Fluttershy: So, um, anyway. Does this mean that, um, they can stay at my place for a while?
DM: That seems to be the general plan.
Fluttershy: ...Yay.
Twilight Sparkle: So what do we do while that's happening?
DM: Check on the tornado squad's training, get ready to start up the breeze again, that sort of thing.
Rainbow Dash: So we sit on the sidelines for a while, huh? Fiiine.
DM: Don't worry, you'll be back in the spotlight before too–
Rainbow Dash: Wait, that's perfect! The last time she got a big roleplaying scene, she took down a freaking dragon! Those Breezies don't stand a chance!
Fluttershy: Oh, dear... Don't remind me...
I like the observation that, over time, Rainbow Dash has become one of Fluttershy's biggest advocates. I seem to recall her being dismissive of her and having little patience for her antics in the first season.
In other news, I think I'm experiencing empty nest syndrome or something because <sigh> we just ran the epilogue for Fallout is Dragons on Sunday, and I'm feeling something I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into come to a conclusion. I'm going to try and rush out the epilogue session by Thursday so no one's waiting too long this week.
What's next? A short break from DMing, that's for sure, but after that... There's a whole bunch more worlds to explore. I guess we'll just pick one and see what happens.
Doc goes from kind & kind to mean & mean (yes, his element of kindness can be his greatest asset and worst hindrance. Much like Fluttershy in that respect, except without the shyness).
Reuben goes from optimistic and a glutton to pessimistic and... what's the opposite of a glutton?
Zuul goes from a Loyal to the 'Chosen One' (according to some random fortune teller) and having a nasty eating habit and eating anything (evil tastes good to Kvals) to... Being disloyal because of a random fortune teller/ being really picky about food, but neat and dainty with eating?
Intrepid Scholar goes from being the Wide-Eyed Idealist willing to help others without a second though to a Deadpan Snarker unwilling to help because he's afraid he'll just screw things up.... But then, he's already like that in my fic, so I guess the opposite would take affect here. Though he is making steps in going back to the way he was so would that mean that he would switch from a Deadpan Snarker willing to help others to a Wide-Eyed Idealist who nevertheless doesn't want to get involved in anything?
... Or maybe I'm just overthinking this. Let's try again.
Rusty Nails, my Big Mac expy of a door repair pony in an alt FO:E game I was in, goes from being a stallion of few words and possessing a heart of gold to a smooth-talking jerk who couldn't care less if the orphanage was on fire. There, done.
So, Aluk'Nak goes from a good leader to a bad one, and goes from being easily submissive to power to sticking it to the man at every opportunity.
Alcandiaph goes from the happy-go-lucky always optimistic oblivious bard, to someone who's always gloomy yet has a sixth sense for danger.
Hm... character is... hard to reduce to two traits. Er... I guess the way I play my current character could be described as caring, but not trusting. So to invert that... cold, but honest?
Next character in planning is dutiful, but depressive. An inversion of that would be lazy, yet cheerful... hm...
I've only had about half my campaigns get a proper finish, but that feeling when it's done and wrapped up nicely with a little red bow just feels so gosh darn good. Even better is when months or years after closure you hear players *STILL* talk about their fav parts of those old campaigns. :D
My first Shadowrun campaign and both of my D&D 3.5 campaigns are ones I'm particularly proud of.
That is one objective of any good long-time campaign. And just in the past week, two players from a campaign I ran years ago were bringing up points from that campaign in different contexts.
I've now run two such campaigns and am setting up an attempt at a third. I now even have a formula I stick to, to try to make the campaigns last and be worthy: basing narrative off of something the PCs gain over time (levels for D&D-like systems, milestones for Fate-like).
This is how it might work in D&D: "While they are level 1 this subchapter happens (which I've measured to be roughly 1/20th of the total story plot, intending to get them to level 20 and have an epilogue to use that level in), so when it ends they will be level 2. If they finish up the subchapter's plot before getting enough XP to level, they get the rest immediately as plot XP. If they get enough XP to level before finishing up the subchapter's plot, wrap it up ASAP: no further combats or challenges, and if possible nothing that so much as requires a roll (but try not to just infodump/railroad)."
