FlipSum
2019-09-30, 08:17 AM
So a friend of mine usually DMs for a group of his. We often talk about story ideas, and the end result is more often than not, I come up with some campaign ideas - he then picks on that, fleshes them out, comes up with additional material, etc.
The other day he approched me with a request by his friends, who wanted to know if he could think of a campaign or series of adventures where memory plays a part. I thought about this for a while but am unsure what to suggest him, in the sense that I can come up with a story but have no idea how to fit it in FR (because I'm not a D&D player; the only time I played was some 20 years ago and never kept up).
So, the idea is in gestation so far... My first draft was based on a story I started writing several years ago but didn't finish, and to make things slightly difficult for me now, is that it was from the perspective of a single character - not meant for role-playing. It was about a race which made a breakgrounding discovery in terms of planar travelling, something the rest of the universe were lagging behind. But they devoted so much of their energy to it that their physical form waned over centuries, rendering them so weak they would require considerable willpower just to walk.
Because of this they decided to share their technology with other races but with a request. Everyone was free to use the portals to travel between worlds but had to tell them a story, something they lived through, something that was out of the reach for the sickly race.
It turns out that at some point in time the portals start doing things... differently. People would cross over into other planes or worlds, but would become unwillingly attached to something on the other side for a period of time. Their conscience could be transferred into a stone, a house, a person, a wild animal. This meant that people were now not only bringing in details about other worlds, but would carry memories of sensations, sometimes very specific: you could see a dragon, or you could be a dragon beliching flames. You could walk across alien plains, or come back knowing what it was like for the slightly acidic wind of that world to bite at your stems and petals. You could witness a murder, or feel what it was like to be a dagger stuffed inside someone's coat and the moment you invaded someone's flesh.
These became highly sought out commodities and there were those willing to pay to have these memories and sensations stolen. Eventually, a group was formed to protect the portals and the race that created them, and to investigate any crime commited regarding either of them, or the trafficking of these memories or sensations.
This centered on a main character who had travelled these portals for years; a kind of rogue with a heart of gold, that walked a neutral path... Which he could steer away from if the price was right or if a cause was good enough (he had helped the protective force that guarded over the portals, but never worked for them, for instance). But at some point things go wrong: someone identical to him is seen "gate crashing": that is, entering those portals by force, sometimes killing their guardians, without sharing any memories to walk through them. So now he's being hunted and time is running out; the only thing he has for him are memories of adventures he lived, the only bargaining chip to cross the portals into other worlds where the person that looks like him may have hid.
The problem is, I know there are some online sources I can check to rewire the story into something pallatable for FR, but I wouldn't know where to begin. The closest I found was a Planescape setting (I think that was called) which had sensate stones, I think, which house memories and feelings. But I have no idea how to convert this to FR (if it helps, they're running 3.5). I guess it can go into any setting provided it makes sense in that setting but I'd prefer it "makes sense" from the start, with little need for adjustments.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
The other day he approched me with a request by his friends, who wanted to know if he could think of a campaign or series of adventures where memory plays a part. I thought about this for a while but am unsure what to suggest him, in the sense that I can come up with a story but have no idea how to fit it in FR (because I'm not a D&D player; the only time I played was some 20 years ago and never kept up).
So, the idea is in gestation so far... My first draft was based on a story I started writing several years ago but didn't finish, and to make things slightly difficult for me now, is that it was from the perspective of a single character - not meant for role-playing. It was about a race which made a breakgrounding discovery in terms of planar travelling, something the rest of the universe were lagging behind. But they devoted so much of their energy to it that their physical form waned over centuries, rendering them so weak they would require considerable willpower just to walk.
Because of this they decided to share their technology with other races but with a request. Everyone was free to use the portals to travel between worlds but had to tell them a story, something they lived through, something that was out of the reach for the sickly race.
It turns out that at some point in time the portals start doing things... differently. People would cross over into other planes or worlds, but would become unwillingly attached to something on the other side for a period of time. Their conscience could be transferred into a stone, a house, a person, a wild animal. This meant that people were now not only bringing in details about other worlds, but would carry memories of sensations, sometimes very specific: you could see a dragon, or you could be a dragon beliching flames. You could walk across alien plains, or come back knowing what it was like for the slightly acidic wind of that world to bite at your stems and petals. You could witness a murder, or feel what it was like to be a dagger stuffed inside someone's coat and the moment you invaded someone's flesh.
These became highly sought out commodities and there were those willing to pay to have these memories and sensations stolen. Eventually, a group was formed to protect the portals and the race that created them, and to investigate any crime commited regarding either of them, or the trafficking of these memories or sensations.
This centered on a main character who had travelled these portals for years; a kind of rogue with a heart of gold, that walked a neutral path... Which he could steer away from if the price was right or if a cause was good enough (he had helped the protective force that guarded over the portals, but never worked for them, for instance). But at some point things go wrong: someone identical to him is seen "gate crashing": that is, entering those portals by force, sometimes killing their guardians, without sharing any memories to walk through them. So now he's being hunted and time is running out; the only thing he has for him are memories of adventures he lived, the only bargaining chip to cross the portals into other worlds where the person that looks like him may have hid.
The problem is, I know there are some online sources I can check to rewire the story into something pallatable for FR, but I wouldn't know where to begin. The closest I found was a Planescape setting (I think that was called) which had sensate stones, I think, which house memories and feelings. But I have no idea how to convert this to FR (if it helps, they're running 3.5). I guess it can go into any setting provided it makes sense in that setting but I'd prefer it "makes sense" from the start, with little need for adjustments.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!