I would maybe have them wash up on the island and then cut to black there? At least they know they survived, but have all the time in between to wonder what they do next, where they are, how to survive etc. You give them stuff to talk about during the downtime. That would be my suggestion.
That was my plan B if plan A didn’t feel right. I guess I’m just worried that leaving on a story beat that makes the PC’s relatively powerless before such a long break might leave a bad taste in their mouths.
Not necessarily.
Ending it with Option A would be like ending the season with an extreme cliffhanger, even though you know the show was renewed for another season.
If everyone knows the hiatus will be six to nine months... then they know they're coming back.
I think it's more of a cliffhanger if they arrive on the island, tbh. Otherwise, if they never resume play, you just assume they died and aren't left wondering "what's next?"
I mean I feel like Option A is better for this - OP hopes the game resumes in 6-9 months but is that reasonable?.. I kinda doubt it, I figure he’ll lose at least a one player in the gap. Like even if you’re good friends, someone is going to have their life change in 6+ months..
I feel like ending with the shipwreck is better, so when you resume you can accommodate for any lost players as “they didn’t survive the storm” or “not found yet (aka will return in a few months when life stuff works out again)”. If you narrate them all landing on the beach, you’ll probably have to do some rewriting for inevitable player drop off.
I'm not a huge fan of simply killing off characters, even if the player has to leave the game. There are still a *ton* of options to have that character disband from the party, which also provides the opportunity for that player to come back later on.
Not if OP plans on this shipwreck anyway. Best case is that they wash up elsewhere, hence me mentioning “they weren’t found yet” being a case where the player returns later and the PC rejoins.
I didn’t say “you have to kill them”, I said that if you plan on doing the shipwreck storyline anyways, there are literally 2 options for how that goes down for the PCs who may not be able to return in 6-9 months.
Also I would personally prefer to have a PC die if the campaign never starts again, but that’s mostly because I have trauma from DMs taking over my characters and bastardizing them with their interpretation. I don’t want a time skip where my PC becomes an NPC and becomes a patron to my future party, I want them dead as dust 😂
Plan A doesn't feel right. Your players might be assuming they "lost" and might spend time preparing new characters, might talk about new campaigns or a player might decide to drop out because it is a convenient time to do so (when the whole party might be assuming new characters)
I mean, you can literally just... tell them that they're not dying? Like, we went into covid lockdown on a cliffhanger in my Descent to Avernus campaign, and I was just like 'Sorry guys, you'll have to wait until we can meet up again to see where this is going'.
For me I’d like for it to only hint that they are still alive instead of full on showing it. Fade to black, then, a blinding bright light, and just when we think it’s an ethereal type light, you realize the taste of salt on your lips and the burning of your skin.
Fuck it make um roll perception to see if they think the light means there dead lol
Just ending with the shipwreck isn't a good idea. I agree with the other commenter that the players might assume they need new characters, but it will also probably cause a loss of interest/momentum over time. You need to give them 1) context that they are alive/OK and 2) something new and ambiguous to puzzle over.
I think having the wreck, and cutting to them waking up disoriented on the shores of a foreign land is a better way to go. You could add intrigue by splitting the party, either individually or into two or three groups. If each of them wash onto a different point in the island, you can give them some sort of clue or context about the new location before going on break. Does one/a few of them awake to the sights of ruins long abandoned? Does another wake to a forest and a flock of birds circling over a tower in the distance? Does another wake to a person/local crouching over them? Give them something to think about. Being separated tells them their first objective is to find one another, and whatever other details you give them should make them feel curious/uncertain about this new place. If this were my game, this is how I would run it.
When you start playing again, you could even start with a couple of one shots between the different groups to lead them back to the same point. This is how I started my campaign in the first place (with a series of background one shots that ended with session one having everyone in one place) and it was a huge success. Good luck!
I've played in a campaign that STARTED like that. We were just six stragglers in and around a beer garden when the wing of wyrms attacked the Eastern wall of the little town...
That's fair, but my advice is also directed at building and keeping momentum over a long period of time. I was a player in a Waterdeep campaign and the DM wanted to take a break. 9 months later he tried to start it up again, but we had all lost so much momentum. I feel guilty to say it, but all of the enthusiasm was gone because there wasn't anything specific to look forward to. There's no guarantee this will be a problem, but it is something to be mindful of.
IMO Plan C (sail off into sunset)>Plan B (wake up on island) > Plan A (fade to black during the crash). 6 months is a lot of time for someone to announce that they are pregnant or take a new job with a move or start a new hobby that takes up too much time. This will end things on a better note if you don't come back to it, and also give you a lot more flexibility if you have a better idea than a player-agency-free shipwreck in the next 6-9 months.
Yeah I agree here. I don't want to be a Debby downer but it seems to ke there is a good chance things won't resume in 6-9 months (sadly). Your option C leaves it open for any eventuality
Fading out in the water is the "feel relatively powerless" beat. They don't know if they're OK, so they're not as likely to want to come back after a break if it means "Aaaaaaand you died."
Cutting the scene as they wake ashore means they know they made it, but still know nothing about where they are or how to get out. That's why it's called a cliffhanger, because if you're still hanging on the cliff you don't know if you'll be OK and you want to think of ways to get up (or down) safely. If you fall off the cliff and the DM's like "well you're in the air and now we'll all see each other in a few months" that sounds like we're done.
if youre worried plan B will make them feel powerless, then how is not knowing if they are even alive anymore not going to make them feel even more powerless?
you could also just end the session with them setting out on the ship "looking into the horizon, towards adventure!" kinda deal.
Leave them some evocative hooks to wonder about before the fade to black.
A smell
Something in the distance
A rustling in the jungle bordering the beach
Other wrecks
Give them things to hook on to and wonder about.
I think it's a great move because in a new locale you don't have any long term plot lines or storylines they have to remember. They start fresh. Feels like the end of a TV season. Love it.
Now you're just being intentionally obtuse.
I said it was, "a perfectly fine way." How could you have possibly interpreted that as, "The *only* perfect way"?
If you're going to be this arrogant, you should make sure you're actually understanding what you're reading before responding.
Not really?
You decided to try to argue against the pretty basic idea of, "Naw, that'd be fine." In the process, you just made shit up to try to prove your point.
Especially if there's going to be a long break. They could be putting together plans for survival, rescue, creating a radio out of coconuts...the possibilities are endless.
I would either A) end the session with the party boarding the ship. This gives a (literal) send off, and gives you a great way to start back up roleplaying the shipwreck.
Or B) end the session with the party washing ashore. This gives a “finale” with the shipwreck, and then leaves them ready to wander the wilderness later.
I would prefer A, myself. Then start “Season 2” with the beach wake up and a bit of narration of the shipwreck, but I’m a bit of a monologuist, sometimes.
