Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fithero 04-18-07, 11:07 AM	As always, im posting this here because when it comes to stories, ya'll know your stuff :P The idea behind my game is that the players are in the dream of this ancient elven king who is on his death bed. The king has fallen into a deep sleep and is dreaming of his early days and how he came into power. The characters (or the players) dont know this however, they are just thrown into this strangely reactive realm. To begin with, each player will choose a single personality aspect to describe their character. These aspects will in turn be the defining personality aspects of the dying king. So to put it simply, the king is dreaming of his early days, though instead of him, its the characters. Sort of his inner battle as he made his way through his adventuring days. That way ill try and dm it, will be that the players all choose a class and one defining personality aspect (im thinking that ill make them all be elf to keep things simple). Ill just give out whatever equipment is appropriate to the class. Now, the characters wont have any backgrounds to begin with (since they dont actually exist). Instead, when ever a question as to the past comes up, ill choose something or just roll on a table, and say that they "vagely remember" whatever i come up with (ill leave it vague so they have some room to move). They will just start outside a cave or tower (or where ever i start the game) with a faint idea that they are friends and that they are here to do... whatever. At certain points (points in time that really stood out to the elven king) npc's will appear that interacted with the king. For example, if they slay a dragon, one of the kings friends who was mortally wounded will appear on the ground behind the party and replay what happened in real life. Talking to the party (he/she sees them as the king) and saying it was an honour.. yadda yadda yadda. Im got an idea that the landscape will reflect what is happening to the king (the party) in his dream. The landscape doesnt look *normal* to start with anyway, everything moves and wavers as though it were made of cloud, or the whole world was a painting. For example, in a combat scene, everything would be moving really fast and the sounds of combat would drown out everthing else. In a scene of subterfuge, eveything would droop and go grey-ish, and sound would all but disappear. At random points during the games, the kings servants who are at his bed side in the real world will actually appear as ghosts, and the party will be able to hear what they are saying at the kings side. This could prove effective (if not a little daunting) for example, if the kings crying wife appear as ghosts next to one of the party who has been wounded. As a final note that im tossing up wether to use or not, between sessions could be when the king wakes up from his sleep to talk briefly with his subjects (or whatever). Now we all know that when you wake up then start dreaming again, your never in the same place, i figure ill use that. The players end a session on one side of a locked door (without a key) then start the next game on the other side, holding the key (with nothing but a *faint* recollection of how they got there) Thats it guys, any thoughts (good or bad) would be appreciated, i think this could work. It looks tricky but it also looks like alot of fun :P Chiers in advance. Peace
Aaarrrgh 04-23-07, 04:28 PM	Cool idea! Seems kind of hard to DM, but it's your funeral... Loved the part about hearing/seeing people actually standing whit the king in the "real" world. That should happen at the beginning and end of sessions, when the king is half awake... Some things will be really interesting... Take the kings first love as an example: Should all of the PCs fall in love whit her, or only the "lover" part of him? And who should she fall in love whit? Probably the aspect of the king she got attracted to first in the kings actual life, but what if that aspect (read: player) shows no interest in her whatsoever? This also solves the eternal "players screw up, characters die" problem, because you don't die in dreams, you just wake up screaming! Then you just tell the players: "You are now standing outside the dragons lair. It feels like time has passed, but you don't have any memories after the dragon attacked you. But since you are outside whit the loot you guess you must have won."
Fithero 04-23-07, 07:25 PM	Chiers :P To deal with the part of player character's death, ill make it that they are automatically raised at the start of each session (if they dont use raising magics before hand). And each character makes up only a single aspect of the king, if part of him doesnt love the woman to begin with, it might happen later. When it comes to the end of the adventure (whenever i decided the king dies) ill have the characters taken out of the dream and put into the real world (hopefully then they will have *remembered* each of the full histories). The king will thank them for showing him his past once more, then die... and the elves around them will reward them. Then its up to the players to decide what they want to do. Has anyone else got any comments/ideas? Peace