Three things to ensure a satisfactory endgame...

Tonight should be the night! Barring any further tomfoolery from Vanir and our intrepid bunch of adventurers, we will be looking at the endgame of our campaign! I thought I would share three things that I feel are required to craft a decent final session:

1. The Big Event - Whether it be a major ritual, the ascention of a new pantheon, destruction of the Big Bad, or the out-and-out death of your party you should really save something big to go out with. Even if you want to leave the door open for some follow-up adventures, you should mark the end of each story arc with something significant. (Hint: this usually means significant rewards/treasure too!)
   
   
2. Suspense - Nobody likes seeing the plot coming from down the block, so be sure to keep a few suspense cards in your hand for use during the final session. You want to have that brief moment where things look bleak, the battle becomes more difficult or emotionally significant, or something unexpected occurs to really climax the story.
   
   
3. The Epilogue - I have taken to requiring some sort of epilogue. My job as DM is to tie up the loose ends of the plot, describe the world after The Big Event and frame up any further opportunities for adventures. After that point, I like to turn things over to my players so they can tell me what the immediate future holds for their characters. Will they go home to their families? Continue adventuring in search of the next elusive treasure? Change professions and bake scones for a living, never raising their blade in anger again? This gives both you as DM and the players closure and an opportunity to bid farewell to their characters.

I know there are a possibly unlimited list of additions that should/would/could appear in the final session of a campaign, but I think those three are key components to have some level of success.

Behind the Screen: Getting better all the time...

In case you can't tell from the general overtone of Stupid Ranger's last post, we had a rather crunchy session over the long weekend. Not just any crunchy session, but a particularly epic flavored crunchy session.

Our group of epic adventurers showed the terrible dracolich what death tasted like, however as the rest of the evil armies pressed in on them they called upon an unexpected (to Kanati and I) escape route. They had earned a favor from a particularly old Gold Dragon, and they called on him to provide an expeditious retreat from the invading forces.

After Kanati and I had finished soiling ourselves, we determined that an evil horde of this magnitude would maintain the services of a black dragon. This led us to a utterly fantastic aerial battle that would've never happened if not for working on your spontaneous recovery skills.

There are two takeaways from the above scenario:

1. Take good notes regarding what favors your characters are owed, or what non-standard magical items they have at their disposal. This is more important if you have infrequent gaming sessions like we do. It will prevent the unexpected "oh crap" moment, and that undetermined loss of a few seconds of life as your heart tries to leap out your neck.
   
   
2. When the unexpected happens, try to recover in the most elegant way possible. Commit to your approach and go with it, often if you keep the action up the group will be less likely to question whether or not the evil horde had a black dragon before they realized they could summon their gold one.

Hopefully we will continue getting better as we chase this campaign into the barn, expect more soon!

On the Eve of Battle

Last Sunday, we finally got the chance to make some good, forward progress in our campaign. And we know that our next session (hopefully Friday) will be the Big End Battle. Sitting at this vantage point, knowing what is coming next, it's important to be as prepared as possible. Here's some thoughts to help you get ready for that battle:

1. Read your character sheet: Before heading in to battle, it's a good idea to review all your equipment: weapons, armor, and miscellanea. Especially take a look at the miscellanea. Take note of the wands, scrolls, rings, etc that you may have collected. Review the attributes of your magical equipment to see if you have any magic you overlooked; for instance, did you forget that your armor had spell resistance. Make sure you are familiar with everything you're carrying because during the battle, that simple little thing you forgot you had, like a spare weapon or a potion of spider climb, might make a huge difference.

2. Review your capabilities: I think this may be one of the most important pre-battle checks. Be aware of your attack and damage bonuses; knowing the numbers can make the actual battle less frustrating because you're not trying to do complicated math on the fly. Take a look at your feats and review the ones that may affect your battle skills. For the magic users, be aware of your prepared spells, as well as the spells you can prepare. If you're anything like me, your spellcasters have had the same spells prepared for goodness only knows how long; if that's true, you might want to review and adjust your spells to better suit the upcoming battle.

3. Brainstorm with the rest of the party: You've been traveling together for a long time, and you've been fighting together for a long time. It doesn't hurt, however to review everyone's strengths and weaknesses. How can your spellcasters' buffing spells can be coordinated for everyone's benefit? Are your fighters going to all rush in together or are they going to wait for the Big Bad to approach? Who has healing capabilities, and how can those individuals be distributed for the best coverage on the battlefield? Considering strategies like these and others can make sure you are approaching the battle as a team instead of a bunch of people who just happen to be hanging out together.

4. As a player, make sure you have everything you need: Make sure you have all your references (character sheet, notes, reference books, websites, cheat sheets, spell lists) and paraphernalia (dice, pencils, calculator, scratch paper). And, of course, make sure the fridge is stock with the appropriate beverages and the requisite snacks are plentiful!

Memorial Day Lazysaurus...

A thousand apologies for the lack of a post yesterday, the Stupid Ranger crew were heavily busy with some much needed R&R, home repairs, and moviegoing (Iron Man woot!).

In addition to our standard fare, I am happy to report that both SR and I ordered our GenCon badges yesterday! We're optimistic for a great time this year, we're making a distinct effort to get to meet and greet our fellow D&D bloggers.

This morning Yax has posted an interesting read over on DungeonMastering about having an "innovation party" for fellow DMs, and I think the whole premise (in addition to his article) is a wonderful idea. In fact, we have been known to (somewhat) regularly get the Stupid Ranger crew together to brainstorm ideas for articles, roleplaying stuff, t-shirt ideas, etc. and it usually turns out well for us.

Yax also stresses the importance of having a motivation or reward for these type of events, and I agree that whether I'm doing this for my campaign, this site, or a project at work it really helps to have a near-term "slightly delayed gratificiation" reward for getting through the effort. That level of focus and release is really what helps you get real productive ideas on the table without too much of the "I'm bored of this let's B.S. for an hour" interruptions.

Regardless of my $0.02, his article is a great read. Go check it out and reward yourself with a cheeseburger or something!