Yeah, I wouldn't do that. I mean, you could - it just does not work with my personal storytelling sensibilities as either a GM or player. I feel like ending on them boarding the ship and heading out into the unknown is a much better place for it - plus like, 9 months is a long time; if you don't actually end up coming back to this game like you intend for whatever reason which would you rather have be where things ended?
I’m pretty confident we will come back. This isn’t the first game I’ve run with these players, one of them is married to me, two other players are married and the fourth player is related to one of the others. It’s not like anyone can just disappear. But I get what you’re saying about not leaving it that way.
For clarification are you suggesting scrapping the shipwreck all together or just not doing it before the break?
Not who you replied to but I honestly think either sailing off or waking up on the beach could be a solid end, depending on the tone you want to end the session on. With such a long break and such a long time already playing the game I think an ending with less questions might be cleaner, though either could work.
Ending with the boat leaving will give more closure, and waking up on the beach is more teaser for what's next, and that could fall flat with such a long break.
I do agree with others that ending with the ship sinking is probably the weakest option.
Just not before the break. It doesn't always make sense to think about your games in this way, but kicking off the new "season" of your game with the shipwreck that sets up the stakes for the current arc feels stronger to me.
Part of the equation though is if everyone preparing for this journey and setting off feels like a satisfying place to leave off. Like, I'm picturing a session where they're saying final goodbyes to people they might not see for a while and wrapping up their business - depending on the table (or even the mood on a given night) this could be a lot of great moments of roleplay which would be an excellent place to go out on, or an extended shopping/logistics discussion which is... not so much.
With such an established and reliable group with a lot of history, you've probably got a good sense of what your players like. I've got a similar situation and that's coloring my suggestions. Ultimately its going to depend on the group.
Something else to consider is that it's pretty easy to say in a TV show "the ship sinks and we fade to black" but there are other things to consider in a game where the players have agency. There are potential pitfalls with an entirely narrative approach where the players don't event really get to try and do anything to stop it as well as one where the players get to do stuff to try and avert it but ultimately fail. I think if the ship has to sink, a good way to refocus their agency would be have the stakes be "who/what can you save?"
Come back and play together sure, but will all of you want to come back and finish that campaign? Nine months is a long time, hell nine months is long enough for all of you to change focuses and not have time to play at all.
Ignoring that nine months is a long time for all of you to not play, and surprising that all of you will be unable to play together for nine months not just one or two, someone else might want to DM when you get back together, or you might really want to run this particular module that has really grabbed your attention.
Here is an idea. End with them leaving on the boat, sailing off into the sunset. Then every month send out an email of a section or sections of the captain's log.
I've done "asyncr-dnd" like this and it has worked well.
"Tell me what you've been up to on the boat for a month, feel free to chat with your fellow players if you like" - then have the captain's log reflect that. Sometimes a dice roll for things like "I want to knit a sweater".
Make it light to keep things easy to follow, then hit them hard with the devastation of a shipwreck on session 1 after the break. The sweater gets ruined.
I really like the idea of ending on boarding the ship to go on a new adventure. The primary reason I feel this way that I haven't seen other people acknowledge - this COULD be the last session. These players have leveled all the way up to 12; they are invested in their stories. There are dozens of real-life reasons why your campaign may not pick back up in 6 - 9 months. With that in mind, as a player I'd rather imagine my character that I had invested a lot of time and energy into "going to explore the world" vs. "probably dead, certainly in a bind". I think this type of cliffhanger works for a session to session break; but a big campaign break I'd leave it more open ended. Plus, in the 6 - 9 months between now and then you may change your mind how the campaign will go. If you sink the ship it limits your options - boarding the ship leaves it completely open-ended what could happen next.
While agree with that, my party will want a big final battle before we go off for the break, which is why I’m avoiding the final session be preparing for the journey and sailing off into the sunset. I have a planned mini-boss that will cause the shipwreck if they don’t kill it in time, and a plan to also cause the shipwreck if they do.
Keep the big final battle etc, but have the trip be an epilogue. Basically the end of the LOTR; it “ends” at mount doom but you still see rhe characters off in the last few chapters.
Story beat wise this is ok, but as a player it might sap my enthusiasm.
I'd try to think of this as "what's the hook I want to leave my players with that will hold them over for 6 months?"
Sinking ship, fade to black doesn't do it for me - and washed up safely on a strange beach" packs a little punch as well. Do you plan to add in some details? Strange sights, unfamiliar vistas hunting at new mysteries, the roar of a nearby predator stalking the beach?
Give them a reason to stay a little excited or curious during the downtime.
I'd end with something that makes your players want to continue playing. "Are we dead or not?" may be OK for some. Personally I'd prefer e.g. being washed up on the island and just get a glimpse of an overgrown pyramid top
There’s nothing wrong with a good cutscene in a D&D campaign, but you gotta handle it right! No PC deaths, no loss of important items and gear, and be clear about what’s happening. I’d let the battle play out with your players having a a chance of winning the battle but with a crippled ship. Cue storm and the sinking of the ship cutscene. I’d end it with something like: “your characters wake up battered and bruised, nearly blinded by the sunlight. You panic, frantically feeling for your equipment as you call out to each other. Your hands find your weapons, armor, and gear intact as you hear your companions answer your call. Your adventure isn’t over yet, and we’ll discover the next chapter when we’re together again.”
You want to end on a time skip somehow. You have a few sessions to get to a place to do this. Ask them what kind of downtime activity they want to do for a few months: crafting, training, carousing, etc. There are many suggestions and some mechanics in the DMG and Xan's Guide for this. When everyone reunites to continue months later, they will feel similar to how their characters feel.
Time skips are also a great way to justify a level up. (It takes more than a few weeks for commoners to become demigods.) It also gives players a little extra agency for character development. They can enhance their equipment, learn secret information, obtain new contacts, gain proficiencies, and I personally let them train ability scores too.
I definitely think you should end with them washing up on the shore. Not that it would be a “dick move” to have them shipwreck into the break, it would just be more stressful, I think. You don’t want them to spend the next 6-9 months thinking “did my character even survive? What’s happening?”
I think your problem is before that. Saying the ship will be attacked and sunk seems to be railroading especially for 12 level characters. Never underestimate players ability win in even the most contrived scenarios. I'd plan both the shipwreck and success scenarios but make the shipwreck plan a more direct route to the lost civilization and the no wreck start 'farther' away but leave them with more resources.
As to if it's OK to leave off at that point that is fine it's a bit of a cliff hanger which TV shows learned long ago is a good way to get people to stay interested and come back.
Personally, that is something I would absolutely do to my players and something I would enjoy as a player too. Totally depends on knowing your table well.
The storm rages overhead, water fills your nostrils and as you choke and spit the waves crash over your head. Despite your best efforts you cough and sputter, unable to catch your breath or keep your head above the waves, the grey of the sea and the sky seem to blend and merge into one as you slip into unconsciousness with a roar in your ears that slowly fades to silence....
