10 Ways to End D&D Campaigns

[@theDMLair]

𝗱𝗦𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗯 - Get finely crafted boxed text for your RPG game ▶▶ www.dscryb.com/thedmlair - Use coupon code THEDMLAIR for 10% off! 𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞 - Reduce prep time and improve your games with this monthly D&D magazine ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 - Get your DM questions answered ▶▶ www.twitch.tv/thedmlair

[@mattbur742]

My first campaign was Lost Mines of Phandelver, the players TPK'd (they were all unconscious, only one technically died but we decided to end it) in the final dungeon after a character wore a flameskull as a headdress. In the next mini-campaign (different DM), the original party's goblin companion was the questgiver, and various places were named after our dead heroes. In our most recent campaign, Curse of Strahd (I DM), we found that Strahd had decided to save the unconscious original party and disperse them around Barovia. The new CoS party met up with the members of the old group and the older heroes helped them in various locations that looked real TPK-prone. We've also had one-shots where we tried to beat the villain from LMoP.

[@jacoboswald4726]

Holy shit, this is such a good creative and complex idea. You should write for Marvel or DC comics

[@michaelthomas1916]

Good stuff!

[@Daniel-lh4rm]

Hmm, my players couldn't defeat the opening goblin fight

[@burger7088]

@@Daniel-lh4rm my players had some… lucky roles… and there were no more Goblines 😂

[@ToonZ_1776]

That's funny. My first time DMing was through LMoP. Didn't TPK but I didn't exactly do great DMing. After that we started icespire peak. Then went on some custom side missions. The characters got trapped in a corrupted world tree. I've created my own world and campaign, and in a party of five, 3 were corrupted, 2 escaped. They will eventually come across all of them. More to it, but I love that I came across this. Even a couple years late.

[@ryanrodgers3099]

For 3 (villain making an offer), a really fun way to end *with combat* if the players accept, is to have them actually fight along side the villain in whatever the final objective is. Have them help the BBEG conquer the last city, or fight the party's former mentors and sponsors. It's likely to be a bit of a bloodbath, but adding some flashy set pieces or opportunities for the party to really flex their signature abilities can make it feel fun and satisfying even if the fight isn't particularly hard. For 9, I like creating another party that's a lower level, with a short quest to resurrect the original party, then letting the OG party get the second shot. Seems more narratively and emotionally satisfying to have the OG party finish things rather than "strangers." If the new party fails, or the OG party fails again, the new party can get leveled up to match and then we'll have spent some time with the new party and it'll still feel good to avenge the original PC's.

[@alimargaming8722]

I like your idea of sending in another elite squad if the party does TPK. In my game, I'm using Piety rules from Theros and I've discussed with the players that if any of them die, they have the option to come back as a champion of their God that was sent to uphold their character's mission, basically giving an explanation as to where this new player comes from, and allowing them to immediately jump into the game and keep playing

[@slimee8841]

WE NEED TO SEE THE FINAL BATTLE, THE BARBARIAN MUST RAGE ONE LAST TIME

[@theDMLair]

If a barbarian rage has each time and always does half damage to himself will he ever be able to kill himself?

[@sssargon8569]

@@theDMLair I'm sorry, I can't understand this for the life of me

[@mynameismarkchun]

@@sssargon8569 if a barbarian each time it rages loses half his/her health will they be ever able to kill themself

[@Kai-ow9gi]

8: Personally one of my favorite routes, it’s also great to use characters past in new campaigns by means of background activities, their legacies impacting the new party or if it’s a later time in the universe perhaps there is a monument or museum piece on party. Another favorite is 9, I love allowing the players to come in to challenge the same boss they’re last group fell to, only to see their fallen corpses across the boss room.

[@SunbornWanderer]

I've done the first part before but I haven't had a tpk yet they're pretty smart.

[@Sarados1980]

@@SunbornWanderer I'm currently planing a new Starfinder campaign and when I listen to this tip, I instanly think: I have to do this. Maybe the new crew will find the derelicted spaceship (including the AI) from the my AotS crew or something like this...

[@SunbornWanderer]

@@Sarados1980 that sounds very cool man and sounds very eerie.

[@SakraIgor0qNomoko]

I made the mistake of a deus ex machina to avoid a TPK after over balancing the BBEG fight, but letting each character have their own epilogue (shorter for npcs) really saved the ending.

[@agsilverradio2225]

I did something similar, but it was with an early-mid game encounter. ... I used 3 thugs, against a 4 player level 1 party, instead of 3 Ruffians. My players made a valiant effort to stop them harassing some town's folk, but got knocked out. ... Seeing the pc's heroism, afew town guards mustered up the currage to rescue the p.cs, in a poorly discussed deus-ex-machina. ... The thugs all survived, and became recurring characters.

[@Battleguild]

@@agsilverradio2225 They called themselves: The Rowdy Ruff' Boys

[@andrewmeigel2088]

Love the generational campaign idea. I have a side game for my players when too many folks can't make a session where they play flashback games as their mentors. Choices they make in those sessions effect their main adventure and help me flesh out the npcs' backstory in a more engaging way. Seems similar to what you're suggesting, and honestly I think we have more fun with those sessions than the main game some times.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

Great video! We all agreed a bit ago that our biggest gripe was campaigns that get going and never finish. We get to mid level and start to get powerful, and we simply stop playing it. The players wanted to continue, but the GM would get burned out. Our best solution was to give the GM a break, so we rotate out GMs (and games), and usually have two going at once and switch back and forth. We also decided to play prewritten modules that take us from 1st to high level. The Pathfinder Adventure Paths were great. The newer 5e adventures are pretty good too. It's worked out great so far.

