D&D 5E Back from 15 years of D&D coma

[Marcoegringo]

Hi!

Me and my childhood friends played a lot of d&d. Usually Ad&d and 3,5.
We haven`t played in 15 years and I was hoping to gather my friends to a d&d reunion. With our old characters.
I know theres a lot of changes, but I think it`s possible to somehow transcribe the old characters into the newest version. But the thing is. As I remember in our last mission everybody got knocked unconscious except one. He managed to kill the demon lord Graz´zt, but by doing so he the planes in the abyss somehow got really messed up. Well it`s a bit blurry trying to remember things that happened in a basement 15 years ago. But it is possible to hold players unconscious for 15 years? Like in a coma and hopefully isolated? Is there any spell or magical items that can do this? The idea is to wake them up from the coma at the start of the new adventure. And is it plausible to do some level dropping etc to make them less powerful? I think it`s smart to start low leveled since it`s been so long without even thinking about roleplaying.

Hoping there is someone else out there who sees the nostalgic theme I`m going for here and embrace me with great answers

Kristian, Oslo, Norway

 

[delericho]

To be honest, if it's nostalgia you're after, you'd probably be better off sticking with the ruleset you know.

But if you do want to update, my advice would be to not bother with a slavish conversion of anything, but just build a new version of the characters that is "close enough". Bear in mind that nobody else will have a really good memory of what happened in that basement fifteen years ago, so anything lost in translation probably isn't a big issue. Plus, of course, you can easily rule that the death of Grazzt caused a wave of chaos to change the world in odd and confusing ways, thus justifying any retcon you want.

As for the fifteen year coma and/or the loss of levels... I'd be inclined to suggest that you perhaps instead rule that the characters died, but that they've been brought back by their respective patron deities as their champions for one last, great quest. Again, that serves to justify a lot of changes, explains why their memories are so hazy, and also gets them into the action quickly.

I hope some of that helps, at least a little.

 

[kbrakke]

The spell you are looking for is Imprisonment - Slumber. The target falls asleep and can't be awoken. As with all imprisonment it has some esoteric condition to end the effect. Having everyone come out of their slumber makes the perfect hook I would think, as whatever condition ended it can be the start of the next adventure.

As for level dropping them there are many ways to explain it, but having something that magically sapped at them while they slept is plausible. Answering "who did this to us?", and "what happened to wake us up?" seem like great campaign starers.

Hope that helps, and I hope you get to use my favorite story device spell to great effect.

edit-The spell requires a material component worth 500gp per hit die, based on what they accomplished long ago these are some expensive people to put to sleep. This adds to the mystery of their slumber

 

[CM]

Sounds like a job for the 9th-level Imprisonment spell, or you could always rule, as DM, that time froze in the Abyss for some reason, with all that magic and death flying around. Perhaps followers of theirs traveled to the Abyss to look for them, and finally found their prison and released them? Or maybe Graz'zt had some sort of contingency spell which sent them back in time to their own pasts but they somehow retain (or begin to recover) memory of those events and must re-create the steps that led them there?

Personally, if it were me, I'd start a new campaign with children/grandchildren of the original party members who might want to find out what happened to their famous relatives, or at least follow in their footsteps.

 

[Al2O3]

They were in the abyss and something got massed up? I don't see why you would need something in the rules for that, it is just a reasonable result of the plane. I could also recommend The Adversary by Erin M Evans. It involves characters in a stasis chamber in the Hells for a few years. If you don't want them to physically age, that could also be included I think.

About losing levels: it could be explained as a side effect or it could be "level X in edition Y is similar in power to level Z in 5e".

Good luck, I hope you'll have a good time!

 

[Marcoegringo]

Thank you!

First post in this forum and 4 great answers in 25 minutes. Perfect.
I was thinking changing to the new ruleset because none of us really remember every detail in the older version and that I thought 5th maybe easier to learn quick because of the disadvantage/advantage rule. I remember there was a lot of grid/flanking issues and endless dice rolling back in the days. Maybe that is still a problem?

The imprisonment spell suits my idea perfect!
They start the mission with the memory loss that they as real persons have, and during the campaign they will meet different trigger points who starts flashbacks scenarios (I found an old diary, where we as players wrote down what happened in every adventure). And in the end they will probably have to go back to the abyss to solve the last mission.
But I haven`t thought everything out yet.

But as a starting point I will make a lot of changes and if they ask I`ll just blame it on the death of Graz`zt and the chaos that happened after.

 

[Connorsrpg]

Go with 5E. It IS simpler. Just build new PCs based on old ones (or what you remember).

BTW. This is a great idea. I did this too. Got a group back (well it was actually a combo of 2 groups that were both famous 'Marked Ones' in our campaign). 2nd group had to bring members of the 1st group back to life 800 years later.

A medusa in a desert ruin had turned the 1st group to stone. It was a great way to combine 2 groups of PCs. But it was fun combining these 2 groups of players too, some of which had not played in years, some of which were new, and some actually had PCs in both groups.

You guys will have a blast, I am sure.

 

[Uchawi]

Loss of level can be as simple as they lost their old memories, or only can remember back their youngest years in the academy due to trauma, etc.

 

[strider13x]

I haven't read it yet but the adventure Out of the Abyss has the PCs start off captured in the Underdark at 1st level. This could be a great way to start off, the characters are so weakened from their slumber they are reduced in power but quickly (because getting to third is quick) gain back their abilities! And somehow Graz'zt is still around!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You should no hold players in acoma isolated in the basement. Not even for a day... ;-)