World Ending Game
2023 Indie Groundbreaker Award nominee for Most Innovative
2023 Indie Groundbreaker Award nominee for Game of the Year
Think about screenplays and films, or the final episode of a television show that you know will not be renewed. Think about saying goodbye to friends who are moving away. Think about the last day of summer vacation. Think about funerals. Think about the restaurant that closed all those years ago, and the noodles they used to serve. Think about the best birthday party you ever had. Think about putting off the last chapter of a book until tomorrow. Think about grief, and relief. Think about the end of a world. Think about the feeling of emerging from a movie theater into a dark parking lot, under the stars.
World Ending Game is a tabletop game written to serve as the last session of a campaign in any system. It should come after the finale, whatever that is for your table; the dragon defeated, the government felled, finals week over, the great mystery solved. World Ending Game does not have mechanics for deciding big story outcomes. Instead, it offers a series of scenes and vignettes towards closure.
A series of small games that you can play to end a campaign or story, for when it is time to say goodbye.
The Game
World Ending Game is a falling-action game. Many existing game systems excel at climactic final battles or big-stakes adventures, but don't allow you to sit in the aftermath, thinking about all that has come before and imagining what could come after. World Ending Game is a tool to let you do just this; gather your things, say what you need to say, and walk away from the story you've been telling with confidence and pride.
Inside of World Ending Game are a set of overarching rules for conversation, and then 20 small games, called Endings. These Endings form the scenes of World Ending Game, compounding and building on one another to form a session of play. Players pick scenes for their characters, while the GM takes on the role of The Director, controlling the camera, the lighting, the mood, and the frame for each Ending.
In general, World Ending Game is cinematic, meant to emulate the last 20 minutes of a movie. It understands the power of a series of images and the impression of a final shot. It wants to wrap your story into a sequence that will haunt you, even as you leave it.
Principles of play;
Players;Know what you want, trust your motivations, and flow from action to action and line to line. Make space for others to join in.
Director;
Introduce your directions into scenes, then retreat to watch and listen. Set the pace and keep the rhythm.
Both;
Treat the conversation like a piece of music. Find joy in the act of playing it to finish, in concert with others.
Each Ending has a full-page facing illustration, commissioned from 20 incredible artists.
The Artists;
Conner Fawcett - The Omen
Nadhir Nor - The Confession (The Lie)
Balázs Rónyai - The Reveal
Sophia Foster-Dimino - The Revision
Olivia Fields - The Kiss
LaumeB - Anime Music Video
A Liang Chan - Reverse Heist
Madeline Miyun - Wrecking Ball
Remy Boydell - Take the Fall
Michael DeForge - Karaoke Bar
Dyoudi Mitimasa - 20 years later
ma-ko - Passing the Torch
Kazu Saito - Ride into the Sunset
Casey Nowak - I Need Answers
Luketa - Death
Danielle Taphanel - Tableaux
Williams Zouzouo - The Flashback
Ninn Salaün - The Apocalypse
Sajan Rai - Full Circle
Evan Dahm - The Earth Swallows Time
And a bookplate by H.B. Tyson
--✵☼✵--
The layout and book design of each Ending responds directly to the artwork, as well as the contents and narrative of the Ending itself. Designed by Andy Pressman, these spreads are visually distinct and bold, tied together through shared design language but also unique from one another in palette, typography, layout, and tone.
Evan Dahm for The Earth Swallows Time
Camera Directions and A Liang Chan for Reverse Heist
World Ending Game also contains;
- Cover and Endpapers by Everest Pipkin
- Additional game rules for Camera Directions, Credits, and Extras
- Additional interstitial drawings and illustrations by Andy Pressman and Tim Plummer
- A set of Last Shots with which to end World Ending Game