[@theDMLair]

That's awesome. I'm happy to hear your group has found a method that helps campaigns actually finished.:-)

[@brilliantcut2488]

In a fantasy-based Stargate campaign, I had a section of the campaign called "The Chronicles" where the party played 15th level characters in the past who were responsible for originally liberating the world from the big bad. When they raided a tomb dedicated to those heroes later on, they found some of their items as loot.

[@Calebgoblin]

In case anyone missed it, "strongholds and followers" is a book by MCDM and I highly recommend it

[@Calebgoblin]

Worth mentioning though, it was partially revised in the following book kingdoms and warfare which is really top notch

[@theophrastusbombastus1359]

I haven't found much use for it tbh. I enjoyed the discussion of the ideas leading up to release more than the ideas themselves

[@CaptainFoofoo64]

Starting at an inn/tavern makes perfect sense, an inn/tavern is the center of a community's social life as well a perfect place to gather a variety of info and allies. To end, figure what level the campaign will end. This will help a DM plot the campaign. Then work with players to plan out their PCs.

[@andrewtomlinson5237]

I know that starting at a tavern is now regarded as some sort of Unholy Sin, but starting them in a tavern allows for what I consider to be one of the best campaign endings you can run. Sitting in the same tavern, drinking the same drinks they had at the start, being served by the same NPC, (playing the same background music if you use it...) with them reflecting on the journey... You'll make at least one of them cry if you do this...

[@tannerray5014]

The campaign I run is a post apocalyptic fantasy game, and legacy has always been super important to it. Characters have become gods, ruled cities, and built essential services back up like banks and post offices.

[@MisterDiceGuy]

This comes in at a perfect time. My campaign is likely to come to an end in the next few weeks. The enemy has undergone a transformation I've hinted at since March that their actions failed to prevent and the reason why it happened is going to relate to their backstories that has also been hinted at which guarantees a fight(and its gonna be good). So many things are coming together and Im so excited. This gave me an idea to allow for them to take the evil path (might be tempting for one of my players) but we have a cleric, a couple barbarians with strong morals, and a sweet fey companion who are likely to be 100% against. Also giving them the opportunity for a bonus battle.

[@pondrthis1]

Something that worked AMAZINGLY well in my first campaign (and only finished one so far) is, rather than a level 20 interlude, an _evil_ interlude. The players ran an adventure as custom evil PCs to show what's going on behind the scenes and build tension. Those evil PCs became lieutenants that cropped up time and again, and their evil patron became the penultimate foe. They had already dispatched most of those evil PCs by the time they reached the ending, but two and the patron remained as one of the encounters in the insane gauntlet I'd set up for them. They were actually the hardest of the encounters, if I recall correctly.

[@LostFunocity]

I totally saw that plug coming and yet I still laughed.

[@theDMLair]

I may not be sneaky but I still got funny in the department

[@Frederic_S]

@@theDMLair indeed you are, Mr dungeonmaster, Sir!

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

At my Table, we often carry on world/settings beyond the first Campaign... It helps rotating GM's to let the others help flesh out the map as we go along, too... AND particularly after "officially retiring" an adventure Party, with epilogue and all, whenever I can slip one of the older Epic Heroes into the Game again, I call on their original Player to RP the gig... give them the basics for the scene... We've adventured together a while, so I understand any Player's personal style before I do this, just to avoid too many miscommunications or distractions and temptations... BUT we usually work pretty well together... It's a chance to be the earlier epic Character and have a little fun... AND it can get pretty intense, too... I've had quite a number of Campaigns go past Level 20... Multiclassed Characters are one option... AND the math in XP per Level isn't difficult... neither are the general bonuses, depending on Player intention and some RP (of course)... PC's that last the tests of Character Arc, and Time have a dubious tendency to ascend to godhood or go on to create new worlds of their own and the like... Though becoming a Lich hasn't been exactly unheard of... The more you build together with a Group, the more elaborate and epic the inside stories get, and you no longer NEED those "info-dumps" for everyone to understand the Lore!!! They were there when it was CREATED... HELL... They often had hands in CREATING SOME OF IT!!! ...AND nobody forgets that... NOBODY! ;o)

[@AltogetherGuy]

I always set a soft session limit at the start of every campaign. It means we’re all on the same page about how much time is left. I ran 3 campaigns over last year. First one the players lost and the world ended. Second one ended with the party lifting the great curse but only one PC survived. Last campaign though, they saved the world and every soul that had come before and forever after.

[@saibogu002love]

The legacy is so awesome because it makes people plan than after campaign already, their conclusion to their arc... And it all can be blown off depending how the actual Final Challenge goes.

[@drizzo4669]

The end of my campaign, the players were forced to deal with an ancient primordial fire elemental that had gotten loose towards the middle of the campaign. It was a quest thread that the groups druid either forgot or ignored. It had since been slowly burrowing its way to the core of the world and as a result was causing earthquakes and volcanoes to erupt all over the surface. They saiedl on a submersible warship , while being pursued by a Kracken. Once at the center of the planet, they froze the primordial with and ancient, powerful artifact they got from the plane of ice. At the last minute, Tiamat showed up (well actually, she had been the ships wizardthe whole time. They'd been fight with her since around 5th level). Tiamat swoops in, finishes the fight, takes all the credit and is regarded as the savior of the world, when other gods refused to intervene. Gravity was weird, seemingly random at the core but I actually had it worked out in my head for those who tried to figure it out.

