been around since year dot. Stick at it and keep your world growing. There is no real downside to evolving a personal game world and reusing it for many, many campaigns. And when the players start to realise some of those campaigns may even be linked with a deeper more important mystery at their core... they may even start to appreciate how much work you have put into it!!! (I use the word "May" with caution...) I've never been a big fan of the over blown epilogue. The players invariably win, and we don't go in for the slow, pause every 6 or 7 words for effect, sweeping speeches dumping exposition and descriptions everyone forgets by the time you finish talking. For us its usually a case of "Straight to the pub" and get stuck into the reminiscing and the Q&A. The players asking me about the stuff they never got round to dealing with or the meaning of hidden clues they never solved... Or me admitting to the vast amount of stuff I made up on the spot, because they broke the plot... THAT is what my players want at the end. Explaining motivations of NPCs, why someone did what they did... all that stuff that they don't get to see during the game. That's where our epilogue happens (with beer.)
My first campaign in a few years is getting fairly close to resolving, and I'm starting to plan another campaign that will take place probably about 200 years after this one. The outcome of this campaign will have a major impact on what the world looks like in the next.
I'm not the one running the campaign I'm currently in, but the DM has outright stated that if and when we finally take out the big bad, he's got a 1.5 story planned where everyone is playing one of the surviving npcs about 10 years after the end of the current story and we'll go around helping clean up the original party's messes they left behind while trying to save the world.
Had an epilogue for a campaign that finally ended. Sadly, the party failed, despite their greatest efforts. They saw the town again....their characters in world still have statues to them now in that town. 'We gave some, but some gave all. We will not forget your sacrifice'
I think that it’s important to show that, if the characters failed, that their world is somewhat worse for it. It’s a downer, but otherwise the players might think that the characters didn’t matter to the outcome of the conflict.
@@andrewjohnson6716 I think even in defeat you can be inspiring though. Like even if you lose, your heroism and self-sacrifice could inspire others and pave the way for the next group of heroes who actually win.
@@andrewjohnson6716 True. ironically, I had the town overcome because while we know what happened, the town only knew that the BBEG's forces were crippled, And the bodies of their heros were found in the room with the BBEG's while their forces were in full retreat...but it was a double, not the real villain, who's body was there. But when the entire town is against them, don't matter how powerful they are, they gotta flee. Ended up being a future villain used in the follow up campaign where they saw the statues. Had they not been able to cripple the BBEG's influince in their fall, the town wouldn't have survived. Instead, they became bittersweet memories and legends in a town that would never know their tyrant still lived. Something the town would remember as a sign that since the party consisted of those that would have been overlooked earlier in their lives, it was proof they could never know where the next heros may rise from.
@@daneroberts1996 Admittedly, I think you give it more credit than it deserves. I had made it based on memorials to fallen soldiers. since in that world, it's what they would be seen as.
After 40 years, only have a few memorable epilogues, since more than half of my campaigns imploded for any number of reasons. As for the ones I remember... One got hitched after months of in-game mooning and letters from afar. Another went home and settled a long-running spat with her mother that had lasted decades. Another was the scheming rogue who went straight for love of a man and a cause to fight for, now an officer in Imperial uniform on the parade field, the PCs flush with victory. But the worst was the cleric who spent the next five years in an insane asylum. Then there was the IRL epilogue. Years ago, my wife and fellow DM passed away only 2 or 3 sessions from the end of a long-running campaign. Most of our group were her blood relatives or in-laws. So, after weeks of delay (for obvious reasons), I found a way to say goodbye to her as a player. On the very last session, the PCs were granted a vision of my wife's wizard and her panther familiar, alive and well, but now in the service of a god for reasons perfectly woven into the campaign narrative. Still don't know how I held it together.
Wow didn't expect a random comment to get me crying like this. Words fail me here, but just know that this has touched my heart and it goes out to you 💙
We had a campaign fizzle out due to the pandemic, really close to the end too. After talking to the DM we decided on one last session. He condensed the final material into a one-shot. Two of our players didn't show, but we had them filled in by our new groupmembers. Because we knew it was the last session we had epilogues prepared. Afterwards we went out to dinner where we reminisced the highlights of the campaign and all the meta stuff. It was an awesome day and I am glad we went through with it
A way of handling epilogues I enjoy is the "Ending slides" a la the Fallout series. It's a bit of work from the GM perspective, but asking the players what each of their characters would be aiming to do/how they'd respond to certain scenarios and then asking the players which of the NPCs and factions they are most interested in hearing about will let you tailor the 'slides' to wrap up everything the players want to hear about.
I’ve only had one epilogue and it by far the highlight! A big reason was the MUSIC. I get flack for this but I think music can really elevate a DnD game to the next level. An emotional final song to fit the emotional final moments can make it all the better.
Agreed on the role music can play. I ended my previous campaign with selected tunes and time to let each player tell me what their character did after the game was over.
Agreed. I had a final session for my last campaign, and had an epilogue which I spent time writing, and also allowing players to describe where they would've gone, and the music elevated it tenfold
I keep over a dozen different spotify playlists for different moods/situations, and I'm always looking for more stuff to fill them out with (witcher, skyrim, and world of warcraft so far have been very good to me). Great movies depend on their soundtrack, it is critical to keeping the mood and energy, and anyone who says it doesn't have a place at the table is crazy.
I bet it is, but I usually just use some ambient sounds (e.g. waves, rain, wind, footsteps, crowd of people talking etc.) to fit the current setting, but I feel like my players are often just a bit confused where the sounds are coming from and then forget about them. I should probably ask them if that helps, though to me personally it helps imagine the scene a bit better... With music though I struggle to find something that actually fits the mood, given that the players can heavily influence the mood with their RP and actions. I don't want to put in overly dramatic music when the players are actually joking about something or trying to figure out how to evade that situation. I just have no idea what music to put in without it being too much or quickly clash with the current mood at the table if I don't have something else ready immediately.
I literally just ended a campaign that we started in 2019 , like, 3 days ago, and we had an epilogue that really was wonderful. As the DM, I tasked each player with writing what their characters stories looked like over the next few years. Did they spend it with each other? Did they split up and marry NPC's? Open up their own bakery or alchemy shop and enjoy small town life? It started with a celebration in one of the realms largest cities, celebrating the group and all their accomplishments, mourning the ones they lost in that time, and even promoting one of the players to a higher rank in the faction they were a part of. The party was filled with some of their family members and NPC's that they had met and had grown attached to. Eventually the party had to wind down, and to start an RP prompt, I said something like "As the party begins to come to close, you all find yourselves together in this crisp night air, and you begin to realize that this may be the last time you are all in the same spot together." this kicked off some nice RP, and then I went around the table, had them roll initiative one last time, and each read their personal epilogue in initiative order. I loved hearing each of them read about the dreams and ambitions that their characters could now accomplish, and what their plans were, many of them involving NPC's that I had created and grown attached to. It was overall one of my favorite sessions we ever played. I will say, though, that I ended it with a bit of a tease about something that happens a few years after they finished this campaign, just in case they want to bust these characters out someday for one more final run with these characters that we had grown attached to. I mean, in a fantasy world, does the opportunity for adventure ever really go away? Anyway, thanks for the video, it made me feel better about how I handled that last session. It was scary since there isn't a ton of info on epilogues like this. I just wish you had released it a week earlier!😆
I recently finished my first ever campaign as DM (yay!), and had a "what happens next?" epilogue similar to the one you're describing here. We then also ran a postscript where we jumped forward in time a few years, everyone levelled their character up to level 20, and they had a "[Party], we need you to save the world one last time" sort of mission. It was great fun both from a narrative standpoint (seeing where the characters were several years after we last left them) and from a mechanical one (getting to experience epic-tier play), and I'd recommend it to anyone finishing up a campaign!
