With that said here are some random, concluding thoughts:
After thirty years of all of us gaming together (well, 20-25 or so for Andercles) we also added another member to the group, and we hope Tim gets to experience many more campaigns in the future!
I believe this was also the first D&D/Pathfinder campaign I've gamemastered that we successfully completed, and there have been sooooo many, some of which were... the Reavers in the 80s, the Furyondy agents campaign in Greyhawk in the 90s, the Cauldron campaign once again in Greyhawk 7 years ago or the Second Darkness campaign in Eberron 4 years ago. All long term. All memorable. All imploded. At least we got one in the books before turning 50.
As for the campaign itself, there were only two adventures set in stone- the very first, and the very last. We started in Hannsport, and we would finish there. Each of the others were mix and match depending on who the PCs were, and where the players wanted to go, or what they wanted to do. One surprise for me was that there was not a single dwarf PC in the campaign, and not a single elf PC until the introduction of Profesor Malort halfway in. There were a handful of adventures we never did because we did not more closely explore the environs around Dark Oaks, or Gorum's Vale, or especially the capitol, Yorvik. Some of these I hope to adapt for one-offs or two-shots, whether for Kurtuanicon or as filler in between campaigns. So as I requested, send me cleaned up copies of your final character sheets!!!!
Some of the NPCs I created that the players haven't met yet will appear in the campaign Epilogue, leaving everyone wondering who they are and how their paths might cross in the future. There are even more you may not meet until or unless we revisit Primordia some day.
Family and community ended up being major themes in the campaign-- Erick's arcane archer and his ties to the elves of Valinost (so I still got to use the elf campaign arc, even though in an entirely unexpected way!). Tuan's paladin and his long lost mother, one of the hags who served Dagon. And of course, Josie Nightingale and Davin Kell. Everyone was deeply connected to Hannsport and its environs in one way or another.
Josephine Tinúviel Charlotte Kell. Lúthien Tinúviel was of course a character from Tolkien's Silmarillion, and the word Tinúviel translates as "Nightingale.' The Bard of Viborg's elven heritage was strong, even though it did not outwardly manifest, except for her apparent youth. Hints were dropped at various times from the moment she appeared, although I think it was still a satisfying surprise when she revealed her true heritage. The reveal was a bit rushed, but the fight with Dagon took over 3 1/2 hours and it was getting late! Josie was a young child when Erick's character was born, and has maintained her youthful appearance despite nearly twenty years of wandering the northlands by the time the campaign has ended. She was the forgotten secret of Hannsport, the child born just before her mother was murdered by the northmen, spirited away to the care of distant kin. Her story was never fully explored, and might yet be the subject of further story posts.
Interestingly, I thought Tuan might challenge Lord Kell's harsh rule at some point, but in the end, the paladin still became the Lord of Hannsport, by popular acclaim. A just result! And lest Scotty thought there might not be a conclusion to his character arc, becoming the saint of his own faith tradition, just as Saint Cambrace did with the Redeemers, was also a just end.
I hope everyone enjoyed this two year long campaign, and I am looking forward to a long break from DMing and now just playing in Tuan's upcoming Underdark campaign!
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