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Mr.Sandman
2014-12-11, 12:16 AM
I am finally starting another campaign soon, and I had this idea and some questions I would like your help figuring out. The PC's begin at lv 1 and go through a basic goblin filled adventure. Right after they beat the chief, they suddenly find themselves separated, and in the middle of something completely unrelated to the goblin cave. 5 years, and 9 levels, have passed, and they are all well known Heroes of the realm, but they can't remember anything between the depths of the goblin cave and now. They must reunite, figure out what happened in the last 5 years, and how it relates to the troubles that start shortly after the Awake. Now the questions. What are some ideas for what they are doing when they timeskip? I know the Barbarian will be fighting some large monster, but that still leaves a Cleric, Fire Wizard, and one unknown, though most likely some form of skill monkey? should I hold on to their LV 10 sheets for the first scene to simulate the confusion of being dropped into their older bodies or is withholding character sheets something a DM should never do? what kind of adventure did they have that got them labled Heroes of the Realm? and what sort of gear and things should they have on them that would serve as early clues? This idea is in very early development stage, and I would love any suggestions on how I could make it truly memorable. Thank you.

Milodiah
2014-12-11, 12:29 AM
I'm assuming this is D&D we're talking here...I also assume you'll be allowing them to build said level-10 future-characters, yes?

Also, I think it would be good for the wizard to be in the middle of a very sensitive and technical magical experiment that he suddenly appeared to blank out on.


...by the way, this wouldn't happen to be along the lines of HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time, would it?

Vitruviansquid
2014-12-11, 02:46 AM
Obviously, they were all massively and continuously drunk for five consecutive years, traveling the realm and slaying the everliving hell out of the forces of evil in between destroying bars and alternately elevating other bars to legendary status.

That fanciness with manipulating players' character sheets sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Lavranzo
2014-12-11, 02:56 AM
In a grand battle between forces of good and forces of evil, the heroes were turned into solid ice. But not just any ice. This was the "eternum ice"-spell, created by "Insert-Evilish-Archmage-Name-Here", the greatest evil of them all. For five years, darkness has reigned, and the world has been plunged into the great depths of Hell. But now, in this dire situation, a young boy traveled out to find a weapon to destroy the evil. This boy found the heroes, and with a single tear, the young boy freed them from their icy cages, and now, the heroes are unbound and ready to unleash their fury against the greater evil.

To be continued...

Hope this is worth something :p

EnglishKitsune
2014-12-11, 07:33 AM
Q: What are the players behind the characters like? Is the fire wizard a straight up pyromaniac or a more intelligent and charismatic figure? Is the cleric a pacifist healer or a Crusading Smiting Witch-Hunter? Even if they have no memories of the past 5 years, do you plan to have them still acting as the Players would play them during that time?

Also, what races/alignment are the characters? This could help with their actions in the time jump.

Some starting ideas for the characters:

Cleric: Is living in a small rural village, running a chapel that is barely 4 walls and a holy symbol. The first time he approaches another of his religion/deity he is treated with scorn/horror. A big part can be figuring out what has made him Persona Non Grata, even if his Deity is still granting him powers.

The Fire Wizard/Tinkerer: Employed by the Lord as an advisor/confidant. Plomp them right into the middle of court intrigue and crazy political backstabbing. Have them secretly in an affair with the Lord's wife if you want to be truly evil. Make them wake up in bed with her. No memory of how they got there.

Also, if your players are good RPers have people surprised to see the heroes back together again, make them have had a huge disagreement in the past. If the Barbarian goes to meet the Wizard in the castle have the guards all panic and treat him with fear while telling the wizard to flee. Then have them be really suspicious when the Barbarian doesn't hack off the Wizards head. What did the wizard do to make the Barbarian hate him so?


As for the time-jump itself: After killing the chief it's blood fell across an Altar, summoning a Demon/Deity/Dark Evil Other Thing, hereafter referred to as Crowley. Instead of killing them it makes them a deal. It makes them heroes, gives them fame, fortune and power. Though they initially refused, eventually they decided that if they at least survived, they could possibly defeat it later after they gained more power, the very power it promises.

They accept, and Crowley disappears into the world, and things seem to go their way. They become the standard adventurers for hire, until they are approached by a messenger from the King.

A Portal opens up, high in the mountains, deep inside a long abandoned temple, demons and devils and hellspawn flood out, amassing an army of cultists and preparing to sweep the land. The King requests the heroes help, while he fights the armies, he wants them to sneak into the temple and defeat the Dark Lord and close the Portal.

They do as such, and in the main Altar room discover: Crowley! (Duh Duh DUH) They discover the giant army is a ruse, merely a part of his greater plan. He has infiltrated and corrupted most of the temples in the land, and now the people unknowingly worship and feed power to him. When they die, he steals their souls, becoming even MORE powerful. Dismissing the portal and "killing" the horde of demons. He completes his deal, cementing the heroes and the Saviors of the Realms. At the same time he brands their souls, creating a pact that they can never reveal the truth. They leave, dejected and bitter, but still determined to defeat him. They split up, the barbarian hunting down the few remaining demons and hellspawn that roam the wilds, the priest retreating in solitude and worshipping his true god as opposed to Crowley, making him reviled and hated by the now corrupt temples. The Tinkerer and Wizard could possibly work together, to find a way to purge their souls of the brand and the taint Crowley left. Ultimately they discover a way. A ritual, that would jump their souls forward in time from before they first had the taint of corruption. (IE, right before they met Crowley.) These souls do not have the brand, and as such they are free to fight against Crowley, and free the world, the heavens, and the hells from his evil schemes.


