Non-Chronological Games

[GA]

Recently I have been thinking about games that are not run in a chronological order. What this does is let you get to the good stuff without having to worry about how your characters got there. You just throw them right in the action. It also lets you and the players have more shape over the story (maybe) because they can imagine how they got there and let that sort of thing just write itself through gameplay. Its the whole 2 weeks later 6 months earlier type of thing you see in movies, flashbacks and fast forwards. But done all the time.

I am wondering if this can be sustained over a long time though. Has anyone ever run a game along these lines? If so how'd it work out?

[Natasha]

(N)PCs change (advance levels of experience, fall in love, lose an arm, die).

The biggest challenge I think would be keeping everything coherent.

[GA]

Well what you could do is just have the PC skills written out at different levels so pre build them. At Level 1 Level 5 whatever. The GM would probably have to give them some idea of the game he wants to do beforehand and give them some idea for the skills he thinks he's going to need for it.

This would of course be very rough and non binding on GM or player since the story could go in an entirely different direction. I see your point but i think it could be surmounted fairly easily. I think PCs tend to plan out the kind of character they plan on having when they first make it anyway.

The same would apply for background and storylines. The player would tell the GM what he thinks would be interesting for his character and what he wants to do in the game and the GM could fast forward and back away from those goals and desires.

[Natasha]

Alright.

If you can pull it off without feeling railroaded, then it's all good. And I think you can pull it off with the right playing group. For me though, I'm very character-development-centric player. I'm not sure I would want to play in a such a game since pre-generating each level of experience are choices made at the start rather than in relation of the character's reality and the character himself unfolds and develops.

Even still I think it's an interesting idea that other player types could enjoy.

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. Well, I haven't done this exactly, but I have done things like prequels to a current campaign (so doing back story stuff during the current campaign). Right players and right storyline, it can work. Though there are a few problems that can come up if you're not careful.

1) There is a classic issue of the fact that if the character exists in the future, then a player may do stupid stuff knowing they can't die (I can't die because I'm alive a year in the future). I haven't personally hit this problem myself, as my players tend to be more story oriented and therefore avoided that aspect. However, I put that as a compliment to those players.

2) Railroading storyline. No, not by the fact the character sheet is already done, but certain aspects of the story are already fixed. This can lead to certain actions by players and/or NPC doing things they wouldn't do, things that are out of character and sometimes just don't make sense, so that something in the future can happen properly.

Example: I ran a prequel that involved test piloting a new fighter craft in a character's back story. In the back story there was an incident. As a result, these incidents are fixed (which will be similar once you start time jumping the story). Well, when telling the actual story, it hit a very awkward part that made little sense and was in many ways out of character so the fixed event could still happen. Unfortunately, for continuity of the story, I had little choice.

Example: Someone else mentioned this one to me a long time ago. Try not to linch me, but let's take a look at the Star Wars prequels. There are certain actions within it (other person and I had been discussing Mace Windu, who I didn't like and he said he did, and we discussed some various actions which I can't recall) that at times could seem out of place, but probably had to happen that way (fixed history). When writing it you may think "This character wouldn't do that," but with the future being determined already, it may be forced anyways.

3) Limiting ideas. This may sound weird, but having too much set up can limit creativity. I don't know about others but I tend to make things up as I go. I start off with point A (start of game) and know I get to point M and point Z, with only vague ideas of what those two are. Now points B, C, D, etc. are created as we go, and often influenced heavily by the player. By the time I get to point M, it quite often has changed heavily. All the steps leading to it have given me new and better ideas. So while point M and Z may have some vague similarity to what they once were, they are definitely not the same. By having point M and Z already set (with time shifting the story), there won't be that same room to rework them, make them better, customize them to the other points, etc. As a result, some new ideas may end up being limited and ignored. This can be worked around if done correctly. However, it can be tricky. Of course, if you (general you, not targeting anyone in particular) are the type of person who doesn't get inspired easily and need everything planned out in advance (personally, I work best on the spot) then this might not be a problem.

Just a few things that come to mind. The idea can work, but there can be a lot of pitfalls along the way as well. Personally, I think they work best on a very limited basis and only done occasionally. The more often it happens the more the chances of it becoming muddled and/or inconsistent. Personally, I favor continuity and doing it too often has a nasty habit of messing with it. Anyways, just thought I'd mention those (either from personal experience or things I've seen from others ... or just heard about) and hope they help. Of course, I'm sure I've forgotten a few (horrible memory I have, until triggered, so it works better during a game). I suppose that should be all for now. Take good care and have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys.

[GA]

Well you are thinking i am writing out a huge storyline in advance and moving around from place to place in it. I was not proposing this at all. Nothing is wirtten as GM you just have a few ideas about how you think things might go beforehand but you are not bound by them.

My idea is that the future isn't written yet and yes the character can still die at any time even if we played a future session previously. Now there might be continuity problems or issues but to me that's part of the fun of the game. However I suppose it could pose problems as well. However railroading I don't think would be one of them. And I was thinking fast forward and backtrack a few hours a few days a few weeks at a time as opposed to months or years.

I saw the free form aspect of this as very creative and allowing you no limits. I am sort of surprised you saw it the other way.