Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OmiKapSi 05-02-05, 05:32 PM	Or in this case, characters mid campaign. Normally this would be pretty simple, but in this case it's the entire party. See, I had to start out by teaching the game using the Basic Set (excellent tool by the way), since I couldn't find experienced players, so I started introducing people. We're working our way toward full rules, but in the meantime.. Backstory: We ran through the scenario given in the game, but the characters ran into the black dragon too soon. They could have survived, since the encounter started out with a simple extortion demand from the dragon, but they decided to attack hit, hoping that the element of surprise would be sufficient. They got annihilated. Note to anyone running the basic game: The characters are NOT ready to face the dragon unless they've cleared the entire dungeon outlined in the book and leveled up. Even then, it's an iffy thing, and unless you are willing to risk a TPK, don't have the dragon where it is indicated in the book. Anyway, we started over, using the same pre-made characters. Now we've advanced a bit, and the players are wanting to make characters of their own. Most of them are pretty similar in one way or another, and minor cosmetic changes (the most significant being a gender swap), combined with a bit of player/character shuffling will suffice. My dilemma is how I'm going to implement this. What I'd like out of this: New characters, with new names, with the same past as the current ones. This would allow us to continue the campaign story that they are working through with a minimum of retconning. (Changing the past to fit the present.) My current solution: The characters are working their way through the home of a man. This 'home' is effectively a dungeon. They have been informed that in order to find a door out, they need a purpose, and the door they find will lead them to that purpose. They are pretty close to finding such a door, and my intention is that when they pass through it it will work the necessary changes to modify their current characters to the characters that they want. This will include the fighter becoming a paladin, and the sorcerer changing genders. In terms of the game, the 'new' characters will be under the impression that they have been changed in order to meet this purpose. Does anyone have a better idea about how something similar might be done?
Dash Branaghan 05-02-05, 05:41 PM	I don't know if I would put the qualifier of better on this, just different. You could always have the characters minds inhabit new bodies. Say, a mad wizard who captured their minds, but destroyed their bodies, and is working to transplant them into new bodies as part of his diabolical scheme. In fact, he could have created the bodies a la Pinnochio style, then brought them to life with the minds of the PCs. The PCs wake up in the dungeon, finding themselves in rooms with the doors swinging open on rusty hinges. The "fighter" finds that he bears the symbol of whatever Holy Order he wants to belong to, or some mark that denotes his status as paladin, including a reverence for life etc. This is easy enough if he is following a deity, but even if he isn't, just have him imbued with a strength of character that comes from his "awakening." The sorcerer wakes up in a different gender body. All in all, fairly simple, plus it gives you the benefit of having an unknown element that can recur as often as you like. The PCs can be left with a mystery...say, they all have necklaces with this strange symbol on it, or they even have the symbol etched in their foreheads, and some people will attack them on site when they view this symbol, while others may react in other negative fashions, as though the PCs are cursed. Of course, this mark can be covered with a DC 10 Disguise check, a headband, a helm, or any number of other things. But it does leave the PCs with the mystery of who they are, and how they came to inhabit these bodies. Dash
eudas 05-03-05, 02:19 PM	Played a little Curse of the Azure Bonds, did we, Dash? :) eudas
RogerWilco 05-03-05, 02:47 PM	Have them just insta-replace the characters with the new ones, least amount of hassle. old character memories == new character memories. Especially if the differences between the old and new are merely cosmetic. I wanted to rebuild my first character after 5 sessions. Any other way and you spend many sessions roleplaying to build the new group.
OmiKapSi 05-03-05, 08:05 PM	Thanks, I'm going to go with the following (once they leave through the door): "As you pass through the door, you feel your limbs becoming heavy and your vision goes all blurry. You see ahead of you a dim light, and as you approach, it brightens. The next thing you know, you are waking up in a moonlit glade. You feel that you either just finished the most vivid dream of your life, or you just fell asleep and started it. Whether this is a dream, or the other, your name is now (introduce characters) and before you stands a smaller than usual half-orc and an even smaller gnome. The second greets you and introduces himself as Repock (the mentor of the sorcerer)." Basically, the characters have, as a result of their stated desire, been sent to a place 'just next door', where they have taken up the roles of their alternates. Repock will explain it to them, and then give them the information they need for the next leg of their journey. The half-orc is a new character who will be joining the group. Sort of a compromise between body shift and mind moving. Thoughts?
MasterRookie 05-03-05, 08:13 PM	Or in this case, characters mid campaign. Normally this would be pretty simple, but in this case it's the entire party. See, I had to start out by teaching the game using the Basic Set (excellent tool by the way), since I couldn't find experienced players, so I started introducing people. We're working our way toward full rules, but in the meantime.. Backstory: We ran through the scenario given in the game, but the characters ran into the black dragon too soon. They could have survived, since the encounter started out with a simple extortion demand from the dragon, but they decided to attack hit, hoping that the element of surprise would be sufficient. They got annihilated. Note to anyone running the basic game: The characters are NOT ready to face the dragon unless they've cleared the entire dungeon outlined in the book and leveled up. Even then, it's an iffy thing, and unless you are willing to risk a TPK, don't have the dragon where it is indicated in the book. Anyway, we started over, using the same pre-made characters. Now we've advanced a bit, and the players are wanting to make characters of their own. Most of them are pretty similar in one way or another, and minor cosmetic changes (the most significant being a gender swap), combined with a bit of player/character shuffling will suffice. My dilemma is how I'm going to implement this. What I'd like out of this: New characters, with new names, with the same past as the current ones. This would allow us to continue the campaign story that they are working through with a minimum of retconning. (Changing the past to fit the present.) My current solution: The characters are working their way through the home of a man. This 'home' is effectively a dungeon. They have been informed that in order to find a door out, they need a purpose, and the door they find will lead them to that purpose. They are pretty close to finding such a door, and my intention is that when they pass through it it will work the necessary changes to modify their current characters to the characters that they want. This will include the fighter becoming a paladin, and the sorcerer changing genders. In terms of the game, the 'new' characters will be under the impression that they have been changed in order to meet this purpose. Does anyone have a better idea about how something similar might be done? Well a fighter can become a Paladin easily enough, Paladins are selected by the gods after all. As for the Sorcerous change, I have no Idea. Make it a secret for some reason that the sorcerer was cursed to be the wrong gender and now the curse is broken or something and the character has kept this secret cause its embarassing or something.
Sarella Starshine 05-03-05, 08:20 PM	sounds cool.
Dash Branaghan 05-03-05, 10:00 PM	Played a little Curse of the Azure Bonds, did we, Dash? :) Actually no...I was thinking more of BG II. :D Of course, you could always do the King/Straub The Talisman idea, where you drink a potion and you wind up in another world as a semi-mirror image of yourself. Dash