Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 222 - Epilogues

Episode Date: May 5, 2024

One sure way to put a period (or even a question mark) on the end of your campaign or adventure is by using one or more epilogue scenes.  In this episode we talk about tips and tricks for creating those wrap-up scenes at the very end.   #dnd #5e #pf2e #dmtips #gmtips #Epilogues Resources: Ginny Di - Give your D&D Campaign the epilogue it deserves - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jamWxX3kC4  

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. But primarily, I think they're important because they show the viewer that there's more to life after a big adventure ends. And what are RPG campaigns, but big damn adventures? Thank you for listening to the Taking20 Podcast, episode 222, Deuces Are Wild. This week some tips for putting together epilogues and other postmortem scenes at the end of your campaign. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Air Conditioners. The air conditioner in my house recently failed during a heatwave and let me tell you, that

was not cool. We have a coffee, ko-fi.com slash taking 20 podcast. If you enjoy this podcast, please consider making a one-time donation to keep it alive. Even as little as five dollars helps. We've received two donations this year and thank you Tommy and Bobby very much for your gifts, but I'm kind of hoping others will donate as well to help offset some of these costs. So please donate if you can. will donate as well to help offset some of these costs, so please donate if you can. People generally love Happily Ever After. The story ends and the assumption is that the protagonists live a happy life, free of the difficulties they experienced up to that point. But what does that mean for your characters or your game? If you wanted to give players

a vision into what their characters will be like after the end of the adventure, how do you do that? One way is by giving the characters an epilogue scene. For the purposes of this episode, I'll say the RPG epilogues are just the scenes at the end of an adventure or campaign. It serves as a comment or conclusion to what happened during the adventure. If you've seen Lord of the Rings movie Return of the King, epilogues are like, god, the last hour of the movie? The Ring is destroyed and Sauron is defeated, now what? Rescued by eagles, the fellowship reunites in Gondor, Aragorn is crowned, you bow to no one, the hobbits return to the Shire, Sam marries Rosie,

and good on ya young man, shoot your shot. Bilbo and Frodo depart for the undying lands to the west. There are some others in the books, but most of my listeners have at least seen the trilogy, so for brevity's sake, let's just stick with this list. Every one of those scenes could be considered an epilogue to the main story. Why were they included in both the novel and the films, or one or the other? Couldn't the movie be about an hour shorter without them? Absolutely, but I think they're included because over the course of 13 hours or however long the extended trilogy is, we've grown attached to these characters. We have emotionally bought into their lives and happiness and we want to know

that they're going to be okay. But primarily I think they're important because they show the viewer that there's more to life after a big adventure ends. And what are RPG campaigns, but big damn adventures. Epilogues have their place in campaigns, but it's not for every campaign you ever run. Short campaigns aren't really suitable for one or more major epilogue scenes. Let's face it, if your entire campaign is three sessions long, that's not a lot of time to invest in a character. I've played a lot of characters for one-shots or short little two to three session adventures, and if I didn't have their character sheets, I probably couldn't even tell you their names or what classes they were. In short campaigns, you probably don't need an epilogue

at all, or if you do, it's not much more than a sentence per character and you're done. The good news is that if your game is roleplay light or roleplay non-existent, you probably don't even need extended epilogues for your game. IGM for one group who are there for the dice rolls, the exciting battles and horrible, horrible jokes. There isn't a lot of character development

or connection to the game world. That's the type of game they want and I am all about giving my players what they enjoy. When this campaign wraps up, it'll probably be a brief sentence or two explaining what they do for the rest of their lives and done. Easy peasy. However, if you're running a game that's more akin to critical role or character motivations and backstories are tightly integrated with the game. Characters grow and change or descend into a destructive pattern, game, characters grow and change or descend into a destructive pattern, then there's a pretty good chance that your players are going to want to know what happened to Bartleby

the Cleric, Dion the Swashbuckler, and Grakhtha the Kobold Sorcerer after the curtain falls, and the French Fenn is shown in delicate script on the campaign. Did Bartleby reestablish faith in the Inheritor Goddess? Did Dion ever become a captain? Did Grok Thos set up that school in the Doldrums section of the city? Was the city of Thistleton saved from the mob influence that had spread during the adventure? Epilogues are a way you can show the party what the results of their actions were. And that's my first tip for you.

Focus on the characters actions and their impacts both big and small. Show them how their actions change the fate of a nation, an empire, or maybe even an entire plane of existence. Show the stain of the big bad being erased on the macro and larger scale, the damage being repaired, nations recovering, but don't forget to show the effects positive and negative of the characters actions on the small scale. What happened to NPCs who were important to the player characters, even and especially if the NPC is unimportant to the world? The PCs may have given Esmeralda a 50 gold piece tip out of a lark, but remember they did that, and as the credits roll in the campaign, show Esmeralda moving back closer

to her parents, able to pay a cleric to cure some malady that affects one or both of them, or whatever the reason she was working in that shitty tavern to begin with. Show the king grieving the loss of a relative who the PCs failed to save. The epilogue is a chance to show how the characters' actions have affected the world around them, positively and negatively. Did they save the kingdom from an evil threat? Did they find a long lost artifact? How will the people they helped remember them?

