DM'ing an Amnesiac Adventure

[jSpengler]

My question: Does ENWorld have any advice to give for running an adventure for a group of PC's that have amnesia? I'm not worried about running a compelling adventure, I'm worried about party unity and cohesion.

The set up: I am planning on running a 4E game, and I have a great idea for a setting that's a post-apocalyptic twist on the generic high fantasy world 4E seems to take place in. I would like to introduce the players the setting's themes and places bit by bit in what I hope is an exciting way. My idea is to use one of the most cliche adventure hooks possible: amnesia. It provides an automatic hook for all the PC's, if they're interested in their past, and both the players and their characters will have the same amount of knowledge about the world they're in. (After playing in Eberron for so long, I'm tired of knowing more than my character.)

Like I said, I'm looking for advice on how to run such a game. If more information on the setting is necessary, I'd be happy to give it, but I figured it wasn't.

 

[Khairn]

I've run an amnesia game only once, but between my players and me we were able to stumble on the combination thta worked for us. The key was introducing elements of the story (fluff) and elements of the game (crunch / levels) in equal doses.

The players were actually 10th lv characters who were suffering under the same curse, but we started the game at 3rd lv. The players were drawn together by the common foes that tried to snuff out their lives, driven by the same BBEG. Thanks to the same "enemy" they slowly uncovered knowledge of their ultimate foe, their individual skills and their true motivation.

The hook I through into the mix was a player who was actually trying to replace the ultimate BBEG. His slow "discovery" of his actual goal was great fun.

When using this method I found that enabling the players to uncover their (previously known) skills during the game was a great way to get the players into the game.

I hope this helps.

 

[Starglim]

In narrative terms, the DM can easily describe the players' surroundings physically without giving them information that their characters wouldn't know. It's generally fine for them to guess what the DM described and react appropriately, since the whole point of most such campaigns is for the characters to deal with a past they've lived through but don't consciously remember (and to run into surprises that invalidate their assumptions).

The following mechanics combine what my DM did for a previous campaign, some conversions and some thoughts of my own:

Each character starts with a race, ability scores and the hit points and healing surges of a wizard.

A character can claim a weapon, armour or implement that he finds and choose to be proficient with it. After a short rest, he recovers his memory of a class that is proficient with that item and/or one feat that makes him proficient with it. For example, if the item is a superior weapon, he may instead take the Weapon Proficiency feat. If the item is plate armour, he may instead choose any class trained with scale armour and take the Armor Proficiency (Plate) feat. If the item is a ritual book, he may instead take the Ritual Caster feat. He might choose to take a multiclass feat that grants the ability to use the item.

When a player chooses a class, he gains class benefits that are automatic (proficiencies, defences, hit points, healing surges and class features that all members of the class get) and makes any decisions related to his claimed item (such as Fighter Weapon Talent - he's not required to take the class option that's optimal for the item) but doesn't gain powers, skills or make any other decisions.

When a character is required to make a skill check, the player can choose to be trained in that skill if it's on his class skill list, or to take a feat that makes him trained in that skill (Skill Training or a multiclass feat). He can do so even if he rolled an earlier check against that skill as untrained. If he doesn't have a class, after a short rest, he gains a class that has that skill on its skill list. However, if he chose to take a feat, he doesn't get a class and should be careful later not to take a class that has the skill on its class skill list (the character may retrain after an extended rest if a player paints himself into a corner on this).

A character who has a class can choose any of its first-level powers in combat and has that power thereafter. A character who doesn't have a class can only make basic weapon attacks and use other basic actions.

A player who has gained all the powers, feats or skills he's entitled to may not choose any more.

edit: After an extended rest, the DM might require any character to resolve by retraining any discrepancies in the abilities he's picked. If the DM intends to run the campaign at higher than first level, each character who has a class also gains a level after an extended rest, chooses any feats he was entitled to for his previous level and hasn't yet picked, and can start to choose powers of his new level, until the party reaches the desired level.

 

[timbannock]

I've run a few of these before...not too many though. But I always find that putting the Players together immediately (usually as the very first people they see after the amnesia strikes) usually causes them to be friendly with one another and play nice. Maybe that's just my players though.

I played in a game once where all the characters were college buddies, and we THOUGHT we remembered everything just fine. Then one of our other college buddies (an NPC) showed up, gave us each a photograph that showed us back in college with people we didn't remember, and best of all, this NPC buddy was a vampire now. As the story went on, the GM began to introduce little snippets of memories that we realized were wrong, or were different than we'd thought they were. Family members that we'd written into our histories would turn up having been dead for years, or were now werewolves or vampires.

Then we began to develop powers. Most of us had no idea why or where we got them, but as they developed more, more memories came back.

Honestly, it was the best thing that Storyteller ever ran. We went in with character histories and had no clue there even was an amnesia angle. Then he messed with us like crazy, and it was awesome.

 

[SlyFlourish]

The book and game Curse of the Azure Bonds was based on this idea. So was the Planescape Torment game. I think both of those had good ways to get the characters together.

 

[avin]

Even a cliché like this sometimes gives birth to wonderful stories. Planescape: Torment, for example.

 

[Rel]

Give each of them the same tatoo.

If you want to really mess with them, when they are all sweaty and exhausted after the first combat, tell them that one (but only one) of the PC's tatoo starts to run and come off.

 

[SiderisAnon]

I have run a pseudo amnesia campaign before and got it to work quite well. (I say pseudo because they all have the memories up until about when they went off to adventure and then lost years after that.)

There are two elements I used in the first fifteen minutes that really helped tie everything together:

1) Start the PCs off in a confined space or area where they do not have any NPCs to interact with. Make them deal only with each other at first. This keeps them focused on each other and starts to build an "us" image with them.

For instance, in my game, they were all on a ship. They were the only ones left alive.

2) After some initial roleplaying, have something attack them where they have to work together to survive. This helps bring people together. (Nothing breed comrades like shared danger.)

In my game, they were attacked by some aquatic undead that really freaked everyone out.



I would also suggest giving them a roleplaying encounter in the first session where they have a reason to not want people to know about the amnesia, making the PCs work together even more.

In mine, it was they encountered another ship that looked more powerful. Wary of pirates, the PCs played off like everything was okay so that they didn't look weak. This method actually continued on into the second session before they told anyone of their little problem. (Which was a high level priest who apparently knew who they were by reputation.)


Something that I did and which may also work for you was that I established that the party was an adventuring group that had worked together for some time. It made them play out looking for reasons why they would work together because they already knew they had been doing so.

If this route isn't appropriate, give the PCs something in common to work with. They could all be hunted by the same group, they could have matching clothing, they could have identical scars, or as someone suggested above, tattoos.


Just keep in mind what your players will tolerate. Mine were good about the whole thing, but you have to know their limits.

 

[Evilhalfling]

My fav. amnesia adventure was even further off the beaten path.
A convention game with 3 DM's and 18 players. Two tables were superhero teams, each with an unstoppable power - Strength, Teleportation, Charm...
but whenever a character used a power, they suffered amnesia - and the player had to move to a different table. The new player had to deal with the consequences.
I was the 3rd DM, running a mental institution, scenario. Where the PCs had no powers, but strange memory lapses, as new players shifted in.