After 4 years, 16 days, and 14 levels, the party finally defeated my final villain. They successfully prevented the return of the exiled gods and earned the highest honor in the land.

I am an extremely tired GM. Time to take a few weeks off, then start planning the next campaign.

  • PoorYorick@lemmy.worldOP
    14·
    4 days ago

    The way the party kind of adopted the recurring mini BBEG. He was designed to be a recurring villain , showing up near the end of act 1, and was supposed to be the final boss in act two.

    He had done some truly vile things to various members of the party, but apologized for them each time, spoke to them as equals, and was overall a fairly amicable person, at least if you can discount the kidnapping and torture on one players father, and the murders of another character’s entire tribe.

    Late in act 2, they discovered that he was under a compulsion to serve the whims of the big bad, and I had assumed it was going to lead to a confrontation where they killed him, then went after the BBEG. Instead, they went on a whole redemption arc for the mini BBEG, found a way to break his compulsion, and went on a long quest to free him from the control of the BBEG.

    It was kinda inspiring, again except for the multiple murders and other truly vile things this guy did. It was certainly not the outcome I was expecting in a campaign specifically bent to focus on moral grey areas.