The Groundhog Campaign

[jonesy]

I was recently asking for ideas for adventures involving inns because I'm tinkering a campaign based on a time loop.

The campaign starts with the characters returning from an earlier quest and settling down for the night at a quaint little tavern on a forested hill overlooking a busy city.

I'm planning on filling up the tavern, the city, and the areas around them with quests and hooks, so that players get to do whatever they want, and still find pre-plotted stuff waiting to begin. A sort of miniature sandbox.

The campaign really begins after the second night in town. They wake up in the inn (regardless of where they went to sleep) to a raging storm in the early hours of the morning. The moon will stay in the sky and have an odd faint blue glimmer. It's yesterday, except yesterday there was no storm.

From that moment on, things happens exactly as the day before.

Except, not everything does. They'll start to notice that some things can be altered. That daughter of the mayor they rescued from bandits 'yesterday', she's alive and well and greets them without any recollection of having been captured. The barn that was torched still is. And each night the moon glows brighter and seems to come closer.

And then they'll notice that other things are changing as well. They are not the only ones able affect the premise. There's someone else.

That's as far as I've gotten on the main plot. Any suggestions or critique?

 

[RangerWickett]

It would help if I knew your endgame. Where are you planning for stuff to go?

What are the life-and-limb stakes? Is it actual Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray wakes up fine every morning. Or is it Daybreak, where Taye Diggs wakes up in his bed bleeding from the gunshot wound he got yesterday (the bandages and stitchings of which have magically vanished)?

Is there any way they can leave items for themselves?

You're going to want to give various NPCs lists of secrets and things they really like or dislike, so the PCs can take advantage of preternatural knowledge. 'Oh, petunias. My favorite! Sure, you can borrow my sword of wounding.'

Depending on the tone you're going for, you could highlight some of the daily, glossed-over tragedies, like in Groundhog's Day with the dying old man.

Maybe have some sort of traveling sideshow in town, and one act is a guy who's a "mind reader" and will use normal cold read tricks to tell the audience about themselves. Make him kind of a douchebag, so the PCs can one-up him once they know everything about the crowd.

Also, perhaps there's a jar full of beans owned by an old crotchety retired adventurer, and he'll give any person one chance to guess the number of beans. If you get it right, he'll pass down his lucky hat.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

I ran a Groundhog Day (GHD) adventure many moons ago, here is how I set it up

• I ran several adventures in the area prior to the GHD to introduce the NPCs and link the PCs to them. The PCs had dozens of little plots,
• The first time through, I was absolutely brutal on the PCs, killing one and capture two others.
• I setup a massive red herring involving a clock tower that exploded during GHD.
• Little demons began to destroy people and NPCs on GHD. These demons could make permanent changes. Wounds dealt by them didn't reset. They are part of the problem (a wizard trying to gain immortality by binding a demon started the GHD)

Here are my thoughts on what worked and why
The brutal first day was a mistake. The players nearly rioted on me as a result. If you are going to do a brutal day one, you really need to make sure you've got your player's trust. You know the twist the first day, the players don't.

The demons worked great. Whenever they showed up, the PCs had to act to thwart whatever they were up to. The PCs, if they are smart, could use the little demons to make sure certain events stopped happening, but they were a double edged sword. They also served as a clue to what was going on.

The red herring was a good thing. It works twice because the PCs investigate it the first time, then wanted to figure out a way to save the tower when they figured out how to break the GHD cycle.

The players didn't go for the perfect day when they figured out how to break the GHD cycle. I think the demons were to blame for this (they were causing too much chaos). If I was to run a GHD adventure again, I'd make sure that the PCs had a good chance at earning a perfect day.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

If you like the show Supernatural, you might check out the "mystery spot" episode.


You'll need to figure out how they break the time loop, what the "other" is, and what is the point of the time loop? The perfect day? Learn a lesson?


Also, to not cheat them, I suggest granting xp for encounters each time.

They should level, as did Bill Murray (learned French and poetry I believe).

 

[RangerWickett]

If you like the show Supernatural, you might check out the "mystery spot" episode.


You'll need to figure out how they break the time loop, what the "other" is, and what is the point of the time loop? The perfect day? Learn a lesson?


Also, to not cheat them, I suggest granting xp for encounters each time.

They should level, as did Bill Murray (learned French and poetry I believe).

And piano playing, ice sculpting, the Heimlich maneuver, and, y'know, empathy.

 

[jonesy]

No perfects days, and no lessons. They've entered a spell cast by someone, who thought he had everyone in the area already under it.

More like that guy in Stargate who was trying to get back to his dead wife, but couldn't get the timetravel machine (which never worked) to work.

It's the characters vs the someone, who is slowly changing the city into a form he needs it to be. I'm having trouble with the ultimate reasons for this.

I'm going to start it off slowly, give time to get familiar with the area, and again, before anything big starts happening.

The characters get to keep stuff they find, and level. Their horses will always be back outside in the morning with the Innkeeper's son who is busy taking care of them.

I'm going to say "the moon seems to be closer", but actually it will really BE closer. If it gets long enough it'll come all the way down until it's close enough to jump up to.

You're going to want to give various NPCs lists of secrets and things they really like or dislike, so the PCs can take advantage of preternatural knowledge. 'Oh, petunias. My favorite! Sure, you can borrow my sword of wounding.'

Depending on the tone you're going for, you could highlight some of the daily, glossed-over tragedies, like in Groundhog's Day with the dying old man.

Maybe have some sort of traveling sideshow in town, and one act is a guy who's a "mind reader" and will use normal cold read tricks to tell the audience about themselves. Make him kind of a douchebag, so the PCs can one-up him once they know everything about the crowd.

Also, perhaps there's a jar full of beans owned by an old crotchety retired adventurer, and he'll give any person one chance to guess the number of beans. If you get it right, he'll pass down his lucky hat.

Ooh, I like those.


The problem I'm bumping into is that whatever the ultimate showdown will be, it might end up feeling much less than the adventure itself.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

No perfects days, and no lessons. They've entered a spell cast by someone, who thought he had everyone in the area already under it.

The "perfect" day was simply using the information the PCs had learned about the day to maximum effect. Not learning some lesson about love

 

[Piratecat]

...wow. This thread just triggered an interesting line of thought.

1. Huh. You'd have to always start your PC at the same level of hp loss every day. Or healing, if you were fully healthy.
2. In 4e, an extended rest heals you completely. I wonder if there's some sort of Groundhog Effect going on in 4e that no one acknowledges?
3. How cool would it be if there was?
4. What if I hang a lampshade on it and make it explicit that so-and-so a God in my 4e game heals you if you rest? This makes that God or Goddess extremely important - and means that if anything happens to them, the whole world is thrown into chaos.

And I'm suddenly swimming in plot hooks, and I suddenly have the one missing God in my 4e games. Thanks!

 

[jonesy]

Found a couple of earlier threads about this, in case others are interested:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...w-run-higurashi-groundhog-day-style-game.html
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/5599-groundhog-day-like-adventure.html
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/214354-groundhog-day.html

The "perfect" day was simply using the information the PCs had learned about the day to maximum effect. Not learning some lesson about love

If they think that's what's going on, who am I to try and stop them?

Oh, and before anyone says otherwise, no they can not use this to duplicate items.

 

[El Mahdi]

And piano playing, ice sculpting, the Heimlich maneuver, and, y'know, empathy.

And don't forget, a champion level Jeopardy player (at least for one day).


Don't forget to add in an annoying, but otherwise harmless, NPC like the Insurance Salesman.