I ended my first campaign with a real ending. One guy had IRL stuff making him 1 hour late consistently, another had a new job coming up, and I was interviewing for a new job. It lasted something like 6 months, 25 sessions. I could see the writing on the wall, so I plainly asked the entire group, “we’re nearing the midpoint of the campaign and we could easily hit 60 sessions at this rate. _But,_ I think I could work something out where it’ll be done in about 3 sessions.” We all agreed it’s better to send it off properly than let it fizzle out 3 months later. It really added a sense of out of character pressure because we all knew we were running short on time, which fit because the characters were under the gun with mass destruction looming.
Btw, we had a great finale!! After the boss fight, we enjoyed a nice epilogue with the players finding a good end to each story - and even the beginning of some new ones. Thanks again for making this the best campaign I've wrapped up yet!
One of the funnest and most memorable epilogues we’ve ever experienced was The Deck of Many Things. Some of us received riches beyond measure, some literally fought death and triumphed, others got trapped in another dimension or plane while the rest did nothing, took the deck, and disappeared.
Last month me and my party finished a 3 years long campaign. For the last three sessions we choose to go for a week out to a beautiful mountain town of the Apennines. If you can, make it special: it is quite the "once in a lifetime" experience, and those stories and characters will likely never come back. And for the record, yes. There were tears.
Last year I managed to finish a year long campaign we did during the pandemic lockdown over roll20. I think I wrapped it up ok, but this video definitely would have helped and made me feel more secure about how it ended!
We had a years long campaign reach the grand finale. It was a wild weird west theme. Battle at the Alamo against the Drow queen in a giant mechanical spider that shot meteor storm cannons. Level 20 characters. That battle took hours. Then the DM started a new campaign 20 years later in the time line. “ Remember the Alamo” was a lament that the lvl20 characters who were now NPC’s said all the time.
I rarely get to do epilogues because we have a "keep the characters around in case we do more stuff in the same continuity" attitude. My favourite from one time when we did was when a wizard who was also a bit of a fence/blackmarketeer decided he was going to become the wandering item merchant in someone-else's story, complete with a golem made from parts he'd gathered during the story to carry all the stock.
My first D&D epilouge, we woke an ancient balck dragon with a hoard of treasure, and our DM let us choose between dying in a fiery blaze of glory, joining the dragon to take over the world, or miraculously escape, and it was fantastic. My wood elf druid Isilinin got to Wild Shape midleap to tear out his eye, and it was AWESOME :D :D :D :D :D
This video came out literally between my running the last session of my current campaign and its epilogue. Our last fight went long, so I wasn't going to rush the epilogue. Instead, we're going to do the epilogue, then switch to a session 0 for the next (with a different DM, very exciting!) Very timely for me!
Give the same care to players who leave for life reasons as well. Send them out well. Also I loved your tragedy reference respect to anyone going for tragedy endings!
I have done epilogues for a scant few of my games, since only about 10% of my games ever end naturally. For unnatural ends, I do a "behind the curtain" session, if I am given the opportunity, but many of my interrupted campaigns, have a chance for further stories, months, or years later, so players can fill in the long game with me, if they make the time. However, since I run multiple overlapping campaigns, in the same campaign worlds (in a Gygaxian method), players, and characters, can't write their own epilogues, only tell me their intent, as the world keeps turning. Gygax legendarily let his players "blue book" writing chapters about their downtime, and getting feedback from Gygax, including elaborate epilogues. I have gotten a very few opportunities to write my own endings, for my characters in other games, but both the GMs that let me, passed in '18 & '21.
I mean, you could just let them write it freely and treat it as a your-character-believes-that-to-be-the-reality situation. That way, you don't hamstring them and they can't go roughshod on your setting.
One of my proudest accomplishments is that I managed to run a full level 1-20 Adventure Path campaign. We did have a bit of an epilogue, but probably not as much as I should have done.
This honestly just makes me so excited for our campaign wrap-up. We have roughly 8 sessions and our big finale after what will be a total of two and a half years of playing this story. Our DM has already let us know there are 3 major possible outcomes, and we've already talked in and out of game that provided they're both still alive, my PC and a beloved NPC will finally get their wedding (which had previously been interrupted months ago in game).
With the groups I've played with, our DM gives the results of what has happened for our concluding points and then asks "So what do you do now?" It's usually a quick synopsis of what a character does like continues going out to help people, marries her love and they have a ton of kids, etc. I personally like not having a full session for an epilogue because I get to just live with a "we did that" moment as the final big thing.
Narrative cohesion and satisfying conclusions are exactly why I enjoy creating short stories for each session. I’ll write them up, streamline the events and make them more compelling, and my Players will get to see how their actions would look “on the big screen” in a way.
My current 5E group started our campaign with "Lost Mines of Phaldelver" When we completed that module, the sorcerer insisted that we skip town to avoid the parade, which would have been... gauche or something? I have decided that if my character dies before we finish the game, the corpse is teleporting back to the town and sparking a montage of celebrating the other heroes
after never living past third level in Gygaxian dungeons in the '70s, I was brought into a game with two of my kids and their friends that ran to completion. We simply told the story of our retirement and now that is canon in the world. We can run into a statue or hear a story about a character passing through a nearby town. And somewhere, if we are running a party at the same time period of one of our adventures, we may see five arrows fall from nowhere just because some ranger was experimenting with some powerful magic. The DM tells us that in our next run, that happens prior to the destruction of the Litch King, we will meet one of our party at a time before he became famous. I love the continuity.
Wow, talk about serendipitous timing. I'm getting ready to end my 1-year long Eberron campaign as the players are restless and want to play Spelljammer.
"But that's just a fairy tale to pacify children..." I was fully expecting you to hit the Liam O'Brien Narrative Telephone "but the wise know better" when you said that.
Your timing is perfect. We just defeated our BBEG last night after a three year campaign. One player had his epilogue at the end of the session, because life responsibilities are taking him away from us, but the rest of us will get our epilogues next week.
