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RPG Ideas — Cliffhangers

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is cliffhangers, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of cliffhangers we’re trying something new in this week’s newsletter. You’ll find the same content as usual except we’re saving some from each of the three editorials as Nerdarchy.com exclusives. You’ll find links below leading to the website post for more. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

Nerdy News

Take a break and enjoy the week that was! This party only needs a short rest, cancel the apocalypse and play as a quintessential gnoll plus new live chats with industry pros and creative folks and live game play rounds out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.

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Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Cliffhangers are an awesome tool to keep in your GM toolbox. I love cliffhangers for three reasons. First off they create an, “Oh crap!” moment at the end of session leaving players wanting to know what comes next. Second they hopefully keep players thinking about the game between sessions, wondering what’s going to happen and plotting and planning on what to do next. Finally they provide extra time for GMs to figure out what it all means. I rarely plan out cliffhangers in games I run. Instead when it gets close to the end of the session I just make up something suspenseful to throw out there before we call it a day.

10 Cliffhangers to Leave Players Guessing

1. The floor falls out beneath you. What do you do next session?
2. A hulking figure erupts from the brush as you finish setting camp. Next session we’ll see what it is when we start.
3. A page in the livery of the monarch runs up to the party breathlessly with a scroll clutched in his hand. His clothes are torn and blood stained. “My lords and ladies the situation is dire.” Next session we’ll read the scroll.
4. You awaken in your bed at the Lazy Tiger Tavern to screams and yells. The smell of smoke hits you like a sledgehammer as you suck in a big lungful of smoke. You can give me a Constitution saving throw at the start of the next session.
5. A shadow blots out the sun as a dark shape descends from above towards your group. It’s a mass of land with a castle on it. Banners and pennants you can’t quite make out yet fly from the towers. Next session we’ll find out what is on them.
6. Everything goes eerily silent as a mysterious fog rolls in. Faces can be seen extending out of it rather than falling back within. What do you want to do in the next session?
7. As you settle in at your table at the Fierce Frog Inn the room is warm and cheery. The wait staff begins laying out your food and ales. It smells delicious and the ale is a perfect golden color. You look up from this bounty in time to witness customer after customer slump down where they are finally followed by those who just brought you this meal. Next session you can tell me what you are doing.
8. You enter the Tempest in a Teacup Tavern to be greeted by a man covered in blood and gore who says “It’s not what it looks like.” The tavern is covered in bodies, blood, gore and wreckage surrounding this small bald wiry man with wild gray eyes. Next session you can tell me what you do.
9. Something bumps your hip. Then you see a small figure darting away clutching something between figures in the crowd. What do you do next session?
10. As you are walking something begins to foul your ankles and grasp at your calves. Looking down you see hands covered in dead flesh then begins to pull you down into the ground. Give me a Strength (Athletics) check next session.

From Ted’s Head

Cliffhangers are a great tool for Game Masters. In the past I always wanted to end sessions on a resting point. In a typical game we all have highs and lows and ending on a downbeat seemed the norm. But in recent years the idea of on a moment of action and indecision has become quite popular.

Ending with the start of combat or the potential for one lets the players know what to expect next time. Also starting a session with an initiative roll makes for immediate engagement and starts with the action high. The other great point is you can have a combat planned without knowing exactly what you want that combat to be. In our monthly home games we often finish a session with impending combat and the GM says, “and now I have a month to figure out what that thing is going to be.”

Ending RPG sessions on cliffhangers laden with indecision has lately been a fun practice of mine. I recently ended a game with the characters starting a teleport and everything fading to black. I knew I wanted to have some teleport mishaps at least once during the campaign and this was a good opportunity. When I prepared for the next session I knew I could keep things as normal and have them reach their destination as intended or have things go awry. When the options are open like this it makes planning much easier and fun. If you’d like to see how this turned out check out this session of Untraditionally Arcane.

Whether you are looking at planar travel, the chance for combat or a conversation or any other moment when the options spring forward these are the moments to say, “Let’s end our session here.” It leaves players wanting more and that is the whole point. This can be especially effective for streamed games too since the audience hopefully comes back craving more too but any games can benefit from ending wit cliffhangers.

From the Nerditor’s Desk

Ending RPG sessions with cliffhangers is super easy and super effective. I’ve been doing it for years and every time I announce, “And that’s where we’ll end today’s session,” the chorus of excitement lets me know the players are hooked into whatever’s going on. They want to keep playing and find out what happens next. This is the juice!

The thing you need to keep in mind for nailing cliffhangers every session or whenever you feel it’s appropriate is you can set them up literally any time you want. All you have to do is change state.

See what I did there, newsletter subscribers? So meta.

Whatever scenario the characters find themselves in something significant changes and the ball is in the players’ court now. Hopefully they go hard in the paint and together the group experiences an exciting, memorable moment as a result. This technique can be useful for more than just ending a session too. One of my go to GM moves is breaking state in dramatic ways during otherwise mundane situations.

In a recent session of the science fiction Cypher System game I run the characters had just arrived at a Luna spaceport and explored the promenade for a bit. I had a GM Intrusion planned for a replicant to detonate somewhere in this area burning a hole in my virtual pocket. (Replicants are a major thematic element in our campaign and they’re one of the NPCs in the rule book with a very impactful effect triggered upon their demise.) Everything seemed hunky dory for the group until a HUGE EXPLOSION rocked the multitiered terminal.

I’m proud to say I believe the players were equally shocked as their characters. Desperate reactions were made, heroism displayed and moments of true growth took place. And it wasn’t even the end of the session! But everyone certainly felt keyed into the situation and anxious to know what came next. I had ’em hook, line and sinker.

Cliffhangers needn’t be reserved for the very end of your RPG session or necessarily speak to immediate danger either. Ted’s example of the teleportation mishap illustrates this well. The party wasn’t in danger but their circumstances definitely changed and everyone couldn’t wait to find out how in the next session. The appearance of unexpected NPCs, turning a corner to see something no one imagined, the tavern keeper singing Happy Birthday to one of the adventurers and bringing over a candlelit cake — whatever it is cliffhangers break state on the current circumstances and snap everyone’s attention back to find out what happens next.

*Featured image — In our recent update you can find out more about the digital resources we’ve got planned to go along with your Deluxe Magic Item Set. Learn more in the Mage Forge update here!

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