Last saturday my current (now, "most recent") D&D game came to a close.  This is actually the second game that I've brought to an intended conclusion this year.  I don't know about you all, but I'm considering this an accomplishment.

I've actually found that I'm enjoying the ends of games quite a bit, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that that was once rather alien to my approach.  I think I've decided it's better to bring a game to a strong finish than to let it peter out - even if though that means stopping while you're still enjoying the game.  

The Experiment:

At the conclusion of this particular game however, I had ulterior motives.  At the end of the narrative, I had the world the PCs inhabited come to a cataclysmic end.  I decided to do this partially because I'd never done it before and thought it would be cool, but mostly to set up and give motivation to the players for something I wanted to do in the future: collaborative worldbuilding.  

Upon the death of their world, the characters essentially ascended to godhood and were to be tasked (along with some specific NPCs) with creating a new one - each one being responsible for a particular subset of aspects or facets of said world.

As a group we're going to take a break from D&D for a while to play Star Wars and possibly a short homebrew game, but, when we come back, the next game will be set in the world the group of us are going to create in the interim.

The group seemed pretty excited about the project as players, which I find encouraging.  I'll temper my outlook based on how it progresses, of course, but I of course have further plans.  This will not be the last time they'll be asked for something like this...

~PS