My last campaign ended with one player's character (Changeling: Rogue/Artificer) committing suicide because he dropped 10 sessions away from the end and his corpse was eaten by the parties tiger companion. The other 3 player trudged on without him. They competed in a world Martial art tournament for the "Favor of the Gods" to fix some shit in the world that they themselves caused (oops! we release xenomorphs). One Character (Goliath: Barbarian/Sorcerer) was decapitated by a Vorpal sword in the final match. As the (Aarakocra: Monk) is preparing to land the final blow to win the tournament the demon lord that they released attacks the arena to prevent them from winning. The spectating dictator of the majority of the world begins to flee the chaos in his airship. The (Tiefling: Cleric/ Warlock) begins fighting the demon lord as the Monk drinks a strange potion he received by mysterious means. His body is ported to an unknown location and in his place a gargantuan golden dragon (manifestation of god). The dragon takes off flying after the fleeing airship, the warlock attempts to grapple but fails. Warlock is now left to solo the BBEG with the party's pet tiger and NPC Healbot...Harambe (Custom Lineage: Cleric/Druid). Monk finds out that he is on an isolated island. Wanders around for a bit and stumbles upon a man in a white suit. Guy asks him "What's going on youngster?" to which monk replies "Man, I wish I knew..." Bam, wish #1 granted; He now has complete understanding of all history from dawn of time up until that point. Meanwhile Warlock is still soloing the demon lord. Combat is intense, and an angel servant of Warlock's patron shows up to aid him in the fight. Back on the Island Monk has figured out what's going on and makes Wish #2. God, can you please extinct the xenomorphs we released from the crashed spaceship? Done. Back to Warlock and he gets a final transformation, beats the demon lord, and scrys on the fleeing dictator only to see his airship being destroyed by the golden dragon. Back to the Monk, who throws me for a loop on his third wish. He wishes that liches (there were several prominent ones feature throughout the campaign that never got dealt with) no longer respawn when they die. Granted! He chills with god for a little bit then the time comes for him to leave. He rides away from the island on the back of a giant turtle only to be welcomed by the sight of skyscrapers and neon lights in the distance. He uses his teleportation helm to port back to their home city. Flying cars are everywhere and a there is a huge statue dedicated to their adventuring party erected in the city that they saved from multiple threats. Seems time flows a little different on the Island, and 3,000 years have passed since the tournament ended. Monk goes back to their residence and that's where I let Warlock tell the Monk what he did in the aftermath. He raised the Monks child, established a Dojo in his name, had monks teacher from childhood teach his own child who went on to train a hundred generations of Aarokocra descendants. He set up a trust in perpetuity to fund it all and migrated to the shrine of his patron where he built an elaborate temple complex. His friends and loved ones long dead, the Monk ends up spending the rest of his life in the future establishing a new martial arts style, The Way of the Smoking Gun. His character is now the first quest giver in my upcoming cyberpunk campaign that I am preparing to run soon.
Having watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners last night, I’m now thinking that a lot of epilogues for Cyberpunk 2020 or Red are going to end with PC memorials or the surviving PCs ordering their fallen comrades’ drinks at the Afterlife (an edgerunner bar that immortalises edgerunners who die during a job in spectacular fashion by adding a drink named for them - usually something they ordered a lot in life - to the bar’s menu).
Just finished a campaign of 2.5+ years this past weekend! I was thinking of how to do an epilogue for the group and this video came up 😆 Thanks for making exactly what I was looking for! Great video and ideas!!
For the first campaign that I ran which was a sort of introductory campaign to my players since they were new I actually ended the campaign after only 8 sessions. I had never reached the end of a campaign before although I had played for around 3 years and some campaigns having many more sessions than 8. But it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with D&D. Although the characters hadn’t gotten lots of time to develop their characters, it still felt like they all managed to get the story and ending they deserved. The point is, that ending really made the game into something else. When the story had a end, the characters simply got way more interesting and it felt like their actions in the world actually mattered. I would easily say it was the best thing of the entire campaign
I actually just had a campaign end. It was due to unavoidable life changes, but it happened to coincide with the end of a narrative arc, so it was the perfect place to end the campaign with a 'ride off into the sunset' epilogue. This couldn't have been better timed :)
Yeah definitely love doing those epilogues to resolve the story and I didn't quite think of it like an opposite to the backstory but ran it that way and I like that description! Another thing my groups have done is continue the next campaign in the same world. So epilogues also have a chance to influence how the world looks leading into the next game. Then next game when they meet this mage guild they know that it was founded by one of their old characters and are instantly a bit more invested.
We literally just finished a one shot which turned into a mini campaign last night. Only the third Dnd game I’ve completed in nearly 10 years with my group! It ended with one character death, and the rest walking away poisoned from the final battle. Sort of sad but it was an under dark adventure so pretty much expected! Great game 😊
Sort of a side...thing, but Im a player currently in the middle of writing a character epilogue and not because the campaign finished. One of our other players recently passed and he was so instrumental to the dynamic that we decided to call the game there and everyone do their own epilogue.
I almost don't dare to hope, because a dashed dream pierces deeper than the jaded blade of apathy. And yet even here in not saying it, I reveal my heart's desire. It's a maddening dream to chase, but I just can't suppress the want.
Next tuesday is the final session of a campaign I'm in. This made me really excited about it, even when it's sad to let go. Made me think more about my character and what he wants, and I think I've got it. First, we still have one last fight to get through, though. Wish us luck. I bear the sword that's needed to slay them, so we're gonna need it.
I'm curious about limits to behind the screen discussions. Particularly, I have some players who want to know everything but who will kick themselves for any missed loot or missed side quests. I think that there might be space for some secrets to remain. What do you think?
I think you're right that, like pretty much any facet of D&D, it depends on the party! If you feel that your party would obsess over missed opportunities, then it might not be right for your table (although, to be honest, I think anyone who obsesses over missed opportunities is gonna have a hard time with D&D anyway!)
I'll add- if you ever fudged dice or otherwise adjusted things like that behind the screen, never ever let the players know that even post-campaign. It can make them start questioning everything they achieved and really sour things. (Credit Seth Sorkowski on his channel for this advice.)
We are so close to this. My party is so close to the end of a full run 1-20 campaign. I didn’t want to think of the epilogue, but they have been playing for years, and I know they deserve an amazing one. So many changes along the way, and hopefully, they get to enjoy their lives after the end. And then we start a new game. This might be the first open campaign I finished, and not because the semester was over.
My DM recently ended our campaign. We were playing for over five years and we were all crying through the epilogue. The DM managed to find the perfect end for all our characters. It was so bittersweet but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.
In quite the coincidence, I just ended my two year campaign on Tuesday, and we're doing our epilogue this next week, so this video's going to prove extremely valuable. Thank you as always for putting out such well thought out content!
We did one for our 2 year campaign. It was really cool for many of the players, but for me it was the first opportunity to follow up on all the plots we DIDN'T follow, but were more compelling to me than our chosen path.
