End of the World... or is it?

[Bassikpoet]

So I got to a point in the campaign where all the players have been killed by a Daelkyr and "seemingly" brought back centuries later to witness the destruction of Eberron by said being. The fact is that I have only really thought up to that point. Being that I have a month break before getting back to teh campaign, I have time to plan the next section.

Here is the plan. What I need to know is how hard it would be to pull it off?

The party is transported back to the beginning of the campaign (keeping their new levels of course) and given the chance to go through the period up until the emergence of the Daelkyr. Knowing what they know now, they have to stop the being from emerging and destroying the world. However, the BBEG also knows that they have been sent back and has sent minions to do their part to stop them.

I plan on using the same basic plot for the first two adventures with some curveballs thrown in. After those adventures, the plot should have diverged dramatically from the first time around.

How hard is this going to be? Realize that I am a first time DM.

[kjones]

Wait, so they're doing the same things as their past selves? Will they meet themselves?

[Bassikpoet]

Think of it as the same bodies but with souls that know what will happen given a particular series of events.

First thought of the party transported back in time:
"Why were we just in the future and now back where we were at the beginning of the campaign? Wait, I'm 5th level, know what will happen in the future, and I have all the equipment that I have accumulated up to this point."

There will be no duplicate people running around.

[KillianHawkeye]

Might I suggest having your players find a way to return to their own time just after they were "killed" instead of returning to the beginning of the campaign? Doing so would remove much complexity from the storyline, and you wouldn't have to worry about what happens if the players change "the past" by doing something differently (causing a potential paradox). Also, the players may not enjoy having to do the same things over again that they already have done.

On the plus side, returning them to just after their "deaths" after witnessing the horrible future could still give them enough time to try and stop the BBEG's plans for world domination. I think this way would both be simpler to run and easier for your players to understand and thus easier for them to accept. Keep in mind that introducing time travel in any form exponentially increases the story's complexity, and is just begging your players to start doing crazy unexpected things, so taking a few measures to reduce the complexity (in this case, by eliminating the temporal overlap) would be a smart idea.

At least, that's how I'd play it if I were you. That's a neat idea, btw.

[XiaoTie]

That seems like a pretty cool idea (and game), if only because it has (to some degree) a resemblance to Chrono Trigger.

What if, you kept the first two adventures (like you said, with some added curve balls) but then change the rest of it. Say, after the first two adventures (or maybe even as part of the second’s curve ball) they have a chance to “prevent” the coming of this evil being, but when they do it, they return to their time just after their “death”, with new levels and whatnot.

Hum, come to think of it, this “solution” of mine only increases the complexity factor.

[Venerable]

As a player, I think it would be fun to return to a previous adventure with full knowledge. That would give me the chance to do it right this time, a la the movie Groundhog Day. Plus, once the players have figured out what's going on, having the BBEG's minions unexpectedly interrupt an adventure will throw the players for a loop. Nice touch.

But the OP's question was "How hard will this be to DM?" It will be a challenge, but I think it's doable. The hard part is to run a fun adventure or two where the players know almost as much as the DM. They're going to be prepared for the various traps, monsters, & NPCs they've encountered. I'd suggest that for their first encounter or two, do full role-play and combat (so they know that they're running through the same events once again). After that, if they nail their prep for an encounter, narrate it rather than role-play. This will get you to the new stuff (where the current-present diverges from the former-present) faster.

Also -- and this is important -- don't change things the second time through unless there's a good reason. If what was a water trap suddenly becomes a spiked pit trap, you need to be able to rationalize it as a result of some change in the party's (and by extension opponent's) behavior. Otherwise your players might feel that your changes are arbitrary, which is no fun.

Sounds like it could quite the memorable campaign. Good luck.