Frame Story

[Crothian]

For those not familiar with the term a Frame Story is a story withing a story. In terms of RPGs it would be like a group of adventurers finding an ancient destroyed keep and learn the history of the place. But instead of just having the DM tell the story of what happened; the players play the character in the final days of the Keep and experience it that way. It's kind of like a one shot that connects to an existing campaign I guess.

Has anyone tried to do this? It's a bit of an odd concept so might not be that popular. I'm thinking about doing it for one of my games. It would connect to the story and to the PCs. I know how all of that will happen, but I've never tried a frame story before and I'm curious what hurdles are ahead.

 

[Wik]

Oh yeah. I did it fairly recently, actually.

It was Iron Heroes, and the PCs were investigating a "boat-cult" in the woods. Then, they came the Cultists' camp. Looking in, they saw a group of humans trying to escape, and more or less being fed to a giant beastie with a club.

I let the players run through a basic scenario where those slaves escaped from the pens, and then had the beastie thrown upon them. I told the players that if any of the slaves survived for more than five rounds, I'd give their real characters XP. It didn't work. It was fun watching my monster tear the slaves a new one.

***

In an earlier campaign (ran about two years ago) I had this plan of making the players run characters throughout the realm when the undead attack happened. There'd be zombies all over the place... but because the PCs would have been very high level at this point, I felt I could convey the horror of a zombie invasion better through the players running low-level NPCs. In fact, the plan was to have the whole session involve the players running NPCs (some of whom they had met in their travels) while the zombies were raising from the dirt. Didn't happen, though - the campaign imploded before we even got close.

 

[Kularian]

The idea seems very similar to the 'dream sequences' in FF8. Yeah, I know I'm pulling a console game into the world of table-top, but the idea is too similar to discount. So, to answer the question, I used the whole dream-sequence idea in a campaign about...two years ago. The most interesting thing I did was the 'dream character' sheets got handed out randomly, so no one knew what was going on each time it happened. The 'dream characters' played a larger role IMC, almost working alongside the actual PC's in terms of uncovering plot...though they were nearly a thousand years apart.

I'm not sure if I got lucky, but it seemed to work just fine. There are many unique things you can do with it, especially if you make it long-term. But in the situation you described, I could only imagine playing a 2nd level NPC Warrior watching a horde of undead advance. I say go for it.

 

[Finster]

I've never tried something like this before.

Are the players to determine the present condition of the ruined keep, or is this all pre-ordained? If the players have a hand in the outcome of present conditions, I would be carefull of the "Bill and Ted" syndrome where the characters in the past do things that will effect present day.

Don't let them run around stashing magic for future use by their characters and such.

Other than that I say it sounds like great fun.

 

[Kularian]

I would be carefull of the "Bill and Ted" syndrome where the characters in the past do things that will effect present day.

Hehe, I actually encouraged that, as it was necessary for them to solve certain plot elements of the game. But then again, I was trying to do that, so I was prepared for any off-the-wall things the players tried to do. But in a one-shot like Crothian is trying to do, I would agree to try and prevent it.

 

[kikai]

I think I've done something similar. I created a party of cool (and evil) NPCs who were the enemies of the PCs. For one session, the Players played these evil (N)PCs, attacked an escort of a noble, abducted him, killed the escorting paladins, created false hints that indicates that the paladins were fallen and had abducted the noble on their own; and handed him over to the mysterious mastermind, then continued to sow chaos in the city by planning an attack of the court and kill the lord judge. There the session ended. The players liked to be the evil guys and playing some cool character-concepts and prestige classes.

Now I had a fabulous plan to do an massive attack. There the session ended.

The next session the attack took place. The good PCs were invited to the court, we did some roleplaying, than I handed out the evil NPCs. The Players switched their roles (with ambivalent feelings - looking forward being evil bastards and knowing "this will be a hard time, our pcs against them"), made the massiv assault, made their entry in the court and slaughtered the guards. Then the PCs heard of the trouble, reacted and switched to the PCs. It was a blast, and one of our most remembered sessions

The characters survived (it was a tough fight). Then they heard of all the social implications the abduction of the noble had and how the trust of the people in the paladins faded and how that destabilises the social peace in the city. Knowing that they'd done it, they were very motivated to solve the next steps of the campaign...

Best regards,

kikai

 

[Crothian]

Are the players to determine the present condition of the ruined keep, or is this all pre-ordained?

That example is not what frame story I'm going to do. The out come could be pre ordained. And if the players do try to hide things, a DM can easily just have them gone from an earlier looter.

 

[Crothian]

But in a one-shot like Crothian is trying to do, I would agree to try and prevent it.

In the one I'm going to do they have an oppurtunity to do it. The story will deal about learning what happened and how certain character connect in the past and that will reflect and alter the way they view the present. The characters of the Frame Story I'm doing are actually different versions of the PCs. It is a bit complicated but it how the game is set up. All the PCs are basically part fey and this will give them insight into a past life their fey side experienced. As well as be part of major events back then that have additional meaning in the investigation in the present campaign.

 

[Darkwolf445]

I like the idea, as long as the players go along with it. Will there be rewards in the form of Xp for the real characters? And, assuming this is a story which is already written down (in the discovered book), I guess reality and the book can differ, thanks to the slant of the writer.

 

[Crothian]

I like the idea, as long as the players go along with it. Will there be rewards in the form of Xp for the real characters? And, assuming this is a story which is already written down (in the discovered book), I guess reality and the book can differ, thanks to the slant of the writer.

There is only one way to see if the players like it. At worst we have a wasted session and it never happens again. The upside though I think is worth it. And there will be rewards for the players, luckily with my group they are more concerned with non mechanical rewards.