Screwing around with temporal continuity

[Nareau]

We recently took a break from our main campaign to run a one-shot (based on the hit TV series CSI, but in a D&D world). The characters are 7th level, and we had a lot of fun with it.

Well, the one-shot turned into a couple of adventures, and we've started to flesh things out quite a bit. We started to wonder about what the PC's did before they got to 7th level...and now we're going to play through that. The plan is to re-create the characters as they were at 1st level, and play through some of their early adventures (probably about 7 years before the current game).

Have you done something like that in your game? What pitfalls should I be wary of? Obviously, things like character death, valuable treasure, and important NPC's will need to be carefully managed to keep things seamless.

I'm excited about it. I think these characters are going to end up being better defined than the ones in our 17th-level game!

Nareau

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

We did that once, with Star Wars characters, a long time ago (same galaxy, though). With WEG's system it was a little easier, as character development wasn't so discrete.

The biggest problem is providing a sense of danger when character death is not an option. For that game, I made sure that the consequences of failure on any given mission were sufficiently dire that the players really felt bad if they didn't accomplish their goals. Think extermination of a sentient species type consequences.

It helped that there were some sweet yet usefully vague hooks already established in the character backgrounds that the players had created.

 

[Particle_Man]

One way to worry them is to give one of the characters a love interest. They will go crazy trying to figure out if the love interest will die, turn out to be evil, or simply leave.

 

[LostSoul]

Sounds cool.

Death isn't that big of a deal, not with Raise Dead and those kinds of spells.

I would probably get each player to describe some things in his past that will inform the "present" situation. Then design the adventure around those things.

Something like, "Am I working for the Black Hand of Shadow or not? Will I betray the party?"

Or, "Why do I hate trolls so much?"

Or, "How do I know [relevant NPC]? Does he want me dead, or will he work with me?"

I would also give out some special bonuses (to the "present" PCs) based on what happened in the "past" adventure. Maybe a bonus to fighting trolls, or something like that. I might also give out some penalties, in order to increase the tension of the "past" adventure... maybe not though.

Hmm... I might go farther and state, at the beginning of the adventure, "In this adventure we will determine why Bob's Ranger hates trolls so much. If he comports himself well, the present PC will get a free Favoured Enemy increase vs. trolls only, but if he doesn't... if bad things happen... then he'll suffer a -2 penalty to damage when fighting trolls." [Or whatever makes sense.]

Hmm... for relationships made in the past, I might let them take the NPC in question as a Cohort. Yeah, that would be pretty sweet. Of course, if they fail, then the same guy turns into an enemy. Not bad.