We're the Replacement Chosen Ones

[Rechan]

I think at some point, everyone has run or been in a game where the party is "destined to do x" or "these guys are the chosen guys to do this stuff". Maybe it's something even more specific, like "This martyr died and blessed all five of you with his essence so you're very integral to the campaign". Perhaps one character is simply really important to your plot(s).

Then suddenly one of the players has to quit. Maybe more players also come in.

How do you deal with situations where those specific characters are fairly important to the story, but for whatever reason, the unreliable nature of RL gets in your way? How do you ADD new people into that importance, making them story significant, when they weren't there from the start?

The obvious answer is "Well don't hitch your story to specific characters". But is there any other way to get your cake and eat it too?

On a lesser "the story requires you guys", new players who come in later don't feel as tightly bound to the story because they weren't there to begin wtih. The same with new characters - they just show up and go 'hey I'll follow along with you guys', rather than feeling the significance of their role. How do you deal with new characters and new players to a story? Would new people added to the Fellowship have felt as driven and included as those who started out with the one ring?

 

[Hussar]

Well, obviously player buy in is very, very important here. You might NPC your "Chosen One" and let him kinda fall to the background. Basically, he becomes the Macguffin. Only problem with this, is the finale to the campaign is going to kinda anticlimactic because the NPC is doing the winning.

It might be better, if the "chosen one" has to step down, perhaps the remaining PC's still have to fufill the quest.

In China Mieville's UnLundun, the chosen one gets ejected from the story about half way through. It then falls on the "funny one" to get things done. Everyone keeps telling her she can't do it because she isn't the "chosen one". Really good read. Might work for some inspiration.

 

[Merkuri]

Why are they the "chosen ones"? Maybe make the definition of "chosen one" vague enough that you can add or remove characters pretty easily. If a character has to leave and a new one has to come in, well, that original guy wasn't really a chosen one, and this new guy is. Maybe...

You'll never know for sure who are the real "chosen ones" until they fulfill the whole prophecy (and end the campaign).

 

[SiderisAnon]

* Prophecy is notoriously vague. Use that to your advantage. "As we can see from the additional signs we have received, Joe is also among the chosen."

* Just because you're chosen doesn't mean you WILL succeed, just that you're one of the few who has a chance. There could be many chosen waiting to step in, or a select handful. New ones might not be revealed until the old ones die or fall aside. "When Tom died, his destiny passed to Joe."

* History can be "rewritten" when you didn't have all the facts at the time. TV shows do this thing all the time. (Like how they added another sister in "Charmed".) Only children of this one noble can complete the mission? Turns out Joe is an illegitimate son nobody knew about. Only people who were blessed by the dying martyr can enter the tomb? Well, Joe was in the next room/had been there just before/was blessed with the blood of the dying martyr later.

* You just didn't know this person was one of the chosen. Everyone got the same dream, but Joe was 1,000 miles away so it's taken him a while to get here to help.

* The gods change their minds.


Mostly you have to pick a reason that your group of players can buy into. If you know your group is likely to change players a lot, give yourself a lot of wiggle room when setting up the scenario. Make sure there's always at least a little wiggle room anyway, just in case a character dies or real life gets in the way.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Additional, more detailed prophecy, is discovered.

There's a second village meeting all the criteria from the prophecy, and several -- because the DM learned his lesson this time -- new PCs that match the revised description of the "chosen one."

And, of course, there's also the fact that the prophecy was a con all along, created by an ageless NPC to inspire people to rebel at all. He'll revise the "ancient prophecy" he made up as he sees fit.

 

[the Jester]

Honestly, using a "chosen one" kind of plot doesn't work for me, given the lethality of the game style I prefer.

However, there's a lot to be said for "I think you guys are the chosen ones"- ambiguity is a wonderful ally for the dm who likes prophetic stuff.

Also, there's a lot to be said for "OMG the chosen one died WHAT NOW??????????????"

EDIT: See also the Matrix movies:

Spoiler

Neo is the One, but there have been other "the Ones" before him.

 

[Dedekind]

There are no problems, only opportunities. <I hate platitudes, but...>

I think it is an opportunity to inject some roleplaying.

"There are two chosen ones?"

"My god told me I was the chosen one so how can your god be right?"

"The spirits of the martyr may blessed you five, but I had a dream that totally says you can't do it without me."

"I know Billy may have been The One, but he must make his sacrifice alone."

 

[Beginning of the End]

How do you deal with situations where those specific characters are fairly important to the story, but for whatever reason, the unreliable nature of RL gets in your way? How do you ADD new people into that importance, making them story significant, when they weren't there from the start?

Frodo was special because the Ring had come to him. Everyone else in the Fellowship chose to be there.

Similarly, IME, it's usually pretty easy to add new characters to this sort of thing.

In general, three recommendations:

(1) Don't require the presence of any single character. That character becomes a failure point. (This includes a "Chosen One", but it also includes "these five specific characters must all be present at the Final Summoning". The latter is actually even MORE prone to failure.)

(2) Make the "chosen" status something transferable. For example, if it's the imbued energy of a martyred saint, maybe that energy will leap to someone else if its host is killed. Or maybe there were always more hosts than just the PCs and its just a question of which ones step up.

(3) Have the "chosen" status be something which accents the quest, but is not required for it. For example, if Frodo had been killed in Moria it's pretty easy to imagine another member of the Fellowship picking up the Ring and continuing the quest.

In our current campaign there's a "chosen one" quality to the original PCs -- a meta-arc which is significant to them and only them. But that meta-arc ties into a larger scenario of general import. We've lost a couple of the original players and we've brought in a couple of new players to replace them; but the new characters have their own reasons for being interested in what's going on.

 

[Corathon]

Prophecy is (or should be) something that can be seen to be true in retrospect, but that does not give out too much ahead of time; otherwise prophecy prevents itself from being fulfilled. E.g. if the prophecy says that "Josmith of 17 Main Street, Greyhawk City is destined to destroy Iuz", then Iuz will just have Josmith killed as a baby.

I don't often use this sort of thing, but on an ocaission when I did, a character who was believed to be mentioned in a prophecy was killed, and could not be raised. The PCs overheard two NPCs talking. The first said "The Woman of the Waves is dead. We are undone!" The other replied "Since she is dead, she was not the Woman of the Waves." The point is that the various figures in the prophecy were given vague designations like "the Woman of the Waves", "the Child of Celebration", or "the Wielder of the Jade Katana" that might apply to many people. If a supposedly destined character dies prematurely, then he as not actually destined. Perhaps the PC that replaces the dead one is actually the fated one...

 

[john112364]

And who's to say that the now dead character was not "Chosen" to sacrifce themselves so that the rest could continue with the rest of the prophecy.

Hey not all destinies end up happily ever after.