History BittersweetEnding / TableTopGames

** In a Weaver Ascendant scenario in which the Garou's plan to free the original Balance-Wyrm succeeds, its struggle to free itself devastate reality and pile on top of the damage that the Waver already did. At the end, the changing breeds are all extinct, human civilization has been annihilated, and Gaia is still badly wounded. However, the Weaver and Wyrm are both restored to sanity, Gaia can begin healing, and the Stone Age survivors of the human species can begin a long climb to a more balanced civilization untainted by the Weaver and Wyrm's madness and guided by the lingering spirits of the Garou.

* In ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms WARMAHCINE]]'' Cygnar's campaign into The Protectorate Of Menoth ends on one for them. With the Protectorate launching a counter invasion. Cygnar survive but only barely, their capital and forces are devastated and they ultimately achieve nothing, while their enemies come out in a stronger position.
* In ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', even the Time of Judgment scenarios that ''don't'' involve a Wyrm victory are still bittersweet.

** In a scenario in which both the Wyrm and Ananasa escape their respective prisons, the two restore the fabric of reality to balance. Ananasa reweaves the cosmos in such a way as to eliminate the changing breeds and reduce some of Gaia's majesty.
** In a scenario in which the Perfect Metis is sacrificed as a scion to the Defiler Wyrm, the player characters must rescue his tormented spirit from the Atrocity Realm and cleanse it in the silver lake of Erebus. The Perfect Metis dies, but his soul is finally at peace. To boot, this cleansing averts the Apocalypse by forcing the Defiler to retreat into the Deep Umbra.
* A lot of storylines in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' end like this:
** While the first Innistrad set had a happy ending, the Shadows over Innistrad certainly did not. While [[spoiler:Emrakul]] is defeated, but the devastation wrought upon the plane is devastating; Its greatest protector is dead and will never return, its major population centers are devastated, its angellic protectors are fewer in number than they have ever been, and a host of new monsters have been added to its macabre menagerie. [[spoiler:Not to mention that Emrakul was only defeated by her own volition, and could presumably return at any point]]. Finally, Sorin and Nahiri, two of Magic's strongest BigGood, hate each other so much that when Ravnica was threatened in a later set, they were too preoccupied trying to kill each other to care.
** Theros. Elspeth has succeeded in killing the cruel god Xenagos, and returns to Heliod's temple. [[spoiler:Then spiteful Heliod stabs her in the back, declaring that her being a planeswalker (and thus knowing more of the multiverse than him) makes her a threat. Ajani is left cradling the dead hero, while Heliod gets away with no consequences.]]

** The game ends this way in the fourth [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]] scenario, "Crucible of God". Basically, a [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class2}} Class 2 Apocalypse]] has taken place: civilization has been pulverized by the war between humans and vampires and the rise of the [[BewareTheSuperman Antediluvians]] that followed; the environment has also suffered considerable damage- particularly during the [[LivingShadow Lasombra Antediluvian]]'s [[TheNightThatNeverEnds reign of terror]]. The world is swarmed with bands of murderous psychopaths created during [[HiveMind Malkav's]] reign, alongside giant ghoul animals bred by [[TheGrotesque Absimiliard]] during his long stay in the depths of the Atlantic Sea and the [[BodyHorror hideous mutants]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower crafted]] by [[EldritchAbomination Tzimisce Antediluvian]]. On the upside, [[TheGoodKing Haqim]] turned the Middle East into an echo of Eden during the brief period in which he was alive, and during the end, [[MessianicArchetype Saulot]] might be able to call down the wrath of God on Tzimisce and bring an end to the Curse of Caine with your help, thus saving the world. In the epilogue, the surviving Antediluvians, namely [[BeastEss Ennoia]] and the Shaper (who might be the [[ProudBeauty Toreador Antediluvian]] in disguise) that managed to survive Gehenna and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend into godhood]] are benevolent enough to leave humanity alone; and though you've lost your immortality and your powers, you're no longer troubled by the Beast or hunger for blood, and you can help rebuild human society with a clean slate.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''; this is likely the best ending the Player Characters can hope for in the apocalyptic scenarios presented in the ''Elder Evils'' Splat book. The [=PCs=] may manage to defeat the beast and SaveTheWorld, but given how each Elder Evil comes with a Sign that causes global cataclysms, there may not be much of the world left at that point. (The book does say they are meant to be used as finales for long-running campaigns.) For example, Atropus causes a worldwide zombie plague that causes undead to outnumber the living at worst, the Hulks of Zoretha cause a HatePlague that causes mortal beings to become enraged and fight each other, and Father Lymic freezes the world with endless night, destroying crops and wildlife and making any recovery a difficult task. What's more, two of them, Pandorym and Zargon, are not ''truly'' defeated, and the [=PCs=] must do something else to ensure that later.

** The second optional ending to the scenario is even worse: You remain as a vampire, because God has decided to keep Caine suffering a little longer, you've been transformed into a third-generation vampire, and given the option of creating a new Kindred society alongside the emerging human nations. It's obvious that the pattern of foundation a new Enoch, total domination of Man, their uprising, PC's entering torpor/going into hiding, and their childer, who will become the Methuselahs of a new age eventually scattering to the winds after ruling for so long, etc. [[BrokenAesop It's almost as if no one, not even God itself, learned anything from what happened]].

