How can I create a "Groundhog Day" village?

[der_kluge]

So, at the end of the last campaign, the party was transported via a ship to a small town in search of something. That's where we left it.

According to the Wilderlands, this is a smallish city, and is mostly agricultural. Nothing terribly interesting.

Here's what I want to do, however. When the party enters the town, everything seems normal, and then at some point, a farmer runs in and proclaims that the "land shark" is back (bulette) and is attacking his sheep. The party, most likely, will go and help the farmer deal with that. At some point in this battle, the town drunk will also step in and get himself killed in the process. Later, back at the inn, a woman comes in and proclaims that her daughter has gone missing. Scout party organized, the party venture forth, and well into the evening hours, they finally find her playing with some pixie in the forest. Or something. Doesn't matter.

The party will be forced to stay the night again in this town, and will propose they venture out in the morning, as planned. The next morning - the events happen EXACTLY AS THEY DID THE DAY BEFORE. The drunk is alive, but this time makes no attack against the bulette. The girl is still missing, and is found in the forest.

I intend to create several encounters in and around the village - with the only wildcard being the drunk guy. He does something different every day, even though the rest of the town seems programmed.


What's going on? At some point in the past - the "drunk man" was away from the town, when calamity struck the town - everyone was killed, including the man's family. Devastated, he turned to the only thing he knew might be able to help him - the Annis hag which lived in the woods. And help him she did - she created an illusion of a fully functioning town for him to live in, and cursed him so that he couldn't reveal the secret of the deception. He's also been forced to live there, where's he's basically taken to being an alcoholic. Meanwhile, the entire town is actually a decaying and despicable place underneath the surface.

Problem is, no spell can pull this off. So, I'm wondering if I could achieve a similar result with actual fey creatures (with something sort of similar). Of course, my players are all new enough that they won't quibble over semantics.

Just looking for some ideas to help this make some sense in my head. Some sort of framework, I guess.

 

[MarkB]

What's the ultimate goal? For the PCs to simply uncover the truth and reveal the horror beneath the illusion?Or something more?

What happens if the PCs buy food, drink and supplies in town? What are they actually eating?

This sounds like it's within the purview of a Wish - maybe not the actual Wish spell, but the ability of a wish-granting creature. For that matter, such an ability could even manage an actual time loop, if you wanted to go that way.

For maintaining the illusion for the players, I'd suggest having, say, ten major NPCs and writing down the major events of the day as it plays out from each of their perspectives. That way you know what changes for whom when the PCs intervene in events.

If you do stick with it being an illusion, don't make the characters too compelling or let the players to through too many loops. In a story, having the protagonists become invested in a group of people only to find out that they don't really exist can be played out as tragic and full of pathos, but in a game, having the players find out that the people and events they've been engaging with, maybe for multiple sessions, are just illusions is more likely to piss them off.

 

[Nagol]

A small demi-plane containing the village would work. Have the portal be an arch monument over the the road or bridge leading into the village and be one-way only.

 

[Maelish]

I'm sure others have considered this but a Groundhog Town could be a great way to start a campaign.

Assume the new characters have come to this town within the same day or so, they realize the day is repeating and only certain people can perceive the loop. Those people would be the player party who must work together in order to break out of the time loop. It could be days, weeks or months before the group can get free. You could hand-wave the passage of time and say it took weeks to figure out certain clues. But in order to break free, the party must work together to make certain things happen to break out. Whatever that might be could be tailored to fit your campaign.

Then you have a group that started out as separate or even discordant people who learned to work together as a party. Additionally it could look weird from the outside, people would wonder why some characters that would never have worked together before now actually do. Throw in a little politics, family rivalry or similar at this stage and you'll have a fun thread that could continue in your game for a while.

 

[Sunseeker]

Here's my thoughts:
1: How many days are in the loop? Personally, I'd do more than 1, maybe a week's worth of time.
2: Why is there a bulette stuck in the loop? Is it what caused the catastophe? Might make sense that the creature that caused the catastophe is caught in the loop too, which explains why the "drunk" tries to stop it.
3: I'd add some kind of extra-terrible secret to the place, like everyone's souls are trapped there too and can't rest in peace until the spell is broken.
4: If the spell is going on "forever" like, this town has been doing this loop for decades at least, I'd add eternal life to the "drunk". One of those "curse/boon" deals.
5: This would also add the drunk to the loop, even if he dies (I'm sure the poor sod may have attempted suicide already), he comes back when the town resets.
6: I wouldn't allow the party to break the spell. Even if they find the witch. Even if they kill her. Even if they destroy every bit of magic she has. I'd have the quest be about them convincing the "drunk" to do the right thing and tell the people the truth, which is the only way to break the spell.
-6a: This of course means he can talk about the curse, he just won't.
7: Why does the town think of him a drunk? If the town resets every X time, wouldn't on day 1 they just been surprised Normal Man returned to town early? Why would they suddenly treat him as the Town Drunk?
-7a: If this is part of the spell (curse/boon thing again) that's fine, and an even more horrible punishment, which is fitting for dealing with a Hag. His family has forgotten about him being their loving husband/father and now they think he's always been a useless drunkard, and since the town resets every week, he can never change their minds.

