Imagine a world where, after X days, time rewinds - and every event happens again, forever. But now imagine a group of people who doesn't forget what happened in the previous period - moreover, who can carry objects from period to period... "Groundhog day" / "Majora's Mask" Reloaded? Not exactly ^_-. In the design of my RPG there is a little twist, thanks to some events on the plot: The party (hence the human player) can carry objects with them from period to period, and those objects "must" disappear from its previous location. There are some cool possibilities for the gameplay, along with some alternatives I want to discuss. Since objects must dissapear from their previous location at the start of the next period, there must be a reaction from their previous owner(s). This can be as simple as "What the f***?" and as complex as "Ey, where are our weapons and the key to the armory?" or "Our idol has dissapeared! War!!!!" - which are an interesting way of advancing the gameplay or experimenting with the game. There is an extension of the previous concept: the party could also leave any (important) object in any location. For example: Two towns fight for obtaining an idol - so, what will happen if one morning (start of the period) the idol suddenly appears in one of the towns (thanks to the party)?. Another example: The player sets up a trap for a governor, which will only "work" for the next period - but will create a real mess. Problems of this extension: What happens if the player adquires a key item for advancing in the gameplay, and then throws it/lose it in some place? Also, what happens if that key item has limited uses, and the player wastes them? These problems can have an easy solution, but maybe other problems lurks in the shadows - problems that can hurt the gameplay or lead into cheating from the player. So, you have any idea - critical though in mind after reading this? This is an essencial part of the gameplay of the world i want to create, and i don't want to screw things up here. So... help, please? :-)

Interesting idea. I'm wondering what happens when people are killed. Are they just there the next time around? Or are they dead for good? (which might lead some NPCs to assume they are missing, since they seem to have just disappeared, which might also start a war)

For the sake of simplicity, every NPC who dies in one period appears in the next period. This way, the player can run berserk in one of the periods and still be able of finishing the game (although the ending, of course, will be different). Of course it's possible to leave people killed (and we can discuss that if somebody is interested ^_-), but it's not the design I want to do.

However, "resurrected NPCs" should have some type of trail (hangover, trauma, coma) that influence in the outcome of the game - making it more difficult. E.g., you kill an entire town, who will appear in the next period (and in all the subsequent periods) with a really big headache and "I had a really bad nightmare where that guy...". Now imagine you appear in the town...

As for the PCs / Party, if one of the avatars is killed, he/she will disappear until the next period. No secondary effects (or maybe some...), due to plot devices.

Have you played Shadow of Destiny? It explores many of the concepts you've touched on, often with a breezy indifference to continuity that really turns out to work well.

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Original post by Sneftel Have you played Shadow of Destiny? It explores many of the concepts you've touched on, often with a breezy indifference to continuity that really turns out to work well.

No I didn't (i'm no good with adventure games :-) ). However i will make some research on it (FAQS and reviews) for the sake of learning. Thanks or the advice ^_-.

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What happens if the player adquires a key item for advancing in the gameplay, and then throws it/lose it in some place?

Well, in that case, you could potentially use NPCs to bring the players attention back to the item. Make it important to an NPC, and then make that NPC get the players attention. If an item comes back enough, the player will probably get the idea that it's important. You could even have the NPC ranting about the importance of the item or somesuch.

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Also, what happens if that key item has limited uses, and the player wastes them?

If the player allows the item to get 're-stuck' in time, it will be reset along with everything else? Perhaps the intended use of the item could be made very obvious somehow.

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Original post by Kazgoroth Well, in that case, you could potentially use NPCs to bring the players attention back to the item. Make it important to an NPC, and then make that NPC get the players attention. If an item comes back enough, the player will probably get the idea that it's important. You could even have the NPC ranting about the importance of the item or somesuch.

Yep, it's true. The problem is: What happens if you leave the item in a place you cannot return to?. Maybe, since the item is important to the plot, it will reset by itself and return to its original place (but this is a sort of "deux ex machina"...). Well, the solution is to allow players to go anywhere at any moment, or just forbid them to throw items in random places...

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Original post by Kazgoroth If the player allows the item to get 're-stuck' in time, it will be reset along with everything else? Perhaps the intended use of the item could be made very obvious somehow.

Theorically, if the player allows an item to get 're-stuck' in time, it should be as the player left it - it will not be reset. This way, i can make possible the "trap for the governor" scenario. However, if a certain item is really important for the plot, i could add some way to "recharge" the item.

In the end, i think the best idea is to use the "KISS" (Keep it simple stupid :-) ): All items which can be left are made special (and with infinite uses), and the player can only left those items in certain places. It will hurt the freedom of the player, but simplify the design.

From a story standpoint, if the "touch" (or any other interaction) of the player characters cause the objects not to be reset, then you can have that effect fade with time, so if a player leaves an object alone, after a set number of rewinds the influence of the player characters will disappear, and the object will reappear. I guess this only solves the "throw key items away" problem, though... although you could have any object reset with full charges, thus solving the "wasting the only charge on the key object".

There's one thing that bothers me with this: people are reset, but objects aren't. So a farmer chops some wood, and the next day when he goes to chop the same wood again, it's already done... basically everything everyone was going to do is already done :) Resetting everything except the player's characters and their objects would kill the possibility of setting a trap or stealing something for the next period. Hmm...

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Original Post by Jotaf There's one thing that bothers me with this: people are reset, but objects aren't. So a farmer chops some wood, and the next day when he goes to chop the same wood again, it's already done... basically everything everyone was going to do is already done :) Resetting everything except the player's characters and their objects would kill the possibility of setting a trap or stealing something for the next period. Hmm...

When objects/items are in the inventory of the party - or any PC in the party made a modification on them, they are not reset. For example: The farmer (an NPC) chops some wood from a certain tree, and the "next" day... the tree is intact, and the farmer must chop the same wood again (past doesn't exists). However, if the player chops the wood and leaves it in the farmer's house, the "next" day the farmer will have no wood to chop.
About stealing: The player steals an idol from a town (moreover, he/she can be spotted and killed in the process), but the "next day" the idol will not be in the town, but in the player's hands - and the people will act like the idol vanished.

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Original Post by ToohrVyk (...)then you can have that effect fade with time, so if a player leaves an object alone, after a set number of rewinds the influence of the player characters will disappear, and the object will reappear.(...)although you could have any object reset with full charges, thus solving the "wasting the only charge on the key object".

Thanks for those ideas! They're pretty cool, and I think they fit with the plot I want to develop.
However, now i'm thinking that the "influence" plot device should not be used in all cases... for example, if you, the player, chopped some wood for a farmer, that wood will stay in the farmer's house a limited amount of time. However, if you stole the idol and left it in another town, you may open a war between the two towns, but I as a designer may want to maintain that war until you steal the idol again and leave it in it's original place (or in another place that allows peace to enter that world)...
...maybe a solution for this is measuring the "influence" regarding the effects of your actions on the world. Chopping a tree for a farmer may not be a great influence on the world, but creating a war (or creating peace, why not?) is going to influence the world in a greater way, hence the changes will be made permanent.