[@christophercronkhite5694]

I love the way you slid Dscryb into the intro! Smoothest product placement ever! 😂 I mean it, I always laugh at tv shows when a couple characters are driving in a car and one makes some comment about it, and the other responds with something like “oh, this is the 20xx whatever, I love how it has (whatever special feature)” and the other says “oh wow” as they go into detail. And it NEVER comes across natural, It’s soo forced. But your delivery was perfect 😂

[@theDMLair]

Awesome thank you. I always try to put forth the "sleezy plugs" in as palatable way as possible.:-)

[@adwenger0066]

Speaking of building a legacy... We had got a mansion after saving one of the largest towns in the world. In our finale, we were able to lure the BBEG there, and we used the mansion's trap to kill the BBEG and send his ashes into orbit. I made a Simulacrum of one of the other players, and in the middle of fake negotiations with the BBEG, she used the passphrase that triggered twelve 5th-level Glyphs of Warding to go off at the same time. We destroyed our mansion, but saved the world... Legacies can be rebuilt, the world cannot.

[@oniminikui]

I have a campaign where there is a guild full of player characters. Depending on what level the adventure will determine which characters they take along. The characters (that are not involved in the adventure) get downtime while that is going on. There are characters creating potions of healing for any adventurers to take on their missions. I am also currently taking on a trial project for a separate group: Good vs Evil. There are 2 squads for each side and I am currently DM'ing 3 of the 4 groups and playing in the 4th. The campaign will last 5 weeks (4 weeks to build their characters up and fight the boss that I have planned out for them and the 5th week for a pvp match). We are currently in week 4. It's been an amazing experience playing with new people and see other people play-style compared to the normal group that I have been playing with for over a year or more.

[@EJMonkey]

Man, if only my players wouldn't flake out on me... :/. I've got a climactic ending planned for like 15-20 sessions down the road, but we got stuck in the cancellation death spiral like 5 sessions in after reviving our previously dead campaign. :(

[@connordavidson2087]

My players wiped against Auril in the frozen city after returning the sun I Rime of the Frostmaiden, and so I actually implemented the "Rematch" idea. I had them make some new characters (two actually had characters made that had been introduced before) to go fight Auril at her lair before Auril could restore her eternal night. I had told them to make backups "just in case" several times before this point, but they were feeling pretty invincible. Let me run one of my favorite bosses twice - and the second bout had the players have to fight ice statues made from some of the first defeated group. Overall was a great experience, I thought. But it taught me to implement something into all future campaigns I run - have the players make backup characters that the dm can run as NPCs they know and encounter, so if something "tragic" happens, or a player figures their current character can bow out for now, a new character can easily be introduced to smoothly join the party.

[@dadadajasper]

Killing a lvl 20 druid: While wildshaped, get their form hp down low. Then Power Word: Kill. Done.

[@tyler1673]

Most dms would rule that as the wild shape being destroyed by the magic rather than an actual kill

[@dadadajasper]

@@tyler1673 I disagree with that statement. I dont think you know most DMs And we're talking about a 9th lvl spell. If 'most DMs' would rule as you say, they are unaware of the exact wording of the spell.

[@tokeullharremoes1347]

Moon druids earth elemental have 126 hp.

[@dadadajasper]

@@tokeullharremoes1347 Hence why I said "While wildshaped, get their form hp down low. THEN use power word kill."

[@tokeullharremoes1347]

@@dadadajasper i miss read

[@Sarados1980]

Awesome video (again), very helpful for new and old DMs alike. But I would also add one thing: Make their previous decision count and tie in decision they made back at the beginning of the campaign. Examples would be: Bring back a NPCs they saved at level 2 or give them the relict they brought back to the temple at level 10). I did this in my „Attack of the Swarm“-campaign and I even went so far and let some major NPCs sacrifice themselves to give the players more time (a classic “Finally I can pay my debt! Say my son, that I love him!”). And my player LOVED it, it gave the real impression of a living world where decisions mattered. >>> Short Breakdown of the fight - SPOILERS FOR STARFINDER AP “ATTACK OF THE SWARM” AHEAD

[@MonkeyJedi99]

That. Was. AWESOME!

[@AquaLantern]

Love the idea of players leaving legacies. One of the BEST ways to do that is in the Pathfinder module Wrath of the Righteous. In this, the players have Mythic Tiers which basically allow them to ascend to godhood by endgame. Ergo, you can have player characters ascend, and then have FUTURE characters become followers of that character, incorporating them into the setting's pantheon!

[@dannymarcum7166]

Big benefit for having your players make a legacy is being able to put a campaign in the same storyline through one mean or another , like several years after the end of a campaign in the story have a new batch of heroes and have the old characters be a sort of guide , one of the characters I want to do is a character that fails at time traveling and splits his soul across time and space and to the party he just disappears , but many years later a new set of heroes walk into the saloon ( it’s set in a western campaign) and see a shadowy figure sitting at the bar , the barkeep has been the only one that could see him all these years But because of his work he couldn’t help , but now there is a new cast that can venture across the multiverse to try to piece back together that man’s soul , and crucial npcs have the same name as the original character .