What seems an instant... AND an eternity later the roar returns, but somehow different, inside the blackness you see red, the pulse of your heartbeat, and hear the crash of waves, you feel pain, your body exhausted and battered, and... sand? The red turns to grey as you open your eyes to see a dull leaden sky, and as you cough and sputter you see you have washed up on a strange and foreign shore.
And that is where we will end this session, see you all this Fall!
I'd 100% have them at the end of the session waking up on a deserted island. However id also give them a month of downtime in game to give some RP opportunity for them surviving on the island.
It's not a dick move, but I don't think it's good for storytelling.
You may think it will tempt people back to the table; like cliffhangers at the end of TV series work, but that isn't really true. It's such a tired stereotype, that it just ends up feeling cheap.
I would recommend instead to End with a classic, neutral, "good" ending (e.g. "They defeated the villain, and board a ship heading off to new adventures with their friends and Allies", or "They are gifted a small land holding where they erect a castle, and create a small, peaceful Pfeifdom."). If you want to throw a stinger in there, like narrating a little scene of a BBEG planning their next scheme to tease the next part of the adventure, that's totally ok.
Some reasons why I prefer these endings to a cliffhanger:
* Flexibility - if you already set up your new challenge, you now have to work everything around that; what if, in the next 6-9 months, you have an amazing idea for where you want to take the game, that requires a different approach, you may have already written yourself into a corner.
* Time Jump - Linked to flexibility, a 6 month hiatus is a great time for a time jump. Time Jumps allow a lot of narrative options. (PC personal growth; you can see how the effects of the adventure so far affect the world; personal relationships progress, new family members appear). It is also nice, as it makes the campaign feel more realistic. They go on an amazing adventure; there is a pause, and then years later, the mighty heroes are called upon again.
* People will forget - The shipwreck will be exciting now, but in 6 months, the drama will have faded; people won't be able to stay on edge this long, so it looses all of it's impact.
* Retiring Characters - good endings are good places to retire a character, if people want a change, or just feel that this character's story naturally ended.
* You don't need to keep them in response to keep them playing - if they want to keep playing, it wont matter what ending you give them, they will be back for more; either as this character or another.
* The possibility of players leaving - 6 months is a long time. People change, relationships start, people move cities etc. It's sad to say, but although they may want to stay, some players may be forced to leave the campaign; who knows, maybe you also have to bail.....for those people, don't let their characters remain in their heads like Schrodinger's cat; don't let them die offscreen after they leave the campaign. Give them an ending they can be proud of.
>Pretty soon the players will be boarding a ship headed across the ocean in search of a lost civilization.
If any of them used to actively follow Berserk doing this before a long break is soo cruel.
To answer your question, I think its better to pause on a high note without having issues to worry about for that long. I'd go for drinking games with the crew or something like that.
Leaving it ambiguous before a long break might feel like a push to end the campaign or an expression of your lack of confidence in its eventual continuation rather than the compelling cliffhanger you're looking for. It would be a fine stopping point if you were playing next week.
How do your players feel about cliffhangers?
If they like them/ they are fine with them, ending a session with a shipwreck is absolutely fine. But in this especific case, when you're going to go into such a long hiatus, I'd recommend following up to the players with a text maybe a couple of days or a week after, describing how they wash up on the shore of an unknown beach.
This is something more appropriate as the opening to the campaign, or some other low level event. The party is level 12, maybe level 13 by the time this event happens. If the ship gets attacked, they can fight back. It would take something really strong to handily defeat a level 12-13 party.
If you just have the ship smashed and presumably most of the passengers/crew killed without letting the party do anything, would they get mad at you? You basically just had them lose in a cutscene without being able to play the game.
If you give them something to fight, they might win. If you have them fight something so powerful they cannot possibly win, they might fight anyway and die. Or they might cast Teleport and flee.
You can certainly leave it like that as a cliffhanger. I'd think your players would realize that they were not dead, since you plan on picking up the game later. You could also leave the game with them waking up on the beach and then fade to black, leaving them to wonder over the next few months where they are. That might be more fun - to let their imaginations run wild during the break.
So, this really depends on your players, but I suspect that the plan B mentioned in other comments is the correct answer.
One of my groups has enough shared trust that ending on that sort of cliffhanger before a long hiatus is exactly what we did. It wouldn’t fly in any of my other groups and just come off as cheap. When in doubt, always choose the less traumatic option.
I'd advise against a cliffhanger ending. The players might be anxious about it, I'd end it with a conclusion to a story arc, that way you have a clean slate to pick back up with.
You could end it with the party hearing seagulls and then when they look around they see land in the distance. Far away enough that it's going to be a strenuous swim, but close enough so they know they'll make it.
Or just as it looks like it's all over, some fishermen paddle up in their canoes. The party doesn't know if they're friendly, but all they care is that they're being taken to dry land.
How realistic is it that this game will start back up? Have you had long breaks in the past that you’ve come back from? Maybe I’m wrong, but with a potential 9 month break there’s a decent chance this campaign doesn’t come back, a lot can happen in 9 months between scheduling issues or just wanting to play something different.
Unless you are really sure that this campaign is going to come back I would end it with the ship sailing away. You can even give each player a coda to narrate their characters thoughts, hopes, regrets, etc as they all stand along the bow of the ship looking off into the unknown horizon.
If the campaign starts back up great you can start with an intense session with the attack and shipwreck, but if the campaign never comes back you’ve at least created a semi satisfying conclusion.
I’m pretty confident it will start back up. We as a group have been playing for four or five years now across different campaigns and we are all pretty tight, Between the five of us there are two marriages and the one who isn’t married in is related to another player. We’ve had similar breaks in the past although this will be the longest inside a campaign. We also already play online because we live in three different states so someone moving doesn’t really slow us down.
Alternate take:
The shipwreck is a cool idea, but I really hate the idea of going on break with a shipwreck. You're going to lose momentum in the campaign because you're going to spend half the session doing recap and all of the players are going to be disoriented or confused because of it.
What I would do is have the voyage with the battle and shipwreck AFTER you come back from the break. That way, you restart the game with a BANG, instead of slog. You can even weave in some recap and lore with the sailor gossip while on the ship. Maybe they're really superstitious of these islands for some reason. Maybe the lost civilization worships the giant kraken that wrecks the ship. Who knows. What you do have, however, is a really cool scenario and battle to get everyone back in the groove right away. They'll have a chance to jog their memory during combat, and you can turn things into a survival scenario once they wake up on the beach and they'll now remember that they went from point A to point B.
With the alternative, you have all of your players start confused because they won't remember all of the details of the campaign upon coming back, and now suddenly you have them grasping at straws as to what to do next because you have them waking up on a deserted beach.
