What comes to my mind when I think of the word 'triumph'? When it comes to entertainment--including RPGs--I think I'm a softy at heart because I want good to triumph over evil. This may be surprising given yesterday's entry and my love of dystopian settings and horror, but it's true. I'm going to spoil some old movies in this one.
So is 'triumph' synonymous with a "happy ending"?...ultimately yes, but not necessarily the traditional old-fashioned 'Hollywood' ending. I think of the Rocky movies--and now the Creed ones which I also enjoy--and how most of the time 'triumph' didn't mean winning the fight in the ring. The victories in these movies--as heavy handed as they were sometimes--didn't come without loss. Most of the time the message of the Rocky/Creed films was 'going the distance'. The triumph didn't come from winning the title, but from getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down. Working hard and never giving up is a triumph whether you win or lose.
Another great boxing film is 'Million Dollar Baby'. I don't give it as many repeat viewings as I do the Rocky/Creed movies because on the surface, it's such a downer. However, it's the kind of movie that sticks with you. Hillary Swank's character fought through adversity all the way until the end. Ultimately, the character didn't make it through the movie alive, but she stood up for herself and ended her life on her own terms. I'm not sure how much I agree with what the character did or the influence such actions may have on the viewer, but I still feel the character was triumphant in her spirt and once again stood up for what she thought was the right choice--although she had to pay the ultimate price for it.
An example of an incredibly bad ending would be 'The Mist'. It was a perfectly serviceable--dare I say good--horror film wherein our protagonist was an honorable man who did his best to do what was right. Ultimately, in the face of what appeared to be a certain, horrible death for the man, his son, and his new found allies, the character makes a gut wrenching decision--mercy killing everyone via a bullet in the back of the head rather than letting the otherworldly monsters torture and eat them. Unfortunately, there wasn't a bullet left for our main character and he'd have to live with what he did for the rest of his life...In addition, about two seconds later the military shows up and kills the monsters. Had the man only waited, he would have saved his son and his friends. Instead he just has to lie there crying in the dirt. There isn't any triumph in an ending like that. The lead character here was a good man who deserved better.
It's true that our final fates in the real world--if we live long enough and the Lord tarries--are going to be more akin to the downer endings of MDB and The Mist than they are the upbeat ones of the R/C movies. However, our fiction--books, movies and RPG games--can and should be better than the real world. I would hope that no GM gives their campaign a 'Mist' ending. It's memorable, but for the wrong reasons. An ending like that doesn't lift you up and doesn't give even a glimmer of hope. My advice is to let the characters triumph--some may have to sacrifice their very lives to do it--but at least let that hard choice mean something.
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