[@JakeConrad666]

I love the first point: Foreshadowing, and I believe I've done it really well in my game. The characters have found magic items from centuries ago that belonged to adventurers thought lost and defeated by a petrifying entity. They have encountered gargoyles and other beings of stone that attack them. They've encountered a medusa in the underdark kidnapping humanoids, petrifying them and then animating them to form a gargoyle army. They've learned that the medusa works for a blue dragon called the Queen of Statues. Later they fought and killed two blue dragons in the desert and learned that this same Queen of Statues is their mother! They've been pestered with more gargoyles now that they've killed the two dragon children, and they have an idea that the mother dragon is BBEG and they know that one day they'll encounter her but they don't know is that I've planned that encounter to happen immediately within the next session!

[@TheAnimemixmaster]

I've only ever had two of my campaigns reach of finale. And I've been dming since 2003. But man where they earned and were they beautiful. Everything from a wish wiping memories of horrible deeds, to a player meeting another player in a run-down Saloon in the afterlife just to talk one last time. Have you ever done like enter to win competition to join your D&D table. Or do like a one shot for fans.

[@sfrink1425]

When I have a Boss Fight situation, or we are coming to the end of a campaign, I start off the session by playing "Carry On My Wayward Son", by Kansas. If anyone here has ever seen the TV show "Supernatural", you know exactly why. My players do, and when they hear this song, they freak out, knowing that something big is coming. It increases the tension, and prior to hearing the song, they start feeling the anticipation. So when the session starts and they hear it, they go nuts.

[@jeffreyseamons5514]

Wow, number eight shocked me!

[@theDMLair]

It was intended to be a shocker. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it. LOL

[@lesouth0348]

When I first started, I was very introverted and self centered, and I reflected that in my characters. I had a whole arc where as we progressed, I began to open up, until the final boss, we would have died, but my roguelock used mage hand to steal a bag of holding from the monk, ran towards bbeg (it was also thematically fitting that I did it since I was the bbegs bastard son) and then I placed the bag of holding inside my own, sending us both to the astral plane. In the epilogue the rest of my party were heroes, and they went on stage and told the whole city that I was the one to thank, and my character had a statue built of him, and it's still there in our campaign that is 300 years in the future. The party and dm are still my homies

[@KnicKnac]

The 3.5 campaign we had a castle we conquered and during downtime we had to talk to the advisors we hired. After the final epic battle we all retired to different parts of the kingdom we helped defend. Seven of us were in charge of different aspects of government. We ended at level 24. I still remember the homebrew game to this day. So much fun.

[@nevoyu]

My last campaign ended with my players trying to kill the demonlord who served as a patron for the warlock in an attempt to free her from her pact.

[@alexinfinite7142]

What happened?

[@Murmaider4]

This is where my story is leaning towards! There's a church basically right out of Castlevania s3 that my level 5 players are boldly trying to charge into

[@nevoyu]

@@alexinfinite7142 TPK, but everyone enjoyed it.

[@QuanTrietLOL]

My LMOP ended with PCs tearfully burried Black Spider (I managed to pull a mini backstory for him outta my asssss, which made them sympathize with his action somewhat after they killed him). After that, each of them gets a magic item from the forge. And they part ways. - The monk, finally proved her combat prowess, returned to her dojo and welcomed by her master as his equal. - The paladin accepted the invitation of the Lord's Alliance and joined their rank. - The hexblade, unable to find an answer to unseal his lover's soul in Phandalin, got frustrated and left on his own. On his way out, he stole a mysterious book of necromany noone could decipher. What he's gonna do with it, noone knows for sure. - The fighter and cleric kept traveling together to find their next adventure. And share some high quality weed to whoever they meet. A memorable ending to me

[@Lcirex]

The best legacy pursuit is to create one spell named after yourself per spell level.

[@hablagoru7857]

Stay on task widogast

[@ratman505]

2:08 - Now I'm officially allowed to take your advice, hell yeah!

[@O4C209]

My current campaign has Level 5 PCs that occasionally have "dreams" where the players play Level 15 PCs from 60 years prior that are all connected to their current PC. Example: Level 5 Bard is playing his grandfather who at the time was a Level 15 Ranger. It's slowly revealing what the whole campaign is actually about. It also shows they weren't random strangers in a tavern at the beginning of the campaign although they thought they were.

[@Zai-kyu]

I am actually entering the end game of my campaign. The PC's have 3 BBEG's to deal with, all with separate agenda's that are not aligned. 1 of these is the ACTUAL BBEG of the game. They are currently lv 18 and I am using milestone xp. My plan is as they fight the first 2 BBEG's, "if" and when they defeat them, they will gain a level for each of them, placing them at lv 20 for the final bbeg. I am very excited for this. I am a long time DM, but this is the first campaign I have run that has continued with the same players long enough to reach this point!

[@stocktonlevel1goblin]

Dnd idea(that I doubt i have the skill or experience to do): at the beginning the players are told an ancient tale. Every thing was peaceful intill hundreds of tarrasques came and caused mass destruction. However, a powerful warrior came and slayed all. Then the "king" of these beastes came. The hero killed it but the wounds from the fight killed him as well. It's present day and the heros are just doing stuff for gold but they soon learn some one is trying to revive the king tarrasque. After a story's worth of getting strong the fight (and hopefully kill) this mad wizard. But the story isn't over yet (unless the wizard killed the party) as after normal quests they find a destroyed village with the sol survivor telling them a mad wizard did it. You get stronger as you learn more about this guy and you get to fight him at some point. However after a few turns of taunting, they sweep the party with an attack that hits all of them and does more than their total HP. but they are found and healed. You eventually fight him for real, and it's going great. The party beats him with nothing but a few healing items lost. However, the villain starts to laugh, cutting the party's celebration short. The villain laughes more as his blood under the hero's feet starts to feel. . . *fuzzy* " *YOU FOOLS* " the villain yells as the walls (and him) disappear. The party sees this new villain in front of the corpse. . . *of the king tarrasque* " *pretty cool, huh?* " the bbeg claps his hands. *and the beast rises* he jumps into the soul of the beast and fuses with it. Now the party faces it. It's fast, it's tanky,, and the hits are heavy enough to crack the earth.

