So, I thought I'd open a thread about my reasons why for everyone to see, and then let you guys comment, and ask questions. Not too many questions, because time travel is inherently complicated and bad, and if you poke aroudn too much you might find plot holes. Stop it!
Why? (metagame-wise) I needed a few criteria for the plot, and for smoothing the mechanics of DM with D&D. I wanted to be able to have you guys just start without needing a back story, and yet be able to gently nudge a reason you guys were together if the dynamic didn't have a natural cohesion. I also wanted to have you guys able to develop a backstory, or be able to just maturally let the character flow out of what you were playing. Wiping the mind of your characters metagame wise seemed an idea to slowly introduce spells, etc (good for me toying with the game, but also building up your characters abilities like DM) and also let you all concentrate on RPing with each other in isolation of a character agenda.
Of course, reincarnation fits in with alot of this, except a) I didn't want to force you guys to be cute with the 'oh, we have woken up here, beside these mirrors) and be thrown into a metagame from the start. Plus, I liked the idea of you being able to choose if you recalled a backstory, or if your characters actions in the game mattered enoough that his history wasn't as important.
Mechanics wise, obviously there are several game-y aspects of DM I wanted to introduce to D&D and the game. Being able to heal while sleeping, having food drain faster, levelling up much faster, etc. Again, I liked the idea that this could be subtly introduced, and be part of a mystery (hence temporal energy letting you guys recover and 'live' faster for a while...the idea was to slow it down over time, instead the various actions of the party meant it was easier just to abandon it as a mechanic.)
Plot wise, it gave me the ability to throw in little warnings or oddness to nudge the plot if needed ( don't think it was needed much) or create a better bond for the group (don't thinkit was necessary, but I hope your history/non-history together has given you more to play off of than your initial intereactions).
So yeah, thatwas my 'reasoning' for time travel
Why? (game world wise) Well, it seems the Grey Lord has pushed you guys back in time for some reason. And I hope I have pitched enough concern about the Grey Lord that while he is good, he is obviously normal in his good/evil axis and balance that he is not necessarily does serve 'balance' and have a balance of traits to deal with rather than a black and white good. So yeah, don't count on him doing something 100% safe and right in sending you back in time.... It seems you guys did meet, did journey throug hthe dungeon before (though perhaps a few weeks later than you are now) and more or less beat the bad guy. However, it appears the 'more-or-less' is the important part, and somehow something went wrong./ ewnough for the Grey Lord to push you backwards. It seems the soul stone referenced may well have been how you triumphed before...and yet somehow it was not enough.
How does the mechanic work? Ok, so this is not going ot be Terminator nor back to the future rules. Terminator rules - you can physically go back in time, but nothign you do changes your own history (either you are pre-destined, or you will remember everything as it was before). Back to the future rules - you go back in the past physically, but mucking aroudn there can erase your future and thus yourself.
Instead, think more about the time travel in the Sorcery gamebooks. In that, you can mentally travel back into your own past, or physically travel back in time beyond that, but will then most likely get lost. In that, going back without proper knowledge you can get assimilated into your own past self and so just relive your life again. However, that travel is 'allowed' (there is a spell for it, after all, and the time serpent existed)
In this case, there is no hint of time travel in the DM world. I'm quite happy for that, as it gives a new note for what you guys are doing. It also answers the question 'why don't people do this if it exists' if I make it bad. Very bad. (OB will already know this, I think I said bad five times to him
). The idea that the world would basically try and make you forget yourself if you go back beyond your time, or just try and mentally bond you to your old self still seems cool, but to me is a survival mechanism. And to me, no spell exists because not even the High Lords would try and do this. Because they would, of course, simply lose their personality (and likely magic, if magic causes this, it seems likely the natural counteraction of the world is to erase the ability to use that magic).However, what if you were the Grey Lord, who's know to be a little bit short-focused (power gem anyone) decides that the present must not be allowed to continue? Well, people who didn't actually create the time travel willgo back. Therefore, technically the old future will still exist (as the person who cast the spell and created that link is still there). Therefore, until that future is irrevocably 'shattered' , that means there are two potential futures (which is bad) and two points in time connected together (which is also bad).