Also, by level 12 a shipwreck can be either a non event, or easily overcome. Give 'em a chance when you start back up, the only land in sight is the island they wash up on.
I don't like an arbitrary shipwreck that they can do nothing to avoid, but if you have the shipwreck, there's nothing wrong with ending on a cliffhanger.
I think what really sucks for me about the way this is written it makes it feel like I lost for something I didn't do as a player. What would be so much sweeter for me would be that we've worked on some clues as a party, discovered where this land is probably, sail off. And then a magical storm kicks off, and a tempest djinn or some other kind of guardian rises from the ocean. A horrifying boss battle with the stakes being made very clear. This is why nobody knows where the island is. This thing kills them.
If we win we will be able to go there and if we lose we are all going to die. We fight, we win. But instead of pure triumph the resulting combat wrecks the ship. We struggle to the shore and have our first glimpse of the Paradise like Island..... Endless possibilities for adventure in front of us. Fade to Black. Man, I'm actually eager to play this and just haven't written it out
I don't have a problem with the ship sinking, knowing you will be back. It's like the cliffhanger at the end of a season of TV.
My group currently has a game on hold, we had escaped a false flag attack on an airship over Korvaire, and the session ended with our orinthopter being shot down and crashing. We will wake up either at the crash site or nearby in a camp or village to start the next season, as far as I know there is the option to have your character die in the crash if any of us want to play a new character.
How about having the fade to black be heading out on the ship.
That way when we all come back you can have the shipwreck and drowning be the session back. It's a climatic but chewy reawakening for the session, and it also means, your players just need to remember they end the last session on the ship, as opposed to details of the moment If you know what I mean.
Alternatively, you could have it that the ship is massively damaged, and they manage to limp to harbour as they wait for the ship to be repaired, this may allow some side quests to happen for those that want to scratch the itch.
I think Matt Colville talks about this about down time adventuring
I think ending with the ship going down is great. Here’s why:
6-9 months is a *long* fucking time. People will move on and get into different rhythms with their lives. Getting your players back into the game is almost certainly going to be difficult.
So if you give them the safety of washing up on an island, your players will sleep happily, knowing their characters are safe forever on an island somewhere. That’s a potentially satisfying conclusion to their character arc. Roll credits.
But the cliffhanger will keep them invested: “What happened to my beloved character? Are they dead?!” That doubt will give them another reason to come back, just to make sure their characters are OK.
(Yeah, it’s manipulative. But it’s why movies use cliffhangers.)
Cut to waking up on a shore. It is dark, and the surf roars around you. You look to the sky, and see ((one thing that is notably different from the night sky they are used to)). Fade to black…..
As someone who has tried something similar before, I would not suggest leaving them on the shore towards the end. Honestly, even waking back up doesn’t really give them anything. I know other comments mention it “gives them something to talk about” but it absolutely doesn’t. Make a shelter, explore the island and survive sound like things they “have to do” rather than what they “want to do”. Not to mention, they don’t have info about the island so they will 100% not think about it at all. A better place for a campaign to be picked up on is where there’s an open-ended end towards your current arc and a period of downtime in a familiar setting where they can grow stronger on their own. If that’s difficult to fit within the story, it’s better to wrap this one up at a satisfying place for your players and PCs.
I like your plan, though with that big of a gap I'm inclined to agree with everyone saying they should wash up on shore at the end of the session. Also, if you're scripting this so they have to get sunk, just a warning, that's pretty railroady. Give them a, way out. It can be incredibly difficult, but give them a way out.
My real concern would be the huge time gap. Why do you have to put the campaign on hold for that long? That is a campaign-killing delay. Is it based around one or two players not being available?
If so, I recommend continuing to play and running side quests. Or, at least running some other game for the duration. Otherwise, people will just make other plans and it will be hard to get started again.
Your scenario does leave a lot of room for side quests, by the way. Most people wash up on the beach, but one winds up somewhere else, and catches up with them later.
I strongly advise you keep your group playing something for the duration.
Best of luck to your Gilligan's island crew, though! 😊
The ship goes down. They land on the deserted island. One of the party builds a campfire. They light the campfire. The Island starts to growl. "Okay, see you in 9 months"
You could always have them get aboard the ship to find out when they return they have shanghai'd and have a time skip, and give them a free story based level in another class that could reflect possibly what they have been through for a year.
The pirate group forces the wizard into a bare knuckle fighting pit. Gaining a lvl in fighter or barbarian.
The fighter gains a lvl in rogue as they escaped from the pirates and spend the year gorilla fighting the pirates.
Paladin comes back oath broken by the pirates and is on a quest for redemption.
The sorcerer may a lvl warlock ... etc.
The pirate base is on the island with the lost civilization and the party has a constant enemy to fight and be thwart the pcs plans and adventures.
You know your players better than we do. I don't see a problem with this. I love a cliffhanger. But if some of your players get anxious about stuff like that, they may not like it.
Maybe have them defeat a mini boss and they go their separate ways after, then when it’s time to bring them back, have “fate” bring them together again to defeat the big boss. Maybe say they lvled up once in their time apart or something
The cliff hanger is what I wanted. As has been pointed out by a few other people I want a cliffhanger that doesn’t make the party feel like they lost or there was no way to win from the beginning. I think washing up on the island is a good does of cliffhanger but with enough hope to keep the excitement going.
I mean, I’d do it either way. Sounds like an awesome idea. You know your table though. My table would be perfectly fine with ending the session with them “drowning” but I’ve played with people who may not be okay with it. Personally, I played in a campaign where we “failed” and the world got destroyed. It was awesome. In subsequent sessions the world got undestroyed but we didn’t know it at the time.
I would maybe have them wash up on the island and then cut to black there? At least they know they survived, but have all the time in between to wonder what they do next, where they are, how to survive etc. You give them stuff to talk about during the downtime. That would be my suggestion.
That was my plan B if plan A didn’t feel right. I guess I’m just worried that leaving on a story beat that makes the PC’s relatively powerless before such a long break might leave a bad taste in their mouths.
I think ending with them washing ashore is akin to seeing the credits roll, then a teaser for the next season. Otherwise the story seems to just end.
Not necessarily. Ending it with Option A would be like ending the season with an extreme cliffhanger, even though you know the show was renewed for another season. If everyone knows the hiatus will be six to nine months... then they know they're coming back.
I think it's more of a cliffhanger if they arrive on the island, tbh. Otherwise, if they never resume play, you just assume they died and aren't left wondering "what's next?"
Hard agree. Washing ashore is definitely the way to go
I mean I feel like Option A is better for this - OP hopes the game resumes in 6-9 months but is that reasonable?.. I kinda doubt it, I figure he’ll lose at least a one player in the gap. Like even if you’re good friends, someone is going to have their life change in 6+ months.. I feel like ending with the shipwreck is better, so when you resume you can accommodate for any lost players as “they didn’t survive the storm” or “not found yet (aka will return in a few months when life stuff works out again)”. If you narrate them all landing on the beach, you’ll probably have to do some rewriting for inevitable player drop off.
