In Search of Sanity as PBP -- Other opening scenes?

[Douglas Muir 406]

Planning to run this as PBP, and I think most of it will work just fine. However, I'm not sure about the opening scene. In FTF, it will be disturbing in part because it's so *fast* -- the players are thrown in and have no idea what's going on and little time to stop and think. In PBP, though, that scene will stretch over days, and I think a lot of the impact will be diminished.

Anybody have any thoughts on how to deal with this? I'm thinking maybe ending it after *one* character is killed, but that might be trading speed for impact. Other suggestions, perhaps? Has anyone tried alternate opening scenes?

Thanks in advance,

Doug M.

[Adam Daigle]

That scene would be tough over PBP, for sure. Maybe consider writing it out as a narrative, and skip actually playing the scene out (but still award them the story award). Have the PCs wake up in the cells as their first real encounter.

[WormysQueue]

One possibility would be to handle this scene over another medium (VoIP, or, if you are not comfortable with that, any chat programm will do as well. May be difficult though to set up a date where every player can partake.

So what I would probably do in case I ran the AP, is to use this scene during the recruiting process as an additional measure to get an impression of the players before chosing the actual participants. This could be handled over PM and I would probably change the structure a bit so that every prospective player only has to answer you one or two times over PM. Make clear that you won't answer questions, and that the information they got through your PM is everything they have for now. At the end of the recruiting process, you post the PMs and the answer of the chosen players in the gameplay thread, reveal the opponent, let them make one final action and then narrate the rest of the events. Maybe let them react one more time after the first casualty as a means to heighten the horror, but that's already optional.

Now if I've got this right, you already have your players picked but are still in the process of setting things up, so maybe you can adapt this idea. If not, Adam Daigle's advice is sound and may even set an example for the narrative style you want to achieve with your campaign.

[DM Rah]

I am running Strange Aeons through PBP now and worked up an alternate version of the opening that you can see HERE.

The dream description is very similar to how the book plays out, though I did make a few minor additions to reflect some changes I made for my campaign.

My players woke up in a different time and place then in the book, as patients with total amnesia in the asylum before the riots and earthquake, but the dream can drop them anywhere.

Briarstone has so much good background material on staff and patients that I felt would be lost on the players, so I'm giving them the opportunity to see the asylum and interact with those in it, and witness a few disturbing events before it all goes to hell.

Campaign Spoiler Notes:

The man screaming "Ia!" In their dreams is Zandalus. His screams foreshadow events in the asylum and the word is used as a mantra by his Apostles in Orpiment.

I combined Lowl's ritual to sacrifice the player's minds with the ritual to free Zandalus' mind, which also loosed the Tatterman. Though Doctor Losandro took part in setting up the ritual, and provided a secure place in Briarstone for it to be conducted, she didn't join in the dream and so didn't see what Lowl's truly bartered for with the Mad Poet. This deepens Losandro's involvement in the plot, making her a more sinister figure exploiting patients at Briarstone for occult research. It also allows clues can be left in Losandro's journal that foreshadow future events in the campaign.