Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ski309 10-02-07, 11:41 AM	I'm starting a play by post campaign with some friends. I have an idea of giving it a 'time'-based theme. Certain parts of the campaign would involve strange dealings with time, etc. I also have an idea of an overal time-thematic element: all the players would make character sheets for levels 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, or somewhere around those levels. They'd start the campaign at level 20 but at certain points I'd tarantino the campaign and they'd play a certain part of their past out, using their a lower-level character sheet. OR They all start the campaign at level 20, but soon after they begin, they're warped back through time (or maybe just their physical bodies are) and from then on they're level 5, or something of that sort. Has anyone played or run a campaign with a similar element? Any tips, ideas, advice, etc?
DLoFunk 10-02-07, 12:09 PM	Sounds pretty cool. I would definately go for the jump around method if i were you. Starting them at 20 then knocking them down to 5 might upset the players who get hit with a sudden loss of power. This wouldn't be a problem if they were bouncing around tho. One fun idea would be to encourage the players to gloat about accomplishment from their pasts and then later throw them into that very moment and see how their stories compare with what REALLY happened.
sdonahue 10-02-07, 02:06 PM	I like DLoFunk's idea of the characters describing a past event and them forcing them to play it out. Maybe give each character the opportunity to come up with their own heroic title, and then you can roleplay the defining moment in their adventuring career that earned them that title.
ski309 10-02-07, 03:14 PM	I like DLoFunk's idea of the characters describing a past event and them forcing them to play it out. Maybe give each character the opportunity to come up with their own heroic title, and then you can roleplay the defining moment in their adventuring career that earned them that title.To go further into the time theme, perhaps each character's opportunity is a magical retelling of sorts. If they are unable to perform this past deed again, then something bad happens to their present self? On the flip side, if they perform the deed even more admirably than what originally occurred, then something good happens to them in the present.
d24478667 10-04-07, 03:13 PM	Like Night Watch, sort of? I like Ski's idea, myself.
Delfedd 10-05-07, 10:19 AM	I like this idea. Like... the players are running around the final boss's lair, slaying dragons and whatnot, and then they meet with Daemion, the blackguard of death or whatnot. That's when that part of the campaign ends. Then they do some jumping around, confronting Daemion every few adventures. Then, in one of the last adventures (around), they meet Damien the Farmhand. Mwahaha.
fodigg 10-05-07, 12:45 PM	I like the idea of starting the campaign at a high level and having the "scene" end in what appears to be TPK (and the victory of ultimate evil), and then bam, they're back at level 1 and they have a chance to change their fate. Whenever they accomplish something meaningful in the past, they jump forward again, and the world is different in small or large ways. It would be very "chrono trigger", which I like. I would recommend that you only start them at really high level, and occasionally return to a really high level version of their characters (that you write for them so they don't see it coming) so that you can shove them in the "final hour" every once in a while to get a glimpse of how it has changed, but otherwise allow them to progress normally up in levels as they gain experience. I wouldn't let them make multiple characters at different levels of play. This way they are traveling through time and retaining their experiences until they actually reach the final hour scenario with the build and experiences that have come out in the campaign. I don't know if that was clear, and I like plotting, so the following is kind of going to happen if you guys want it or not (;)): Pre-campaign prep: Players create level 1 characters and submit these characters to the DM a week prior to "kickoff". The DM creates level 20 versions of these characters that look and feel distinctive, wield weapons and items that the characters may or may not find over the course of the campaign, and bear scars from wounds that the characters might or might not be destined to suffer. Kickoff session (Part One): The players sit down and expect you to give them back the character sheets that they made, but aha, instead you give them the "uber" versions of their characters and describe the scene: "You all experience the sensation of rushing movement and suddenly snap "awake" to find yourselves standing on a battlefield. You all feel strange, and not just because you have no memory of how you got here. Your body feels stronger, but battle hardened. [Fighter], you feel the aches of old wounds that you never experienced. You hold in your hand a longsword surrounded by fire. [Wizard], your fingertips seem to crackle with a power you had never before even dreamed of. You feel like you could pull the stars from the sky if you weren't already so exhausted. (etc, describe rest of the characters) "As you glance around at each other, you know that you are allies, but have no memory of the battles you fought together. Only a few seconds have passed as you recovered from your initial disorientation, and observed your allies and yourselves. A sudden roar overhead draws your attention outward and towards the battlefield. It's night and stars fill the sky, but the whole battlefield is illuminated by