Me and a close friend who will remain nameless have been attempting to run a hypnosis based campaign for quite some time, but have never been able to homebrew in anything that really fits the bill. If anyone else has tried, I would appreciate any and all tips that you may have!
I am a bit confused as to what you mean. A campaign where the players are playing hypnotist characters? A campaign where the players were hypnotised to do something they cannot recall and are now dealing with the fallout? Unless this is a specific term of art I somehow missed and I am completely missing the mark (and I’ll firmly admit to not being the most up to date on my internet lingo), this seems like it needs a bit more explanation as to what your goals, project parameters, and basic concept are before folks can provide any advice.
My apologies, let me clarify: The campaign is centered around the characters, to put it basically, being hypnotized to do all of their tasks. The world around them is also far more mesmerizing, with nothing being immune to the charmed condition, and spells such as Charm Person and the likes being far more potent. Pretty much, the entire world is just a hypnosis-bonanza.
The biggest problem you are going to have from a gameplay standpoint is going to be lack of control on both your and your players’ part. That means you and your players are going to be constantly having to change your plans, roleplaying, etc. in response to the others’ commands, like leading to a cascade of one-upping one another. You also are going to run into issues if there is disparate skill among players - everyone is executing the same basic set of roleplay heavy abilities (abilities where exact wording and ability to twist interpretation of that wording), so there will always be a direct comparison of how each player stacks up against the others.
From a story perspective, your biggest problem is going to be agency and culpability in such a world. Moat of modern society - from contracts, to relationships, to the legal system, etc. is built on a foundation that one’s own mind and actions are generally their own. In a world where one’s actions could easily be directed at the will of another, basic and fundamental portions of society would quickly break down. From a world building stance, this is something the DM should take into account - not only for the flavour and immersion, but because the problems inherent in such a world are going to inevitably arise in every single session, and a consistent and believable mechanism for handing those problems, which feels like it organically grew from the world itself, is going to be a necessity.
If you’re looking for characters being magically compelled to do something, you could try basing it on a geas. That forces them to act, but still leaves open the option that they don’t like what they’re doing, and chafe against the commands. Opens up some interesting story options.
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Hello,
Me and a close friend who will remain nameless have been attempting to run a hypnosis based campaign for quite some time, but have never been able to homebrew in anything that really fits the bill. If anyone else has tried, I would appreciate any and all tips that you may have!
I am a bit confused as to what you mean. A campaign where the players are playing hypnotist characters? A campaign where the players were hypnotised to do something they cannot recall and are now dealing with the fallout? Unless this is a specific term of art I somehow missed and I am completely missing the mark (and I’ll firmly admit to not being the most up to date on my internet lingo), this seems like it needs a bit more explanation as to what your goals, project parameters, and basic concept are before folks can provide any advice.
My apologies, let me clarify:
The campaign is centered around the characters, to put it basically, being hypnotized to do all of their tasks. The world around them is also far more mesmerizing, with nothing being immune to the charmed condition, and spells such as Charm Person and the likes being far more potent. Pretty much, the entire world is just a hypnosis-bonanza.
The biggest problem you are going to have from a gameplay standpoint is going to be lack of control on both your and your players’ part. That means you and your players are going to be constantly having to change your plans, roleplaying, etc. in response to the others’ commands, like leading to a cascade of one-upping one another. You also are going to run into issues if there is disparate skill among players - everyone is executing the same basic set of roleplay heavy abilities (abilities where exact wording and ability to twist interpretation of that wording), so there will always be a direct comparison of how each player stacks up against the others.
From a story perspective, your biggest problem is going to be agency and culpability in such a world. Moat of modern society - from contracts, to relationships, to the legal system, etc. is built on a foundation that one’s own mind and actions are generally their own. In a world where one’s actions could easily be directed at the will of another, basic and fundamental portions of society would quickly break down. From a world building stance, this is something the DM should take into account - not only for the flavour and immersion, but because the problems inherent in such a world are going to inevitably arise in every single session, and a consistent and believable mechanism for handing those problems, which feels like it organically grew from the world itself, is going to be a necessity.
If you’re looking for characters being magically compelled to do something, you could try basing it on a geas. That forces them to act, but still leaves open the option that they don’t like what they’re doing, and chafe against the commands. Opens up some interesting story options.