The end of an adventure is a great opportunity to set the next part of your campaign up for success. Here are some things to keep in mind!
Adventures are part and parcel of an ongoing D&D campaign. Even the most sandbox-style, player-driven story-focused campaign can be broken up into segments that coalesce together over several sessions. Or. You know, an adventure.
And while you’ll find all sorts of advice out there about how to start your adventure and how to make an adventure land, one thing you don’t want to miss out on is the opportunity that the end of an adventure presents. It’s often a downbeat, storywise. That is, the players aren’t champing at the bit to get to the next thing. The table is basking in the triumphant glow. It’s a time of rest and recovery. And it’s a time to help keep your campaign running smoothly.
Sort Through Loose Ends
The end of an adventure is the perfect time to sort through any loose ends or dropped plot threads that might have come up in the adventure. It’s also a time to go back over anything you might have noticed felt especially cool or felt like something the players were into.
Once you have a note of those moments/threads, you can see if any of them fit into whatever you have coming up next. Similarly, if there are any unanswered questions, like, “who was the evil baron really working for?” or “what was up with those sigils?” then you can think about if they need to be answered, and look for a way to follow up on those, either on the next adventure or as a bit of post-adventure resolution. Because sometimes it’s enough to get a question answered by an NPC.
Set The Stage For Things To Come
Speaking of plot threads, another thing the end of an adventure is ripe for is setting the stage for things to come. This is the classic, “kill one villain to reveal the next layer of the nesting doll of evil the players are fighting” kind of moment. Or for the players to start putting together pieces, like “the dwarven blacksmith was working for the Zhentarim” and “the Zhentarim are expanding into the Underdark.”
But even if you don’t have plot threads to weave into another adventure, you can start sowing the seeds of things to come. Like maybe during the PC’s celebration at the inn afterwards, they hear from a local merchant that their latest shipment has been delayed, but it’s probably nothing. Or while everyone is out shopping, they start to hear rumors about things the baron is getting up to. Speaking of shopping…
Shopping And NPC Facetime
One of the best things you can do between adventures is have some downtime. People love shopping episodes, after all. And after an adventure, when you’re loaded with treasure and looking to spend it? That’s a great time to go out shopping.
It’s also the perfect time to have some facetime with the party’s favorite NPCs. People love their weird little guys, whether they’re a favorite shopkeeper or innkeeper or party hireling or whoever. Between adventures is a great time to check in with NPCs in town or wherever the party happens to be.
Behind The Scenes The World Turns
The end of an adventure is also the perfect time to make the world feel alive. One of the best things to help create that sense of immersion, is the sense of a world that is constantly moving. Sure, your players just finished thwarting the evil wizard’s schemes. But what else is happening?
While the PCs take some downtime, it’s a good time to figure out what else is going on in the world. It doesn’t all have to be big plot stuff either. It can just be local news, or regional events. Maybe two kingdoms that were at war manage to negotiate a peace. Or merchants get a shipment of exotic goods in from a distant empire. It could even be something like the seasons change and the game moves from summer to fall (and the harvest festival that comes with it).
A Fun Little Check In
Finally, the end of an adventure is a great time to check in with the players themselves. We’re ostensibly playing these campaigns with our friends, why not just hang out and talk about the game? It can be something as formal as “what do you like, what isn’t working” or even just “what do you think we should do next?”
What do you like to do at the end of an adventure?
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
