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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FoxWander" data-source="post: 1825074" data-attributes="member: 1356">I have a campaign idea that I've been wanting to run for awhile now that centers on the concept that all the players have effectively complete amnesia. Game-wise they start with the skills and abilities of 1st level characters and are able to speak thier racial language (if any) and common, but that's it. They know none of the who, what, when, where, why or how of anything to do with their current situation. To get one issue out of the way right off- Yes, this is "cinematic amnesia" as opposed to any kind of real clinical condition. They will still have skills and abilities, and be able to communicate, but they won't know anything else. In fact they won't even know what abilities they have until they start doing things. My plan at the moment is to give them a mostly blank character sheet that just has a good physical description. My opening scenario doesn't even start them with equipment, or even clothes, to give them any clues what they are. (Though these things will be readily available) They would slowly fill things in on the sheet as they discovered them. Stats would be fairly easy, skills would come when they find that doing 'this' is easy compared to 'that'. Basic class abilities would come when they "instinctively" act a certain way. When attacked the fighter will grab a weapon and notice how natural it feels, the weave of power will automatically form in the sorcerers mind, etc..This seemed all well and good, in my own head, until I brought up the idea with my players. They immediately asked questions which made my approach of "I know what you are, you just have to figure it out" seem a little heavy-handed. In particular, one player commented that it'd be neat to make  up your character as you went along and asked if they would just choose to be whatever they wanted. Now I'm wondering what would be the best way to run this.On the one hand, there are some valid reasons to the "slowly fill in their character sheet to match mine" approach. 1) Their memories were drained from them. "Filling in the sheet" would simulate the recovery of those lost memories. 2) This way I can ensure they at least have the beginning tools (skills, abilities & classes) they'll need at the start.However, I can see the validity of the "become what you want to become" approach as well. Since they are, almost literally, a 'clean slate', perhaps the most natural thing is for them to refill that slate with thier own ideas, rather than with what was written before.And then there's the combined approach. They rediscover the core of what they are (ie- 1st level class abilities) but from 2nd level on it's up to them. I guess this is what I originally planned on anyway. I was certainly not going to railroad them along a pre-determined career path the whole way. Indeed part of the 'cool factor' of this whole idea is how different they will become (or not) to the NPC's they are clean slate copies of, and what the reaction will be if/when they meet "themselves".So, does anyone have any advice for this kind of adventure? In particular, how would you run the rediscovering of certan class abilities? Fighter types are somewhat easily handled the way I mentioned above- as are spontaneous spellcasters. Both classes would instinctively react a certain way. Rogue characters would also have similar combat reactions, perhaps even instinctive "dirty moves" (sneak attacks) to make it more obvious. But what about outside of combat? It will come off as kinda awkward if the rogue "instinctively" wants to pick locks- or pockets! And then there's non-spontaneous casters. Obviously with amnesia they won't have any spells memorized, so no "surges of power" when a fight breaks out. Having the Wizard find a spellbook whose writings seem "strangely familiar" is easy enough, but I can't very well have the Cleric feel a "natural" urge to pray to a being she has absolutely no knowledge of. Any advice how to handle that one? And I'm sure there are several other areas and potential problems I haven't thought of. Any help, advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.</blockquote>

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