The end is nigh! As the optional epilogue in Enemy is quite trippy and a really unexpected direction, I'm wondering if any other GMs have already run it or if you are planning to... I feel it could be great or else be such a serious change in mood that it may not be the most satisfying ending.
Thoughts?

I hold all plans lightly and you can see in my play reports that my Part 3 is getting more homebrewed stuff.

I don't think I will run it in the near future. It would be a definite change of pace but it feels like a "campaign ender" and my folks are still 2nd Rank etc. It's good stuff and mechanics in it (traps etc., as Jay has brought to folks' attention) so it's not that I dislike it, it just doesn't feel like it will be right for my PC's.

I will likely run a combination of more "enemy withinish" internal stuff with some Storm of Chaos events (e.g., an adaptation of Mad Alfred's Rising Shadows or the Spear of Destiny or whatever Omens of War adventure) is more likely. The Averland situation is also not something I want to have "made such a big deal out of" and then just walk away from (even though GW [i don't think this is something you can lay on FFG] likes to leave it in limbo).

I've run the enemy within 3 times during my GMing career. Personally I have never been a fan of running the epilogue because it seems to break the fourth wall too much, the players play as their characters and characters will not always see the fruits of their labour. When my players finished Empire in Flames in the last game they we're all well into their fourth careers and had truely gone from nothing to heroes, the story was theirs not the Empire's.

Having said that I keep a ongoing 'in-game' canon between my games, so when we picked up a new campaign a year or so later we set it 20 years after the events of the first one. As a GM this gives you much more freedom as you can change the political landscape to match the results of things your players did in the first (or any other) games. My players have found this more rewarding because it means that every action their characters take feels like it shapes the world they choose to play in. As a GM its entirely within your power to do this, and I've been told playing another game in a world their previous characters helped shape (and in some cases had statues built to them in certain towns, or were figures of hatred in others) was the best epilogue they could have asked for.

Just my 2 cents

I'm probably going right into the Path's of the Damned series as it takes place after the storm of chaos (i.e. The new enemy within).

We're just finishing book 2 however and I plan to take a short hiatus from GMing to rest my brain. We'll be doing some other games before coming back to Book 3. I have every intention of making it as horrible and mind-bending as it is written.

jh

I might be confused but the 3rd book of TEW is Power Behind the Throne, which I don't recall being particularly mind bending. Which book are you referring to?

I'd advise skipping 'Something Rotten in Kislev' as the adventures are completely unrelated to the main plot and only serve to remove the characters from the Empire so that most of the political changes can take place 'off screen'

You're thinking 1st edition The Enemy Within. I'm talking about the 2013 release "The New Enemy Within" for 3rd edition.

It get's really wierd at the end

jh

Ah ok. I wasn't aware it had been re-released

Its good stuff. They got Graeme Davis to write this one. It is COMPLETELY new material, so I'm not sure why they bothered to call it the enemy within again (except for the plot of course

jh

marketing Emirikol, marketing... I actually think it is a better, funner, and more cohesive campaign that the original (which is my first love, having run it as they were released!)

Has anyone run the epilogue out there in the wild? Anyone?

Just ended TEW and boy, are my players pissed off! I did the epilogue and got to the part (spoilers) where they THINK they are home... Well they all jump up and down thinking that they are going to rule the empire! Given their incouriousness about anything (there had been beers) I decided that a "isn't it a bit weird" check wasn't really appropriate. Asked them clearly if their intention was to rule the Empire... Affirmative.

Three of them fell thralls to Tzeentch with one (the wizard) seeing through it, but unable to defeat the Horrors. This means a TPK really I think. Very unhappy players. It might not have been so bad if I wasn't so delighted they had taken the bait. You have been warned... Not sure if my players will be back!

Really, they thought they were going to rule the Empire? The issue should have been being certain it was all a trick despite having passed a check (metagaming) not never making a check. Do they have an understanding of the Warhammer themes/Old World? That said, I would have given them an auto-check but with lots of misfortune dice.

Just ended TEW and boy, are my players pissed off!

...

(there had been beers)

...

You have been warned

When a drunk driver has a wreck, it's a little silly to blame the car.