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GMWestermeyer
Learned Scribe
USA
215 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 05:41:51
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I'm thinking of putting a Chronomancy twist into one of my campaigns. Any advice?
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"Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that is even remotely true."
Homer Simpson, _The Simspons_ |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 06:03:44
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My only piece of advice would be to NOT force "real history" on the characters and limit what they can do.
Let them be worried about snuffing out of existence their cousin Dorf, or even the whole city of Hillsfar for that matter...but if they do something, unless you intend it to be a plot twist, just let it happen.
I simply dealt with by saying "Well, that is how it REALLY happened most likely in history...just because a book says something doesn't make it true!"
I actually had fun sending a party back to the Empire of Netheril...and my own namesake Dalor Darden had a blast using time travel to go back in time and learn a lot.
Essentially he was fitting a years worth of experience into a single month of "real time" and gaining tremendously from it. He would travel back to the day after he "left the past" to continue on, and there would be his gear waiting for him where he had left it.
The only Time Travel spell I found in the Forgotten Realms didn't allow for anything to go back...so his first year was very difficult; but after that it became much easier.
The same could be done with your own party. If they spent an entire "real" year in the past...they would have gained 12 years worth of experience!
Nothing like THAT surprise for their enemies the next year when they go back and they have outstripped those that had defeated them before! |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 06:05:56
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Have you read the 2e Chronomancy tome? If not, I suggest a thorough reading beforehand.
And, also, the time-travel sections in the various Realms "Arcane Age" products as well, for worthwhile tidbits you might find some use for. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 11:48:50
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Make them run through How the Mighty Are Fallen (fall of Netheril adventure). That's what I'm gonna do (adapt it to any rules you need to also)  |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 12:56:41
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I've used chronomancy in my campaigns, either to visit some historical events, and take advantage of the Arcane Age supplements (the Fall of Myth Drannor), or to accomodate the game calendar, and basically take a given scenario out of the current timestream (I've used that trick to play through a campaign based on the Desert of Desolation series, where the PCs are whisked away from the Heartlands by gizmo they find in a cavern while they are under siege (and about to be killed) by some appropriate monsters. At the end of the campaign, I just had them return to the same spot, a split second after they left. Only, now, they were well-rested, fully loaded up on weapons, loot, and magic. They got some satisfaction out of the effect the re-armed and re-vitalised and higher-powered characters had on the monsters who were this close to snuffing their candles.
The biggest issue is to decide on whether you want PCs' actions in the future change the present (which can lead to interesting time paradoxes-. I can echo Sage's recommendation on the Chronomancer supplement (which, I think, was originally a Mayfair Games' product, BTW, which TSR got as part of the settlement), which offers some tips on handling potential time paradoxes. I've always opted for the Temporal Inertia solution. I.e., the PCs' actions in the past do not change the present, because the present came to be as a result of the PCs' actions in the past. If they had not gone, their present would be different. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 18:31:44
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| Chronomancer states: "Toril has many forces devoted to keeping its history intact. Elminster, Khelben Arunsun, the Seven Sisters, and many other powerful wizards have been granted certain undefined powers from Mystra, goddess of magic, to prevent chronomantic spells from working in their vicinities. Supernatural of priestly agents of Deneir and Oghma (Toril's gods of history, so to speak) are believed able to follow a chronomancer's trail and undo any damage he has done. Finally, a chronomancer who seriously disrupts history is likely to encounter an avatar of the most directly concerned deity ...". |
[/Ayrik] |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 19:03:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Alisttair
Make them run through How the Mighty Are Fallen (fall of Netheril adventure). That's what I'm gonna do (adapt it to any rules you need to also)
Probably'll need them to be slightly higher level in 3-4E then 2E called for in that adventure. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Mar 2011 : 20:32:39
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| Sufficiently high level to drop the Tarrasque, lol. |
[/Ayrik] |
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GMWestermeyer
Learned Scribe
USA
215 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2011 : 00:17:03
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Well, they are facing a powerful foe, the Sun King. This is all in Bralspace, but all my campaigns are linked and half the PCs come from Realmspace originally.
Anyway, I think they will need an artifact to defeat this guy, but I'm thinking it is impossible to find. So, they have to travel back to a time when people knew where it was, then find out where it gets hidden, so they can return and recover it in the present.
But should I allow a PC to learn the required chronomancy magic, or force them to use a scroll or magic item instead? How unbalancing is the less powerful Chronomancy spells?
(and yeah, this is all about the 2e supplement, I run a 1e/2e game) :) |
"Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that is even remotely true."
Homer Simpson, _The Simspons_ |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2011 : 04:06:55
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quote:
Originally posted by GMWestermeyer
Well, they are facing a powerful foe, the Sun King. This is all in Bralspace, but all my campaigns are linked and half the PCs come from Realmspace originally.
Anyway, I think they will need an artifact to defeat this guy, but I'm thinking it is impossible to find. So, they have to travel back to a time when people knew where it was, then find out where it gets hidden, so they can return and recover it in the present.
But should I allow a PC to learn the required chronomancy magic, or force them to use a scroll or magic item instead? How unbalancing is the less powerful Chronomancy spells?
(and yeah, this is all about the 2e supplement, I run a 1e/2e game) :)
A quest that grants them access to a device for time travel would be better if you only want them to use it when YOU want them to. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2011 : 05:08:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
quote:
Originally posted by GMWestermeyer
Well, they are facing a powerful foe, the Sun King. This is all in Bralspace, but all my campaigns are linked and half the PCs come from Realmspace originally.
Anyway, I think they will need an artifact to defeat this guy, but I'm thinking it is impossible to find. So, they have to travel back to a time when people knew where it was, then find out where it gets hidden, so they can return and recover it in the present.
But should I allow a PC to learn the required chronomancy magic, or force them to use a scroll or magic item instead? How unbalancing is the less powerful Chronomancy spells?
(and yeah, this is all about the 2e supplement, I run a 1e/2e game) :)
A quest that grants them access to a device for time travel would be better if you only want them to use it when YOU want them to.
It might take a little tinkering, but the general premise of Tracy Hickman's "Anvil of Time" from DUNGEON #86 could probably work. And the device itself -- called 'the Time Bridge' -- can be easily dropped into a Realms adventure. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2011 : 06:02:56
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| You could provide access to chronomancer spells but have them require very exotic/expensive components to cast. Or better yet, have a chronomancer NPC hire them for this mission (or hire them for another and pay them with his timecasting). |
[/Ayrik] |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2011 : 06:22:27
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I'd make it a one-shot, somehow. Either a device (that blows up or gets taken away later, maybe by an immortal/god), or an intermittent malfunctioning portal (that only works once every 500 years, and brings any users back within 24 hours... or whatever).
A Scroll would work. Then they have to find someone who can cast the spell on the other end (probably the same guy who helps them find what they are looking for).
Or simply have someone VERY powerful send them back, and then retrieve them (although at that point one must wonder why that person didn't do it themselves - could be the 'paradox thing' if they were also alive 'back then').
What might be even more fun is have your players roll-up new characters, and have them 'jump-into' the bodies of people from that time (you could even have one or two of them switch sexes). kinda like Quantum leap meets D&D. That way, you won't have to worry about them really messing up time, since they themselves didn't really travel through it - only their spirits/minds did.
Oh, BTW, while they are there can they do me a favor? Have them pop by Realmspace real quick and warn Mystra, okay?  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 10 Mar 2011 06:23:18 |
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Chronomancy, anyone used it?
