Concluding a plot is as important as starting it! The same way that you have to build a hook that interests your characters and draws them in, there has to be some sort of resolution that makes the plot end satisfying to them.
We've had about 10 sessions of dark, moral-heavy material dealing with curses, transformations, choices, burdens. These are all super heavy things.
Some good things came out of this, particularly at the end. The players all started to chime in on how their characters had come to be- the background moments that gave them purpose.
Many of these were things that we had discussed at the start of the game, but there was also a lot of development at this point.
What did we DO this session? Role-play. Explore. I was checking out an podcast by Mike O'Shea (@SlyFlourish) where he discussed adventures with Shawn Merwin. (@shawnmerwin). They mentioned among other things the 3 pillars of D&D: Combat, Exploration and RP. In short adventures, Merwin advocated playing up at least 2 of the 3. That was us this session. All RP and Exploration, no Combat.
But! With the possibility of combat! We had an encounter with the staff of a cantankerous fire giant. We almost had a trusted NPC turn on a character. There was tension and the possibility of combat.
I think I like that better than combat sometimes. It's more satisfying to avoid the fall of a blade by a hairsbreadth.
For this session, I really tried to focus on the players. This was another 'reset' session, something I tongue-in-cheek call a 'shopping episode' after Critical Role. There's nothing wrong with these sessions but the biggest hurdle is getting everyone the things they want without neglecting anyone. So I did lots of scene switching and let people get their moments in.
Everyone was amazing! I always love my players and their ideas. It was great seeing their characters take center stage, explore their motivations and work on their goals.
I got good comments from players after the session that make me think they enjoyed their session. For next session, I got a clear direction based on what the players chose to explore. Additionally, I feel like the story direction is changing; they're leading, not following now. I love that! Can't wait to see how it turns out.
We've had about 10 sessions of dark, moral-heavy material dealing with curses, transformations, choices, burdens. These are all super heavy things.
Some good things came out of this, particularly at the end. The players all started to chime in on how their characters had come to be- the background moments that gave them purpose.
Many of these were things that we had discussed at the start of the game, but there was also a lot of development at this point.
What did we DO this session? Role-play. Explore. I was checking out an podcast by Mike O'Shea (@SlyFlourish) where he discussed adventures with Shawn Merwin. (@shawnmerwin). They mentioned among other things the 3 pillars of D&D: Combat, Exploration and RP. In short adventures, Merwin advocated playing up at least 2 of the 3. That was us this session. All RP and Exploration, no Combat.
But! With the possibility of combat! We had an encounter with the staff of a cantankerous fire giant. We almost had a trusted NPC turn on a character. There was tension and the possibility of combat.
I think I like that better than combat sometimes. It's more satisfying to avoid the fall of a blade by a hairsbreadth.
For this session, I really tried to focus on the players. This was another 'reset' session, something I tongue-in-cheek call a 'shopping episode' after Critical Role. There's nothing wrong with these sessions but the biggest hurdle is getting everyone the things they want without neglecting anyone. So I did lots of scene switching and let people get their moments in.
Everyone was amazing! I always love my players and their ideas. It was great seeing their characters take center stage, explore their motivations and work on their goals.
I got good comments from players after the session that make me think they enjoyed their session. For next session, I got a clear direction based on what the players chose to explore. Additionally, I feel like the story direction is changing; they're leading, not following now. I love that! Can't wait to see how it turns out.
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