An idea for a scenario

Hopeless

Mongoose
So the first part is get the players to design their characters but make sure each tour is kept on a separate sheet so you have a sheet covering each tour until their last.

It means any benefits they get has to be done by tour rather than at the end of that career, but the opening game has them aboard a number of ships intent on storming an alien spacestation.

The backstory is that Earth was attacked along with its colonies and almost wiped out, their efforts following the destruction of the Earth and the alliances they made with the other races allowed them to come to a point where it appears they're about to win this devastating war BUT their enemy has recruited traitors from the humans and the allied races and are planning to make use of an artefact to change their fate.

The game sees them trying to get aboard and reach the central chamber where their enemies are preparing to activate the artefact and it is very dangerous and can result in casualties but those that survive get inside the chamber and try to prevent the artefact activating... this results in a massive explosion effectively killing all of them.

NOW that was the opening, what happens is that their characters are de-aged 20 years using their character sheets for that time discovering that whilst they remember their former future their new present has changed dramatically.

The artefact sent everyone present back in time with full knowledge of the events that led up to when it was activated so any dead PCs are restored to life but set back 20 years so no skill improvements they just remember the fact there was a massive war and it appears they failed to prevent the enemy from resetting everything so they can prevent that future from happening.

The game at this point reveals they're being targeted after all the traitors were also sent back and are taking advantage of their restored status to improve their own situation and in return to pay back their patron they need to hunt down and kill the only people who know they're traitors namely the PCs!

Do you think this is too much and how much should I reveal either at the start with the storming the alien base and once time resets?
 
That's a normal start for me. I don't mention the time travel part. The players figure out what happened to them on their own after a bit. I don't tell the players that there will be time travel in the game session.

If players don't like what happened to their characters, and don't want to be in the next session, at least the game ended up being a nice one-shot.
 
Hopeless said:
their enemy has recruited traitors from the humans and the allied races and are planning to make use of an artefact to change their fate.
What role do the traitors play? Why do the aliens need them? It seams like all they need is their artifact.

Hopeless said:
The game sees them trying to get aboard and reach the central chamber where their enemies are preparing to activate the artefact
How do the good guys know so much? Is an alien informing the humans? Is there a Human pretending to be a traitor? If the PCs don't know which one it is I see some interesting issues possible later on [or is it earlier? time travel :? ]

Hopeless said:
any dead PCs are restored to life but set back 20 years so no skill improvements
Did they really die and somehow come back to life? Is it really their body going back in time? Why do they become younger and lose skills? Or is it just their consciousness/soul that goes back and into the 20 year younger body? Still might not explain losing skills.

Might just be me, but I have an issue with going back in time and having only certain memories of alien invasions and traitors but not other knowledge and skills from that time.

Hopeless said:
their new present has changed dramatically
What do you mean? Could they have different jobs, homes, bank accounts, friends, and family than they remember?

Hopeless said:
should I reveal either at the start with the storming the alien base and once time resets?
Personally I'd only tell the players what the characters would know and realize.
 
CosmicGamer said:
Hopeless said:
their enemy has recruited traitors from the humans and the allied races and are planning to make use of an artefact to change their fate.
What role do the traitors play? Why do the aliens need them? It seams like all they need is their artifact.

The enemy race when confronted by an adversary they can't overwhelm recruit members of those species to use with an artefact that sends them back to their younger selves with information of use to them in return they would rule their species on the alien invaders behalf.
In actuality the artefact requires a select number of hosts to activate but once used those hosts are secured and effectively dissected to reset the artefact for the next time they need it however once used they can't use it to reset against the same enemy and should they fail to reacquire the hosts it becomes useless.
When the surviving PC's broke in they became hosts and whilst the traitors are intent on killing them, they're unaware their benefactor has other plans for all of them.

Hopeless said:
The game sees them trying to get aboard and reach the central chamber where their enemies are preparing to activate the artefact
How do the good guys know so much? Is an alien informing the humans? Is there a Human pretending to be a traitor? If the PCs don't know which one it is I see some interesting issues possible later on [or is it earlier? time travel :? ]
Their minds are sent back the invaders also retain knowledge of the previous timeline enough to change their actions to insure victory but the PCs being unfamiliar only think things are weird.

Hopeless said:
any dead PCs are restored to life but set back 20 years so no skill improvements
Did they really die and somehow come back to life? Is it really their body going back in time? Why do they become younger and lose skills? Or is it just their consciousness/soul that goes back and into the 20 year younger body? Still might not explain losing skills.

Might just be me, but I have an issue with going back in time and having only certain memories of alien invasions and traitors but not other knowledge and skills from that time.

How they handle this is part of the story, maybe they want to keep those skills so need to refamiliarise themselves as they have knowledge of 20 years of advances but no way to make use of them.

Hopeless said:
their new present has changed dramatically
What do you mean? Could they have different jobs, homes, bank accounts, friends, and family than they remember?
To facilitate the advancement of the traitors they gain access to advanced knowledge THEY CAN make use of think making cybergear significantly cheaper or making it more useful to those in charge and using a list of significant people in the future resistance they whittle away those that stand in the way of their future but the PC's for one reason or another aren't high up on that list so they have time to realise something is wrong and their reaction to that is what starts the game off properly.

Hopeless said:
should I reveal either at the start with the storming the alien base and once time resets?
Personally I'd only tell the players what the characters would know and realize.[/quote]

I'm more wondering how much detail to go into or just let them initially think its a dream until they meet each other and realise they had the same dream and one of them is attacked whilst they're all present using tech they know they shouldn't have and go from there.
 
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