Party amnesia

[Dice4Hire]

What are everybody's thoughts on something like that?

Well, I think it is a good scenario, but just tell the players about it beforehand, so they know the flashbacks are going to be a railroad. I don't think most players(friends) will object to that too much, especially if it is fun. I know I would not.

I would heartily object to a whole campaign on rails, but not specific sections of it.
As an added bonus, you could have them 'remember' where they stashed some loot they got in the lost period, so they could go and get it once they remembered where they put it.

 

[tvknight415]

I really like the concept, but would stress that the mystery of what is going on will be what really hooks the players.

I would suggest (and maybe this is part of the plan already) to have things in the current timeline not always as they appear, and having the flashbacks shed light on current events (a perceived good guy is really evil, remembering a secret that can help in the present, etc.).

Also, I would experiment with the reason why they were drugged. Perhaps the drug was taken as an antidote for a magical disease the party contracted. Give them clues early on, or multiple sources of a similar effect, to keep them guessing.

If you really wanted to get out there, perhaps the "current" timeline are really flashes of the future if they don't achieve certain goals in the present. Maybe the bad events in the present were actually caused by the PC's in the flashbacks. Or, perhaps while the flashbacks appear linear, they really aren't (think of the movie Premonition).

Finally, remember that your pacing will be critical, and if you've seen the tv series Lost, I'd channel it - for every answer there are two new questions to ponder. I would make sure every game session gives them answers, but at the same time poses new questions. At first, more questions then answers, but progressively making everything clearer. A session or two early on should have more answers than questions, just to help with the feeling that the story is going somewhere. Oh, and the best technique is to have a final reveal at the end of the session to keep the players wondering what's going to happen next. Not every session, but a cliffhanger for the next session will help ensure interest.

My $0.02

 

[Al'Kelhar]

My party has amnesia every week. As in "where are we, why are we here, what are we doing again?". Seriously, I could pull this kind of scenario on them at any time, and they'd actually think the PCs got onto the barge at the end of the previous session, and the extra levels were because I'd decided to throw some harder fights at them this session...

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Thasmodious]

I like the idea, it sounds like fun. The flashbacks would be the tricky bit, as others have said, but it doesn't sound like you are handing them scripts or anything. While it has railroad elements, its not really a railroad, since it's past action. The trick would be to be careful with what actions you prescribe to any given PC, as having them "have done" things that wouldn't be the choice the player would make in that situation could be a source of contention.

If you are confident of the player buy-in, then by all means, go for it and let us know how it goes.

I started a campaign once with all the PCs having complete amnesia. It was a paragon level campaign and the PCs woke up, naked, lying on cold stone slabs arrayed in a circle around an altar covered in runes. Beside each of them, on a makeshift mannequin was their gear. As they awoke, someone in the darkness, said "good, they are waking up" followed shortly by the sound of fighting and shouts and someone burst in the room, killed the priestly looking guy who obviously knew what was going on and shouted "kill the abominations" while his minions attacked the PCs. They had no clue who they were, what they were doing, where they were from or what to do now. It was a fun start to a campaign.

 

[Arlough]

My party has amnesia every week. As in "where are we, why are we here, what are we doing again?". Seriously, I could pull this kind of scenario on them at any time, and they'd actually think the PCs got onto the barge at the end of the previous session, and the extra levels were because I'd decided to throw some harder fights at them this session...

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

I don't know if it will help, but I assign two players to take notes of the important facts of the session (we use a shared spreadsheet on Google Docs) and have someone read it over and give a summary of the last session.

This certainly has helped my group.

 

[Scott DeWar]

sounds like Robert's rules of order.

 

[Arlough]

sounds like Robert's rules of order.

What can I say, 4 years of debate will leave it's mark.

 

[Scott DeWar]

3 years of FFA for me.

 

[Aramax]

Great idea!

only suggestion I have for you is to let them have some room in the early /middle adventures(of the flashbacks) so thier decisions would have more impact so that when you railroad the end they will not feel like all the decisions were made for them,plan very extensively and I think this could be very worthwhile.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Were I a player in this game, I'd do my best to get my character killed, just to see how the DM would handle it.

Be sure you don't have any twisted players like myself in your game before you run with this idea.