Or, for my Pokemon campaign (the aforementioned third): "Trainers get to max level 50 and the players will probably want to get there, while pokemon get to max level 100 but most players never take their pokemon all the way to level 100. Therefore use trainer level as the yardstick; pokemon should gain levels at 1.5 to 2 times the rate of trainers. The map has 18 cities - one for each pokemon type - so give each one 2 plots worth a level each (one of them involving getting the local gym badge, though that won't always be a straight-up gym battle), for a total of 36 levels. Distribute the remaining 14 levels among special locations, such as League HQ/Victory Road."
In the actual show, Rainbow Dash definitely showed more confidence in Fluttershy as a result of dragonshy, to the point where she became Fluttershy's biggest ally/advocate later in the show. The same thing seems to be happening in this comic, its pretty nice to see it develop.
Newbiespud, you could do what I did in my old Battletech 4100AD game.
After it ended, I figured that was the end of it. Successful storyline, everything's wrapped up, and the human civilization's earned its victory. on to the next game.
Except... The players wanted more. So I wound up coming up with "Generation 2", and having the next game set in the same gamespace, but involving the PC's children, in a new adventure set a full generation later.
By the time the silliness ended, I'd gotten up to Generation 3, and I've actually run *three* Gen3 games set in that same timespace.
After the conclusion of my first successful D&D 3.5 campaign, one player attempted to run a "Gen 2" based on my work. I allowed it, although since I was the DM of the original, I didn't have any characters to spring off of other than some NPCs (which none really fit the new narrative).
The Gen 2 campaign didn't get far. It ran into a number of plot holes, I think because the new GM tried to follow my old canon works a bit too closely. At least I got to be a player for a little while. I didn't have that often at all with that group. :3
Old Canon can be a killer. What I've found helpful is to take each hole as it is brought forward by the players, make thoughtful noises, then spend the next week figuring out if the inconsistency is "error in historical record/retelling" or potential plot twist.
That sounds like an awesome idea, but because of the nature of the setting and the characters fates there would only be one or two descendents of the Mawlers. I'm sure Spud will come up with something, I just don't think it will be this
There's always the idea where you start a new campaign in a neighboring area to the last one. This way you only need to bring in previous stuff on a "as-needed" basis. Thus new characters and returning characters can cross paths without much difficulty.
A possible downside is some players may want to go back to the old area for whatever reason, but that's not hard to correct-- NPCs move on to other places and the current new villain doesn't sit around waiting for you to take that side trip.
Not all the level of danger is inherent in physical power. If you are surrounded by allies and neutrals (and anyone who makes a serious go at living alone, without this "weakness", winds up far weaker for it), those who can turn many of them to hostiles in an instant can be far more dreadful than single strong enemies.
The end of a campaign can be a hard thing to deal with. Even if it wraps up nicely, there's always the feeling that there is more to do. Not that I'd know, as I don't think I've ever actually finished a campaign from a player's perspective. I've wrapped 3 interwoven campaigns, and a few independent ones as a GM. Inevitably, I go back to a setting, and show the aftermath of the last campaign to a new batch of characters, often including new players.
I'm still relatively new to DMing, but I'm about three quarters of the way through a D&D 5E game, and just starting a game in a world that I made with rules I made myself. I've told my players to expect a lot of rule changes, but they seem to be having a lot of fun so far which is good.
I can't wait for the day when I can get that feeling of completion.
In other news, I think I'm experiencing empty nest syndrome or something because <sigh> we just ran the epilogue for Fallout is Dragons on Sunday, and I'm feeling something I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into come to a conclusion. I'm going to try and rush out the epilogue session by Thursday so no one's waiting too long this week.
What's next? A short break from DMing, that's for sure, but after that... There's a whole bunch more worlds to explore. I guess we'll just pick one and see what happens.