Use quick vignette epilogues to show how important the PCs were for this town, region, nation or whatever. The second tip I would have would be to collaborate with your players about epilogues. Ask them what their characters dreams are for their happily ever after. Do they want to open a tavern or shop of their own? Do they want to return to their family, take up the sword on the next quest? Or does the player feel like a fitting ending would be for the character to wander to the west, leaving what happens to them a giant unknown?

Especially in roleplay heavy games, your players likely have thought about what the end looks like for their characters. Get their ideas. Ask them what they think that character would be doing in a year, five years, or twenty years after the adventure ends. Generally work with them to write an epilogue that supports their choices for their character. One of the reasons you should collaborate with your characters, by the way, is that you should treat the characters with care.

Epilogues can have a good or a bad outcome, but be careful writing negative postmortems if you don't have mature players. It can result in hurt feelings. Your epilogue can plant the seeds for future adventures though. If you're planning to run another campaign with the same group, you can use the epilogue to introduce the plot hooks and foreshadow future events. Remember the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Tony Stark comes home to see Nick Fury sitting in his house to talk about the Avengers Initiative? Or when the Hammer Mjolnir was sitting in the New Mexico desert?

Those brief scenes hinted that the universe was bigger than what they've already shown. There were other stories to tell and more work to be done by our heroes. To further illustrate these last two points, years ago I was running a rogue in a campaign and the DM at the time wanted to write some epilogues for our characters. I mentioned that my rogue was probably interested in becoming a head of the Thieves Guild after the campaign was over. We ended the campaign at a relatively high level so that's a fairly realistic goal for my character. The DM wrote all the character's epilogues, but when it came to mine, he said that my

character became head of the Thieves Guild, yay, and was found two years later on the beach with his tongue cut out and mysterious runes carved into his skin. That kinda caught me by surprise a bit, but I've been gaming a long time so it really didn't bother me all that much. If he had done that to a player with less experience, it easily could have become a point of contention between the two people. Later on it was revealed that my character's murder was the catalyst to kick off the next campaign, and I understood exactly why he had done that to my character in an epilogue. He and I are different DMs and I'd probably give the player a heads up that the character's epilogue would dovetail into the next campaign, but believe me, no harm, no foul, and I still play in that

DMs games and love them. That epilogue both showed the danger that was still in the world and planted the seed for the next campaign. As you're thinking about these epilogues, a good tip is to identify opportunities to show where the characters developed. This wrap-up scene is a good time to reflect on how the characters have grown and changed over the course of the campaign. What challenges did they overcome? What lessons did they learn? Highlight the outcome of these growth moments in the epilogue. If you have the time and the will, consider using different media to tell a epilogue tale. If you have the talent from the front, I don't, but I really hope that you do, the epilogue can be told in poetry or art or drawings or even songs.

Hell, interpretive dance if you want to go that route. Personally, I'll stick with good old storytelling. Given my improv and RPG background, that's where the majority of my talent lies, so I'm going to stick with that, thank you very much. But if you can draw, sing, or write poetry, do that too. My last general tip is the most important one. Have fun. The epilogue is a chance to celebrate the end of a successful campaign and to start thinking about the next one. I think a great way to learn is through examples, and I want to pull one very similar to a campaign

I finished a few years ago. I found the epilogue I had written in collaboration with the player, and I really wish she was available to record her lines because she had a wonderful voice, so you're just going to have to deal with who I could find. The epilogue went like this. Karela, you return to the Merchants Guild with the head of Sir Leopold Stormbringer and toss it onto the table in the middle of the Conclave meeting. All conversation ceases as the gathered mass of guild members stare at you in shock.

With eyes pointed directly at Balthazar, you say, Delivered, as promised. Now give me what's mine. Balthazar picks up the head with both hands and stares into the lifeless eyes of the butcher of Balmora, hiding in plain sight as a city noble, the man responsible for the death of his only child. He looks at you and smiles and says, a very small price to pay for revenge. Thank you my dear, the seat is yours. There's a scraping sound as he slides the chair away from the table. He removes his conclave pin and attaches it to your cloak with a smile resembling

that of a relieved man and a proud father. He steps back, bows, and returns to sit with the other guild members. Corella briefly looks at the pin, smiles, takes her place in the chair that was vacated for her. She looks around the table and says, Now then, where were we? That was an epilogue for one particular character in one particular campaign that I ran and it tries to set the scene for the future of that particular character. Now I want to leave you with a couple of tips for when you get really really good at this.

Writing epilogues is like anything else practice it and you get better at it. And as you get better you can treat tips and rules as more guidelines than hard and fast steps to follow. In those cases consider doing one or both of these things. First, remember epilogues can take multiple forms. I've seen DMs and players collaborate to tell what happens to the character the rest of their life, whether that's another five years or 500. Some players want to tell their characters the entire life story, or at least an overview of it, wrapping everything up for this character in a nice, neat little bow. Some players though only want to reveal what happens right after the end.