[@trg4youtv855]

Ive been a dm running a game for a couple teenagers for about 6 months now, we did the starter box lost mines of phandelver from beginning to end, after that was over i decided to build my own realm, they have been going through my world going on 3 months now, i think they like it more then the box set adventure, i havent even written the whole story for my world, mostly because the story gets written as they find hidden paths and then more adventures are unlocked. So far there is no obvious badguy in my world, its just a explore, find cool things and maybe uncover secret plots, i do have one character who drank a goblet of popularity, if they roll a d20 15 or higher their eyes and blood change pink, he saw a vision of a kimgdom where people drink slime and words formed in his head "rightful hier to the slime kingdom" of course now they have to travel there and take out a boss warlock with special skills for him to become the true slime king, but that wont even be close to the end of the adventure.

[@ewarstler7020]

Thank you for this video. My knuckleheads have made it to the "end" of a 4year homebrewed monstrosity. I have been trying desperately to figure out how to end it (real life health issues aside) and I've written out about a dozen scenarios... That I hate. But all of that has been tossed out the window. Thank you. I didn't want to railroad them into what I thought the end should be. Turning that choice over to them will be far better for everyone. Tysm for doing what you do!

[@techadeptcrafts]

The next one is about to happen. A group of teacher friends are in a campaign I have been running for 5 years. We were playing the original Red Box DnD (BECMI) but swapped to 5e last year. At the end of last year we added Acquisitions Incorporated, flavoured as Alfheim Inquisition. They are on a hunt for 7 Magi in different parts of Mystara, trying to uncover which is behind the manipulation of the Dark Elves into trying to break into Alfheim again using portals of beginning an all out war. 3 Magi down. Of the 4 to go, 1 is Mordakeinan. 1 is Bargle. Bargle has been seeming to be the big bad for about two years now. He is in league with Balor (who I am making an it, not a they) who has just been introduced. They now believe that to be the BBEG. However, these two are causing trouble in the realms because something worse has been making moves in The Nine Hells. There is a portal buried in Alfheim that they want to get to and have used the Dark Elves to try and obtain it. The end is coming, but they still have 4 Magi and a Greater Demon to face first before discovering who the one pulling all the strings is. And he has been standing in the room with them on multiple occasions…

[@motleycruerocks159]

My players hit level 20 a while ago, I'm using a homebrew 31-50 rule set that I found online to let them keep the fun going while retaining a sense of progression. They're loving it so far

[@techadeptcrafts]

Several end of campaigns to describe. Here goes a multi-post. One-shot campaign at school for a group of my daughter’s friends who joined the club and wanted to learn how to play DnD. The Sister’ of Moradin ended up lasting for 6 months as they didn’t want to stop. Think the Netflix 3-part series on Dracula. They had to hunt a Vampire who had risen in the crypts below their abbey. Mother Superior gather two parties of sisters together, taking the smaller elite force with her to the lower levels and sending the newer sisters ( the party) to clear the upper levels of the crypt. At one point they find a mirror locked behind a stasis field that shows a vision of shifting futures/pasts/presents. One scene shows some members of the party in the future. A luck check determines who is in the scene. As they rejoined her the walked in on the scene of the Mother Superior being killed by the Vampire. They then had to fight it. They won and returned above to morn. However, several days later, the Mother Superior rises again as the new Vampire and starts to lay waste to the Abbey. Cut scene to 30 years in the future. The sisters are rebuilding the Abbey. Only three of the nine remain - those that passed the luck check, with the one that rolled the highest now the new Mother Superior. Campaign over. The girls are now running two seperate campaign groups on their own and have grown to 12.

[@reesetoomsen2740]

Funny, today is the day I begin the last stretch of the campaign I've been running for 3 years. Players are lvl 26 and wield four psudo-infinity stones and today must fight Vecna, PLUS six uniquely themed liches, AND an ancient dracolich. Vecna isn't even the real bbeg either, but I don't what to say who is in case my players are reading this.

[@nextdandude1542]

I'm gonna kick their butt

[@jasonreed7522]

For #9 an very easy way to justify the second party is that the first party either told someone or was sponsored and when they don't come back the sponsor / alerted important person then hires a second party to try and finish the job. With this approach definitely consider have some logical advancements from when the party died to the new hires going in. Alternatively this was a different party that had been fighting the bbeg in some other area and was independently here to kill the BBEG.

[@genostellar]

When I feel burnt out, you always give me the drive I need to work on my campaign some more.

[@Comicsluvr]

While I've never had an encore D&D game, I have done this in other systems where our PCs come back months or even years after the campaign ended for a session or two and they're always fun!

[@nicholasharris4306]

My 2/3 of my PCs died 1 room from the final mcguffin. They decided not to re roll new characters. We skill challenged the 1 remaining PC as an epilogue, where he tried to stop the BBEG alongside allies - knowing it'd be futile anyway. BBEG won. Out next campaign will be set 1 kingdom over, just after the BBEG wins, so that they can get some levels. Have a while new adventure... But, finally, find a need to head back and take out their original foe.

[@nxla6836]

Man, double plug, the intro skit and in the video. "Death to pluggers!" I love how self aware you are Good Sir Luke.

