DnD 3.5 Interest Check / Brainstorming - Cursed Dice

[Theik]

It is something I have already discussed in the shoutbox at some point to get some ideas going, but the basic idea is as following:

A group of friends is playing dungeons and dragons. Because their dice went missing the last time, one of them got some new ones from a nearby voodoo store. Ignoring the shopkeeper's warning that voodoo is not a toy, they decided to use them for their game all the same... only to end up inside of their gameworld, stuck inside the bodies of their characters. As if that wasn't bad enough, the world quickly takes a turn for the worse and they have to save it in the hopes of getting out.

Ideas:
I'm thinking a first level start, because it would make more sense RP-wise. They weren't exactly warriors or sorcerers in the real world, so starting them out learning the ropes works best.

Meta-gaming would be allowed, based on the knowledge of the real-world character. A total DnD geek might know exactly how to beat a gelatinous cube, where as somebody who joined the session for the first time would be left relatively clueless as to what is going on. They did not lose their memory after going inside their characters.

Characters could become drastically different. Think the six-foot tall jock who joined his first session suddenly being stuck in a halfling wizard's body, the flat-chested geeky girl of the group suddenly being a towering, busty barbarian, the guy who always plays female characters getting stuck in a female body.


Note:
This is not a sign-up thread, I'm mostly just looking to see who would be interested and who has ideas to share. There's no need to post character profiles yet. I'd love some ideas on what kind of adventure the RP would be, etc.

[BenedictWolfe]

Well... sounds interesting, I must say. A little bit reminiscent of "The Gamers", "Journey Quest" and "Tales from the Table". I might be up for this.

If you need ideas for adventures, remember that there are dozens of 3.5 adventure modules available.

[TheHangedOne]

I love this idea! Also, an idea or two of my own. If you want to really make things spooky, you could always consult the 3.0 edition Ravenloft stuff.  I think it might be interesting to have the characters shifted into that particular D&D world. And even if not, you could yoink ideas from it. Their's also a book out called Heroes of Horror and another one, Book of Vile Darkness. They're splatbooks. Lots of good stuff for horror themed campaigns, though.

I, personally, would love to use some things from Heroes of Horror.

[Theik]

I'm not familiar with the Heroes of Horror, but I have seen the Book of Vile Darkness before. I didn't exactly mean for the game to sound like a horror-based campaign however, voodoo dice were mostly just a plot gimmick to get them inside their game world, there is no requirement for the campaign suggestions to be horror or voodoo based.

[TheHangedOne]

Ahh, alright.  :-) I'm still quite interested.

[Wolf Heart]

Oh, I've got a lot of interest in this idea. More often then not, this kind of thing turns out rather well, RP wise, and I'm always interested in seeing how things turn out. Personally, I adore the exotic and slightly strange, so extra-planar adventures are fun... if a little impractical at level one. Other than that? I'd never turn down a chance to meet elves and metallic dragons.  ::)

[ExisD]

This sounds like an amazingly fun idea. Though what would happen to the DM?

I kind of think the idea of their characters setting out on a very stereotypical dnd adventure that would be very frightening/disturbing to people from our world would be a fun thing to do. something like going and wiping out a cult that was sacrificing people to call an extra-planar army, when they didn't think of how bad investigating and fighting them would be. Especially since their characters were probably much higher level.

[Theik]

A good question, what -does- happen to the DM? (The... in character DM that is, obviously, because the actual campaign DM would... be a DM. xD)

I'm guessing they end up suffering the same fate, but can help the group perform a lot better because he/she knows what is going to come next. Until the campaign takes a life of its own and he/she becomes just as clueless about what is happening as the rest!

[ExisD]

Maybe there was a GMPC that he was planning on using that he got stuck in?

[Theik]

I don't think ExisD meant the actual DM who is campaigning "the campaign", but the character that had been DMing their game before they all got sucked in, who would be just another player, I suppose. Alternatively, the DM was not sucked in, thinks everybody went home early because his campaign sucked, and cries himself to sleep on the sofa with some cheeto's. It really doesn't matter all that much.

But this does bring a pretty interesting point, such a campaign could be terribly confusing, as "players" could refer to both the roleplayers, or the trapped characters.

For the sake of easy understanding, I shall use "roleplayers" when talking about the actual people playing the campaign, and "players" for the trapped characters.

[ExisD]

to clarify, I mean the potential person playing the GM who got sucked into the game. Not the person running the game here.

[fallensaviour]

this sounds like the plot of the cartoon...

[fallensaviour]

so what, kind of like jumanji the game has to be played to the proper end to free the players?

[Ixy]

I would be interested in this idea if I'd fit in with the player group you decide.  It would be neat to remove that 'wall', and while I usually prefer heavy drama, this would be a nice change of pace as I kind of assume that it would be lighthearted in some respects.  It would be really fun to play out their personality and relationship changes... confidence, humility, courage, etc. 

