I'm having trouble understanding exactly how the glitch in Turn of Fortune's Wheel is intended to work, story-wise. I'm fine with characters glitching between different incarnations and can explain that during the main body of the campaign. What I'm not really getting is what ultimately *caused* the glitch and how this is supposed to work at the *end*:
The intro has this to say: "In chapter 14, the glitch ends, and each player chooses which incarnation is their character’s true self. From this point forward, party members function as normal characters—albeit powerful ones."
Chapter 14: "Incarnations Reunited. Every player whose character’s incarnation is freed must choose one of their character’s incarnations or a new one they create now. This is now their one and only character—who they truly are and have always been. The other incarnations aren’t used again, and the details in the “Glitch Characters” section in the introduction no longer apply. Each character is now a regular character who lives and dies as normal."
What I can't square is this: "Each character independently ran afoul of Shemeshka some time ago. She was responsible for their deaths but, to her surprise, they returned. She has killed each character dozens of times, only to have them reappear. She finally trapped each using the Resplendent Cage (area P6b). The characters still returned, but they were diminished and had their memories fractured. She had her servants dump the characters at the Mortuary."
If the glitch and different incarnations were caused by being trapped by Shemeshka, and destroying the gems in the Cage returns characters to normal, why did they keep reincarnating after death *before* that? What am I missing? Is the "glitch" that they are reincarnating, and Shemeshka merely interfered with them returning with full memories/power? If so, why is each character "a regular character who lives and dies as normal" now, when they haven't solved the glitch/modron plotline yet?
It feels like I'm failing to grasp something fundamental about how the story is supposed to work, but I've also seen some pretty scathing commentary about the story not making much sense in this adventure, so maybe it's just nonsense.
The story doesn't appear to go into any details ... but you could read between the lines a bit.
I only skimmed some of it but hopefully this helps.
1) The confused modrons are disrupting reality and causing glitches. Some of these inconsistencies in reality might involve creatures, others could involve events or other things. In this case, all of the characters in the adventure have been glitched by the universe not letting them die. When one of them dies or is entrapped an alternate version (from a different universe or maybe different plane of the multiverse) shows up.
2) This would just keep happening - one dies - another different one replaces them.
3) In this case, all of the characters have something against the demon NPC that created this plan. Each of them tried to attack her at some point and failed. She killed them but the glitch generated a different version that also had issues with the demon. She apparently killed them all quite a few times. Eventually, she started trapping them instead of killing them off. This didn't stop them reappearing but when they did come back, they lacked their memories. Each new incarnation then built up new memories until they too were killed. The demon has one or more versions of each character stored away.
4) When the character frees their various versions all at once - the universe won't allow all of them to exist and instead they all combine into one version of the character who DOES have both their memories and all of their original abilities. (The player decides which version of their character was the real one). I would also think that all of them all hate the demon so be prepared for the party to decide that a truce is not worth it and try to kill it off. (I'd certainly consider it since all of the characters have some reason they wanted to oppose the demon in the first place and she has killed them all multiple times and they now remember ALL of those events).
5) Anyway, what the prison has done is restore the characters to their one true version by recombining multiple incarnations.
6) It is not stated how the characters became affected by the glitch in the first place. It is possible that recombining multiple versions of themselves has reinserted them into the flow of the multiverse so that they are now stable. It could be that each character had some previous interaction in the Outlands within the range of the modron march that caused them to be subject to the glitch.
7) The glitch is caused by the invalid belief systems of the modrons. "The modrons’ belief is skewing the underpinnings of the Outlands and the planes beyond, creating multiversal anomalies". So to fix the anomaly issue the characters need to adjust the modrons beliefs in an appropriate way. One of these anomalies was the characters being replaced by incarnations when dead or imprisoned.
Anyway, the story concept is weak and not well covered in the book. I would just go with the unusual event of recombining multiple versions of each character results in a negation of the glitch in the context of the characters.
Here is the supporting text I found in the book ...
From the intro:
"
A Multiversal Glitch
Sometimes the multiverse doesn’t work as it should. In this adventure, characters find themselves victims of an unprecedented multiversal mistake. They each led a remarkable life, died by suspicious means, and were reborn untethered from their true pasts. This makes each character a singularity of existential uncertainty—a being that the laws of the multiverse contort around as planar forces fail to identify their logical place in reality. This has the following effects on the characters:
Causal Uncertainty. Characters have confusing memories of multiple possible or previous lives. These impressions are vague and conflicting.