😂 I originally wrote her in for that bit but it seemed silly when there was only ONE book quote in the video... headcanon is that she's sulking now LOL
we had an epilogue for a campaign we had played for 3 years throughout highschool. it was generally goofy and short but we got to come up with nice endings for our characters after our quest, ranging from gambling all the money away at a casino to donating all the reward money to local bard colleges 😂 then they all lived happily ever after in their small little cottage
as an "epilogue", our DM decided to reveal that our whole two and a half year long multi arc campaign that spanned lvl 5 - 11 was a prologue. we have a campaign wrap-up/session zero tomorrow. so excited.
Your DM sounds incredible. I wish I could play in a campaign like that - or better yet, run one. How did the campaign go? And if you're responding to this after the session zero happened, how did that go, too?
All the corners of our world are mere prologue...
How was session 0?
Is your DM Eichiro Oda?! Holy crap!!
I am SOOO happy for you! My game is only a few sessions old and I would be heartbroken if my character (The Angus’ Bane, Minotaur Barbarian) doesn’t get his complete story arc. Being able to basically restart your campaign with the same group sounds like something out of heaven to me! Good luck with the new campaign!
I’ve been playing for longer than I care to admit and in ALL my years, only 1 campaign has ended properly without a TPK.
And it was beautiful
hehe. nice! our campaign still going...since october 1994. still a few more years before it ends...
Wait up, wait up.... TPK isn't a proper ending??
I have always had campaigns end with a fizzle, except for my very first module of LMoP that was an intro game for most of us to DnD. That one had a short epilogue we improv'd on the spot. Iirc we took the money we earned and opened a cool nightclub with our bard in the city, with our new buddy the Spectator guardian coming with us to be the disco ball :)
@@FlatOnHisFace of course it is :P
I'm a fan of sequel campaigns / one shots. Even if you don't play the same character, the players get to re experience places and see how their first characters changed the world
A great way to gain closure into the game even if the campaign ends up breaking apart before the grand finish is using story arcs and time skips. I tend to have a time skip (in game time of 1-12 months) whenever a major story arc ends. That way the characters can tell what they will do on their "time off" from adventuring. In a way if the campaign breaks down, that recent timeskip will work as an epilogue scene. In my games this does backfire though because my players start liking the world and their characters even more, because of this immersion that comes from the time skip and they end up still wanting to play more and more. I will be posting a video of my time skip ideas on my channel at some point.
I've had the pleasure of finishing a couple of games. Most in World of Darkness but just recently, two 5e games that culminated together in a joint epilogue. A beautiful send off. That's three under my belt now. Soon, I'll be going for a fourth :)
We are finally nearing the end of our three-year campaign where I have been the DM. We have laughed, cried, conquered, and experienced the greatest joys together. I don’t know how we will say “goodbye” to this sweet little world we all created together…..but I really appreciate this video for allowing me to view it as a celebration instead of a tragedy ❤️
Currently finished two long term campaigns with the same group. We use the way of having the epilogues and "talk" as their own session.
Both giving time to players given thought to were they would send their character.
While they also prepare questions and I answer any they might have. Also usually drop the promts for the next campaign setting
Ending a campaign I've been running for three years today, so I'm rather glad I stumbled across this. Though I've experienced a campaign coming to an end once before, we didn't really have much of an epilogue or proper ending. Now, I hope we can end this one well.
My current game is halfway through my planned material, but we might only have, like, eight or ten sessions left, so this video is absolutely perfect. I like the ideas a lot, and I'm excited to wrap up my first big adventure. I like the idea of a meta discussion and talking with the players beforehand. Thanks for the video!!
Just had my finale yesterday--this video was exactly what I needed. The tips let me give my players complex and conclusive epilogues that were the perfect capstone to our adventure. Thanks again!
From watching that intro I suddenly thought about starting a dnd campaign with a story that fades into the campaign, then at the second to last session recap the story through that same storyteller shaping the story based off of what happened then the players can see how it ends and finish the story
The creative skits you do are so fun too watch! I found your channel a few days ago, and I love your content!
Two years ago I did a short 5 session campaign with some folks I had met through an on line mobile app game. The epilogue of the short campaign ended up being a success so we decided to start fresh with a new batch of characters….. the epilogue was also the beginning of session 1 for the current campaign. Two years later and we are a few sessions away from closing out this campaign with everyone ending at lvl 16. I have the epilogue written in a similar fashion as the one that started it all, with a difference……. I’m handing the keys to the world I created with a bunch of awesome friends to another DM, where I get to finally play a PC in the world. I’m looking forward to it.
To give some history, the world I use was created in the late 1980s and I have had over 30 different players in that world over the years. Typically the campaigns would end because life happened and we all ended up relocating, so we would do an epilogue to the campaign as a send off to the group, I would write a story in a similar fashion as Tolkien at the end of the LOtR that they got to take with them. I miss some of the folks, but they don’t play anymore. Four years ago my son got into playing and he found my old books and read through my notes including the epilogues.
The epilogue was told through the eyes of a Bard by the name of Winshire the Woodshaver at the end of every campaign. Sometimes the epilogue was in a tavern over a flagon of Ale…. Other times it was to a group of children at a local festival of some kind. In every case the players would roll play someone other than their character to get some of the back story of their character as well as play out the speculative future of their character as we wrapped things up. I’d take more notes and put it in the file for later use.
The DM plans on using the epilogue as his session zero since we will be starting at lvl 0 for his campaign. I’m looking forward to this.
My campaign is only 12 sessions in but I watched this anyway because I know this will come up eventually. Good stuff, thanks Ginny!
Not D&D but my group has managed to make it to the final stages of our Dungeon World Campaign and as the DM I’m really looking forward to seeing how this ends…
My fantasy high game ended with the party assembling and returning the Sword of the One True Prom King which, since it can grant a wish they used to make their immortal villain mortal, the sequel game now has the next crop of seniors having to contend with the cliques of the school all going into open warfare against each other to try and get their person elected prom king or queen to get their hands on it. (Because the sword can grant a wish and can only be drawn by someone elected prom king or prom queen.)
I'm the DM for a nearly 4 year long campaign, that is soon(ish) coming to a conclusion. My players have been awesome all the way through, and even though it's an online campaign, with people I don't know IRL, we've consistently played weekly, with only a few short breaks during vacations, sickness, etc. (We're currently on session 142, with campaign start in May 2019.)
Due to the setting and circumstances, there have only been sparse nods to personal arcs related to their backstories, but the few there are, are slowly getting wrapped up. They're nearly done collecting the McGuffins that will allow them to escape the demiplane they've been stuck on since campaign start, but that will also get them into a confrontation with the current ruler of the domain, so it's basically "do or die" at that point.
Here's to hoping that they make it (though I don't hold back, which they know)!
And no matter what, there will of course be an epilogue, no matter how it ends :D
The most riveting part for my players have always been the following Q&A mini-session, where they can ask any questions they might have about the plot, the world, unfinished/unexplored content, etc.