[@Ash-V]

If your players do talk down/join the big bad, you can have one of the big bad's other lieutenants betray them, and make that the big end fight instead. "Prove yourself by dealing with this problem," or something like that. Bonus points if it's somebody the party has a personal beef with. The other option if they join the big bad is to have them send the party to fight someone who they've previously helped/worked with against the big bad. This'll help cement their decision as important and impactful to the world.

[@SomoneTookMyName]

I tend to take my D&D players to level 20 before wrapping it up. This gives them some time to play with their characters at that level. Also I like to use their characters as a sort of cameo with the next campaign in one form or another as well. They seem to love it because it hits home with them in a way. I enjoy the excitement they portray when this happens. I will say that taking a group to level 20 over a span of 2 years give or take really depends on the whole group. Sure, some will come and go. It happens for one reason or another. It can also take some time to find that replacement who will jive with the rest of group. But when the the group is on a roll. Its nothing but good times.

[@notrebelbuffoon522]

I think the most important thing if you send in a New Group to fight the Big bad is CHANGE THE FIGHT. The Big bad fought against a Group of players, they encountered him in a certain situation. Let the next group encounter him in a different situation. He has the same abilities, but have the scenery be different, maybe different types of Mobs are protecting him.. Perhaps he even added a few new traps or mechanisms to the place. have it be a few days, or weeks, after the initial fight with the Big bad so there would be logical time for them to do these things.

[@thrasew]

I played the module red hand of doom. In this particular module I've started them all as part of a psyonic's Guild. What they didn't know was that the Guild master and the favorite teacher were the teacher were the same person and it was a doppelgänger LordWhat they didn't know was that the Guild master and the favorite teacher were the teacher were the same person and it was a doppelgänger Lord. As I ran the adventure lots of things happened but every time they had a chance to talk to somebody important I ended up giving them clues that they seem to know this person more than they should. In the end in the epic battle against the entire army army and they end up fighting TM at they did some crazy stuff like dropping an F5 tornado onto the army which by the way I had to figure out how that did damage. And eventually they kill the aspect of Tiamat. Then they spend the next month or so helping clean up the town after the war. Having several interactions with the guy in charge. Then when it came to the final ceremony where they were getting awarded all these things and made champions of The Valley the Lord Gives them all special magical amulets. And then in front of everyone accuses them of war crimes of murder of all sorts of stuff theft you just name it he Nate every crime you can think of and had witnesses and everything ethere's an everything else and of course the ambulance nullified I'd most if not all of the players powers. So they all end up arrested and while they're awaiting punishment. The Lord reveals himself as the leader of the Guild as their favorite teacher and teacher and as a doppelgänger Lord gangerlord and ends up up transporting them to a whole different world. It didn't want to martyr the characters in any way it was easier just to have them disappear but the doppelgänger could not allow people who were so powerful to have a chance to come against it. So the game ended with them being punished and thrown into a new hostile world.

[@maximumdm9612]

I cannot wait for the end of my current Campaign. I'm the DM and it's my first time actually ending a Campaign we are less then 5 games away from the end. We've been playing this for almost like 4 years now. It was the first game we started when the group started. It's gotten to the point where we've put our other games on hold to finish this one. So Tankards? Let's wreck this game!! Hoping for another happy landing!

[@bastiancole3565]

I feel like i've gotten more foreshadowing from Lord Paxton from these videos than your players ever did xD. On the note of a end game boss fight being interesting, i give them boss phases like in Dark Souls. My players will eventually be heading down into this Abyssal trench to confront an Apex creature of the deep, Azurashiva, Abyssal Damnation, a colossal leviathan that controls the water itself. They'll have a phase dedicated to confronting her within the water, given mounts or special spells that help them manuever in the water, until she hits a threshold and changes the field. She will raise a ceiling of water in her fury, creating this large arena pocket filled with floor to ceiling twisters of water in place of columns, forcing the players to once again adapt their strategy to challenge the queen of the deep. Now that does work because the boss is a large spectacle fight, but for a humanoid character they have to show off what makes them who they are. Strahds a vampire hes gonna do vampire stuff. It sounded like Lord Paxton himself wasn't that big of a deal but he had political power and was all about moving the pieces around the board. Similar to the king on a chess board he doesnt do much but commands the masses so having some seriously suped up guards in his boss room, like a duo of hardcore warriors sworn to defend him, would do the trick as regular minions just wouldnt cut it.

[@l1ghtd3m0n3]

Sometimes I like the fakeout of an easy final boss - a paper tiger can still be an interesting villain, especially if you make their right-hand person the *actual* final challenge.

[@thewolfstu]

9:50 "Combat being such a big feature" In a Role Play Game. I would love it if I could of talked down a BBEG instead of being forced to fight them. XD

[@DJWidget]

My group is coming up on the end of Curse of Strahd. I'm going with the homebrew by Lunch Break Heroes, so there is a chance that, if they defeat Strahd, they may choose to take on Vampyr and stop Strahd's curse forever...or they just might leave and go home to Waterdeep after an in-game month of being in this gothic hell. Either way, they should be fun!

[@barrelrollio]

The encore adventures are a good touch - let those players touch the sun! As for the video, great content, but I'd love Chapters breaking up all the tips for easy reference.

[@jillianh7565]

My character has a few possible endings for my groups campaign. As of now she can either become the queen of Neverwinter, the vampire bride to Alexander Von Roeyen, start a family etc. As our group has two sessions left I honestly wonder which ending would be the most salifying because on one hand, she is the rightful heir to Neverwinter; but on the other hand, she loves Alexander dearly and would want to spend eternity with him in Barovia once we defeat Strahd so.....what do you think?

