Ends

We’re back and we’re facing the inevitable. All good things must come to an end, and this includes our look at beginnings, middles and ends in roleplaying games. Our previous two episodes examined how to start a game session and what to do once it’s underway. Now, we’re wrapping up with an in-depth look at the end. Or ends, to be precise. While a strong beginning is essential to get things moving and the middle takes up most of a game, the end tends to be what people remember. If your game has a dramatic, action-packed or emotional ending, your players will probably talk about it for years afterwards. If the end of the game is a damp squib, they are also likely to talk about it, just maybe in less glowing terms. We start our discussion by working out just when we should end a game, move on to techniques for building up to the end and then wrap things up with an examination of endings themselves. Oh, and then we talk about what to do after the end. Apparently, things aren’t always as final as they seem. In the intro, Paul makes mention of The Grogzine, the fanzine put out by our friends at The Grognard Files. Like our own publication, The Blasphemous Tome, this is a ‘zine created for those who back the podcast on Patreon. If you long for the days when White Dwarf published material for Runequest and Call of Cthulhu, this is the ‘zine for you. There is more singing in this episode. If you have been lucky enough to escape our musical endeavours so far, I really should explain. When a generous and brave soul pledges at the $5 level on Patreon, we literally sing their praises. Well, it started out like that. Now we make strange sounds and Paul mixes them into an aural nightmare. We are still accepting submissions for issue 2 of The Blasphemous Tome. As mentioned, we produce the fanzine exclusively for our backers, and everyone who donates money via Patreon receives at least one copy. Our original plan was to cut off submissions in mid-November. Predictably, we’re running late. If you have a piece of original artwork or a short article (under 500 words, ideally) that you would like to submit, please send it to us by the end of December. We are also interested in the most blood-curdling, sanity-blasting or toe-curling descriptions of monsters you can come up with. You can use the contact form on this very website or get in touch with us on Google+, Facebook or Twitter. In case you’ve never noticed, Paul often sneaks little outtakes into the dead space beyond the end of an episode. Think of them as hidden tracks, but with more giggling. The outtake in this episode is longer than all the others put together. It also contains more swearing than an average episode of Deadwood. Why? Well, look above and below for a clue…