Yep, epiloges are wonderful to go through - even if it's just a short one where everyone explains what they wanted to do after surviving the end effectively. My party has a great plan for a one shot epilogue for our Borderlands-inspired campaign. We're gonna go kick the devil's ass to get our hexblade-pally out of his deal with him. We're gonna have a good time at level 20 >D
I’ve never played dnd, but the thought of ending a campaign literally has me tearing up 😅
last time my campaign ended, the group who had only referred to each other as their class name found out the true name of the rogue who died in the final battle in order to resurrect him had returned to their starting town that had made the mass teleport that was used to save the peoples of their world, they sat and finally introduced themselves to each other and with no great evil or danger to overcome, they each took a coin and threw it over the map of their new world and then marked where the coins landed
'guess we know where we're going next, come along friends, lets see what this world has to offer'
so in the end, they decided to explore their new world and see what was out there
Need to have a campaign first.
I ran one campaign and it ended on purpose. We agreed beforehand that it'd be 7ish sessions and it was 9 or 10 iirc.
My DM really doesn’t like epilogues. One of our campaigns literally ended with taking down the big bad and the GM said “you all fell fulfilled knowing you saved the world” and it ended there. They’re a great DM in other aspects, just not this.
Lol, they don't have to do the epilogue themselves! They can copy the actual plays that do this and just ask each player what they go on to do. If they just are bored by it I guess you're stuck, but if they don't want to do it themselves maybe the players can still give it a stab?
@@persephoneunderground845 yeah I’ll do a better job of letting them know next time.
@@ThePikPals not like you did anything wrong, btw, the DM story was just funny. Hope it goes better next time!
That pisses me off as someone who loves emotional story-telling.
I always like to do epilogues for my campaigns but now for the first time I'm doing a sequel campaign which is in the same world around two years later. I'm kind of excited to revisit the world with mostly the same players but all new characters. This summer we did a one shot "interquel" with the entire original party to kind of set up campaign 2.
Been doing that for about forty years. For me it never stopped getting exciting whenever I started to write a new campaign.
I've recently started the "Final Campaign" in that world... with players who've been exploring the world for the majority of the duration it's been going. They know it as well as I do, one them was at the first session. Every campaign I have run through that time has featured another new part of the world that they may have visited or passed through in the past, but while opening up the new places, letting them their own experience of the world by visiting favourite old haunts always works well. It may not be the "final" campaign, ever but it will finally provide answers to questions some of the players have wanted to know for over 30 years.
Every new campaign starts with new Level 1 characters and they almost always try to visit "The Rat and Dagger" tavern in the port town of Tasskurr. It was bought and run by one of the original characters who is now in his seventies (character that is... player is in his 50s) but inevitably turns up along with some (ageing) NPCs who have been around since year dot.
Stick at it and keep your world growing. There is no real downside to evolving a personal game world and reusing it for many, many campaigns. And when the players start to realise some of those campaigns may even be linked with a deeper more important mystery at their core... they may even start to appreciate how much work you have put into it!!! (I use the word "May" with caution...)
I've never been a big fan of the over blown epilogue. The players invariably win, and we don't go in for the slow, pause every 6 or 7 words for effect, sweeping speeches dumping exposition and descriptions everyone forgets by the time you finish talking.
For us its usually a case of "Straight to the pub" and get stuck into the reminiscing and the Q&A.
The players asking me about the stuff they never got round to dealing with or the meaning of hidden clues they never solved... Or me admitting to the vast amount of stuff I made up on the spot, because they broke the plot...
THAT is what my players want at the end. Explaining motivations of NPCs, why someone did what they did... all that stuff that they don't get to see during the game.
That's where our epilogue happens (with beer.)
My first campaign in a few years is getting fairly close to resolving, and I'm starting to plan another campaign that will take place probably about 200 years after this one. The outcome of this campaign will have a major impact on what the world looks like in the next.
@@jacobsargent5367 I'm in the exact same spot! Even the 200 years part! Nice.
I'm doing a sequel campaign that takes place approximately 10000 years later.
I'm not the one running the campaign I'm currently in, but the DM has outright stated that if and when we finally take out the big bad, he's got a 1.5 story planned where everyone is playing one of the surviving npcs about 10 years after the end of the current story and we'll go around helping clean up the original party's messes they left behind while trying to save the world.
Had an epilogue for a campaign that finally ended. Sadly, the party failed, despite their greatest efforts. They saw the town again....their characters in world still have statues to them now in that town. 'We gave some, but some gave all. We will not forget your sacrifice'
I think that it’s important to show that, if the characters failed, that their world is somewhat worse for it. It’s a downer, but otherwise the players might think that the characters didn’t matter to the outcome of the conflict.
omg, that inscription is so sad and well-worded 😢
@@andrewjohnson6716 I think even in defeat you can be inspiring though. Like even if you lose, your heroism and self-sacrifice could inspire others and pave the way for the next group of heroes who actually win.
@@andrewjohnson6716 True. ironically, I had the town overcome because while we know what happened, the town only knew that the BBEG's forces were crippled, And the bodies of their heros were found in the room with the BBEG's while their forces were in full retreat...but it was a double, not the real villain, who's body was there. But when the entire town is against them, don't matter how powerful they are, they gotta flee. Ended up being a future villain used in the follow up campaign where they saw the statues. Had they not been able to cripple the BBEG's influince in their fall, the town wouldn't have survived. Instead, they became bittersweet memories and legends in a town that would never know their tyrant still lived. Something the town would remember as a sign that since the party consisted of those that would have been overlooked earlier in their lives, it was proof they could never know where the next heros may rise from.
@@daneroberts1996 Admittedly, I think you give it more credit than it deserves. I had made it based on memorials to fallen soldiers. since in that world, it's what they would be seen as.
After 40 years, only have a few memorable epilogues, since more than half of my campaigns imploded for any number of reasons. As for the ones I remember... One got hitched after months of in-game mooning and letters from afar. Another went home and settled a long-running spat with her mother that had lasted decades. Another was the scheming rogue who went straight for love of a man and a cause to fight for, now an officer in Imperial uniform on the parade field, the PCs flush with victory. But the worst was the cleric who spent the next five years in an insane asylum.
Then there was the IRL epilogue.
Years ago, my wife and fellow DM passed away only 2 or 3 sessions from the end of a long-running campaign. Most of our group were her blood relatives or in-laws. So, after weeks of delay (for obvious reasons), I found a way to say goodbye to her as a player. On the very last session, the PCs were granted a vision of my wife's wizard and her panther familiar, alive and well, but now in the service of a god for reasons perfectly woven into the campaign narrative. Still don't know how I held it together.
Damn, that sounds like an incredible ending. RIP to your wife.
Wow didn't expect a random comment to get me crying like this. Words fail me here, but just know that this has touched my heart and it goes out to you 💙
@@savingplayer1613 The feeling is mutual friend. Reading something like that just fuels my desire to find my own group to tell those kind of stories.
