We had our final session in a year-long Spring-and-Autumn mythic China TSOY game last night, and it was off the chain.
Four player characters all poised to transcend. The white jade throne of Ba - and the kingdom - up for grabs, and four factions all eager to claim it.
One faction supports the boy king, true heir to Ba by blood but the product of incest and the son of a murdered tyrant hated by everybody.
One faction supports the neighboring kingdom of Chu, to whom one evil PC has deep kinship, and who want him on the throne.
One faction supports *another* PC, who has the Key of the Paragon but is himself unwilling, and supports the boy king. These people want to murder the last heir to the old Ba line, whom the PCs have sworn to protect.
The final faction is actually in power, and consists of the PCs hated, campaign-long rivals, controlled by the hot-headed braggart Qi Wu.
I got to pull out every NPC they had ever messed with. All the PCs were married (one to a ghost princess!), and each of their wives supported a different faction than their PC husbands. All of their old allies and enemies were there to be swayed, cajoled, and bullied into taking sides. Their ancestors were whispering in their ears all night, threatening and making demands. Tough choices were made.
There was a grand conclave under a flag of truce as armies assembled from four directions. There were fiery speeches and swaggering boasts. There were insults and taunts and contests - at one point the villainous Qi Wu and the evil, power-mad PC Huong Shun brought down the pain in a contest of skill, making traditional Ba vine armor and then taking blows in their creations. Awesome.
Then there is an desperate attempt on the boy king's life, which is foiled by the PCs, but which is used as a pretext to incriminate them, and then it is on. There is a general melee and the blood opera begins. Everybody has a very specific goal in the bloodshed, old scores to settle, people to protect, agendas to advance. In the end the evil, scheming PC is mortally wounded but crawls onto the throne, his loyal brother weeping at his side as he "rules" Ba for a brief moment, before the young king ends his life. The heroic, Key of the paragon dude, Xiong Hu, saves the boy king again and again, even though he'd lost an earlier conflict with the stakes resulting in the young monarch repudiating him and humiliating him in public. He dies at the foot of the throne.
It was a total revenge tragedy and an amazing ending for a fun campaign.
Xiao Houzi is sort of a rapscallion, a former slave and barbarian who worked his way up to falling in love with, rescuing, and marrying a Chu princess. He'd been through a lot, had been separated from his wife and children for eight years, and cared nothing for Ba politics. So when he transcended, fighting his father-in-law at the gate of the Hell of Chains (long story), mr_ed, his player, stated that his ultimate goal was simply to live a long, safe, happy life after being reunited with his family. We honored that, and mr_ed played the boy king for the rest of the session.
The other guy was Xiong Hu, who had the key of the Paragon and was the conscience of the group the entire game. He was in a tough, final fight with General Zheng, one of the Big Bads who wanted to slay the boy king, and poor Xiong Hu wasn't doing too well - he was, in fact, getting chewed up badly. When he transcended, Steve, his player, used the opportunity to die in the service of the boy king, saving the monarch's life and effectively preventing his evil PC coutnerpart, Huong Shun, from taking the throne.
Clinton, you should totally be proud, man- you've made a great game!*
Our final session was awesome and tragic, and was exactly the kind of Shakespearean finale we were hoping for. And TSoY totally helped make it happen by letting us hammer away at the Keys that worked ("Key of the Guardian" for the boy king) and burning those that were no longer of any use ("Key of Family") for much-needed advances.
* but, you know, don't let it go to your head... ;)