Ending the campaign at chapter 4.

[The Chort]

So I've been running the runelords campaign for a few years now, and I'd like to conclude it in chapter 4.

Reasons:

1. My players are losing their excitement for this campaign. Probably because I'm losing excitement as GM

2. Problem characters, mechanically. I've got a Fey Kitsune Sorcerer who's hyper specialized in save or die combat ending enchantments. This leads to a no-win situation. Either the sorcerer completely ends the fight and the party is bored, or the sorcerer is completely useless and not having fun, while the rest of the party is having a good time. Also, I have an Oracle of Life that makes the game feel too safe. No one's ever in danger since the Oracle is constantly topping off HP as free actions, swift actions, move actions, and standard actions. Occasionally casting scorching ray instead.

3. Well, more a consequence than a reason, but I have already declared my intentions for a new campaign. People have rolled up characters and are stoked to try my first stab at a homebrew story; a sandbox kingmaker-esque campaign.

Possible options:

1. Leave the game untouched, PCs defeat Mokmurian and are left with a foreboding cliffhanger of Karzoug's return.
2. Instead of Karzoug only mentally appearing before the PCs, he literally appears before the PCs. The PCs defeat him, the world is saved, the entire storyline is essentially resolved and the campaign is complete.
3. End the campaign with a TPK. Karzoug appears and kills them all. Or imprisons them. In a prism? Imprismed. Perhaps defeating Karzoug will be an optional story arc to be tackled at the high levels of my new sandbox campaign.

Option 1 seems unsatisfying, while 2 and 3 seem tempting, although I'm nervous about implementing option 3. It could be completely awesome or could go very sour if handled poorly.

Any ideas on how to best conclude the campaign?

[Haladir]

Here's one suggestion that doesn't require a whole lot of work...

Spoiler:

Mokmourian is the Big Bad of the campaign. He discovered an artifact in the Libarary that would allow him to take for himself the mantle of the Runelord of Greed, and his plans to take over Varisia with an army of giants is completely self-serving. Perhaps the PCs need to interrupt some sort of ritual that he wants to complete that really would infuse him with some portion of the lost power of Thassilon. Regardless, Karzoug himself remains cut off from the world for now. Defeat of Mokmourian ends the threat to Varisia, and the campaign.

[The Chort]

Haladir wrote:

Here's one suggestion that doesn't require a whole lot of work...

** spoiler omitted **

Nice! That seems a plausible and simple way to rewrite the story so it satisfyingly ends with the defeat of Mokmurian.

[the Lorax]

Actually I like it, and it doesn't eliminate the idea of your Option 1.

Which leaving open for future (circle as many as apply):
one shots/holiday weekends/missing player times/whole new group of players

I've been thinking that I may have to or want to do something similar, but for different reasons.