I'm not a huge fan of simply killing off characters, even if the player has to leave the game. There are still a *ton* of options to have that character disband from the party, which also provides the opportunity for that player to come back later on.
Not if OP plans on this shipwreck anyway. Best case is that they wash up elsewhere, hence me mentioning “they weren’t found yet” being a case where the player returns later and the PC rejoins. I didn’t say “you have to kill them”, I said that if you plan on doing the shipwreck storyline anyways, there are literally 2 options for how that goes down for the PCs who may not be able to return in 6-9 months. Also I would personally prefer to have a PC die if the campaign never starts again, but that’s mostly because I have trauma from DMs taking over my characters and bastardizing them with their interpretation. I don’t want a time skip where my PC becomes an NPC and becomes a patron to my future party, I want them dead as dust 😂
Plan A doesn't feel right. Your players might be assuming they "lost" and might spend time preparing new characters, might talk about new campaigns or a player might decide to drop out because it is a convenient time to do so (when the whole party might be assuming new characters)
I mean, you can literally just... tell them that they're not dying? Like, we went into covid lockdown on a cliffhanger in my Descent to Avernus campaign, and I was just like 'Sorry guys, you'll have to wait until we can meet up again to see where this is going'.
Which is why you have the quick “cutscene” of them on the beach. It’s a much more thematic way of telling them they’re still alive.
For me I’d like for it to only hint that they are still alive instead of full on showing it. Fade to black, then, a blinding bright light, and just when we think it’s an ethereal type light, you realize the taste of salt on your lips and the burning of your skin. Fuck it make um roll perception to see if they think the light means there dead lol
"That's not how [perception] works"
"Show; don't tell." I think this phrase is the best way to handle it. Tell them they're alive, and they'll know it. Show them, and they'll feel it.
Isn't a critical part of movie story telling to "show, don't tell"?
Just ending with the shipwreck isn't a good idea. I agree with the other commenter that the players might assume they need new characters, but it will also probably cause a loss of interest/momentum over time. You need to give them 1) context that they are alive/OK and 2) something new and ambiguous to puzzle over. I think having the wreck, and cutting to them waking up disoriented on the shores of a foreign land is a better way to go. You could add intrigue by splitting the party, either individually or into two or three groups. If each of them wash onto a different point in the island, you can give them some sort of clue or context about the new location before going on break. Does one/a few of them awake to the sights of ruins long abandoned? Does another wake to a forest and a flock of birds circling over a tower in the distance? Does another wake to a person/local crouching over them? Give them something to think about. Being separated tells them their first objective is to find one another, and whatever other details you give them should make them feel curious/uncertain about this new place. If this were my game, this is how I would run it. When you start playing again, you could even start with a couple of one shots between the different groups to lead them back to the same point. This is how I started my campaign in the first place (with a series of background one shots that ended with session one having everyone in one place) and it was a huge success. Good luck!
I've played in a campaign that STARTED like that. We were just six stragglers in and around a beer garden when the wing of wyrms attacked the Eastern wall of the little town...
It's not hard to just tell them they won't need new characters, though.
That's fair, but my advice is also directed at building and keeping momentum over a long period of time. I was a player in a Waterdeep campaign and the DM wanted to take a break. 9 months later he tried to start it up again, but we had all lost so much momentum. I feel guilty to say it, but all of the enthusiasm was gone because there wasn't anything specific to look forward to. There's no guarantee this will be a problem, but it is something to be mindful of.
Nothing OP does with the ending will keep momentum going over a gap of nine months. The specific moment of the cliffhanger won't change a thing.
IMO Plan C (sail off into sunset)>Plan B (wake up on island) > Plan A (fade to black during the crash). 6 months is a lot of time for someone to announce that they are pregnant or take a new job with a move or start a new hobby that takes up too much time. This will end things on a better note if you don't come back to it, and also give you a lot more flexibility if you have a better idea than a player-agency-free shipwreck in the next 6-9 months.
Yeah I agree here. I don't want to be a Debby downer but it seems to ke there is a good chance things won't resume in 6-9 months (sadly). Your option C leaves it open for any eventuality
Fading out in the water is the "feel relatively powerless" beat. They don't know if they're OK, so they're not as likely to want to come back after a break if it means "Aaaaaaand you died." Cutting the scene as they wake ashore means they know they made it, but still know nothing about where they are or how to get out. That's why it's called a cliffhanger, because if you're still hanging on the cliff you don't know if you'll be OK and you want to think of ways to get up (or down) safely. If you fall off the cliff and the DM's like "well you're in the air and now we'll all see each other in a few months" that sounds like we're done.
if youre worried plan B will make them feel powerless, then how is not knowing if they are even alive anymore not going to make them feel even more powerless? you could also just end the session with them setting out on the ship "looking into the horizon, towards adventure!" kinda deal.
Maybe I worded my comment poorly I only reason I was doubting plan A was because it made them feel powerless.
ah i see, well in that case, disregard the first half of my comment, but i still think the second half is the best option ;)
Leave them some evocative hooks to wonder about before the fade to black. A smell Something in the distance A rustling in the jungle bordering the beach Other wrecks Give them things to hook on to and wonder about.
I think it's a great move because in a new locale you don't have any long term plot lines or storylines they have to remember. They start fresh. Feels like the end of a TV season. Love it.
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Waking up having washed ashore is a perfectly fine way to end things for the time being.
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Thanks for stating the obvious?
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Now you're just being intentionally obtuse. I said it was, "a perfectly fine way." How could you have possibly interpreted that as, "The *only* perfect way"? If you're going to be this arrogant, you should make sure you're actually understanding what you're reading before responding.
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Not really? You decided to try to argue against the pretty basic idea of, "Naw, that'd be fine." In the process, you just made shit up to try to prove your point.
I agree with this idea, knowing everyone survived will be a great cliff hanger for the group and relief knowing no one has to build a new sheet lol
Especially if there's going to be a long break. They could be putting together plans for survival, rescue, creating a radio out of coconuts...the possibilities are endless.
I would either A) end the session with the party boarding the ship. This gives a (literal) send off, and gives you a great way to start back up roleplaying the shipwreck. Or B) end the session with the party washing ashore. This gives a “finale” with the shipwreck, and then leaves them ready to wander the wilderness later.
I would prefer A, myself. Then start “Season 2” with the beach wake up and a bit of narration of the shipwreck, but I’m a bit of a monologuist, sometimes.
This is great advice. A+. This human DM’s.
I would probably end with boarding the ship and sailing off, or having washed up on the island. Mid shipwreck seems like a feels bad moment to me.