fire. A red dragon circles above you, occasionally blasting fire upon the hapless troops attempting to flee the battlefield. In the distance a city burns, its walls crumbling and breached. "More immediately, a figure stands in front of you, astride a skeletal horse draped in black. His face is a skull, and his black plated armor is his skin. He wields a halberd wreathed in green and black fire, and he's laughing at you. He speaks: 'Long have you sought to rob me of my prize, meddlers! That ends here, on this battlefield, along with the kingdom you sought to protect!'" Begin crazy level combat, show that the death knight is an uber badass, and either wipe the party or beat them down enough where you feel comfortable ending the scene. Kickoff session (Part Two): Tell any surviving party members that they begin to feel the same strange "rushing sensation" and the last thing they see is their allies slain and the battlefield/kingdom burning. Collect "uber" character sheets and pass out their character sheets. Describe the characters waking up. "[Paladin], you awake to the sound of children talking rapidly. You open your eyes and see a crowd of them standing over you and talking excitedly. A loud voice booms over the din, "Back off! Get away from him, let me see!" A gruff looking farmer pushes the children out of your vision and squints as peers down at you. "Easy, friend. You took a nasty spill off your horse." The farmer looks up and blocks the sun with his hand. "Heat stroke my guess. We should get you out of the sun and out of that armor. Come on now." (Describe each party member waking up under similar circumstances, having collapsed as they go about their day. Make up the usual excuses for getting a party of adventurers to work together, or just railroad them by having everyone brought to the same cleric to try and make sense of their "visions". Party is formed, dire destiny is alluded to, and the quest to find and kill the death knight has commenced.) Later session (finding the death knight): Along the course of their quest the party of adventurers find and confront the Death Knight, if not defeating him, then at least weakening him or otherwise disrupting his forces. As they're splitting up the loot, cue "rushing sensation". Collect character sheets once again and pass out the new "uber" character sheets. The "uber" sheets should be changed to include the new statistics on the regular character sheets. Magical items that the characters found might still be worn. Any characters that have died and been replaced, the new character should be present and the old one missing. The battlefield is the same, the kingdom is in ruins, but the Death Knight is gone. In its place, a Lich stands and gives a similar speech, combat resumes briefly, but don't bother with the full combat. Fade back to "present" with the understanding that there is more at work than just the ambitions of one Death Knight. The quest to save the kingdom resumes, with a new focus. This is pretty much how I see the campaign going. Each time the party alters the world or defeats a foe, the "final hour" scenario that they are destined to face changes, and the true evil behind that event becomes a bit clearer. Until eventually the party actually stands on the battlefield and either wins or loses the day. After the final battle, the party gets an explanation on why they were given a glimpses of the future over and over. Perhaps it was magic cast by a wizard in the final hour to show the heroes their fate when they could make a difference. Perhaps they are unknowing champions of a goodly god who sought to oppose the destruction of the kingdom. But just enough to give some explanation and make the players feel like they really achieved something. Then either conclude the campaign or continue their story from there. Does this "flash-forward" concept work for anyone? Thoughts?
Delfedd 10-05-07, 03:19 PM	YES! That's honestly great.
d24478667 10-05-07, 05:38 PM	I concur.
Zousha_Omenohu 10-06-07, 12:56 AM	No offense, but I find it a bit confusing. Are the characters "unstuck in time" like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five? Or am I just reading it wrong?
d24478667 10-06-07, 07:13 AM	They get flashes of the future, and they change each time after a set of events.
fodigg 10-06-07, 10:14 PM	They get flashes of the future, and they change each time after a set of events. Yeah. The campaign actually progresses normally through time, but the players will get visions of the "final hour" scene after accomplishing something. Every time they get a vision, the scene has changed to reflect the events that have happened and the development of the characters, until they finally do face that battle and are hopefully prepared for it. For example, the adventurers might slay the red dragon from the original vision, and from then on the dragon is gone, and the fight is not quite so lopsided against them.
SammahCarter 06-24-08, 01:35 AM	Delete please. Necro post.
fodigg 06-24-08, 03:16 PM	Delete please. Necro post. Hmm. I'm not sure what your post was regarding, but if you're concerned about a "thread necro", a more recent thread very similar to this one can be found here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1043535).
goldomark 06-25-08, 08:02 PM	Great idea. I want to steal it. :D I personally ran a campaign wear the players actually created an apocalyptic future (they got a creature in Sigil that later on, in the future, defeated the Lady of Pain) and NPCs from that future came to try and stop the PCs (but it was to late). So in the past, their present, the PCs tried to stop the apocalypse from happening. I love the paradoxes of time travel. Easy to deal with.