Judgement
A Great Reckoning, Rapture, Rupture, Game Over, The Final Chapter
An enormous percentage of the world’s population subscribes to one religion or another that calls for a Great Reckoning of some kind.
Even Flat Earthers believe in the day, some small amount of time in the future, when everybody finally comes around and realizes that the Earth has been flat the whole time and that they were right, all along. The promise of “this will all turn around in our favor, not long from now”, is extremely common in cults of all stripes.
It’s again important to note that behind the Rider-Waite Tarot and its mishmash of gnostic nonsense and occult bugaboos, lies the Tarot of Marseilles, a deck of playing cards used by French Catholics: what this card depicts is judgement day.
At some point in the future, God himself, so the theology has it, is going to come down, fold up the gameboard and toss all of his pieces back into the box.
Like with most any weird cult reckonings, the date that this is going to happen is always not long, now. Even after thousands of years, the apocalypse is always just a handful of months away.
I can’t imagine the effect on long-term decision making it has to assume that everything is going to wrap itself up neatly, on its own, within our lifetimes. I’d think we should check if people believe that before we let them hold public office.
So Judgement is “The End”. The final boss. The high muckamuck. The climax. It’s time for the story to wrap up and for all of the loose-ends to get tied up, before we put all of the pieces back into the box, and if we’re going to feel like we got the most out of this experience, we want to see a grand finale to really cap it off.
Friends & Foes
The Doomsayer preaches that the end is near, predicting an apocalypse, sudden and dramatic, and soon.
The Not Today is a hero of last resort, willing to put their life on the line to buy just a little bit more time for our heroes.
A reluctant villain to the very end, the Redemption Equals Death saves the day at the last minute, protecting everyone at the cost of their own life.
The Apocalypse Agent isn’t just predicting the apocalypse but actively working to bring it about. Perhaps they think that they will be exempted, perhaps they are being compelled, or perhaps they think that humanity deserves eradication, but whatever their motivation they are on the side of the end.
The Big Bad has been the true villain behind the events of the story this whole time.
The Final Boss is intended to test all of the skills gained throughout the adventure, an ultimate challenge. The most difficult, high-stakes battle the players will face. It’s time to use those saved up potions!
Oh, you think you’ve defeated the Final Boss? You fool! That was just Stage 1 of a Multi-Stage Boss. Bigger, nastier, more abstract, this model has more wings, more eyes, and towers above its foes.
Hooks
The Reminder of the Stakes is an event designed to refocus our players on the task at hand. A key NPC is killed, a castle falls, the Big Bad makes concrete forward progress on their plan – something carries us closer to the bad ending.
The Brush With Death is there to keep the stakes high at the story’s climax. Someone needs to die, almost die, or metaphorically die for the story to feel weighty.
Locations
The Ominous Tower is the last structure standing, reaching to the heavens, proclaiming the villain’s impending victory.
The Post-Apocalyptic Landscape serves to show what happens when the heroes fail. Nothing remains except ashes and the remnants of society.
The Place Beyond Time and Space establishes that this reckoning, if it isn’t stopped, won’t just end one story but all stories, forever.
The Last Redoubt is the final fortification protecting humanity. When it falls...
Treasures
The Power of Friendship was the real treasure all along, and it’s the only way to win in a situation this dire. All of the allies you’ve made, all of the skills you’ve gained, all of the clever tricks you’ve learned along the way intervene to help in your time of need.
The Single Tear of Resurrection can bring a hero back from the brink of death.
Names
John, Daniel, Ezekiel, Wormwood, Woe, Gog, Uriel, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Geddon, Arma, Quiyama, Ragnarok