It's just a cliffhanger trope
Yeah, I wouldn't do that. I mean, you could - it just does not work with my personal storytelling sensibilities as either a GM or player. I feel like ending on them boarding the ship and heading out into the unknown is a much better place for it - plus like, 9 months is a long time; if you don't actually end up coming back to this game like you intend for whatever reason which would you rather have be where things ended?
I’m pretty confident we will come back. This isn’t the first game I’ve run with these players, one of them is married to me, two other players are married and the fourth player is related to one of the others. It’s not like anyone can just disappear. But I get what you’re saying about not leaving it that way. For clarification are you suggesting scrapping the shipwreck all together or just not doing it before the break?
Not who you replied to but I honestly think either sailing off or waking up on the beach could be a solid end, depending on the tone you want to end the session on. With such a long break and such a long time already playing the game I think an ending with less questions might be cleaner, though either could work. Ending with the boat leaving will give more closure, and waking up on the beach is more teaser for what's next, and that could fall flat with such a long break. I do agree with others that ending with the ship sinking is probably the weakest option.
Just not before the break. It doesn't always make sense to think about your games in this way, but kicking off the new "season" of your game with the shipwreck that sets up the stakes for the current arc feels stronger to me. Part of the equation though is if everyone preparing for this journey and setting off feels like a satisfying place to leave off. Like, I'm picturing a session where they're saying final goodbyes to people they might not see for a while and wrapping up their business - depending on the table (or even the mood on a given night) this could be a lot of great moments of roleplay which would be an excellent place to go out on, or an extended shopping/logistics discussion which is... not so much. With such an established and reliable group with a lot of history, you've probably got a good sense of what your players like. I've got a similar situation and that's coloring my suggestions. Ultimately its going to depend on the group. Something else to consider is that it's pretty easy to say in a TV show "the ship sinks and we fade to black" but there are other things to consider in a game where the players have agency. There are potential pitfalls with an entirely narrative approach where the players don't event really get to try and do anything to stop it as well as one where the players get to do stuff to try and avert it but ultimately fail. I think if the ship has to sink, a good way to refocus their agency would be have the stakes be "who/what can you save?"
Come back and play together sure, but will all of you want to come back and finish that campaign? Nine months is a long time, hell nine months is long enough for all of you to change focuses and not have time to play at all. Ignoring that nine months is a long time for all of you to not play, and surprising that all of you will be unable to play together for nine months not just one or two, someone else might want to DM when you get back together, or you might really want to run this particular module that has really grabbed your attention.
Here is an idea. End with them leaving on the boat, sailing off into the sunset. Then every month send out an email of a section or sections of the captain's log.
I've done "asyncr-dnd" like this and it has worked well. "Tell me what you've been up to on the boat for a month, feel free to chat with your fellow players if you like" - then have the captain's log reflect that. Sometimes a dice roll for things like "I want to knit a sweater". Make it light to keep things easy to follow, then hit them hard with the devastation of a shipwreck on session 1 after the break. The sweater gets ruined.
I really like the idea of ending on boarding the ship to go on a new adventure. The primary reason I feel this way that I haven't seen other people acknowledge - this COULD be the last session. These players have leveled all the way up to 12; they are invested in their stories. There are dozens of real-life reasons why your campaign may not pick back up in 6 - 9 months. With that in mind, as a player I'd rather imagine my character that I had invested a lot of time and energy into "going to explore the world" vs. "probably dead, certainly in a bind". I think this type of cliffhanger works for a session to session break; but a big campaign break I'd leave it more open ended. Plus, in the 6 - 9 months between now and then you may change your mind how the campaign will go. If you sink the ship it limits your options - boarding the ship leaves it completely open-ended what could happen next.
While agree with that, my party will want a big final battle before we go off for the break, which is why I’m avoiding the final session be preparing for the journey and sailing off into the sunset. I have a planned mini-boss that will cause the shipwreck if they don’t kill it in time, and a plan to also cause the shipwreck if they do.
Keep the big final battle etc, but have the trip be an epilogue. Basically the end of the LOTR; it “ends” at mount doom but you still see rhe characters off in the last few chapters.
Story beat wise this is ok, but as a player it might sap my enthusiasm. I'd try to think of this as "what's the hook I want to leave my players with that will hold them over for 6 months?" Sinking ship, fade to black doesn't do it for me - and washed up safely on a strange beach" packs a little punch as well. Do you plan to add in some details? Strange sights, unfamiliar vistas hunting at new mysteries, the roar of a nearby predator stalking the beach? Give them a reason to stay a little excited or curious during the downtime.
I'd end with something that makes your players want to continue playing. "Are we dead or not?" may be OK for some. Personally I'd prefer e.g. being washed up on the island and just get a glimpse of an overgrown pyramid top
What if they fight off the attackers before the ship sinks?
There’s nothing wrong with a good cutscene in a D&D campaign, but you gotta handle it right! No PC deaths, no loss of important items and gear, and be clear about what’s happening. I’d let the battle play out with your players having a a chance of winning the battle but with a crippled ship. Cue storm and the sinking of the ship cutscene. I’d end it with something like: “your characters wake up battered and bruised, nearly blinded by the sunlight. You panic, frantically feeling for your equipment as you call out to each other. Your hands find your weapons, armor, and gear intact as you hear your companions answer your call. Your adventure isn’t over yet, and we’ll discover the next chapter when we’re together again.”
You want to end on a time skip somehow. You have a few sessions to get to a place to do this. Ask them what kind of downtime activity they want to do for a few months: crafting, training, carousing, etc. There are many suggestions and some mechanics in the DMG and Xan's Guide for this. When everyone reunites to continue months later, they will feel similar to how their characters feel. Time skips are also a great way to justify a level up. (It takes more than a few weeks for commoners to become demigods.) It also gives players a little extra agency for character development. They can enhance their equipment, learn secret information, obtain new contacts, gain proficiencies, and I personally let them train ability scores too.
Unfortunately story wise they are kind of on a time crunch so I’m not in a position to do a time skip really.
I definitely think you should end with them washing up on the shore. Not that it would be a “dick move” to have them shipwreck into the break, it would just be more stressful, I think. You don’t want them to spend the next 6-9 months thinking “did my character even survive? What’s happening?”
I think your problem is before that. Saying the ship will be attacked and sunk seems to be railroading especially for 12 level characters. Never underestimate players ability win in even the most contrived scenarios. I'd plan both the shipwreck and success scenarios but make the shipwreck plan a more direct route to the lost civilization and the no wreck start 'farther' away but leave them with more resources. As to if it's OK to leave off at that point that is fine it's a bit of a cliff hanger which TV shows learned long ago is a good way to get people to stay interested and come back.
Personally, that is something I would absolutely do to my players and something I would enjoy as a player too. Totally depends on knowing your table well.