** The second optional ending to the scenario involves you remaining a vampire; in part because God has decided to keep Caine suffering a little longer, you've been transformed into a third-generation vampire, and given the option of creating a new Kindred society alongside the emerging human nations. It's obvious that the pattern of foundation a new Enoch, total domination of Man, their uprising, PC's entering torpor/going into hiding, and their childer, who will become the Methuselahs of a new age eventually scattering to the winds after ruling for so long, etc. [[BrokenAesop It's almost as if no one learned anything from what happened]].

** The second optional ending to the scenario involves you remaining a vampire; in part because God has decided to keep Caine suffering a little longer, you've been transformed into a second-generation vampire, and given the option of creating a new Kindred society alongside the emerging human nations. Still pretty gloomy, but at least you've got power on your side.

** The game ends this way in the fourth [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]] scenario, "Crucible of God". Basically, a [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class2}} Class 2 Apocalypse]] has taken place: civilization has been pulverized by the war between humans and vampires and the rise of the [[BewareTheSuperman Antediluvians]] that followed; the environment has also suffered considerable damage- particularly during the [[LivingShadow Lasombra Antediluvian]]'s [[TheNightThatNeverEnds reign of terror]]. The world is swarmed with bands of murderous psychopaths created during [[HiveMind Malkav's]] reign, alongside giant ghoul animals bred by [[TheGrotesque Absimiliard]] during his long stay in the depths of the Atlantic Sea and the [[BodyHorror hideous mutants]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower crafted]] by [[EldritchAbomination Tzimisce Antediluvian]]. On the upside, [[TheGoodKing Haqim]] turned the Middle East into an echo of Eden during the brief period in which he was alive, and with your help, [[MessianicArchetype Saulot]] might be able to call down the wrath of God on Tzimisce and bring an end to the Curse of Caine at the end. In the epilogue, the surviving Antediluvians, namely [[BeastEss Ennoia]] and the Shaper (who might be the [[ProudBeauty Toreador Antediluvian]] in disguise) that managed to survive Gehenna and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend into godhood]] are benevolent enough to leave humanity alone; and though you've lost your immortality and your powers, you're no longer troubled by the Beast or hunger for blood, and you can help rebuild human society with a clean slate.

** The game ends this way in the fourth [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]] scenario, "Crucible of God". Basically, a [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class2}} Class 2 apocalypse]] has taken place: civilization has been pulverized by the war between humans and vampires and the rise of the [[BewareTheSuperman Antediluvians]] that followed; the environment has also suffered considerable damage- particularly during the [[LivingShadow Lasombra Antediluvian]]'s [[TheNightThatNeverEnds reign of terror]]. The world is swarmed with bands of murderous psychopaths created during [[HiveMind Malkav's]] reign, along with giant ghoul animals bred by [[TheGrotesque Absimiliard]] during his long stay in the depths of the Atlantic Sea, and [[BodyHorror hideous mutants]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower crafted]] by [[EldritchAbomination Tzimisce Antediluvian]]. On the upside, [[TheGoodKing Haqim]] turned the Middle East into an echo of Eden during the period in which he was alive, and with your help, [[MessianicArchetype Saulot]] has been able to call down the wrath of God on Tzimisce and bring an end to the Curse of Caine; the few Antediluvians, namely [[BeastEss Ennoia]] and the Shaper (who might be the [[ProudBeauty Toreador Antediluvian]] in disguise) that managed to survive Gehenna and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend into godhood]] are benevolent enough to leave humanity alone; and though you've lost your immortality and your powers, you're no longer troubled by the Beast or hunger for blood, and you can help rebuild human society with a clean slate.

** The game ends this way in the fourth [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]] scenario, "Crucible of God". Basically, a [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class2}} Class 2 apocalypse]] has taken place: civilization has been pulverized by the war between humans and vampires and the rise of the [[BewareTheSuperman Antediluvians]] that followed; the environment has also suffered considerable damage- particularly during the [[LivingShadow Lasombra Antediluvian]]'s [[TheNightThatNeverEnds reign of terror]]. The world is swarmed with bands of murderous psychopaths created during [[HiveMind Malkav's]] reign, along with giant ghoul animals bred by [[TheGrotesque Absimiliard]] during his long stay in the depths of the Atlantic Sea, and [[BodyHorror hideous mutants]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower crafted]] by [[EldritchAbomination Tzimisce]]. On the upside, [[TheGoodKing Haqim]] turned the Middle East into an echo of Eden during the period in which he was alive, and with your help, [[MessianicArchetype Saulot]] has been able to call down the wrath of God on Tzimisce and bring an end to the Curse of Caine; the few Antediluvians, namely [[BeastEss Ennoia]] and the Shaper (who might be the [[ProudBeauty Toreador Antediluvian]] in disguise) that managed to survive Gehenna and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend into godhood]] are benevolent enough to leave humanity alone; and though you've lost your immortality and your powers, you're no longer troubled by the Beast or hunger for blood, and you can help rebuild human society with a clean slate.