D&D 5E Trying to refine a campaign idea...

[beepboop]

So, I'm gonna say up front that I've never been a DM/GM in my life. I'm looking for some guidance, maybe somebody to flat out tell me this idea is bad if it is. But I thought it was cool and want to develop it to the point where I could comfortably present it to my group as a possible campaign without ruining it.

Essentially, it would be a longer campaign that would start off with very generic stuff. Like, deliver a thing of goods for a guy in Fandolin level of basic. But then at the end, or maybe even beginning, of the "intro" dungeon, the players have their bodies forcibly swapped with another group of adventurers in another dimension. Thus, the campaign would be about A) Getting the players back to their own world and B) Discovering more about the people who they've swapped with.

I thought it would be like, weirdly distressing? Like they'd have to have all new character sheets within the first few sessions and I thought it would be cool to have them have no idea what their body's background was and all. They'd just be trying to figure stuff out and they'd be thrust into problems that have nothing to do with them personally but that have everything to do with the people whose bodies they inhabit. Idk how to describe it more but that's the very general idea.

There's issues tho. How much information would be too much to withhold? How do I set it up so that players both are involved with making their second character AND they can be surprised at the like, reveal? Would this even work out, you think? Just looking for advice on a strange website I've never been on is all.

 

[MarkB]

It's an interesting concept. Will the players have any say in what kind of characters they've been transplanted into, or what sort of world they'll be finding themselves playing in?

I think one issue is that role-playing is already a step removed from reality, and having your players try to roleplay characters who are in turn effectively trying to roleplay other characters may just be laying on too many layers of unreality.

EDIT: Also, welcome to ENWorld.

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

Make certain your players are comfortable with the idea before you even try it. And make certain you know what your players are comfortable with when choosing who they swap with.

Don't be afraid to err on the side of caution if you are uncertain.

 

[beepboop]

I absolutely want them to create the characters they'll be and I'd never put them in the bodies of characters that I thought would be overly distressing for them. I just don't know how to exactly present that without spoiling the swap. Like, maybe have them come up with one complete character but prepare two class options?

 

[Herobizkit]

Being other characters only matters from the outside looking in. To the players, they'd be exactly the characters they made. To other onlookers, they have become these other people who have backstories and histories.

See: "Quantum Leap", but a whole team.

If you're really keen, imagine what happens if they appear in the new world "mentally linked" but start in different locations.

See: "Sense8".

 

[Razjah]

You'll need to let them know about this as part of the campaign concept to avoid a bait and switch game.

I would skip the surprise. Instead, let them know what is going to happen. I would also run both sides of things. For partial inspiration check out the Everworld books. Normal humans are dragged into Everworld. When they sleep/lose consciousness they awake back in the real world. When they are awake in Everworld, they still exist and act in the real world. Either they were copied, or just their souls were went to the other realm. When a character sleeps in Everworld it was described as a radio news update: "Breaking news, good luck on your date tomorrow!" "Breaking news, don't get killed by ogres in that field!"

You can mess with it a bit. Have the PCs flip back to themselves when the swapped body party rests. A different adventuring group (either all NPCs or run a different night/alternating weeks) is trying to get back home in the PCs bodies while the PCs try to get home in new bodies. If they can figure out how to communicate, they can work with the other side to get everyone back home.


I would either do it that way or throw them through a portal with no body swapping. "Hey, you're going to be flung into the farthest realms with different stars and gods. You'll need to get home in a strange lands." Or mess with overall genre, you're space marines who went to a rescue beacon. But suddenly a spacial anomaly threw you into this strange world. You quickly learned this was a land like those of fantasy tales. You're new mission is to get home." The PCs could even still have some salvaged gear. Maybe a blaster or something to help them out. But they can't reload the blaster, it may be super powerful but those shots are precious. They'll need to use magic (which they don't understand or probably trust) to get home. But building an arcane portal of that magnitude will be difficult. Most adventures could be traveling far off to find special crystals or trees or ore to use. Maybe gaining favor or a mage's guild by doing some tasks for them. Working with a masons guild to build a stone archway, but with no coin of the realm they need to work off the debt through adventures.

 

[Jester David]

I disagree that you need to warn about the swap. You just need to have them ready for *something*.


The swap needs to happen at the end of the session. They exchange bodies and realise they're in another skin, but be vague about the details. And then let them spend the days between sessions designing this new character from scratch.
You do not want to force them to play a character they do not like. So keep details like race and class and gear vague. Don't give them a character, either in terms of concept.
At most, you can have a carrot, possibly giving each new character a magic item. So if they want the cool magic bow, their new character probably needs to be an archer of some kind.

Be sure to warn them to consider back-up character ideas ("in the case your character dies") and have them use that. Perhaps suggesting the game might be dangerous. "Don't get too attached to your characters, low level 5e is deadly." That way they're ready


The initial problems from being in another person's body should be more fun and less painful. It should be a light entertaining experience. Build to the more drama. That way it's not a surprise for them that they're being held responsible for someone else's drama, but you can also get a feel for which players are game for that experience, and which are not.
I recommend something romantic. They're in the new bodies for a short period when an angry individual storms in and slaps one of the PCs demanding to know why they were stood up. "I waited for you at the theatre for hours. I waited! Where were you?!" It's a quick laugh and can give the PCs some initial information and a contact.

 

[cmad1977]

So...
Two suggestions worth what your paying for them.
1: be wary of the bait and switch.
2: to that end, maybe when the heroes make their characters arrange for those characters to be the ones they are forced into. Give them some pregens and make the switch really early.


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[beepboop]

Thank you all for your input! You're giving me a lot to think on.

I feel like flipping them back and forth between bodies/pcs as I feel like playing two completely different characters and campaigns would get really confusing for my players really quickly. I suppose the thing I'm most concerned about, given this feedback, is how much to let them know, how much info to trust them with at the start. Yes, they'll be making secondary characters to play in the second world but I feel like their backstories could be part of the fun. Like, say one player makes a character who is a cheat with enemies across the land. It would be fun to have that player constantly accosted by their "second" characters enemies that their "true" character is completely unknowing of, much like with the romantic suggestion. It's just a matter of how much of the backstory they make versus what I employ.

But, again, I don't want to force too much on them. So it would be a tough balance.

 

[Herobizkit]

I feel like flipping them back and forth between bodies/pcs as I feel like playing two completely different characters and campaigns would get really confusing for my players really quickly.

Final Fantasy 8 tried this and it was AWFUL.

Final Fantasy 8 is (arguably) awful in general, but you get attached to the main characters and then, for no apparent reason, you're running a new 3-player party who are basically re-skins of your current party on a completely different story arc. It didn't work. It was terrible.