OK, I'm in the process of planning my next campaign. It will be set in the Forgotten Realms (as usual).
The idea I've come up with is as follows:
Just prior to the Time of Troubles, a mighty wizard and his apprentice predicted the Time of Troubles (the wizard might be a diviner), and came up with a contigency plan. He created clones of himself and all of his apprentices. However, since this diviner predicted that magic would run wild, he modified the Clone-spell, creating a spell that made identical duplicates of himself and his apprentices in appearance only, but that was raw material, so to speak. These clones would have no knowledge of the fact that they are clones, and what powers and abilities they would possess, would be completely random. Their alignment, personality and traits would also be random.
The clones were all pre-programmed to awaken at a specific date, when the diviner had predicted that the Time of Troubles would be over (he missed with over a decade, but that's beside the point).
For some reason (I haven't figured out why yet), the clones were shipped off to Waterdeep, and via Skullport, ended up in a secret basement below a Watderdeep inn. Now, on New Year's Eve 1373, the clones awaken....
The clones are of course the PCs. They awaken with no memories. When they find their way out of the basement, they discover that the citizens of a Waterdeep neighborhood has been captured by a small Cult of Graz'zt, and is about to be sacrificed. The characters stop the cult, and become instant neighborhood heroes.
The campaign synopsis is based around the character's quest on finding out why they were there in the first place, where they came from and getting their memories back (which, unfortunately for them, are none). I think they will be a little surprised when they discover that they are, in fact, clones.
There are a couple of things I'm unsure of... what have the wizard and his apprentices been up to since before Time of Troubles? Have they been in stasis, trying to survive the magical cataclysm their master predicted? And when they awaken, they try to find their clones? Are they angry with their master's wrong predictions, causing them to abandon him, kill him and then fall apart because they can't choose a new "leader"?
I think I have a cool synopsis, but I also do believe that there are a few holes that need to be filled.
One other option could be that the clones are part of a bet between a cabal of wizards. Create a clone and see which clone is most successful. The wizards may scry on them from time to time or use spies to follow their life. I guess it would really piss the players off to know they are just pawns in a game of chess, but maybe it will piss them off in a good way. I dunno.
The basic idea is very nice. I was toying with something similar for years.
IIRC, the clones or the originals get mad when both exist on the same plane. So either the originals should be dead or on another plane - perhaps the wizard and his apprentices are in stasis on a pocket plane of the Astral Plane or something similar. Or they are simply dead, killed as predicted during the times of troubles.
The clones may have differing abilities due to the influence of wild magic or something like that, which interfered with the clone spells. (Here´s your excuse to run really wild regarding PC races).
Perhaps the clones have been shipped off to Waterdeep because one of the wizards owned the place they awaken in - and it happens that there is a deed of ownership with a detailed physical description of one of the PCs nearby. Or there is a very lawful steward of the place, who just knows that he is to guard the place and keep it intact (he might be under a Geas).
I would be careful about the bet idea - IME, players don´t like it much being pawns.
Just some ideas.
Stefan
I think the wizards and appretices being in stasis and waking up at the same time is a good plan. Maybe they do kill the wizard and then each go their separate way hoping to gain the power needed to take the leadership position. The problem is they have all been weakened by the clone making process and feel the need to destroy/absorb their clone to gain the power back. This would allow for multiple plots against the PCs from different directions. You also may want to do something that illustrates the PCs gaining back some of their forgotten/lost power as clones. You could give up the normal XP system and have them level when they complete certain tasks that unlock the hidden power within them. Maybe the original wizard allow predicted his demise at the hands of the apprentices and came up with a spell that would allow the clones to be the primaries and make the appretices the clones. There could be several adventure finding pieces of the ritual that the wizard scattered about and mabye special components like maybe personal items form the original appretices. For that matter maybe the PCs could learn that they can't kill the appretices because it may cause them to fade away. There are lots of options here.
I've been so busy lately that I forgot my own thread..