Is this of any help? :smallsmile:

Darcand
2014-12-11, 11:46 AM
Sounds like a case of first degree possession to me. A party of would be heroes had previously tried and failed to slay the goblin king, and when the PCs succeeded the spirits of those doomed adventurers saw a second chance and possessed the party. They have been wearing the PCs around as all this time and only just recently, and suddenly, has their hold been broken. Now the PCs have to figure out what happened, what they've been doing, and why did it suddenly stop.

Alternately, and if you're willing to get a little weird for the sake of the story, the PCs have been functioning as PCs in an RPG campaign all this time. Everything up to defeating the goblins was backstory which took place before the first actual quest, and the PCs come to 5 years and 9 levels later when the campaign has sort off fallen to the wayside, as they tend to do. Now that the Players have los interest, the Characters have regained free will. Now they get to explore a game world that is obviously a game. The catch, one of the PCs (your DMPC from the first adventure) is outraged to discover the truth; it is too much for him to handle and he decides to destroy the entire farce of the world.

EnglishKitsune
2014-12-12, 04:17 AM
Alternately, and if you're willing to get a little weird for the sake of the story, the PCs have been functioning as PCs in an RPG campaign all this time. Everything up to defeating the goblins was backstory which took place before the first actual quest, and the PCs come to 5 years and 9 levels later when the campaign has sort off fallen to the wayside, as they tend to do. Now that the Players have los interest, the Characters have regained free will. Now they get to explore a game world that is obviously a game. The catch, one of the PCs (your DMPC from the first adventure) is outraged to discover the truth; it is too much for him to handle and he decides to destroy the entire farce of the world.

In which case I'd suggest reading Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. It's pretty much what is described above, but could provide perspective on how to do it without it being so obvious. If you still want that air of mystery around it.

prufock
2014-12-12, 09:21 AM
I would suggest time-jumping at the end of the first adventure, right at the end of the session. If they need it for whatever is happening on the other side, give them 45 temporary hp, +5 to +9 to hit, +5 to saves, and +5 to skill checks. But I probably wouldn't have them fight anything yet. Just describe the scenario to them. Have them level up to 10 for next session.

Make sure they notice that they are substantially older. Sure, adventurers can gain 9 levels in a few months or even weeks, but it's been 5 years. They might have a few crows' feet, more scars, one guy grows a beard, someone's gotten a little chubbier, whatever. Describe the effect of aging those 5 years. It shouldn't be too dramatic, though; think of yourself 5 years ago to now.

If there's some way you can swing it, have the end of the first adventure present some sort of moral dilemma. Perhaps the goblin king had control of X number of magical artifacts (where X is obviously the number of PCs) involved in BIG BAD RITUAL (though he didn't have the power or know-how to use them). They all argue about what to do with them, depending on their values - one guy wants to hide them, another to sell them, another to use them to gain their own power, another to search for a way to destroy them, etc. They argue about it and decide to each take one, doing with it as they will, but they've bad blood between them now. The company parts ways. Five years later, the final artifact involved in BBR (you knew there had to be one more) has been uncovered, and this time by someone who knows what to do with it. The BBEG is looking for the others, and the PCs have to stop him before he finds them or takes them from him.

In this scenario, the guy who sold his is rich beyond the normal WBL limits (but doesn't know it), the guy who used his for power has a special item to boost his abilities (but now can't remember how), the guy who wanted to destroy them was still seeking a method (and has now forgotten it all), and the guy who wanted to hide his did... maybe too well, since he now can't remember where. In any case, they've come begrudgingly back together to work as a team to stop the BBEG... who turns out to be one of the goblins from the first adventure (don't reveal until later). Maybe not the king, but any one of them that stood out. Wait, wasn't he dead? Oh yeah, was.

So now they have to find the artifacts again, stop the BBEG, and recover their lost memories. So why are the memories lost? The artifacts are corrupting (think the One Ring), affecting their memories. Now that the final one has been found and activated, that corruption comes to a peak, stripping their memories from them.

Another option would be for the goblin "king" to be a child, with childish delusions of power. One guy wants to kill him, one wants to adopt him, one to leave him, another to turn him in to the authorities, etc. They argue, and the kid makes his escape. They all blame each other, and the party breaks up. Similar to above, but without the artifact plot hook. The goblin kid rises to be an actual threat, and has his own agenda and a vendetta with the PCs. They come together for mutual protection and to end it once and for all. But they don't remember that.

Milodiah
2014-12-12, 12:51 PM
To expand on the previous, I'd recommend HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time if you haven't read it/already based the situation on it. While I doubt the thing that happens is what you're doing to your PCs, the gradual recovery of suppressed/erased memories is well-handled, as is the bizarre long-term dissociative fugue the protagonist experiences during the thing that happens.

