I am the group GM and I started a game that originally was going

>>50806874
>not going for a "ultimately, you did it for the future of X"-ending.

>>50806983
I don't understand the reference, sorry.
Not English or USAian

Ultimately it's up to you. We don't know your players, you do.

However, there is a third possibility here. Alter the existing ending in such a way the tone isn't completely lost, but still can allow for heroism.

Your job as DM is to enable the player's fun, but it should not come at the expense of your own.

>>50807182
A bittersweet end? Might be fitting

>>50807702
But the question is this: How do you make a victory bitter?

>>50808254
You strip a victory of all of its greatest rewards to make it bitter. Hell, the adventurers may even come out worse as a result of a bittersweet victory.

>>50808323
The PC's all have goals, to some extend.
>sailor wants to return to her ship, which left her behind at last port
>Barbarian wants women to repopulate his clan (there is always one. It's been working out surprisingly well though)
>knight wants to find the woman he loves (whom his family forbids him to marry), and find the grandmaster of his order (who might have turned traitor)
>warlock just knows he is drawn towards the final location, but he is pretty much set up for an awful end as he is being puppeted by great old ones
>cleric needs to find out why his magic works (he is a failed medical student turn con-man who just pretends to be a cleric. yet his magic works)

>>50808507
Sailor is easy. She can find the ship but the crew is dead. The knight has to fight the grandmaster and his lady has married someone else (but he can save her life at least).
I'm unsure about the barbarian. Maybe he successfully depopulated the clan but end up ruining his native culture?

>>50807097
sadam USAin?