@@davidparkes7741 It was. Everyone at the table thought it was handled with a lot of affection.
@@savingplayer1613 Thanks so much! Years have passed, and remembering it now is more happy than hurtful.
We had a campaign fizzle out due to the pandemic, really close to the end too. After talking to the DM we decided on one last session. He condensed the final material into a one-shot. Two of our players didn't show, but we had them filled in by our new groupmembers. Because we knew it was the last session we had epilogues prepared. Afterwards we went out to dinner where we reminisced the highlights of the campaign and all the meta stuff. It was an awesome day and I am glad we went through with it
A way of handling epilogues I enjoy is the "Ending slides" a la the Fallout series. It's a bit of work from the GM perspective, but asking the players what each of their characters would be aiming to do/how they'd respond to certain scenarios and then asking the players which of the NPCs and factions they are most interested in hearing about will let you tailor the 'slides' to wrap up everything the players want to hear about.
John Blutarsky married Mandy, and eventually got elected as president of the United States...
(next slide)
I’ve only had one epilogue and it by far the highlight! A big reason was the MUSIC.
I get flack for this but I think music can really elevate a DnD game to the next level. An emotional final song to fit the emotional final moments can make it all the better.
Agreed on the role music can play. I ended my previous campaign with selected tunes and time to let each player tell me what their character did after the game was over.
Agreed. I had a final session for my last campaign, and had an epilogue which I spent time writing, and also allowing players to describe where they would've gone, and the music elevated it tenfold
Bro my table is silent often when the music is off haha. Don’t let anybody give you shit for building the mood
I keep over a dozen different spotify playlists for different moods/situations, and I'm always looking for more stuff to fill them out with (witcher, skyrim, and world of warcraft so far have been very good to me). Great movies depend on their soundtrack, it is critical to keeping the mood and energy, and anyone who says it doesn't have a place at the table is crazy.
I bet it is, but I usually just use some ambient sounds (e.g. waves, rain, wind, footsteps, crowd of people talking etc.) to fit the current setting, but I feel like my players are often just a bit confused where the sounds are coming from and then forget about them. I should probably ask them if that helps, though to me personally it helps imagine the scene a bit better...
With music though I struggle to find something that actually fits the mood, given that the players can heavily influence the mood with their RP and actions. I don't want to put in overly dramatic music when the players are actually joking about something or trying to figure out how to evade that situation. I just have no idea what music to put in without it being too much or quickly clash with the current mood at the table if I don't have something else ready immediately.
I’m a huge fan of doing level 20 epilogues and finally giving players a chance to see their characters at full power
I literally just ended a campaign that we started in 2019 , like, 3 days ago, and we had an epilogue that really was wonderful. As the DM, I tasked each player with writing what their characters stories looked like over the next few years. Did they spend it with each other? Did they split up and marry NPC's? Open up their own bakery or alchemy shop and enjoy small town life? It started with a celebration in one of the realms largest cities, celebrating the group and all their accomplishments, mourning the ones they lost in that time, and even promoting one of the players to a higher rank in the faction they were a part of. The party was filled with some of their family members and NPC's that they had met and had grown attached to.
Eventually the party had to wind down, and to start an RP prompt, I said something like "As the party begins to come to close, you all find yourselves together in this crisp night air, and you begin to realize that this may be the last time you are all in the same spot together." this kicked off some nice RP, and then I went around the table, had them roll initiative one last time, and each read their personal epilogue in initiative order.
I loved hearing each of them read about the dreams and ambitions that their characters could now accomplish, and what their plans were, many of them involving NPC's that I had created and grown attached to. It was overall one of my favorite sessions we ever played. I will say, though, that I ended it with a bit of a tease about something that happens a few years after they finished this campaign, just in case they want to bust these characters out someday for one more final run with these characters that we had grown attached to. I mean, in a fantasy world, does the opportunity for adventure ever really go away?
Anyway, thanks for the video, it made me feel better about how I handled that last session. It was scary since there isn't a ton of info on epilogues like this. I just wish you had released it a week earlier!😆
This is such a cute idea! Thanks for sharing.
I recently finished my first ever campaign as DM (yay!), and had a "what happens next?" epilogue similar to the one you're describing here. We then also ran a postscript where we jumped forward in time a few years, everyone levelled their character up to level 20, and they had a "[Party], we need you to save the world one last time" sort of mission. It was great fun both from a narrative standpoint (seeing where the characters were several years after we last left them) and from a mechanical one (getting to experience epic-tier play), and I'd recommend it to anyone finishing up a campaign!
I ended my first campaign with a real ending.
One guy had IRL stuff making him 1 hour late consistently, another had a new job coming up, and I was interviewing for a new job.
It lasted something like 6 months, 25 sessions.
I could see the writing on the wall, so I plainly asked the entire group, “we’re nearing the midpoint of the campaign and we could easily hit 60 sessions at this rate.
_But,_ I think I could work something out where it’ll be done in about 3 sessions.”
We all agreed it’s better to send it off properly than let it fizzle out 3 months later.
It really added a sense of out of character pressure because we all knew we were running short on time, which fit because the characters were under the gun with mass destruction looming.
This is literally perfect, I have a campaign ending tonight that I wasn't sure how to wrap up. Thanks for the great advice!!
Btw, we had a great finale!! After the boss fight, we enjoyed a nice epilogue with the players finding a good end to each story - and even the beginning of some new ones. Thanks again for making this the best campaign I've wrapped up yet!
I keep every character sheet from every campaign that ends in a steel box marked "Valhalla"
That's cool. Those mofos earned their happy endings
One of the funnest and most memorable epilogues we’ve ever experienced was The Deck of Many Things. Some of us received riches beyond measure, some literally fought death and triumphed, others got trapped in another dimension or plane while the rest did nothing, took the deck, and disappeared.
Time for an Epic-logue!
End a campaign... on purpose...
I recognize all those words, but that order makes no sense.
:)
Closure is so incredibly important to me that even this video that just talks about epilogues with no story of its own has me a bit emotional.
Last month me and my party finished a 3 years long campaign. For the last three sessions we choose to go for a week out to a beautiful mountain town of the Apennines. If you can, make it special: it is quite the "once in a lifetime" experience, and those stories and characters will likely never come back.
And for the record, yes. There were tears.
Last year I managed to finish a year long campaign we did during the pandemic lockdown over roll20. I think I wrapped it up ok, but this video definitely would have helped and made me feel more secure about how it ended!
We had a years long campaign reach the grand finale. It was a wild weird west theme. Battle at the Alamo against the Drow queen in a giant mechanical spider that shot meteor storm cannons. Level 20 characters. That battle took hours. Then the DM started a new campaign 20 years later in the time line. “ Remember the Alamo” was a lament that the lvl20 characters who were now NPC’s said all the time.
I would be interested how you start campaigns. I feel like I always just say, "you're in a tavern, go."