Shoggy
2014-12-12, 01:20 PM
An Ancient Evil™ that returns every few hundred years would be a good cause for their heroic status. Their memory gap could be driven by a long dead group of heroes that have more or less sworn to keep the Ancient Evil bottled up. Every time the recurring evil thingy happens the heroes get pulled out of the ether, plop into a fitting set of adventurers, then go off and repeat their epic quest. It'd work best if the old heroes don't really know what's happening, that'd keep them from leaving notes or something for their hosts when their time is up.

Withholding the sheets is going to be necessary if you want to surprise your players, but you might ask what their intended path will be for 'balancing reasons'. What I'd personally recommend is running their re-introduction events at the end of a session without any actual upgraded sheets, just a flat bonus to their stats, rolls, and gear. Then after the intro tell them to upgrade their sheets to whatever level before the next session.

As for what they're doing when they resume control, there's a lot of good stuff you could do. It'd be interesting to have the skill-monkey be in the middle of opening a bank vault, the crew might be a little unhappy with their locksmith. There's also some nice ethical dilemmas and the matter of whether he can actually pick the big impressive lock in front of him.

It might also be interesting to have the Wizard be in the middle of teaching a class at a magic academy or the cleric be in the middle of a sermon, possibly about an entirely different god than he use to be sworn to. Non-lethal situations, but confusing, embarrassing, and likely to cause some serious commotion.

If you're feeling dickish and the party is mature enough to handle it, give one of them a wife or kids, that'd be awkward.

Alternately you could make it so every party member is in the middle of doing the last thing needed to seal the Ancient Evil™ away for another few centuries. Then, of course, they'd botch whatever they needed to do and the world would start sliding towards doom again.

Finally I really recommend tying the over-arching plot into this, it's too big to be a throwaway device, that'd piss off most players and make you look lazy.

Milodiah
2014-12-12, 01:31 PM
I'd say it probably wouldn't tip them off if you were to ask them to pre-build their character advancement ideas from 1 to 10, so you could look over them before the game starts and nip any problems that would come up in the bud. Which has the added bonus of actually nipping any problems that could come up in the bud. I've seen plenty of situations where a player takes feats, other class levels, skill ranks, bonuses, etc. with a particular build in mind, only for that build to be vetoed by the DM when they've spent the last five levels angling towards it. Lots of things are permanent changes to a character's abilities that should only be decided by the person playing it. Sorcerer spells are more-or-less permanent choices, feats and skill ranks could really go anywhere, prestige classes...being prestige classes, etc...I'd hate to hand a player a "projected" character sheet of what their PC might be five years down the road, only to ruin his/her game by having given them a setup they don't actually like.


Also, don't forget cool scars. Oh, and magic items whose purposes they no longer remember. That'll be fun.

"Wow, the chest this magic sword is in has so many locks and chains on it! Clearly it's our most valuable weapon, and we've had to protect it from theft all these years!"

*DM chortles behind his screen as they unknowingly equip the big-time cursed sword they've been hauling around all these years*

"You have four potions in your backpack. A green glowy one, a black bubbly one, a clear smelly one, and a brown sticky one."

"...are they labelled?"

"Nope."

Mr.Sandman
2014-12-26, 07:47 PM
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I had forgotten how hectic things are in a restaurant between thanksgiving and new years. Thank you all for the great ideas and advice. I think the idea that they did it to themselves intrigued me the most. The game is on the back burner until everyone gets back from the holidays, but that just gives me more time to mash together ideas from here. The players haven't told me much about their character's personalities, so I will have to see how things go in the first mission, maybe give them some roleplay time before they go to the cave to see their personalities. Again, thank you all for your help.

dream
2014-12-26, 09:04 PM
I am finally starting another campaign soon, and I had this idea and some questions I would like your help figuring out. The PC's begin at lv 1 and go through a basic goblin filled adventure. Right after they beat the chief, they suddenly find themselves separated, and in the middle of something completely unrelated to the goblin cave. 5 years, and 9 levels, have passed, and they are all well known Heroes of the realm, but they can't remember anything between the depths of the goblin cave and now. They must reunite, figure out what happened in the last 5 years, and how it relates to the troubles that start shortly after the Awake. Now the questions. What are some ideas for what they are doing when they timeskip? I know the Barbarian will be fighting some large monster, but that still leaves a Cleric, Fire Wizard, and one unknown, though most likely some form of skill monkey? should I hold on to their LV 10 sheets for the first scene to simulate the confusion of being dropped into their older bodies or is withholding character sheets something a DM should never do? what kind of adventure did they have that got them labled Heroes of the Realm? and what sort of gear and things should they have on them that would serve as early clues? This idea is in very early development stage, and I would love any suggestions on how I could make it truly memorable. Thank you.
How did they get separated in the 1st place? Seems like GM Fiat, which can always be confusing.

You let them tell you how they came to be where they are and what they have, since you, the GM, stole their immediate agency to feed your story. Or maybe they like a train, in which case, tell them everything you want them to know and continue.

Easy-peezy:smallsmile: