FantasyWorld (a Delos Destination)

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

In the HBO series Westworld, the titular Westworld is a theme park with robots. The humans come and go, murder the robot bandits, sleep with robot prostitutes, and so forth. Then during a regular software upgrade, the robots go berserk and murder absolutely everyone.

What if a GM were to flip the script on a a regular fantasy adventure by having the players run orcs or goblins or undead or something, which during the game discover they are actually robots in FantasyWorld. That the adventurers are just human guests who barely understand the operation of a sword.

How would you surprise the players with the robot revelation?

How would you handle such a game?

What would you expect as a problem?

 

[Jhaelen]

What would you expect as a problem?

Not all players appreciate such twists. When you pitch your campaign to them, they're going to make certain assumptions that influence the way they create and plan for their PCs. E.g. I once had this idea of starting a 'Mage: The Ascension' campaign, only to kill off all PCs during their first story to switch over into a 'Wraith: The Oblivion' campaign. Such an approach is rather risky. Expect at least some players to be pissed.

Likewise I once thought about changing an Eberron campaign into a Ravenloft campaign after they'd traveled to a mist-covered valley... Again, not all players are excited about such a change of setting.

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

That is a reasonable assessment. But I think the campaign would be short, and the reveal would be in the first session. Maybe towards the end of the first session, to give people something to think about before the next game.