[@EatAnOctorok]

On the topic of final dungeon magic items: Shagambi’s flaw: “I never show mercy to evildoers” My character, to the Atropal: “Your second chance at life is a fraud, a shame as you could have been great if not for your new master. But he has reduced you to a machine which must be shut down.” Shagambi: “Yeah good enough, you can have my thing”

[@linus4d1]

A very timely video. My 2 year campaign is coming to a close soon.

[@lanfae9353]

Whatever you do, don't make the final encounter roleplay/puzzle/challenge based... I tasked my players with going up against a goddess they literally couldn't kill with the objective of freeing another diety she'd captured, and I thought the whole party would have to work together to distract her, free the other diety, and escape. The problem is that in the interest of making this possible, I gave them too many buffs, and they basically used items to direct her and snuck in and got away without any fight at all. Part of the problem was that I wasn't expecting this and didn't improvise well and didn't want to override the players' rolls and say no (which I should have), but part of it was just that I should've combined this mission with the last big actual fight in the previous session. I could've made it so that the characters had to do everything at once and gave it more of a climactic feel. Ah well, lesson learned

[@agsilverradio2225]

9:20 This could work, but only if it's a redeamable tragic-villain. ... There also ought to be an even more evil surprise villain, so the party still has something to fight!

[@ShadowCrestCreations]

Me and my friends accidentally did a pacifist campaign awhile back. We had very charismatic characters and we talked our DM into submission with every mini-boss and finally the BBEG. Somehow we managed to not kill a single boss (and very few minions) recruited them all and then talked so much the BBEG gave up and became the janitor at our base. It was hilarious but we were super under levelled and looking back our DM was probably dying inside when he realised we could talk circles around him with dice rolls to back it up.

[@zachariaravenheart]

The campaign I'm playing right now is one I am determined to complete. My group is about halfway through it right now. I look forward to the future of our campaign and the ending. I don't even care if my players win, or not. I have cool ideas for if they fail. :D Also, for closure with one of my players, he's a vampire (using Grimhollow's transformation rules) and he's slowly working towards getting the King to join his coven. It's not going to be easy for him to succeed, but he already has a consort working under him who is now with the King most of the time. His charisma stats are super high, which is awesome, so he's got a decent chance. Another player serves the Raven Queen. His current goal is to get the Raven Queen a statue in the largest Library in the kingdom. He will likely do it. The last player is a bit more of a mystery though. Not sure what his legacy will be yet.

[@tukman16]

Nice tips. My style of dming usually provides lvl20 adventures before the final battle instead of after. And I still give no magic items to the players, unless those are utility focused hahaha

[@euansmith3699]

20:20 It is good to see that, even in the fantasy lands of D&D, the Fantastic Four is still on hand to save the day.

[@thewolfstu]

10:48 I mean, if you are good with the Role play aspects of the game that climactic diplomatic scene could take your players' breath away before hitting them with relief followed by a nice wrap up that can be opened up for further games in the future.

[@GuardianTactician]

On the point about a battle royal and level 20 druids being likely to win, easy answer to that is the 9th level spell Power Word Kill. Doesn't matter if they have 99 hp or less in their true form or their shapeshift. It kills them outright.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Some good ideas My party is at level 18 (3.5), but I had to quit DMing for awhile. We will play again in October with those characters.

[@schylerfontenot7358]

This was such a fun video for brainstorming my campaign with. Not even close to finishing, but gives me ideas for how I should go about it

[@Jimbo77777]

4 I love to hear this because I wasn't sure If I should use 4 CR 22, 1 CR 24, and 1 CR 28 creature.

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

If the players are going to make an alliance with the BBEG, then maybe they have to work together to fight someone else. If they team up with an Archfiend, perhaps a Celestial intervenes to try to smite them all.

[@ruenvedder5921]

Your videos just keep getting better

[@kewlpackstudios]

oooooh... A Battle Royale post-game... I love that idea. In fact, it would be a fantastic little trapped/escape room scenario. Or maybe this... The super ultra BBEG that had authority over the slain BBEG has heard of the party and their exploits. Now he wants to figure out which PC is most worthy, so as to recruit them to his evil band of world-ending miscreants. To that end, he arranges an elaborate trap which teleports the party to a demi-plane wherein they find themselves in an enclosed "arena" made of multi-planar magical walls/floor/ceiling. It is filled with racks and tables of all manner of weapons, components, and resources needed for a gladiatorial contest. Because of the power of the magic that brought them here, they cannot finger-snap an escape. Teleport, etc. doesn't work. No exits. The only way to escape this trap is all out combat until one hero is left standing. At that point, the party is spirited away and appear before the super ultra BBEG (maybe before his throne and all the aforementioned miscreants) where the winner of the contest is invited to join the ranks... if he refuses, well... maybe that opens up the next high level adventure. Or something along those lines.

