Postmodern/non-linear adventure

[Golem Joe]

I'm not talking about non-linear as in non-ABC plots, or railroading, I'm talking about non-linear in a post-modern sense, ala Highlander or Pulp Fiction. Has anyone experimented with adventures that rely heavily on flashbacks? With those being interactive and of the non-boxed-text sort?

Here's what I'm considering for an adventure:

Players begin in the present, in-medias-res (sp). They have already penetrated the dungeon and witness bad things goings on they were no expecting.

FLASH BACK

The PCs roleplay through the encounter where they first learned of the objective that brought them to the dungeon in the first place.

FLASH FORWARD

Battle, run, hide.

FLASH BACK

The PCs pursuit of the objective gleans them important information that will come in handy later in the adventure, in a way they may not know yet.

FLASH FORWARD

Sneaking, hiding, descent

FLASH BACK

Another encounter adding more clues to what will come.

FLASH FORWARD

Battle, run, battle, climax.

Something like that at least.

The worst thing I can see happening is the players complain about being railroaded into a situation they would not normally become involved in. At the same time, if the past scenes can be made general enough, it could work.

But then, that's my question. Will it work? Does it work? Has it worked? And if it failed miserably, why?

 

[Crothian]

Damn that's hard. I ran a Highlander campaign and we tried this. I'd introduce a new Immortal, and then role play in the 1500's (or whenever) when they first meet. It helped that it was a solo campaign and it helped that the player was a History major and I'm not terrible at history. So, it can be done. I wouldn't recomendd it. It was tough and when it failed, it went bad. It's hard to plan for the past, especially how that effects the present time. It's obvious that the character can't die in the past, they can't even take a significant injury that would alter their character. Also, depending on how far back the flash back is you might need multiple characher sheets to show how the character is less experienced in the flash back.

 

[Darkness]

A general thought regarding flashbacks: Death, etc. should still something to be feared for the PCs (and their actions should have consequences) if you intend to play the flashback out...

My take on it is the following: If a PC would die in a flashback, he lives (but in severly wounded, unconscious, and unable to continue participating in the flashback), but something in the present will kill him a short while later instead. It's a kind of kharma, you know?
That way, PCs won't expect to get away with stupid and/or unjustified (for their personality, that is) behavior.
(Note: I'd run largely non-lethal flashbacks to begin with, though, unless there's a good reason to do otherwise. But if the PCs insist on screwing up, well... )

Take care,
Darkness

 

[darkbard]

i think the idea a brilliant one but next to impossible to pull off. not only is there the death dilemma mentioned above, but how would you track hit points, spells used, equipment lost, etc? how will you prevent information gleaned in "the present" from effecting the flashback scenes when the players know something before their characters do? it'd sort of be like running a published adventure that all of your players have read: if they see a tight situation coming when they're in "flashback mode" they can take actions to prevent the flash forward from being plausible. if you do give it a go, however, i'd be very interested in seeing if you pull it off (perhaps in a storyhour...).

 

[Darkness]

...how will you prevent information gleaned in "the present" from effecting the flashback scenes when the players know something before their characters do? it'd sort of be like running a published adventure that all of your players have read: if they see a tight situation coming when they're in "flashback mode" they can take actions to prevent the flash forward from being plausible. ...

Maybe have all the PCs start with amnesia and let them slowly piece together their past? A friend of mine once did that. Worked out quite cool, I think...

edit - Or perhaps only give them partial amnesia - that is, they know who they are and what they did, but can't recall a few episodes in their lifes. Maybe someone stole a few select memories for some reason, or else they were hit by some spell or attack that cost them some random (or non-random, like, "the last five years") memories.

 

[rounser]

Another idea: Any PC about to die in a flashback (or otherwise fail at a story-critical task) gets saved by a deus ex machina. Same goes for deliberately setting up time-related paradoxes. There is a price for this.

Back in the present, PC takes an experience point (or equivalent) hit to represent the failure, and provide a repercussion.

 

[Storminator]

Another idea: Any PC about to die in a flashback (or otherwise fail at a story-critical task) gets saved by a deus ex machina. Same goes for deliberately setting up time-related paradoxes. There is a price for this.

Back in the present, PC takes an experience point (or equivalent) hit to represent the failure, and provide a repercussion.

Better yet, the flashback ends just before they die, and how the situation was resolved is done off screen.

You have three hp left... the orc swings .. a hit! FLASH FORWARD

And of course the "present time" simply HAS to be only the most recent of flashbacks.

PS

 

[Darkness]

Better yet, the flashback ends just before they die, and how the situation was resolved is done off screen.

You have three hp left... the orc swings .. a hit! FLASH FORWARD

Very nice, yes... So if you die, you can't play as much in the past - which in turn costs you information and possibly also xp.

And of course the "present time" simply HAS to be only the most recent of flashbacks.

PS

I like that - a lot, actually!

 

[SonOfLilith]

I think it would be cool to have multiple sets of characters, ala lock, stock and two smoking barrels. You play one set, don't really understand whats going on, then you play the other set and it all makes sense

 

[Darkness]

I think it would be cool to have multiple sets of characters, ala lock, stock and two smoking barrels. You play one set, don't really understand whats going on, then you play the other set and it all makes sense

Funny that you should bring that up... I'm planning to do something like that in Exalted. Not too sure about the details yet, though...