[Theik]

I suppose it -could- be compared to jumanji. I hadn't exactly thought of that link yet myself, but it is a good comparison, although in jumani, the game goes into the real world, instead of them going into the game world.

That dungeon master idea funny, though I doubt that would really work unless that person is also the actual DM of the campaign. Even then, I think it might make the situation seem a lot less drastic to the trapped players (they have an invisible floating guardian angel who can warn them about everything), and it would be pretty silly to have a floating narrator telling them that they encountered seven goblins, if they themselves can see that just fine themselves; they are "part of the game", after all.

[BenedictWolfe]

I think the best comparison is the cartoon D&D series from the 80s..... But I could do without Dungeon Master.

[ExisD]

Yeah, I don't think the mysterious voice of the DM idea would work well.... though it could explain any divinations the party casts. They manage to break through the magic wall and contact the DM.

[Black Howling]

I know I'm not in the game, and unfortunately I don't have the time to actually play it; but the idea is something I've done before. So I figured I'd offer some advice. Feel free to ignore it if you want, just thought I'd pitch in to help.

A good way to handle it is to have it that the DM was the one playing with the cursed dice. The DM controls the world after all, and he rolled with the damned things that would have obviously caused a huge effect. Have them trapped in the DM's mind, so to speak. The DM seemingly goes into a coma, and the worse things he imagined happening in the game; and thus accordingly his worst campaign ever comes to life in his mind. The players thus accordingly have to complete the campaign to both stay alive and get their friend to wake up as he can't even realize what he's doing to them.

Divinations and the like could be easy ways that come 'in contact with the GM's true mind', or that is the person and not the overgod he truly believes he is in the game or whatever.

Not sure if that helps or not, but I figured it might be worth mentioning if the concept was giving ya trouble. Good luck, this looks like lots of fun.

[Theik]

Well, if they are really transported to the fantasy word, divinations could also very well be explained by the deities taking interest in them. They are after all, in a sense, planar travellers, and those tend to draw some attention, especially if they suddenly "take over" the bodies of their previously faithful subjects. Or perhaps they don't even realize the difference, and simply continue aiding the characters because they did beforehand, until it becomes blatantly obvious that they are no longer serving the deity properly enough, which could branch off into a sub-quest of sorts. -Shrug.-

[Isengrad]

A simple way to put his is place it in a continuity bubble, basically once they are sucked into the game world... they are in the game world.. in mind at least. Back in the real world it could all just be going smoothly in a sense, the dm and players seemingly on auto pilot. once the game concludes everyone is back in thier body with the dm congratulating them on the best session they ever had.. not a single distraction...while the players glance around and figure it must have been a dream.

of course if you don't want that there is always the coma option. In that case back in the real would they would all look like they just fell asleep while playing the game.

As another little idea, It would be neat.. and kinda fun if they still referred to their character sheet.. nice little fourth wall humor when they pull out an id card and on the back it has thier stats feat selection and the like... could be kinda funny when the party tell the fighter(who is a weakling in real life, small and kinda frail) to move the heavy bolder out of the way and he insists he cant do it. they tell him of course they can and he checks his sheet and is like "Oh yeah, I have a strength score of 22" just little 4th wall humor.. kinda like in 8bit theater

[TheHangedOne]

Doing the continuity bubble thing, you could always have them where since they succeeded, the time that elapsed was comparatively small; only a few seconds/minutes/hours instead of the hours days, weeks, months, years (?) that the campaign could have potentially lasted.

I like the 4th wall breaking ideas. Though about the gods...personally, I'd be playing a character with a lot of what would be perceived as meta-knowledge; he researched the campaign world beforehand. If it was the DM's homebrew, he'd know as much as the DM would allow him. If it's something already established in D&D like Faerun... player has 20 ranks in Knowledge (Faerun), so to speak. So he'll know exactly how to appease his deity.

On that note, I'd probably be playing the cleric/favored soul. If somebody else really wants that role, I'll probably go sorcerer/warlock, though.

Apologies if this is a bit on the rambling side of things; bit scatterbrained at the moment.

[ExisD]

I think it being the DMs home brew world would be more fun for the game. In regards to concept, I have a fun idea for a warlock who eventually multi-classes into rogue. My other big idea, sorcerer/monk would need a much higher level to become effective in the slightest.

Though it may be fun making a character who's build assumes a higher level and have the player dealing with those problems.

[LeoStar]

I'm up for this sort of game, I love games where players play themselves thrown into another world. as for what happens to the player being the DM of the in game game, they can just get pulled in as they are. Or end up playing a Wizard... since wizards know almost everything. If this does get of the ground can we actually play ourselves?

[Mysterica]

I Love this idea!  Another possible idea
for the dm though is that he is sucked into the game becoming an antagonist and has no idea his friends are the people he is trying to kill/conquer...  Interesting concept since he was trying to kill their characters in the first place ne?

[Theik]

DMs don't -always- try to kill their players. ;)
Just usually.