#RPGaDAY2021 Day 13 Doom

It's Friday the 13th on #RPGaDAY!  Always a fun day here at the Other Side.  Let's see what the day has in store for us.

Day 13 Doom

I have to admit Doom was one of the first words that jumped out at me when I was reviewing all these words back in July.

Back in High School, we ran a set of interconnected AD&D adventures. My DM would run games that included me as a player and games that didn't, I ran games that included him and others that didn't.  All of these games and a few that bled over into my early college days came to be known to me as the Dragon Wars.  They were designed to be a huge world-ending event.  And to a degree they were.  Our individual worlds ended and what would eventually become to be known as Mystoerth to me now was born.

But I am not talking about rebirths and Mystoerths now.  Today I want to talk about the end.

I suppose in a way "Flood" also works into this since there are so many myths out there about a great flood destroying the world, only to lead to rebirth.  But my worlds were not destroyed by water, it was fire that got them.

The scope of that game was epic. I wanted a real Return of the King vibe to it and I got it.  So much so that when I did my next "world ending" series of adventures, The Dragon and the Phoenix, for the Buffy RPG I went back to ideas from the Dragon Wars to help fill out some elements for Buffy.  I even brought back Big Bad from the Dragon Wars to fight against Buffy and the Scoobies in TD&TP.  That series of adventures also ended with "No Other Troy."

Was there another Troy for her to burn?

- William Butler Yeats,
No Second Troy

These days there is no great Doom hanging over my worlds; at least not ones that will end in the world being destroyed and then reborn.  The Dragon Slayers have managed to re-ignite the sun, the Treasure Hunters are only now getting into the darkness, the Undead Hunters are learning the plans of Orcus.  While any of these could destroy the world it is not likely that it will happen now.  The Dragon Slayers already saw to that.  But I am still instilling a sense of doom in the Players and Characters.   They have to feel like the world rests on their shoulders.  In a very real sense it does, but not for the reasons they think.

Maybe it is just the games I have played over the last few decades, but a little doom hanging over the PCs is a good thing.