Tuesday, July 26, 2016

On Being a Game Master: Bittersweet Ending

At the age of 43, I finally started a DnD (5th Edition) game at level 1 and finished it at level 20, I didn't abandon it, it didn't die on the vine, we completed it. No, they completed it, I was just there to give them a hard time.

I've known the ending was coming for weeks and honestly, I've been looking forward to it. My Monday group is great, but I've been running two DnD 5E games since November and part of me just wanted a break from a rule set that I've been playing for over three years. It's a fine rule set, at least tied with my favorite edition and just very well done for my tastes, but three years is a long time.

Well last night, as their group gathered in Waterdeep, all as high ranking members of the Lord's Alliance (and one vying for it's control) who had destroyed a Tarrasque and defeated three demon lords, the last act began. This session was about making up for one of their past sins: They had banished Fraz-Urb'luu to another world (they were only level 8 or 9) and he finally made his way back to Faerun, bloated with the souls of that world, which he'd destroyed to empower open his rift.

They defeated him with a Paladin's Vorpal sword and then they were given a chance to redeem themselves by Mystra: Go through the rift to that other world, back in time, and stop the demon lord.

Which is interesting because the game we begin next week is Shadow of the Demon Lord. I told the player's their characters would go through as new souls and have no memory of their other life (probably) or they could ignore the whole thing. It was their choice, but I kind of dug handling it this way.



But the hardest thing was saying goodbye (for now) to this game. It is much harder than I anticipated. You see, I am very lucky to have a great group and even more lucky they let me GM for them.

Thanks guys!

Here's a list of everyone who has been at my table in this game:
Ronnie (The Whole game as a Paldin)
Corrie (The Whole game as a Monk)

Ben
Kyle
David
Amber
Rick
Jake
Jason
Matt
Trent


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