 

[Eltab]

The point of 'Groundhog Day' was that the person who can detect the loop must improve themselves (ultimately moral improvement - in the philosophical sense, not the alignment sense - but Murray's character also learns to appreciate Art, &c.) as part of breaking out of the loop.
What do the PCs have to do that they wouldn't do otherwise?

 

[der_kluge]

What's the ultimate goal? For the PCs to simply uncover the truth and reveal the horror beneath the illusion?Or something more?

Ultimate goal would be to save the town, I suppose. It's literally intended to be a side-quest in my campaign. They are just stopping in this town because it's the last place along the river before it opens up to the ocean, and they are searching for something else.

[/quote]What happens if the PCs buy food, drink and supplies in town? What are they actually eating?[/quote]

Great question, see, that's why I started this thread. Illusions, perhaps. I could tell them that despite having eaten, they are starving.



This sounds like it's within the purview of a Wish - maybe not the actual Wish spell, but the ability of a wish-granting creature. For that matter, such an ability could even manage an actual time loop, if you wanted to go that way.

For maintaining the illusion for the players, I'd suggest having, say, ten major NPCs and writing down the major events of the day as it plays out from each of their perspectives. That way you know what changes for whom when the PCs intervene in events.

If you do stick with it being an illusion, don't make the characters too compelling or let the players to through too many loops. In a story, having the protagonists become invested in a group of people only to find out that they don't really exist can be played out as tragic and full of pathos, but in a game, having the players find out that the people and events they've been engaging with, maybe for multiple sessions, are just illusions is more likely to piss them off.[/QUOTE]

Yea, I was going to create several stories - the bulette, for example, is just one story.

 

[der_kluge]

A small demi-plane containing the village would work. Have the portal be an arch monument over the the road or bridge leading into the village and be one-way only.

Yes! I like that solution. It's a good idea. You're right - they're coming in via a ship port. I could very easily describe a kind of portal/monument that seems out of place - like it was recently built. They would probably ignore it, but it would be just enough of a hint for them later on.

 

[der_kluge]

Here's my thoughts:
1: How many days are in the loop? Personally, I'd do more than 1, maybe a week's worth of time.

I'm going to stick with 1. It's more manageable. Plus, my PCs are impatient, and will likely just try and leave before the day is over. I need something to keep them here to realize it's in a time loop.

2: Why is there a bulette stuck in the loop? Is it what caused the catastophe? Might make sense that the creature that caused the catastophe is caught in the loop too, which explains why the "drunk" tries to stop it.

Hmm, I was just putting it in there as a "story" in the city. But yea, it could have been there during the catastrophe, and is now caught in the loop, and every day it tries to eat one of Farmer Brown's sheep. I like that idea.

3: I'd add some kind of extra-terrible secret to the place, like everyone's souls are trapped there too and can't rest in peace until the spell is broken.

Brilliant! And cruel...

4: If the spell is going on "forever" like, this town has been doing this loop for decades at least, I'd add eternal life to the "drunk". One of those "curse/boon" deals.

It seems reasonable that this could be going on for some time, but decades would be a bit much given that it's right along a fairly major riverway.

5: This would also add the drunk to the loop, even if he dies (I'm sure the poor sod may have attempted suicide already), he comes back when the town resets.

Exactly.

6: I wouldn't allow the party to break the spell. Even if they find the witch. Even if they kill her. Even if they destroy every bit of magic she has. I'd have the quest be about them convincing the "drunk" to do the right thing and tell the people the truth, which is the only way to break the spell.
-6a: This of course means he can talk about the curse, he just won't.

Interesting twist. I'll have to think about this one.

7: Why does the town think of him a drunk? If the town resets every X time, wouldn't on day 1 they just been surprised Normal Man returned to town early? Why would they suddenly treat him as the Town Drunk?

If you saw your whole town killed, and you were forced to live among illusions of them every day in a cycle over and over, you'd probably be drunk as well. In fact, that gives me an idea - early on, the drunk could stumble over to the party's table and literally just tell them "the whole world is an illusion, spinning and spinning. Every day is the same.", and then passes out.

-7a: If this is part of the spell (curse/boon thing again) that's fine, and an even more horrible punishment, which is fitting for dealing with a Hag. His family has forgotten about him being their loving husband/father and now they think he's always been a useless drunkard, and since the town resets every week, he can never change their minds.

Interesting! So, maybe the party has to figure out how to redeem this one individual, in order for the cycle to stop. I'll have to think about that some more!

 

[der_kluge]

The point of 'Groundhog Day' was that the person who can detect the loop must improve themselves (ultimately moral improvement - in the philosophical sense, not the alignment sense - but Murray's character also learns to appreciate Art, &c.) as part of breaking out of the loop.
What do the PCs have to do that they wouldn't do otherwise?

Perhaps, based on some of the Shidaku's ideas, the party is here to help the one guy complete a bunch of quests he's otherwise incapable of completing on his own. Kind of like how, in Groundhog Day, he goes over and saves the guy's life from choking, and helps the kid from the falling tree.

What I could do is create one little encounter every hour of the day (from say 6am to midnight), and when all are completed it frees all the spirits of the people from the pocket dimension and restores the town to the state it should normally be in.