Anyway, many good pieces of advice here. I need a plot device that pits the apprentices against the characters, but not right away (as the characters start at 1st level). After rethinking the plot, this is what I've come up with:
* Wizard predicts Time of Troubles, takes measures to prevent his and his apprentices demise. The wizard fears that magic will run wild and kill all magic-users (what the wizard REALLY sees is the Spellscourge or whatever it name was, the event which will plunge Faerun into 4th edition).
* Clones are made and set to trigger if the originals dies.
* The wizard & co had many enemies in their home nation (haven't yet figured out where that is), so the wizard ship off the clones to Waterdeep. He bribes a small-time thief to show them a hidden cellar below an inn. He then kills the thief and hides the clones there. Notice that none of the apprentices know the location of the clones. Another security measure from the very paranoid master wizard.
* The wizard and the apprentices put themselves in stasis a couple of years before Time of Troubles, either on the Astral Plane or in a hidden refuge on the Material Plane.
* Something goes wrong with the master wizard's triggering conditions, and they remain in stasis for way too long. In fact, on New Year's Eve 1373, the clones awaken (but not the apprentices).
* When the originals do awaken (I was thinking one year later), they are extremely upset with the master. They attack their master, and while they cannot kill him, they trap him within some sort of magical prison. However, these bickering, selfish individuals cannot coexist without a master, and splits up. One of them stays behind and guards the master's prison. This prison duty is rotational. One year each.
* The apprentices' life goes on, but suddenly, they start losing some of their powers, or they don't improve at all. This is because of a fascinating magical effect which binds the clones and the originals to one another. As the clones gain XP, the originals lose XP. Maybe not on a 1-to-1-ratio, but seriously enough so that eventually, the apprentices decide to bury the hatchet and find out what's causing this.
* They eventually figure out that the clones are actually alive, and feeding off their energy. The apprentices must then hunt them down and put an end to them. Their natural animosity towards one another prevents them from combining their efforts in a truly effective manner though, and may be what saves the characters.
OK, I think I actually have a workable synopsis now.
I have already come up with the first major clue to what's going on (this adventure plot was actually how I came up with the plot in the first place).
* The town guard approaches one of the characters and claim he has committed some sort of mid-level crime (robbery, theft, assault etc.). The characters are well-liked in the neighborhood, but the guard captain has reliable witnesses that says the PC did it. At this point, the characters naturally suspect the clichéd doppelganger/disguised/polymorphed plot, and start their own investigation. They track down the real culprit who, surprise surprise, looks exactly like the PC in question. The adventurers then use magic (dispel magic, true seeing etc.) to find the look-a-like's real identity, but guess what? This IS his real identity. Looks like the PC's gotten himself a twin!
Explanation: One of the apprentices was even more paranoid than his master, and secretly created another clone for himself, in case something went awry. This second clone awakened at the same time as the PCs, but in a different town. Fate had it that they would end up in the same city one day. The second clone is as baffled as the PCs as to why they look the same.
So what do you think? Where are the plot holes?
It's a start, IF the PCs all want to be the wizard's apprentices. The bigger campaign issue could revolve around the "people" who would want to steal the secret of this cloning magic - be it a spell or artifact - which could draw in the PCs should they uncover a cloned threat and have to get the bottom of where this threat came from, which could lead them to the wizard/apprentice clone conflict. It seems that a spell that could create the permanent clone would be too costly for the wizard to just toss on anyone, esp low level apprentices - so the item/artifact process seems easier. You could have only one of the PCs be an apprentice/clone...
It's a start, IF the PCs all want to be the wizard's apprentices.
That part of the plot is secret to the players. I've told them, well, asked them, if it would be OK to start of with the campaign with all of them awakening with no memory. They totally loved the idea. They don't have to be wizards though. The flawed cloning process means that they can have any race or class. I'll just create the apprentices after the PCs are created.
I was thinking of the plot developing into something like the Clone Wars.. that this magic technology must be shut down or something, and that the PCs are being hunted by zealots who will rid the world of this abomination.