Alas poor Spirit of the Century, I knew him.

My Spirit of the Century game ended last night, and, while I feel pretty good about how it ended, I'm pretty bummed about the aftermath.

The game itself was fun, especially the end. The final battle took place on an Atlantean outpost which had been raised from the bottom of the sea by a volcano. The group got into a gun battle through the ruins as the unstable city itself crumbled around them, slowly but inexorably falling into the volcano while they fought with the shadowy mastermind whose plans they had been opposing for the last three sessions.

It was brilliant, it was fun, and it really hit on all cylinders. In the end we finished an hour and a half earlier than usual without even noticing. Everything just flowed so fast and free that it was over before we knew it.

And then there was nothing. It was over.

It's a little sad really. We've played eight sessions in a row, and it's been so much fun, yet most of us feel like we're ready to try something new, and use Spirit of the Century the way we had originally intended, as a pick up game for those days when some of the group can't make it to our other regularly scheduled campaigns.

The problem is that one of our players is so into the game that I actually feel bad insisting on changing when its very clear that she doesn't want to. Even the thought of moving on to Dresden doesn't really excite her. She's really into the characters we made and the vibe we created, and as a newish gamer I worry that she thinks we won't be able to recapture it. The only other game she had played in with us was a Shadowrun game that ended disastrously with an out of character group blow-up that ended with the loss of two players.

I guess when your first experience with a group is tainted by two players who added so much stress and conflict that it felt like they were trying their hardest to tear apart the whole group you kinda hold on to the game that has been fun and exciting throughout.

Still, I really feel like it's time to step into something else (while keeping SotC in reserve for pick up games), and I have a lot of games I really want to do right now, but none of them really seems to interest her. At best I get a "Whatever you guys want to do," which I find infuriating.

Ah well, I guess it's back to the drawing board for now at least. I'm not going to attempt Pendragon with a group without total buy-in, and I know it's only a matter of time before I have enough Dresden to really get down and play, so maybe it's best this way.

Still, I'm going to miss that Spirit of the Century game.

A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.