A Campaign Based on Survival, Progression, and Dying Numerous Times

[Vurrunna]

I've recently decided to try a form of Pathfinder that revolves around the PCs being normal, every-day people that suddenly wake up on an island with amnesia. The PCs must survive on the island, worrying about constant (and relatively realistic) dangers. The catch is that when they die, they revive on a stone pedestal with all of their abilities intact.

One feature is that the PCs level up with actual experience, meaning they have to succeed at a type of check X times before they gain a level in it. This adds some reason to the gaining of skills (no more "I killed a dragon! Now I can appraise diamonds!"), as well as works well with my experience in other systems (most other games I've played use a spending system where you spend experience to get individual skill levels). This system also works when earning Feats, Spells, and sometimes Abilities; the PC trains hard enough, and he learns a new trick. Abilities are awarded when the PC has worked long and hard to improve in an area, like training, researching, or talking whenever they get the chance.

Also, by allowing the PCs to revive for free, I'm allowed to throw whatever I want at them. If I decide a dragon lives on the island, I can introduce him with fly by where he gobbles up a random PC. The catch to the revival system (the catch to the catch, if you will) is that the PCs respawn in 'ceremonial tunics,' meaning any gear is lost. However, since the game will be relatively low-fantasy (magic is rare and very powerful), and since most tools and such are homemade, they won't need to worry about regaining their loot early on.

Another thing about the revival process is that the PCs keep any scars from before. This means that if a PC is stabbed and dies, he has scars on both sides of his body where the sword got him, or if he loses an arm, it's gone for good. If the PC is utterly destroyed (burned, melted, eaten, etc.), then he is reborn in a new body. This is rolled randomly on a chart that offers a much higher variety than the core races (using online resources; there's even a 1/10,000 chance to become a dragon, because why not?). He then loses his past racial traits (including Ability Modifiers) and gains his new race's traits.

The game takes place on a jungle island, which raises many dangers. Most of the water is polluted, either by the ocean, dangerous jungle plants, or just dirt. There are also many poisonous creatures that lurk in the trees, as well as plain old dangerous ones, including pumas and constrictors. As the PCs learn about the island, they can find and connect with one of the various cultures on the island, made up of various races (primarily humans, Lizardfolk, and Boggards), all of which start off as negative to violent against the PCs, but can eventually become allies.

Well, that's the basics. Feel free to tell me what you think or offer ideas. If anyone wants some of the statistical stuff, I can post it.

[DominusMegadeus]

What would inspire the PCs to do anything except level up their spellcasting until they can get away from the island or outright dominate it?

Dying, even in horrific ways, has no consequence. They're Wizards with nothing but downtime. Why wouldn't this happen besides "all Wizards would be a boring party"?

[Vurrunna]

DominusMegadeus wrote:

What would inspire the PCs to do anything except level up their spellcasting until they can get away from the island or outright dominate it?

Dying, even in horrific ways, has no consequence. They're Wizards with nothing but downtime. Why wouldn't this happen besides "all Wizards would be a boring party"?

1. Where's the fun in that?

2. The game is set around exploring and building. My players have shown an interest in building bases and all that, so this will give them a good reason. No base, you die. I'll also think up some good consequences for death; I was toying with the idea of losing experience, and I also plan to have it take time before the PCs respawn.

3. As I said, the game is mostly low-fantasy, and the "very powerful magic" is really only powerful in a sense that you won't find any magic glow-in-the-dark spoons. Instead, there will be spectrals (spirity-like creatures that have magical powers) that possess items and give them powers. These spectrals are generally powerful, as well, doing stuff like setting things on fire or dealing extra damage (or creating pure water or healing extra damage, when in other uses).

Also, sometimes I forget to mention stuff, especially in long posts, so there may be some stuff I left out. I'll probably mention it later, though.

[Rynjin]

Why not just play Minecraft?

[Vurrunna]

I've played a session with this campaign, and it actually went very well. I devised the system that if you die, you respawn an hour later. If you die within an hour after respawning, you decrease a random Ability by 1, and respawn in an hour. You then have to survive for four hours, then eight, then sixteen, and so on, and every time you die withing that increment, a random Ability goes down.

Also, the players had fun with some of the ways they perished, and they still learned not to mess with the serious dangers. The first enemy they met while traveling into the jungle was a Minotaur, so they learned not to venture deep into the island. One of them went swimming because he plays free-willed characters, and got killed by a Sahuagin. Then, when he found out that dying causes Abilities to go down (I left the game open ended with it's explanation so they could learn how to play as they went along), he started playing more seriously and focusing on survival needs.

Overall, it went pretty well, and I believe it will get better as we go along.