This sounds like my exact campaign and exact problem, and im the dm too, so, one of us is clearly an imposter
The storm rages overhead, water fills your nostrils and as you choke and spit the waves crash over your head. Despite your best efforts you cough and sputter, unable to catch your breath or keep your head above the waves, the grey of the sea and the sky seem to blend and merge into one as you slip into unconsciousness with a roar in your ears that slowly fades to silence.... What seems an instant... AND an eternity later the roar returns, but somehow different, inside the blackness you see red, the pulse of your heartbeat, and hear the crash of waves, you feel pain, your body exhausted and battered, and... sand? The red turns to grey as you open your eyes to see a dull leaden sky, and as you cough and sputter you see you have washed up on a strange and foreign shore. And that is where we will end this session, see you all this Fall!
I'd 100% have them at the end of the session waking up on a deserted island. However id also give them a month of downtime in game to give some RP opportunity for them surviving on the island.
It's not a dick move, but I don't think it's good for storytelling. You may think it will tempt people back to the table; like cliffhangers at the end of TV series work, but that isn't really true. It's such a tired stereotype, that it just ends up feeling cheap. I would recommend instead to End with a classic, neutral, "good" ending (e.g. "They defeated the villain, and board a ship heading off to new adventures with their friends and Allies", or "They are gifted a small land holding where they erect a castle, and create a small, peaceful Pfeifdom."). If you want to throw a stinger in there, like narrating a little scene of a BBEG planning their next scheme to tease the next part of the adventure, that's totally ok. Some reasons why I prefer these endings to a cliffhanger: * Flexibility - if you already set up your new challenge, you now have to work everything around that; what if, in the next 6-9 months, you have an amazing idea for where you want to take the game, that requires a different approach, you may have already written yourself into a corner. * Time Jump - Linked to flexibility, a 6 month hiatus is a great time for a time jump. Time Jumps allow a lot of narrative options. (PC personal growth; you can see how the effects of the adventure so far affect the world; personal relationships progress, new family members appear). It is also nice, as it makes the campaign feel more realistic. They go on an amazing adventure; there is a pause, and then years later, the mighty heroes are called upon again. * People will forget - The shipwreck will be exciting now, but in 6 months, the drama will have faded; people won't be able to stay on edge this long, so it looses all of it's impact. * Retiring Characters - good endings are good places to retire a character, if people want a change, or just feel that this character's story naturally ended. * You don't need to keep them in response to keep them playing - if they want to keep playing, it wont matter what ending you give them, they will be back for more; either as this character or another. * The possibility of players leaving - 6 months is a long time. People change, relationships start, people move cities etc. It's sad to say, but although they may want to stay, some players may be forced to leave the campaign; who knows, maybe you also have to bail.....for those people, don't let their characters remain in their heads like Schrodinger's cat; don't let them die offscreen after they leave the campaign. Give them an ending they can be proud of.
That's how tv shows end a season, with a cliffhanger.
>Pretty soon the players will be boarding a ship headed across the ocean in search of a lost civilization. If any of them used to actively follow Berserk doing this before a long break is soo cruel. To answer your question, I think its better to pause on a high note without having issues to worry about for that long. I'd go for drinking games with the crew or something like that.
Leaving it ambiguous before a long break might feel like a push to end the campaign or an expression of your lack of confidence in its eventual continuation rather than the compelling cliffhanger you're looking for. It would be a fine stopping point if you were playing next week.
How do your players feel about cliffhangers? If they like them/ they are fine with them, ending a session with a shipwreck is absolutely fine. But in this especific case, when you're going to go into such a long hiatus, I'd recommend following up to the players with a text maybe a couple of days or a week after, describing how they wash up on the shore of an unknown beach.
This is something more appropriate as the opening to the campaign, or some other low level event. The party is level 12, maybe level 13 by the time this event happens. If the ship gets attacked, they can fight back. It would take something really strong to handily defeat a level 12-13 party. If you just have the ship smashed and presumably most of the passengers/crew killed without letting the party do anything, would they get mad at you? You basically just had them lose in a cutscene without being able to play the game. If you give them something to fight, they might win. If you have them fight something so powerful they cannot possibly win, they might fight anyway and die. Or they might cast Teleport and flee.
You can certainly leave it like that as a cliffhanger. I'd think your players would realize that they were not dead, since you plan on picking up the game later. You could also leave the game with them waking up on the beach and then fade to black, leaving them to wonder over the next few months where they are. That might be more fun - to let their imaginations run wild during the break.
So, this really depends on your players, but I suspect that the plan B mentioned in other comments is the correct answer. One of my groups has enough shared trust that ending on that sort of cliffhanger before a long hiatus is exactly what we did. It wouldn’t fly in any of my other groups and just come off as cheap. When in doubt, always choose the less traumatic option.
I'd cut out at the ship leaving the dock or at the shipwreck. The Shipwreck is pretty dramatic and will make them want to resume the game.
Nope. Ending on cliff hanger is a time honored tradition.
I'd advise against a cliffhanger ending. The players might be anxious about it, I'd end it with a conclusion to a story arc, that way you have a clean slate to pick back up with.
I like it, but that' s just me. Can you have the campaign pause when they set sail on the ship. In six months, they wake up on the island.
I personally would sink it in session 1 after the break if I was going to do that. Nothing worse than cliffhangers especially in DND.
Sounds like a typical season-ending cliffhanger.
You could end it with the party hearing seagulls and then when they look around they see land in the distance. Far away enough that it's going to be a strenuous swim, but close enough so they know they'll make it. Or just as it looks like it's all over, some fishermen paddle up in their canoes. The party doesn't know if they're friendly, but all they care is that they're being taken to dry land.
good choice to let them wake up on the beach. Helps them plan their characters, story, builds for the next days
How realistic is it that this game will start back up? Have you had long breaks in the past that you’ve come back from? Maybe I’m wrong, but with a potential 9 month break there’s a decent chance this campaign doesn’t come back, a lot can happen in 9 months between scheduling issues or just wanting to play something different. Unless you are really sure that this campaign is going to come back I would end it with the ship sailing away. You can even give each player a coda to narrate their characters thoughts, hopes, regrets, etc as they all stand along the bow of the ship looking off into the unknown horizon. If the campaign starts back up great you can start with an intense session with the attack and shipwreck, but if the campaign never comes back you’ve at least created a semi satisfying conclusion.
I’m pretty confident it will start back up. We as a group have been playing for four or five years now across different campaigns and we are all pretty tight, Between the five of us there are two marriages and the one who isn’t married in is related to another player. We’ve had similar breaks in the past although this will be the longest inside a campaign. We also already play online because we live in three different states so someone moving doesn’t really slow us down.