I rarely get to do epilogues because we have a "keep the characters around in case we do more stuff in the same continuity" attitude. My favourite from one time when we did was when a wizard who was also a bit of a fence/blackmarketeer decided he was going to become the wandering item merchant in someone-else's story, complete with a golem made from parts he'd gathered during the story to carry all the stock.
My first D&D epilouge, we woke an ancient balck dragon with a hoard of treasure, and our DM let us choose between dying in a fiery blaze of glory, joining the dragon to take over the world, or miraculously escape, and it was fantastic. My wood elf druid Isilinin got to Wild Shape midleap to tear out his eye, and it was AWESOME :D :D :D :D :D
This video came out literally between my running the last session of my current campaign and its epilogue. Our last fight went long, so I wasn't going to rush the epilogue. Instead, we're going to do the epilogue, then switch to a session 0 for the next (with a different DM, very exciting!) Very timely for me!
Give the same care to players who leave for life reasons as well. Send them out well.
Also I loved your tragedy reference respect to anyone going for tragedy endings!
I have done epilogues for a scant few of my games, since only about 10% of my games ever end naturally. For unnatural ends, I do a "behind the curtain" session, if I am given the opportunity, but many of my interrupted campaigns, have a chance for further stories, months, or years later, so players can fill in the long game with me, if they make the time.
However, since I run multiple overlapping campaigns, in the same campaign worlds (in a Gygaxian method), players, and characters, can't write their own epilogues, only tell me their intent, as the world keeps turning.
Gygax legendarily let his players "blue book" writing chapters about their downtime, and getting feedback from Gygax, including elaborate epilogues.
I have gotten a very few opportunities to write my own endings, for my characters in other games, but both the GMs that let me, passed in '18 & '21.
I mean, you could just let them write it freely and treat it as a your-character-believes-that-to-be-the-reality situation. That way, you don't hamstring them and they can't go roughshod on your setting.
One of my proudest accomplishments is that I managed to run a full level 1-20 Adventure Path campaign. We did have a bit of an epilogue, but probably not as much as I should have done.
This honestly just makes me so excited for our campaign wrap-up. We have roughly 8 sessions and our big finale after what will be a total of two and a half years of playing this story. Our DM has already let us know there are 3 major possible outcomes, and we've already talked in and out of game that provided they're both still alive, my PC and a beloved NPC will finally get their wedding (which had previously been interrupted months ago in game).
You can officially add technobabble specialist to your resume XD
With the groups I've played with, our DM gives the results of what has happened for our concluding points and then asks "So what do you do now?" It's usually a quick synopsis of what a character does like continues going out to help people, marries her love and they have a ton of kids, etc. I personally like not having a full session for an epilogue because I get to just live with a "we did that" moment as the final big thing.
My campaign's final chapters begin tomorrow night. So as usual, you have impeccable timing! :)
Narrative cohesion and satisfying conclusions are exactly why I enjoy creating short stories for each session. I’ll write them up, streamline the events and make them more compelling, and my Players will get to see how their actions would look “on the big screen” in a way.
I don't even care what the ads are, you always go so extra that I love to watch them.
Your video production and content keeps getting better and better, thanks for sharing.
Oh man, what great timing. I'm ending my 2 year campaign in a few days and I'm SO nervous. Hoping it goes well :')
My current 5E group started our campaign with "Lost Mines of Phaldelver"
When we completed that module, the sorcerer insisted that we skip town to avoid the parade, which would have been... gauche or something?
I have decided that if my character dies before we finish the game, the corpse is teleporting back to the town and sparking a montage of celebrating the other heroes
after never living past third level in Gygaxian dungeons in the '70s, I was brought into a game with two of my kids and their friends that ran to completion. We simply told the story of our retirement and now that is canon in the world. We can run into a statue or hear a story about a character passing through a nearby town.
And somewhere, if we are running a party at the same time period of one of our adventures, we may see five arrows fall from nowhere just because some ranger was experimenting with some powerful magic. The DM tells us that in our next run, that happens prior to the destruction of the Litch King, we will meet one of our party at a time before he became famous. I love the continuity.
Wow, talk about serendipitous timing. I'm getting ready to end my 1-year long Eberron campaign as the players are restless and want to play Spelljammer.
Lies! Campaigns never end! They continue forever until they fizzle out!
"But that's just a fairy tale to pacify children..."
I was fully expecting you to hit the Liam O'Brien Narrative Telephone "but the wise know better" when you said that.
Me, still preparing for his first d&d game, watching a video for a epilogue of my campaign. I cheated life guys
Your timing is perfect. We just defeated our BBEG last night after a three year campaign. One player had his epilogue at the end of the session, because life responsibilities are taking him away from us, but the rest of us will get our epilogues next week.
My last campaign ended with one player's character (Changeling: Rogue/Artificer) committing suicide because he dropped 10 sessions away from the end and his corpse was eaten by the parties tiger companion. The other 3 player trudged on without him. They competed in a world Martial art tournament for the "Favor of the Gods" to fix some shit in the world that they themselves caused (oops! we release xenomorphs). One Character (Goliath: Barbarian/Sorcerer) was decapitated by a Vorpal sword in the final match. As the (Aarakocra: Monk) is preparing to land the final blow to win the tournament the demon lord that they released attacks the arena to prevent them from winning. The spectating dictator of the majority of the world begins to flee the chaos in his airship. The (Tiefling: Cleric/ Warlock) begins fighting the demon lord as the Monk drinks a strange potion he received by mysterious means. His body is ported to an unknown location and in his place a gargantuan golden dragon (manifestation of god). The dragon takes off flying after the fleeing airship, the warlock attempts to grapple but fails. Warlock is now left to solo the BBEG with the party's pet tiger and NPC Healbot...Harambe (Custom Lineage: Cleric/Druid). Monk finds out that he is on an isolated island. Wanders around for a bit and stumbles upon a man in a white suit. Guy asks him "What's going on youngster?" to which monk replies "Man, I wish I knew..." Bam, wish #1 granted; He now has complete understanding of all history from dawn of time up until that point. Meanwhile Warlock is still soloing the demon lord. Combat is intense, and an angel servant of Warlock's patron shows up to aid him in the fight. Back on the Island Monk has figured out what's going on and makes Wish #2. God, can you please extinct the xenomorphs we released from the crashed spaceship? Done. Back to Warlock and he gets a final transformation, beats the demon lord, and scrys on the fleeing dictator only to see his airship being destroyed by the golden dragon. Back to the Monk, who throws me for a loop on his third wish. He wishes that liches (there were several prominent ones feature throughout the campaign that never got dealt with) no longer respawn when they die. Granted! He chills with god for a little bit then the time comes for him to leave. He rides away from the island on the back of a giant turtle only to be welcomed by the sight of skyscrapers and neon lights in the distance. He uses his teleportation helm to port back to their home city. Flying cars are everywhere and a there is a huge statue dedicated to their adventuring party erected in the city that they saved from multiple threats. Seems time flows a little different on the Island, and 3,000 years have passed since the tournament ended. Monk goes back to their residence and that's where I let Warlock tell the Monk what he did in the aftermath. He raised the Monks child, established a Dojo in his name, had monks teacher from childhood teach his own child who went on to train a hundred generations of Aarokocra descendants. He set up a trust in perpetuity to fund it all and migrated to the shrine of his patron where he built an elaborate temple complex. His friends and loved ones long dead, the Monk ends up spending the rest of his life in the future establishing a new martial arts style, The Way of the Smoking Gun. His character is now the first quest giver in my upcoming cyberpunk campaign that I am preparing to run soon.
