Identity Crisis

Dave (again) gave me a wonderful idea, only this one was from years ago when he was running his own unique game. Heavily influenced by anime themes, we and a bunch of the guys at Oakland University's Order of Leibowitz had a great time playing it because we were often encouraged to play outrageous characters. Mine, I thnk, was a bit more mundane than most; Ken Koda, super cop.

One night Dave takes me aside and says, "I want you to play a doppelganger that has replaced your character. Drop hints, give everyone else a chance to realize you aren't you." I had a ball all night doing evil shit, being a bastard, and yet no one caught on. It could have been that they simply were not expecting me to be not me, or I was not as out of character as I thought, or everyone thought I was being more of a dick than normal. It is hard to remember but I think Evil Ken led them into a trap.

Years later, I gave it a try. Keith's character-Black Angel-was comatose, and I e-mailed him privately suggesting his character was possessed. And as long as she wore this magic coat those with supernatural senses would not notice. Keith dropped hints both in role playing and even changing the color of his e-mail posts from violet to red, but no one caught on. Again, either he was not doing it well enough (and I think he was, personally) or people simply were not expecting it.

There were no hard feelings, no outrage over the deception. My players seemed to have fun with the revelation. Keith especially had a great time. There were no hard feelings, either the first time years back or when I was running my game. If you pick the right player and if you play fair, giving the rest a chance to trip on to the switch, then the GM and players both could have a great time, provided there are opportunities for the characters to discover the deception.

The scheme truly works best if the campaign is a well established one with most of the players and their characters being familiar with one another. Perhaps to spice things up a hint is thrown that one of them is not who they appear, and perhaps there was an instance when everyone at one point or another was absent from the rest. Is there truly a double in their midst, or is the GM playing head games with the players?

This plot is not new. Marvel Comics had Secret Invasion where Skrulls had replaced numerous super heroes. In Deep Space Nine Doctor Bashir was replaced by a changeling. In The Original Series' Turnabout Intruder Kirk was forced to switch bodies with a woman named Edith Keeler. Picard was replaced at least twice on TNG and in Voyager I believe it happened to Tom Paris.

Which brings up a variation of this idea: body switching. What if everyone on the team/party wound up with someone else's body? They would have to learn one another's powers and perhaps deal with their civilian lives. Perhaps one character's original body is hideous and he doesn't want it back? Perhaps a person from one sex occupies the body of another and discovers they actually like being a chick/dude? There are all sorts of role playing opportunities here and a lot of potential fun.

Writer's Road Block

When working up plots and adventures, you might come across writer's block, a dry spell. Do not panic. It happens to everyone, even me. And when that happens, it never hurts to have a something to fall back on to help you until you come up with something. The internet has numerous resources to fall back on, here are some:

Bob has some original stuff for your super hero game.

83 Free D&D Adventures

Shadowrun Missions

Wizards of The Coast has some good links to support their products. The Star Wars Archives has at least one campaign, the Dawn of Defiance. Check out their entire archive, it is worth a look.

This Star Trek site has some links to ready made adventures you may be able to adapt to your campaign.

The internet is not your only resource. Maybe in your filing cabinet in your closet you have plenty of old gaming material from your table top games, just sitting there, waiting to be employed? Old Dungeons & Dragons, Villains & Vigilantes, Champions, Traveler, GURPS material just sitting there, doing nothing.

Now, you might say, "Tom, I am not running a (fill in the blank) game, how can this adventure designed for a (fill in the blank) setting work for me? Well, that can be fun. Throwing the characters into an unusual situation might be an enjoyable experience for you and them both. Running a super heroic or cyber punk game? What if the players wind up in a fantasy setting, clad in different clothes? Is it a virtual reality simulation? Have they switched bodies with counterparts from another dimension? Is a telepath screwing with their heads? Or what if you are playing a fantasy game and the players find themselves on a space station? Half the fun would be them figuring out how their hi-tech gear works. Then the other half is you trying to explain to them why they can't bring it back with them to the magical lands of Ebonwood. Likewise some smart ass wants to take his +5 Saber of Shadows home to Rimworld Station. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is mix genres. That's as crazy as combining peanut butter and chocolate...

Hmmm...

You know, that is not a bad idea, provided you realize what you are getting yourself into. A magical boom stick would make for a great source of consternation if the players wind up losing it. They would have to get it back, else some peasant might make himself a king with such an artifact. And scientists would be willing to go to great lengths to capture the artifact that seems to defy quantum science, perhaps even hiring mercenary armies to relieve your players' party of their new toy. Just give it some thought and also have an out; weapons have limited ammunition, batteries go dead. Some magical artifacts are fragile, or magic might fade entirely in a world where the artifact was not crafted.

There is nothing saying you have to use each and every element of these adventures you; could drive yourself and your players crazy doing so. These adventures are to supplement your creative energies, not become a crutch or replacement for it. And pick and choose what feels good to you. Do you not like the map? Ditch it. Hate the NPCs? Lose 'em. Perhaps all you need from the adventure is a kernal of an idea, an ember to spark your imagination again.