Let's do the time warp again

[genderlich]

So I have a dungeon in my upcoming Pathfinder game that's displaced in time. One of the things I want to do - either for the whole dungeon or a part of it - is a Groundhog Day style time loop, where the party has to repeat the same dungeon (or room or series of rooms) until they "get it right". I'm sort of blanking on how to make this actually work in the game, though. I don't want to just make them fight the same fight over and over, try until they roll a good enough skill check, or spend a long time messing around until they figure out the one solution to the puzzle. I want to make them think about how to get out of the loop, but to give them interesting gameplay while they're in it. Any advice?

[Stealth Marmot]

YOU SON OF A-

Now I have that song stuck in my head.

How about a puzzle that instakills them if they get it wrong, but is nearly impossible to get the first time, so they keep reverting back over and over every time they screw it up. More to the point, they need to do the things in a specific order and in a certain timeframe.

Also, maybe make certain things reset, but other things NOT rest so that is part of the puzzle.

If you want a good bit of "try a thing then reload", look no further than the Sierra adventure games. Space Quest, Kings Quest and if you prefer R rated games, Leisure Suit Larry. Full of pitfalls, pratfalls, and the very essence of the phrase "Save early, save often".

[SilverLeaf167]

Spoilers for the Adventure Zone podcast:

Spoiler

Show

There is an adventure where they have to keep repeating the same hour over and over again, looping back either when they die or when the town they're in is destroyed in a massive explosion at the end of the hour. The looping only ends when they finally manage to stop the explosion from happening.

To keep it from becoming tedious - especially as it's a podcast - the DM establishes that whenever they find a repeatable way to get past any particular obstacle, they can feel free to skip it on subsequent loops unless they want to try something different. It works out really well, especially since their solutions involve a lot of bluffs and diplomacy that would be tedious to roleplay multiple times.

At one point they do something similar to Stealth Marmot's suggestion: die in a puzzle trap, fast-forward to that room, try another solution and then die again, over and over, until they eventually get it right.

[CharonsHelper]

Spoilers for the Adventure Zone podcast:

Spoiler

Show

There is an adventure where they have to keep repeating the same hour over and over again, looping back either when they die or when the town they're in is destroyed in a massive explosion at the end of the hour. The looping only ends when they finally manage to stop the explosion from happening.

To keep it from becoming tedious - especially as it's a podcast - the DM establishes that whenever they find a repeatable way to get past any particular obstacle, they can feel free to skip it on subsequent loops unless they want to try something different. It works out really well, especially since their solutions involve a lot of bluffs and diplomacy that would be tedious to roleplay multiple times.

At one point they do something similar to Stealth Marmot's suggestion: die in a puzzle trap, fast-forward to that room, try another solution and then die again, over and over, until they eventually get it right.

That sounds clever.

In addition, you could tie such a puzzle/trap into a combat. So how they fail a puzzle determines what sort of foe the trap summons for them to fight.

In addition - when fast-forwarding past combats, you'd lost the same resources you did on your most successful play-through. So, if you totally bomb a mook fight your first time (maybe they get a lucky crit and your wizard ends up burning half his spells etc.) you might want to do it over more successfully. Especially since you know their weaknesses this time.

On that front, you might want to have the combats be against foes which are tough but have a glaring weakness against specially prepared foes. (Ex: Will O' Wisps are freakin' annoying when you're not prepped, but if you have the right spells/gear they're pretty easy.)

[SilverLeaf167]

That sounds clever.

In addition, you could tie such a puzzle/trap into a combat. So how they fail a puzzle determines what sort of foe the trap summons for them to fight.

In addition - when fast-forwarding past combats, you'd lost the same resources you did on your most successful play-through. So, if you totally bomb a mook fight your first time (maybe they get a lucky crit and your wizard ends up burning half his spells etc.) you might want to do it over more successfully. Especially since you know their weaknesses this time.

On that front, you might want to have the combats be against foes which are tough but have a glaring weakness against specially prepared foes. (Ex: Will O' Wisps are freakin' annoying when you're not prepped, but if you have the right spells/gear they're pretty easy.)

Just to be safe with the spoilers:

Spoiler

Show

Yeah, might be good to add, they had barely any actual combat in that adventure, so I'm not even sure how they would've handled it.
Your suggestion sounds pretty good though.