They only describe what happens in the immediate aftermath and prefer an epilogue where you leave room for interpretation. Tell the post-adventure stories, but maybe don't tie everything up in that neat bow. Leave it ambiguous. The character is standing on the dock before the ship leaving for another continent. They look at the ship and then turn back to look at the city. Is it for the last time or do they rethink their direction and stay in the city? They achieve everything they want

and have a peaceful life set out before them but they hesitate in front of their old armor or spell book or other item that they used a lot while adventuring You can even have an epilogue for a character who has passed away You can show them entering the afterlife and what happens in your world after death or you can even show what happens to their friends And loved ones after the character is gone Most importantly about this tip is that you can mix and match with some epilogues covering entire lives Some after their deaths, some just the next few days, or just anything in between.

I will say YouTuber Jenny D has a great video on this topic. She released about a year ago. I'll put a link in the description of the episode, and if you're watching on YouTube, it's up in the corner. Another advanced tip is to use evocative language. In other words, use vivid descriptions that tickles all the senses, making it easier for your players to get caught up in the epilogue you're describing.

Use details that create a strong emotional impression with your words. Help the players feel the joy of victory, the pain of loss, or the bittersweet taste of a hard-won piece. Evocative descriptions can feel a bit wordy sometimes, but they can be extremely powerful if your group has bought into the story and really want to know what happens next. Sometimes all it takes is thinking about an additional adjective or adverb to throw into the epilogue or maybe a good metaphor or simile. Imagine a character's dream is to take over a forgotten library and grow it into the source of knowledge that's open to all.

What if the epilogue sounded like, the scene shifts into what used to be called Tamale's tomes, but now has a new sign, Lahabah's library. The once squat stone building has expanded into a second floor in what used to be a sparse, empty, unloved space has become a treasure trove of literature and formerly lost lore. Sunlight beams through clean colorful windows and comfortable

seating is available for visitors to delight in the smell of paper, papyrus, and leather. As I mentioned in episode 189, here's where AI can really provide you a solid assist. Put in a few descriptors to the AI text generator of your choice and let it create a more descriptive and evocative version of what you write. As important as creating the epilogues is though, how you reveal them is just as important. My general MO is that I will gather players attention one last time and set the tone. What that tone is can be entirely up to you, the tone of your campaign, and more importantly, how the campaign ended. Now is the time to go all in with setting the environment and the lighting, music, accessories

like candles, please don't burn down your house by the way or your friendly local game shop, but take the time to prepare the environment and set the appropriate mood. Generally, I tend to use bittersweet instrumental music that's freely available on YouTube, even with the happiest of endings. Sure, the big bad is slain and receiving their just desserts in the afterlife, spending eternity as, I don't know, Dagon's toilet paper. But they cause destruction and death of NPCs and loved ones and maybe even a PC or two along the way. Remember, even with the sacrifices made, at the end of most campaigns, these are happier, more hopeful times. I don't think I'd give the entire epilogue a feeling of a funereal dirge even if multiple PCs died.

Some of these characters that did survive are likely realizing their dream, living the life they wanted when they first picked up Blade and Bow all those months ago. So find some appropriately happy, or at least bittersweet music and play it softly in the background. Reveal the stories one by one to your players. Complete an epilogue before moving on to the next one. Unless you are a master storyteller, and hint, most of us aren't, now isn't the time to try to weave the stories by jumping back and forth between them. Start one, let the player contribute to the story if you decided to go that route, finish it, and then move on to the next one. I like

speaking to the players referring to them as their characters name. When you've completed the last epilogue, close your book, take down your DM screen, and so ends your campaign. You have just given your players a role-playing moment they will likely never forget, especially if the campaign was a long one. I'd recommend spending the rest of the night eating, talking, laughing, as players, as people, as friends with one another. Let the end of the last campaign breathe and give it time before you jump into the next one. This will let the players think, reminisce, and file this great RPG moment into their long-term memory. Even if you do plan on jumping into the next campaign

almost immediately, at least give everyone a break to get some food, talk about the end, and stretch their legs before diving back in. Epilogues can be the final stroke of a pen to wrap up a campaign, whether it's a deliriously happy, bittersweet, or even just bitter ending to an adventure. Consider using a few epilogue scenes to give closure to these characters and their story. Collaborate with your players to create these ending scenes.

Treat the characters and story with respect. Show where the characters grew or what the character did throughout the adventure. Maybe set the stage for the next campaign. I'd be willing to bet that you and your players would have fun doing it. Do you like this podcast? If so, please consider telling your fellow gaming friends about it. Like I've said many times, I don't make any money with this podcast and I don't have an advertising budget.

I would greatly appreciate any effort you'd be willing to do to help me spread the word about it. Tune in next week when I'm going to have another episode in the Monster series, this time focusing on Aboleths and Algolthu as they're called in Pathfinder. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Air Conditioners. I mentioned that my air conditioner failed. This situation, unlike my air conditioner, really blows. This has been episode 222 talking about tips for handling epilogues.

My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube media production. Copyright 2024. References to game system content or copyright, their respective publishers.