Emergency game planning - skipping ahead in the campaign.

[RangerWickett]

So, long story short -- I want to create a session that takes place toward the end of the campaign. This is the third time we've met for this campaign, however. So basically, I want to foreshadow. But I don't want to do a cut scene. I'm going to have the party roleplay an adventure after they inevitably get abducted by fey and lose their memories for a short period of time.

Now, I know my players. They would love to screw with my timeline, so if I have something happen in this session tonight, when they figure out that it was foresight, they're going to try to derail time by, like, cutting off their hands ("I had two hands in the vision, so it can't actually happen!" or worse, "I was alive in the vision, so I know I can't be killed."

I can finagle around that a bit because one PC is psychic, and I can just say this is a vision. I dunno. I'm going to brainstorm.

 

[philreed]

Now, I know my players. They would love to screw with my timeline, so if I have something happen in this session tonight, when they figure out that it was foresight, they're going to try to derail time by, like, cutting off their hands ("I had two hands in the vision, so it can't actually happen!" or worse, "I was alive in the vision, so I know I can't be killed.".

This is where an infinite number of worlds -- all slightly different -- comes in handy. The SLIGHTEST thing spawns a new version of the world, such as the decision to go left rather than right. BAM! Two worlds where there was one.

You say an accident killed a dozen people? There's a hell of a lot of new worlds, including one where none of them died. Or where half of them died. Or just one. No, that one. And on and on.

 

[BigTom]

The best way to handle arbitrary players like that is as follows:

1) do the event with the foreshadowing.
2) Let the party concoct and execute some scheme to make absolutely certain said event can't possibly happen.
3) Let the party then discover that if the event they saw doesn't happen, the BBEG is guaranteed to win.
4) Have fun watching them go nuts trying to undo their own foolproof scheme.

Sometimes the visions are sent by the good gods to help you.

 

[RangerWickett]

lol Amusing.

I'm checking this mid-session while the rest of the group heads for drinks and snacks. I just had a brief 10 minute section with the PCs fleeing by boat from a mysterious group, trying to get to their driver so they can escape. It was fun casually refering to what was going on, as if it all made sense. One of the players wasn't here, so I just worked her out of the session.

"You're pretty sure the things following you can't be hurt by bullets. Belladonna certainly tried. But at least the demon jar is safe."

And now they're trying like hell to ignore the vision. They're on the way to New Orleans.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

So how did it go?

Obviously the concept of 'alternate possible futures' is the best way to couch it. I think what is more imporant is the idea of 'what major themes do you want them to get out of it' rather than focusing on the minute details.

 

[RangerWickett]

It was brief. The group ended up more confused than anything else, so I let it stand as a vision, and then hopped back to the current plotline.