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

[BoldItalic]

What will you do if one of your forced PCs dies?

This needs to be thought about, because if the players have no attachment to the characters you have handed out to them, they can be reckless and not care about letting them get killed. They have nothing to lose. And then what?

Does the player revert to his own character? Or does that one die too? Does the player generate a new alternate character of his choice, or do you hand out another pregen? Think carefully about this.

If the players level up as their alternate characters, do their real characters level up as well? Think carefully about this too.

 

[jaysprecious0917]

It could work well. Have pre-made characters to pass out to the players ( one of our campaigns did this(memory loss) and we had to figure out who we were. you could come up with some interesting things that way.

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[Satyrn]

It sounds cool.

I've done a side episode where I gave the players a sort of bizarro version of their characters as pregens. They enjoyed that. If you've got your players' trust and respect (or however you want to put it) then they are probably cool with going along with whatever you present to them.

Especially if you present it honestly.

I'd present it as a surprise, but very early on - like within the first couple minutes - tell tell them that it's intended to be a short side quest, and of course you've got to set it up so that it is, or can be short. And then let it all play out as long as your players are up for it.

 

[karolusb]

I am on the border of telling you, flat out, it is a bad idea.

With a group of very roleplay immersive players, who were open to this, a veteran GM might (might) be able to produce a very exciting and memorable game. (See Caverns of Socrates by Dennis McKiernan for a great novelization of this).

I don't know anything about your players, but my guess is that 90% of a random sample of players would not be the right players for this game, and as a new GM, I think even with the right players, you would really struggle to get this off the ground.

I think in a game where people had played there characters for awhile, having this happen as a side trek (not the campaign focus) could be a blast, and that is something I have used: You pick up the magic sword at the end of one session, and in the next session I hand everyone a new character sheet, where you play the previous owner of the sword and companions as they face (and in some cases ultimately die) facing the challenges of the dungeon. Suddenly folks get a taste of higher level play, they learn about the history of the sword and it's maker, and they also learn about some great threat the previous owner tried to vanquish, but ultimately failed, setting up a high powered villain for later in the campaign. But, it would be over quickly, probably 1 session, maybe 2.

Even at it's best I feel this would require more time, swapping out their characters indefinitely after only a couple game sessions won't have much emotional impact, because they haven't had the time to build a real emotional affinity for the characters being left behind.

 

[Satyrn]

. . . and as a new GM . . .

oh. I missed that in my first read of the OP (actually thought he said he'd only ever been DMing, so I totally failed in my reading!)

So yeah, hold the idea in reserve for another campaign in the future. It's a neat idea, but wait till you've got some experience.

 

[Jester David]

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.

It failed in FF8 for several reasons. Usually because tension was just ramping up, the story was progressing, and then you had this weird divergence and cliffhanger.
Plus there were a lot of other problems with 8.
Just because an idea was tried and failed once before is no reason to never try that idea again.

oh. I missed that in my first read of the OP (actually thought he said he'd only ever been DMing, so I totally failed in my reading!)

So yeah, hold the idea in reserve for another campaign in the future. It's a neat idea, but wait till you've got some experience.

I disagree.
The best way to get experience as a Dungeon Master is to do gonzo stuff and learn from what works and what doesn't. Too often expierienced DMs are very conservative with their stories, being afraid to upset players or make a mistake; rookie DMs often do the coolest stuff.
I say go for it!.

 

[cmad1977]

You know...
If you don't want to reveal too much to the players, perhaps the best option would be to let them know that you have an idea that could either be really cool, or run into unforseen problems. Also let them know that the game will last 3-5 sessions tops and you guys can talk about wether everyone's on board. If so: great! If not: NO HARD FEELINGS!! Start up a new campaign and thank the players for trying something different.


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[Vyvyan Basterd]

It seems to me that the key to this concept is the mystery of the body swap. So my advice would be to jump straight into it. Have the characters the players created be the ones they play in the alternate world. Start the first session with an in media res narrative. Describe their characters as completely different, high-level, heroes who've just defeated some big threat and are retrieving the McGuffin when reality rips away and they find themselves awakening in the bodies of the characters they made. Don't make them play this out and switch characters. You can ask to see their characters before the campaign starts to develop ideas for the characters' backgrounds. Make sure not to ask for backstories, as the wasted effort may annoy some players. My two cents.