[@spazzyphantasm]

Recently my player's were investigating some odd street fights that always ended with the winner of the fight dropping dead and the loser would disappear a few days later. My players utterly failed. 2 of them got hammered and went to their room to sleep, leaving the party without their main tank and Rouge. They witnessed one of these fights and the split once again 2 stayed to try to revive the presumed dead man while one followed our culprit, an Intellect Devourer inside a veteran. Needless to say our bad guy went back to his group of goons. 8 thugs and the party approached them while also knowing that the bad guys saw them coming. 2 died 1 fled. Our noble background pc had her brain eaten and she informed the party she would be returning home ,all this danger did not suit her. Their group patron helped them revive a player but thinks lower of them and gave them an easier job to handle while someone else hunts down the Intelligent Devourer for them. Told them they failed the quest and still had the gawl to ask if they leveled up. Iol

[@Beckermao]

I had a campaign end with us losing and everyone at the table just found it anticlimactic and unsatisfying. We had a chance to win but all the key rolls went against us. Maybe some narration after could’ve softened the blow but honestly it totally sucked. A chance of losing is definitely fun but I disagree that actually losing is in any way fun. It wasn’t.

[@mackenzieoakes5661]

Thank you so much, this is the only good advice I've heard on yt so far. I will be ending my campaign with a few ideas from this. Will update

[@SupermonkeyGH]

All the campaigns I’m currently running tie in with each other, but they’re all low level. However I will keep that trend going once they’ve ended and the next generation takes over. Great vid bro!

[@gregjones7878]

If you want to give them a real choice whether to negotiate with the BBEG, make sure there is also a BGGG: Big Good Good Guy. If they side with the BBEG, they now have a few more sessions to encounter and defeat the BGGG. Or you can have two BBEGs that have incompatible goals.

[@danak7818]

Awesome ideas. My campaign is nowhere near the end, but these were great for planning in advance.

[@davidr6702]

Level 20 is a sensible end point for the lack of continued leveling, but what about calling a campaign at level 16 or some other stage? It would leave growth in the post game mission option and keep them guessing on where the ending would be coming. Or is the BBEG needed to maintain the interest in specific characters through to level 20?

[@CybeargPlays]

Although calling it “talkey-talkey, handshake” definitely highlights how dumb and anticlimactic it seems, I was in a Descent into Avernus campaign that ended with successfully talking down Zariel. The campaign had been a tense, combat-filled struggle for survival, with every boon coming at a cost. [Spoilers] But I didn’t think that was anticlimactic. The campaign had heavily discussed Zariel’s fall, and our most intense fight yet involved fighting alongside Zariel’s angelic former self in a memory, so persuading her to see the folly of her fall and return to her angelic form felt right. Like saving Darth Vader. But maybe that was just me. Would you say that is generally still a bad move, even when it’s somewhat foreshadowed and the final persuasion was a DC based on our party’s actions, good and bad, throughout the campaign?

[@terrychant4365]

My table has enjoyed plot armor for far too long. I've turned up the danger as we near the end, but in the final chapter not only will the last boss be deadly, they will be in a situation where the only way to win will be to sacrifice atleast one of themselves. Im hoping it sets up future campaigns to be deadlier once everyone goes through it once.

[@SamBrockmann]

8 sounds excellent in a custom setting (not that it has to be custom), because the players - whether they realize it or not - are helping define the setting with you.

[@radianceguardians]

I love your shirt so much Luke!! Cat as a DM. I can’t stop staring at it. I want that shirt. Besides the shirt, awesome video as always.

[@isthisajojoreference]

My thinking on final bosses is, if the players are wiping the floor with the BBEG then just cheat. Make the boss's health bar as big as as it needs to be for the fight to be interesting, give them more spell slots, or legendary actions, or whatever, but let the party win gloriously. If they were going to win before you started cheating then they should win after as well, at that point they earned it, but if they were gonna lose then let them lose gloriously too.

[@BlazingBlazer1]

I think a solution to the ending where ther PC's make a deal with the BBEG can be solved by now them having to fight the allies that they have made along the way, so if the bbeg was gonna destroy a city and the players make a deal with him and join him or whatever, now they have to partake in the cities destruction, having to either fight their allies or basically force them to fight him

[@benpuffer7891]

Would your advice change if the characters were level lower level, say lv 8, and the campaign was ending ?

[@frigginsepone446]

8:23 Sounds like someone watched a Matt Colville campaign and was as disappointed by the ending as I was... 🤪

[@BjornWithASlash]

The first campaign I ever played in was about a War between the Drow and the surface. It started off very generic, but through out interesting characters we had a great time and changed the story quite a bit. My character was Finn, a Druid half elf who would go on to be known as The Dragon of the Whisky Mountains. He grew up segregated in his racist community for being a bastard non human. This trauma would shape his entire personality. His goal was to end the war without killing anyone. I was non lethal for the entire campaign except for about halfway through where I tried to kill someone (they killed Finn instead) He is brought back by a legendary staff made of a living tree called Nature’s Wrath and after dying he was even more third eye open. He’s like the full on avatar. He eventually found out that the Drow have a queen who was still very young and her uncle was manipulating her into continuing the 1000 year dark war. Finn eventually convinced everyone to leave him and the girl alone for 30 minutes to talk without the uncle. They sat down and played chess while Finn explained what was happening. The queen realized her uncle was lying to her and she ended the war. We ended the campaign like Star Wars with a medal ceremony where Finn was welcomed by all as a hero. He would then retire to his home and focus on connecting himself to the world now that he was done fighting. He eventually becomes a force ghost that can appear in any forest that has a tree from his home forest in it.

[@brandondillman5848]

Opening businesses is one way to leave a legacy that I always found super fun.

[@ironkeepgaming1936]

Usually it’s my players/friends that get bored of the campaign. I think I stretch out the campaign too much. How do I make the game not too long but not too short???

[@CaptainFirefred]

I read your tag as Thed-Mal-Ir and I like it a lot

[@ZanderFoster]

I had to watch 4 ads before the vid really started. Skip to 4:16 to start vid