I know there is a long thread on this subject from last year, but this question wasn't really answered, I don't think.
Are there any good rules for running an adventure that uses time travel for 3.5, either from WotC, Dragon, Dungeon, or some third party?
I am planning a 1-shot adventure for my players for Halloween ,and I'd like to add some time travel. I know all the caveats about changing the time-line, etc. but this time-travel will be limited in scope.
The PCs will stumble into a very small and isolated farming village a week after Wicharrys (sp?) the "Halloween" of Greyhawk. The village is deserted, but meals are left half-eaten. Halloween decorations are still up, so it may have happened on Halloween. The PCs end up trapped in the village by restless spirits who need absolution. In the course of investigating they will be transported back-and-forth between 4 time periods only, and no longer than 10 years in the past. (1. The present. 2. A week in the past. 3. 5 years in the past. 4. 10 years in the past). Over the course of the adventure they (hopefully) discover how to stop an horrific evil from happening.
Since it is an isolated village, and the time period is limited, not much can be "changed" other than the horrible act that has left the village abandoned. I am toying with the idea that it is the gods themselves using the PCs as tools to fix something that was so evil that they feel time must be changed to stop it.
I'm wondering if any time-travel rules exist? I am trying to decide between having the time-shifting be "event based" or by touching certain items.
Thanks.
Yes, it was either March or April. It had new Chronomancy spells.
I guess I'm not really looking for rules, but rather the best way to handle time-travel.
Should I have the PCs _themselves_ go back in time? Or should I have them go back in time into the bodies of villagers of the time period (like possessing them).
I _do_ want them to be able to affect changes in the past and the present.
If I have the PCs themselves go back in time, I was thinking about having the players make up three character sheets for each PC. One at Lvl 1, one at Lvl 5, and one at Lvl 10.
Should I have the PCs _themselves_ go back in time? Or should I have them go back in time into the bodies of villagers of the time period (like possessing them).I _do_ want them to be able to affect changes in the past and the present.
If I have the PCs themselves go back in time, I was thinking about having the players make up three character sheets for each PC. One at Lvl 1, one at Lvl 5, and one at Lvl 10.
I would not recommend having multiple levels. If a PC is time traveling it doesn't make sense that he remembers all the clues he learned in the present, but forgot how to cast fireball in the process.
If you go with the possession route you can mock up entirely different PCs for them. It's kinda fun to have people playing commoners from time to time. "Oh no, a monster! I... can't really do anything. Run away!" But I would use it sparingly. People play D&D (partially) to obliterate monsters with cool powers, and being terrible isn't very fun. Even a Call of Cthulhu character can be good at stuff, even though they probably won't survive.
If you are looking for possible mechanics for this situation the 2nd edition Ravenloft adventure From the Shadows has a possession based time travel element. It's done much better than the dungeon crawl that follows, but it's still vary sketchy. I don't have the adventure on me since I am not paying attention in class right now.
As for the adventure design itself, I would just create a number of if/then situations. Example: If the PCs steal the wacky artifact in -5 years, then Farmer Joe is never melted into a hideous sludge and gets to fight in -1 week, leaving an enemy body behind to be discovered in the present.
Time travel is fun. I planned a whole campaign around it once, but the details hurt the brain quite badly.
There's an older suppliment called Chronomancy from 2e that you might look into. I know it's not 3e, but if you're not looking for rules then you don't really need to limit yourself to 3e products.
Also, the Forge of War suppliment for Eberron discusses time travel. It might end up being too setting specific, but I haven't really buried my nose in it so I couldn't say for sure.
one way i've heard of people doing it creating a "this is the way it happend (or is supposed to happen)" story and anything that they change affects them in some way. It could be random, like say "Bob decides to kill a commoner in the past, well that changed something and "roll for random PC" Dave gets something changed about him and that is "roll for random effect" He was born female instead. Lots of things can happen. He could have a brother now, or have his race changed by half (human to half elven, or halfelven to full elven)Be six inches taller, have different color hair. granted this is if you don't mind a little oddness added into the game
there is also the tv idea of "stuck in a loop until you get it right" thing
Well, as mentioned in my initial post, I've intentionally set the story in a very isolated, and small, village, so things they do in the past shouldn't change the greater world too much.
In order to account for villagers not potentially leaving the village (to become a madman who takes over the world in the future) this village is sort of like from the Children of The Corn in a way. VERY old fashioned and insular. Very religious, patriarchal, and with lots of rules. So, saving someone in the past won't really "screw up" the future much, if at all.
The basic premise is that 1 week before the PCs arrive, _all_ the villagers disappeared, but some restless spirits may remain (the village is haunted). The disappearance is linked to a horrifically evil act committed by one or more of the villagers in the past, but which bonds them all together.
The purpose of the time travelling will be to solve the mystery of what happened, and to find a way from stopping the evil act in the past, so that the villagers don't all disappear in the present. At -5 years the PCs can interact with the villagers, but since the evil act has already occurred at that point, nothing they do then will stop all the villagers from disappearing in the present. The only point at which they can stop that happening is at -10 years, but not without first gathering clues, and also accomplishing a specific goal in the _present_ which will give them the info they need to stop the event in the past.
I sort of see it being like the series finale of ST:TNG where Picard was jumping back and forth through time, with the solution to changing the past being found elsewhere.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having them inhabit the bodies of villagers, but I will have the inhabit villagers who are "like them" (a fighter end s up in a strong person, etc) and allow them to retain their own knowledge, and perhaps even skills like using a bastard sword... if they can find one. ;-)