Hey kids, anyone notice those earthquakes?
So anyway, here's how it's worked. Imagine a first run. There were hints in the backgroudn that two weeks later than 'now' you guys all met, travelled the dungeon together, did heroic things (like defeat Soorec and so forth) and together with the Grey Lord saved the day. Almost.
At the end of that, the Grey Lord blasts you guys backwards in time. Your physical bodies go into a limbo of quantum potential. You mentally rejoin your old minds. However, it appears your bodies in the 'now' were yanked from where they were to where your future bodies would have landed, pulled together as it were.
It appears your minds tried to self-heal by shutting out memory of your immediate future given the collision of two trains of thoughts. Especially, your minds shut down to any magic you had (because magic caused this, and so magic is bad as far as your brain can comprehend.
So now you guys are in the 'now' doing a second run, where you actually hadn't met yet, have been teleported into the dungeon, and have to stop what's going on apparently.
Your minds have tried to navigate the sheer wrongness of what has happened. Slowly, they have knit together the most acceptable 'first run' memories of how you guys met, to form a false history and fill in the oddness of knowing people you have not, actually, met before. Your minds sort of (when you first slept) tried to deal with this, and each of you were offered a choice of the modified memory, or the reality of not knowing the peopel around you. Note there were alos alot of will saves as either future memories tried to intrude, or your mind tried to make sense of strangeness. That had settled down.
So, for a while you guys have moved on happily. However, now for some reason Ameena's weird reappearance has been triggereing a second wave of memory hits. Ameena seems to be walking around compeltely recalling the first run events, and totally forgetting anything about the 'second run' branch you guys have lived. Westian seems to be recalling the future memories now, while still keeping his foot firstly with the second run memories. Falkor seems to have been gently drifting into a few third run memories. And Haynuus seems to be floating in the immediate now, seeing both sets of memories but not selecting either as the truth.
Anyway, just so you guys get some idea of the timeline:
Both runs:
Westian is in his order, Haynuus is wondering around looking for some direction, Ameena meets Helm on the road then spends an evening sleeping after they part, and Falkor has net with a mage called Fex but declined his offer, hanging around in Viborg. Note, this is where - in this first run - all your guys actually ended your backstory on. The next thing you know, you were in the dungeon!
Something had happened a few week ago that eventually storred the interest of Westian's order. Brother Deephold was dispatched. Deephold has met up with Fex as a guide to Anaias, Helm has been drafted as the thief, and together they have ranged into the dungeon. And apparently found some strange stuff.
First run:
Obviously, Deephold's mission does not work. By a few week's later, in secret Westian is dispatched. He encoutners and befriends Haynuus, while in Vioborg Ameena has come to Viborg and met Falkor. Westian meets up with Falkor, since Falkor is the last lead to Deephold's guide Fex.
The group go into the dungeon, have a set of exciting adventures, including defeating Soorec, and then somehow get blown back in time two weeks backwards...
Second run:
The group's past selves are teleported from being settled in their evening routine, to appearing at the start of mount anaias and knocked unconscious by the efforts of their future selves minds sharing space. Meanwhile, Deephold's mission is already going to pieces, with Fex apparently desertign the group, and Helm trying ot get back to the front door.
The group essentially reconstruct the two week's of future memory that would place them in anaias as present memory, and then move onwards to solve the mystery!
Apparently, because Ameena has no memory of her now, encountering the spirit girl is not something they had done before...
Anyway, is that clearer? At the moment this is really to clarify and remind Ameena/OB, and is only probably a revealtion to Ian. Obviously, Raixel as a lurker of the paty's story might be interested in that plot point, and hopefully money and LB might return and be able to catch up at least on that plot beat.
So, questions? Comments? Criticisms? Theories?
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