Having watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners last night, I’m now thinking that a lot of epilogues for Cyberpunk 2020 or Red are going to end with PC memorials or the surviving PCs ordering their fallen comrades’ drinks at the Afterlife (an edgerunner bar that immortalises edgerunners who die during a job in spectacular fashion by adding a drink named for them - usually something they ordered a lot in life - to the bar’s menu).
Just finished a campaign of 2.5+ years this past weekend! I was thinking of how to do an epilogue for the group and this video came up 😆
Thanks for making exactly what I was looking for! Great video and ideas!!
For the first campaign that I ran which was a sort of introductory campaign to my players since they were new I actually ended the campaign after only 8 sessions. I had never reached the end of a campaign before although I had played for around 3 years and some campaigns having many more sessions than 8. But it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with D&D. Although the characters hadn’t gotten lots of time to develop their characters, it still felt like they all managed to get the story and ending they deserved. The point is, that ending really made the game into something else. When the story had a end, the characters simply got way more interesting and it felt like their actions in the world actually mattered. I would easily say it was the best thing of the entire campaign
I do mini campaigns lasting 1-2 sessions with my new team, but I love the epilogue ideas. Thank you!
Such a thoughful breakdown Ginny, thanks for this!
I actually just had a campaign end. It was due to unavoidable life changes, but it happened to coincide with the end of a narrative arc, so it was the perfect place to end the campaign with a 'ride off into the sunset' epilogue. This couldn't have been better timed :)
Yeah definitely love doing those epilogues to resolve the story and I didn't quite think of it like an opposite to the backstory but ran it that way and I like that description! Another thing my groups have done is continue the next campaign in the same world. So epilogues also have a chance to influence how the world looks leading into the next game. Then next game when they meet this mage guild they know that it was founded by one of their old characters and are instantly a bit more invested.
This timing is kinda uncanny for me because my campaign going to wrap up in the next 2 or 3 sessions. (Assuming we don’t die.)
We literally just finished a one shot which turned into a mini campaign last night. Only the third Dnd game I’ve completed in nearly 10 years with my group! It ended with one character death, and the rest walking away poisoned from the final battle. Sort of sad but it was an under dark adventure so pretty much expected! Great game 😊
Sort of a side...thing, but Im a player currently in the middle of writing a character epilogue and not because the campaign finished. One of our other players recently passed and he was so instrumental to the dynamic that we decided to call the game there and everyone do their own epilogue.
Ginny Di’s sponsor skits never fail to amaze me. So consistently interesting and creative.
I almost don't dare to hope, because a dashed dream pierces deeper than the jaded blade of apathy. And yet even here in not saying it, I reveal my heart's desire. It's a maddening dream to chase, but I just can't suppress the want.
Very nice video, I was planning to have an epilogue for my current campaign and this helps alot!
I have the idea and I even know more or less where I want to finish my story, but I'll be back here about 2 sessions before the ending!!
I have never played a campaign to the end, but I seriously love the idea of an epilogue and sitting down and having a meta conversation
Thank you Ginny the Epilogue is an important part of the story and too often glossed over.
Next tuesday is the final session of a campaign I'm in. This made me really excited about it, even when it's sad to let go. Made me think more about my character and what he wants, and I think I've got it. First, we still have one last fight to get through, though. Wish us luck. I bear the sword that's needed to slay them, so we're gonna need it.
I panicked on my first epilogue and had the party pull from the deck of many things. We had to continue the campaign.
I'm curious about limits to behind the screen discussions. Particularly, I have some players who want to know everything but who will kick themselves for any missed loot or missed side quests. I think that there might be space for some secrets to remain. What do you think?
I think you're right that, like pretty much any facet of D&D, it depends on the party! If you feel that your party would obsess over missed opportunities, then it might not be right for your table (although, to be honest, I think anyone who obsesses over missed opportunities is gonna have a hard time with D&D anyway!)
@@GinnyDi Thanks, and fair point. It's a bit of a personal growth opportunity for the players in life in general 😂
I'll add- if you ever fudged dice or otherwise adjusted things like that behind the screen, never ever let the players know that even post-campaign. It can make them start questioning everything they achieved and really sour things. (Credit Seth Sorkowski on his channel for this advice.)
@@persephoneunderground845 100% agree
I love all your videos but I had to upvote this one just on the terrific thumbnail alone
We are so close to this. My party is so close to the end of a full run 1-20 campaign. I didn’t want to think of the epilogue, but they have been playing for years, and I know they deserve an amazing one. So many changes along the way, and hopefully, they get to enjoy their lives after the end. And then we start a new game. This might be the first open campaign I finished, and not because the semester was over.
This couldn't have come at a better time! I'm ramping up to lay out the plot points to the finale of my first long form campaign!
My DM recently ended our campaign. We were playing for over five years and we were all crying through the epilogue. The DM managed to find the perfect end for all our characters. It was so bittersweet but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.
perfect timing Ginny…. I’m very nervous ending my 3-year campaign this weekend, and your video really gave me the confidence i needed!! < 3
Great video, as always. Thanks Ginny!
Well done my liege.
In quite the coincidence, I just ended my two year campaign on Tuesday, and we're doing our epilogue this next week, so this video's going to prove extremely valuable. Thank you as always for putting out such well thought out content!
Really great video! Also, that ad felt like your audition tape for voiceover work!
The last campaign I was in did have an epilogue, but i missed it. I moved on that last game day piror
The group I DM and I just completed a campaign lastnight that lasted 10 months from level 20 to 30. It was great!
Super advice. I have a campaign creeping towards its end. This helps a alot
We did one for our 2 year campaign. It was really cool for many of the players, but for me it was the first opportunity to follow up on all the plots we DIDN'T follow, but were more compelling to me than our chosen path.
Of all the campaings I had were cancelled, I'm starting to believe there will never be an epilogue for me :(
I hope to one day be able to do this for my players. Very inspiring video, Ginny!
2:07 Book Lady will be pissed that you stole her work - she should've read it.
😂 I originally wrote her in for that bit but it seemed silly when there was only ONE book quote in the video... headcanon is that she's sulking now LOL
we had an epilogue for a campaign we had played for 3 years throughout highschool. it was generally goofy and short but we got to come up with nice endings for our characters after our quest, ranging from gambling all the money away at a casino to donating all the reward money to local bard colleges 😂 then they all lived happily ever after in their small little cottage