Okay, let me explain my problem. I've been running a campaign for a while. My Players are getting really close to the end (like, in the next four to five sessions). A few sessions ago, one of my Players (my cousin) came to me and said that he will no longer be able to continue the campaign. As his life stuff was getting too busy that he cannot continue D&D. So, I asked if he wanted to know how I was planning on ending the campaign since he could no longer join. He said it was fine and I told him. Fast-forwarding a few sessions, my cousin came back to me and said that, after a bit of manipulating his schedule, he was able to make D&D work again. Meaning that he could join the campaign again. Now he knows how the campaign is doing to end, and told me ways how he will try to avoid it. For a very brief and simplified explanation of what the ending will be, I will explain that so you can get a better idea of my situation.
After the Party defeats a powerful dimension-breaking god, the King will invite them to a feast. In a way to congratulate them. The Party will be poisoned and killed by the King. As the nation would need them too much as a threat. Campaign two would start depending on their decision on being resurrected or not by a strange entity. My cousin told me that he wants to leave the planet before this happens. (The time period is during the Middle Ages, and he is a Rouge)
I was also thinking about talking with him about this and saying that he would need to continue to play as before. (The Party, including his character, is unaware that the King would do these dirty things. Moreover, they do not suspect the King of any sinister deeds. As if my cousin did not know, he would have gone to the feast.)
What do you think I should do? How should I go about this? I'm out of ideas on what I could do. (Worst case scenario, I could have the Final Boss just kill him. However, he wouldn't get the chance to be resurrected.)
That sounds like a terrible ending. After a long campaign, you’re just going to railroad the characters and kill them? What’s the point of them even playing if they don’t get any way to impact the outcome? Or was the whole point of the campaign just a prequel to this second campaign. Even then, I’d be upset and feel like it was a bait-and-switch. Why did I play this game at all if the ending was rigged from the start?
To answer your question, however, I’d talk to your cousin and ask them to rile play their character without the metagame knowledge they have.
Why is it necessary to kill all the players at the end of this campaign? Why can't the current pcs attend the king's banquet, retire and ride off into the sunset. The players can then create new characters for the new campaign. (this assumes you are planning on having them start out at level 1 again).
If Campaign 1 was to take the characters up to say lvl 10, and the new campaign has them moving on from lvl 10, I'm assuming the theme of Campaign 2 will be revenge on the king. Why can't they find out about the King's plans before the banquet, and have them runaway and start planning their revenge?
If you are having them start out at level 1, with new pcs, the king (maybe not even the current king, but one of his descendants) could be trying to destroy the reputation of the original pcs, and the new pcs are trying to defend the reputation of the original pcs.
It's not necessary, this is one outcome of four. Their actions are leading them to this ending. Moreover, they told me that they want to use different characters for Campaign 2, but have all of the memories of Campaign 1. This is the only way that I can think of that can work on why their level 20 characters are going back to level 1.
Another thing is that we (The Party and I) are also all noobs, and we don't know what we are doing. So, we've been doing whatever while having some fun in the process. Throughout the campaign, I suggest other 'events' similar to this ending. And they took it more as a "what will happen next" style instead of "that's not fair". That's why this ending is an option. As Campaign 2 depends on the ending they get.
Having a predetermined ending isn't really an issue nor is killing characters. Most games and story paths have predetermined endings which dont undermine the game. Its also not the case that riding off in to the sunset will be inherently more satisfying than the characters dying. If the characters have unresolved plots that would be more satisfying than what ever death you give them then there will likely be disappointment but if those characters have no dangling threads, death and retirement are functionally the same.
In particular death by poison is maybe a little bit of an anti climax so I wouldn't do it that way. My suggestion would be to set up the final battle so that the king can sabotage them in such a way that will functionally kill them but may still allow them to defeat the final boss. The classic example would be sealing the portal behind them or catching them all in the same trap so that they are trapped with the monster. That way win or lose the the outcome really ends up the same, the world is saved and both the party and monster are out of the picture.
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Okay, let me explain my problem. I've been running a campaign for a while. My Players are getting really close to the end (like, in the next four to five sessions). A few sessions ago, one of my Players (my cousin) came to me and said that he will no longer be able to continue the campaign. As his life stuff was getting too busy that he cannot continue D&D. So, I asked if he wanted to know how I was planning on ending the campaign since he could no longer join. He said it was fine and I told him. Fast-forwarding a few sessions, my cousin came back to me and said that, after a bit of manipulating his schedule, he was able to make D&D work again. Meaning that he could join the campaign again. Now he knows how the campaign is doing to end, and told me ways how he will try to avoid it. For a very brief and simplified explanation of what the ending will be, I will explain that so you can get a better idea of my situation.
After the Party defeats a powerful dimension-breaking god, the King will invite them to a feast. In a way to congratulate them. The Party will be poisoned and killed by the King. As the nation would need them too much as a threat. Campaign two would start depending on their decision on being resurrected or not by a strange entity. My cousin told me that he wants to leave the planet before this happens. (The time period is during the Middle Ages, and he is a Rouge)
I was also thinking about talking with him about this and saying that he would need to continue to play as before. (The Party, including his character, is unaware that the King would do these dirty things. Moreover, they do not suspect the King of any sinister deeds. As if my cousin did not know, he would have gone to the feast.)
What do you think I should do? How should I go about this? I'm out of ideas on what I could do. (Worst case scenario, I could have the Final Boss just kill him. However, he wouldn't get the chance to be resurrected.)
That sounds like a terrible ending. After a long campaign, you’re just going to railroad the characters and kill them? What’s the point of them even playing if they don’t get any way to impact the outcome? Or was the whole point of the campaign just a prequel to this second campaign. Even then, I’d be upset and feel like it was a bait-and-switch. Why did I play this game at all if the ending was rigged from the start?
To answer your question, however, I’d talk to your cousin and ask them to rile play their character without the metagame knowledge they have.
Why is it necessary to kill all the players at the end of this campaign? Why can't the current pcs attend the king's banquet, retire and ride off into the sunset. The players can then create new characters for the new campaign. (this assumes you are planning on having them start out at level 1 again).
If Campaign 1 was to take the characters up to say lvl 10, and the new campaign has them moving on from lvl 10, I'm assuming the theme of Campaign 2 will be revenge on the king. Why can't they find out about the King's plans before the banquet, and have them runaway and start planning their revenge?
If you are having them start out at level 1, with new pcs, the king (maybe not even the current king, but one of his descendants) could be trying to destroy the reputation of the original pcs, and the new pcs are trying to defend the reputation of the original pcs.
It's not necessary, this is one outcome of four. Their actions are leading them to this ending.
Moreover, they told me that they want to use different characters for Campaign 2, but have all of the memories of Campaign 1. This is the only way that I can think of that can work on why their level 20 characters are going back to level 1.
Another thing is that we (The Party and I) are also all noobs, and we don't know what we are doing. So, we've been doing whatever while having some fun in the process. Throughout the campaign, I suggest other 'events' similar to this ending. And they took it more as a "what will happen next" style instead of "that's not fair". That's why this ending is an option. As Campaign 2 depends on the ending they get.