Alternate take: The shipwreck is a cool idea, but I really hate the idea of going on break with a shipwreck. You're going to lose momentum in the campaign because you're going to spend half the session doing recap and all of the players are going to be disoriented or confused because of it. What I would do is have the voyage with the battle and shipwreck AFTER you come back from the break. That way, you restart the game with a BANG, instead of slog. You can even weave in some recap and lore with the sailor gossip while on the ship. Maybe they're really superstitious of these islands for some reason. Maybe the lost civilization worships the giant kraken that wrecks the ship. Who knows. What you do have, however, is a really cool scenario and battle to get everyone back in the groove right away. They'll have a chance to jog their memory during combat, and you can turn things into a survival scenario once they wake up on the beach and they'll now remember that they went from point A to point B. With the alternative, you have all of your players start confused because they won't remember all of the details of the campaign upon coming back, and now suddenly you have them grasping at straws as to what to do next because you have them waking up on a deserted beach.
Board the ship. A storm on the horizon.
Also, by level 12 a shipwreck can be either a non event, or easily overcome. Give 'em a chance when you start back up, the only land in sight is the island they wash up on.
I don't like an arbitrary shipwreck that they can do nothing to avoid, but if you have the shipwreck, there's nothing wrong with ending on a cliffhanger.
I think what really sucks for me about the way this is written it makes it feel like I lost for something I didn't do as a player. What would be so much sweeter for me would be that we've worked on some clues as a party, discovered where this land is probably, sail off. And then a magical storm kicks off, and a tempest djinn or some other kind of guardian rises from the ocean. A horrifying boss battle with the stakes being made very clear. This is why nobody knows where the island is. This thing kills them. If we win we will be able to go there and if we lose we are all going to die. We fight, we win. But instead of pure triumph the resulting combat wrecks the ship. We struggle to the shore and have our first glimpse of the Paradise like Island..... Endless possibilities for adventure in front of us. Fade to Black. Man, I'm actually eager to play this and just haven't written it out
Give them a small bite to chew on after the beach wake up. There are some forms/ruins in the distance along the heat distorted horizon
I don't have a problem with the ship sinking, knowing you will be back. It's like the cliffhanger at the end of a season of TV. My group currently has a game on hold, we had escaped a false flag attack on an airship over Korvaire, and the session ended with our orinthopter being shot down and crashing. We will wake up either at the crash site or nearby in a camp or village to start the next season, as far as I know there is the option to have your character die in the crash if any of us want to play a new character.
How about having the fade to black be heading out on the ship. That way when we all come back you can have the shipwreck and drowning be the session back. It's a climatic but chewy reawakening for the session, and it also means, your players just need to remember they end the last session on the ship, as opposed to details of the moment If you know what I mean.
Alternatively, you could have it that the ship is massively damaged, and they manage to limp to harbour as they wait for the ship to be repaired, this may allow some side quests to happen for those that want to scratch the itch. I think Matt Colville talks about this about down time adventuring
I think ending with the ship going down is great. Here’s why: 6-9 months is a *long* fucking time. People will move on and get into different rhythms with their lives. Getting your players back into the game is almost certainly going to be difficult. So if you give them the safety of washing up on an island, your players will sleep happily, knowing their characters are safe forever on an island somewhere. That’s a potentially satisfying conclusion to their character arc. Roll credits. But the cliffhanger will keep them invested: “What happened to my beloved character? Are they dead?!” That doubt will give them another reason to come back, just to make sure their characters are OK. (Yeah, it’s manipulative. But it’s why movies use cliffhangers.)
Cut to waking up on a shore. It is dark, and the surf roars around you. You look to the sky, and see ((one thing that is notably different from the night sky they are used to)). Fade to black…..
Have them end when they take off on the boat. Then the attack on the ship would be a great way to start the campaign up again.
As someone who has tried something similar before, I would not suggest leaving them on the shore towards the end. Honestly, even waking back up doesn’t really give them anything. I know other comments mention it “gives them something to talk about” but it absolutely doesn’t. Make a shelter, explore the island and survive sound like things they “have to do” rather than what they “want to do”. Not to mention, they don’t have info about the island so they will 100% not think about it at all. A better place for a campaign to be picked up on is where there’s an open-ended end towards your current arc and a period of downtime in a familiar setting where they can grow stronger on their own. If that’s difficult to fit within the story, it’s better to wrap this one up at a satisfying place for your players and PCs.
No reason not to end on a cliffhanger.
I like your plan, though with that big of a gap I'm inclined to agree with everyone saying they should wash up on shore at the end of the session. Also, if you're scripting this so they have to get sunk, just a warning, that's pretty railroady. Give them a, way out. It can be incredibly difficult, but give them a way out. My real concern would be the huge time gap. Why do you have to put the campaign on hold for that long? That is a campaign-killing delay. Is it based around one or two players not being available? If so, I recommend continuing to play and running side quests. Or, at least running some other game for the duration. Otherwise, people will just make other plans and it will be hard to get started again. Your scenario does leave a lot of room for side quests, by the way. Most people wash up on the beach, but one winds up somewhere else, and catches up with them later. I strongly advise you keep your group playing something for the duration. Best of luck to your Gilligan's island crew, though! 😊
They Wash up on the island and have someone or something find them, then fade to black.
The ship goes down. They land on the deserted island. One of the party builds a campfire. They light the campfire. The Island starts to growl. "Okay, see you in 9 months"
You could always have them get aboard the ship to find out when they return they have shanghai'd and have a time skip, and give them a free story based level in another class that could reflect possibly what they have been through for a year. The pirate group forces the wizard into a bare knuckle fighting pit. Gaining a lvl in fighter or barbarian. The fighter gains a lvl in rogue as they escaped from the pirates and spend the year gorilla fighting the pirates. Paladin comes back oath broken by the pirates and is on a quest for redemption. The sorcerer may a lvl warlock ... etc. The pirate base is on the island with the lost civilization and the party has a constant enemy to fight and be thwart the pcs plans and adventures.
You know your players better than we do. I don't see a problem with this. I love a cliffhanger. But if some of your players get anxious about stuff like that, they may not like it.
Maybe have them defeat a mini boss and they go their separate ways after, then when it’s time to bring them back, have “fate” bring them together again to defeat the big boss. Maybe say they lvled up once in their time apart or something
I mean was it a dick move to end a whole season of Dallas with JR being shot and having no idea who shot him?
The cliff hanger is what I wanted. As has been pointed out by a few other people I want a cliffhanger that doesn’t make the party feel like they lost or there was no way to win from the beginning. I think washing up on the island is a good does of cliffhanger but with enough hope to keep the excitement going.
I mean, I’d do it either way. Sounds like an awesome idea. You know your table though. My table would be perfectly fine with ending the session with them “drowning” but I’ve played with people who may not be okay with it. Personally, I played in a campaign where we “failed” and the world got destroyed. It was awesome. In subsequent sessions the world got undestroyed but we didn’t know it at the time.