Campaign idea

[Brutal]

I have this idea about a campaign. I'm wondering what you think of the idea. Or if anyone played a campaign like it before It would be nice of you to tell me how it went. Also I'm posting it in the fantasy hero forum as well since im not sure which genre to play in yet.

Ideas

* Campaign is not solely a "save the world" campaign

* The backround of the campaign is not always the main plot and all adventures need not be coherent at all times.

* The idea is that the characters wake up somewhere with a memory loss (new characters).

* They have no idea who they are nor where they are from.

* The campaign is as much about them finding out their origin as in survival.

* Mysterious friends and enemies from the PC's past shows up sometimes

* PC's will experience various flashbacks, some of which actually help them but also some which does not help them at all

* Some adventures could be played as "flashbacks". How well the characters succeed in the adventures will significant for how much the PC's remember and what clues they recieve. It's often about moral decisions, but it wont reveal who they are and where they are from too quickly.

* The PC's hunt for answers about their past will lead them new adventures and conflicts where they might not know which side to chose.

* During adventuring some very wierd things can happen that the PCs have no idea whats going on, but as they continue the campaign they could find out later on what happened.

* They could be hunted by someone or something. They dont know what or who it is, however it will keep them fleeing (someone very powerful ). The idea is that sometime in the future they will think of a way to beat him, and possibly succeed.

 

Stuff I need to find out before campaign starts:

 

What are the PC's background, and where do they come from?

Who are they?

How did they lose their memory?

 

Are they some sort of gods that has arrived to to this world for some reason? Are they from another world or dimension? Are they the last decendants from a now dead civilisation? Have they themselves agreed to lose memory, ie, is there something they dont want to remember?

I think it shouldnt be TOO hard to figure out these things because it could put the players off.

I realise also that it probably takes active players to pull something like this off, so some players could need more help along they way than others.

So what do you think? Any ideas?

[Jaxom]

Re: Campaign idea

 

I *have* played in such a campaign and it went ok. The primary issues are how heavy-handed the GM is and how willing the characters are to play along.

 

It can be *really* unsettling to someone to not have a clue who they are and what they are supposed to be. This may or may not be important to your PCs. And if it is not, they may not have anything vested in how they got there in the first place which could be just as bad.

 

Second, and this is what killed the campaign I was in, if the GM accidentally throws in something that the players don't think that they can cope with as a part of the background then the campaign may be unsalvagable. This could happen with either an event that stimies them or with something even more simple like an "outsider" who shows up and presents the players with a situation where they don't think they have any control or any outs. Even if the GM thinks that there is a clear path, remember that PCs who are trying to cope with being totally adrift in the first place may just not see it.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Campaign idea

 

What are the PC's background, and where do they come from?

Who are they?

How did they lose their memory?

 

You could use the core idea from Great Sky River et al from Gregory Benford where the heroes are all one family whose DNA holds the code to defeating a long term enemy. The backdrop as far as I remember was that the code was hidden in the familial DNA while the architect of the destruction hid in the event horizon of a black hole working out the details of how to use the code.

 

It was all very complicated at the end I can't remember the details but the idea that the people have been brought to a place because the Nemesis knows they are important to his defeat but doesn't know why. The Nemesis could be ersponsible for the memory wipe - hoping that the people will inadvertantly reveal the secret of its demise.

 

The weird things that happen could be set-ups by the Nemesis to uncover any hidden talents or knowledge while it studies them. It could even be helping them - making sure they survive until it can find the secret...

 

 

Doc

[Chimpira]

Re: Campaign idea

 

I came up with an idea similiar to that about ...Man has it really been fourteen years. At any rate the thing to keep in mind is that you will be asking peole to design characters with behavioral traits and not true backgrounds. For some players this is not a problem, the less background the better. For others, they will hate it. As an alternative try having them remember their life up to a certain time. These could be real memories or implanted all depending on your take. But after that certain time they draw a blank. I have used the flashback in a few of my games and it has worked pretty well. The hardest part is figuring the right time during the storytelling to segue into the flashback. You have to be able to do it in such a way that everyone is on the same page as you are without you having to say "okay, here comes the flashback." Your idea sounds pretty good. Good luck with that.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Campaign idea

 

I came up with an idea similiar to that about ...Man has it really been fourteen years. At any rate the thing to keep in mind is that you will be asking peole to design characters with behavioral traits and not true backgrounds. For some players this is not a problem' date=' the less background the better. For others, they will hate it. As an alternative try having them remember their life up to a certain time. These could be real memories or implanted all depending on your take. But after that certain time they draw a blank. I have used the flashback in a few of my games and it has worked pretty well. The hardest part is figuring the right time during the storytelling to segue into the flashback. You have to be able to do it in such a way that everyone is on the same page as you are without you having to say "okay, here comes the flashback." Your idea sounds pretty good. Good luck with that.[/quote']

 

 

Good practical advice there. Hero does help in this as many of the disads are based on personal traits but if you bring characters into the game with no known background you are in effect barring them from using any of the background disadvantages. I would suggest that you give them a campaign disadvantage (based on who is watching them, interfering, hunting etc without them knowing) that will balance the lack of access to disads like Hunted etc.

 

 

Doc

[Black Rose]

Re: Campaign idea

 

I came up with an idea similiar to that about ...Man has it really been fourteen years. At any rate the thing to keep in mind is that you will be asking peole to design characters with behavioral traits and not true backgrounds. For some players this is not a problem' date=' the less background the better. For others, they will hate it. As an alternative try having them remember their life up to a certain time. These could be real memories or implanted all depending on your take. But after that certain time they draw a blank. I have used the flashback in a few of my games and it has worked pretty well. The hardest part is figuring the right time during the storytelling to segue into the flashback. You have to be able to do it in such a way that everyone is on the same page as you are without you having to say "okay, here comes the flashback." Your idea sounds pretty good. Good luck with that.[/quote']

Alternately, have them realize that everything before a certain point in their lives is implanted memories. For example, all your PCs wake up knowing that their lives prior to 1 January 2002 is a fake; they have no idea what this means, though. Is everything they remember complete BS (none of it ever happened, in any way), or real but not their lives (the events occurred, but not to them)? Now they have to figure out what really happened, see where it gibes with their memories (which they can't trust ) and try to figure out if there is some connection between them that makes all this make sense. Depending on how you want to play this (straight-forward vs. baroque) I'd lean towards simplicity. Don't necessarily hand them everything on a plate, but don't go overboard with the twists, either. OOC, how long do you plan this campaign to go on?

 

Here'd be my suggestions:

• all the PCs knew each other before, and probably worked together as well
  
• whatever "roles" the PCs take for themselves, at least two of them are completely off for their old selves (aggressive/calm, sober/party animal)
  
• whoever did this is still involved in their current lives, possibly as a close friend (see if you can get a player to go along with this for added fun!)
  
• keep the theme of "our new life can be just as valid as our old one" in mind
  

[Brutal]

Re: Campaign idea

 

Interesting ideas tbh black rose. Agree also that players need a connection to each other.

"keep the theme of "our new life can be just as valid as our old one" in mind"

Yes! I think that one of the most interesting things about this campaign idea is that the PC's will have a choice whether they want to go back somehow to their old life, or live the new one instead.