Physical Fluctuations. The multiverse isn’t certain who the characters are or where they’re supposed to be. Whenever a character dies, a probable incarnation of that character manifests nearby. Players will have the opportunity to customize and play these incarnations of their characters.
In part 3 of this adventure, characters learn about themselves, their true memories return, and their place in the multiverse solidifies, unlocking lost abilities and revealing the characters’ actual nature. The “Glitch Characters” section provides details on creating and running characters affected by this multiversal glitch."
--------------------------
"Part 1: Schemes in Sigil introduces characters to the city of Sigil and the multiversal glitch that has severed them from their previous lives."
----------------------------
"
Each character independently ran afoul of Shemeshka some time ago. She was responsible for their deaths but, to her surprise, they returned.
She has killed each character dozens of times, only to have them reappear. She finally trapped each using the Resplendent Cage (area P6b).
The characters still returned, but they were diminished and had their memories fractured. She had her servants dump the characters at the Mortuary.
When the characters appeared again, she sent them to find R04M in the hope they’d never return.
Shemeshka still has imprisoned incarnations of the characters. She can retrieve them for the characters (a character who searches area P6a for 10 minutes also finds them).
She believes that the characters’ unique situation is a result of a planar imbalance caused by a group of modrons lost in the Outlands. She hopes that by manipulating the data these modrons record, she can profitably influence the workings of their home plane, Mechanus."
----------------------------
"Incarnations Reunited. Every player whose character’s incarnation is freed must choose one of their character’s incarnations or a new one they create now. This is now their one and only character—who they truly are and have always been. The other incarnations aren’t used again, and the details in the “Glitch Characters” section in the introduction no longer apply. Each character is now a regular character who lives and dies as normal."
-----------------------------
"The modron R04M has their first challenge in mind, though: freeing its lost modron brethren and putting an end to the disruption in the Outlands that caused the characters to become unmoored from reality."
------------------------------
Missing Modrons
When the characters meet with R04M again, the monodrone assesses that they can now do what it couldn’t: correct the multiversal disruption that affected the party and caused other glitches across the Outlands.
Shemeshka discovered the modrons in Tyrant’s Spiral, an ever-shifting part of Gzemnid’s Realm. There she exposed the modrons to fiendish influences, convincing them the Outlands are overrun by evil beings.
The modrons’ belief is skewing the underpinnings of the Outlands and the planes beyond, creating multiversal anomalies.
Shemeshka planned to eventually release the modrons to Mechanus, where they would skew the workings of that plane. She would then take advantage of the chaos.
Thanks for the response. I think this is the key part:
"I would just go with the unusual event of recombining multiple versions of each character results in a negation of the glitch in the context of the characters. "
What I was rather poorly articulating in my original question is that the glitch clearly is caused by the Modrons and the characters repeatedly reincarnating is due to that glitch, and the villain's use of the gems and splitting the character incarnations *has nothing to do with the glitch* so there's no in-story basis for why any interaction with her, the gems, or the split incarnations would cause the characters to *stop reincarnating*.
Your suggestion is as reasonable as any, but I think I might stick to character death being impermanent until they've actually addressed the Modron problem. As you say this story element is super underdeveloped and it seems its really up to DM discretion to make it make sense.
Anyway, thanks for engaging on this, I'm finding preparing for this adventure equally exciting and frustrating so I finally took my annoyance to the Internet 😆.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The intro has this to say: "In chapter 14, the glitch ends, and each player chooses which incarnation is their character’s true self. From this point forward, party members function as normal characters—albeit powerful ones."
Chapter 14: "Incarnations Reunited. Every player whose character’s incarnation is freed must choose one of their character’s incarnations or a new one they create now. This is now their one and only character—who they truly are and have always been. The other incarnations aren’t used again, and the details in the “Glitch Characters” section in the introduction no longer apply. Each character is now a regular character who lives and dies as normal."
What I can't square is this:
"Each character independently ran afoul of Shemeshka some time ago. She was responsible for their deaths but, to her surprise, they returned.
She has killed each character dozens of times, only to have them reappear. She finally trapped each using the Resplendent Cage (area P6b).
The characters still returned, but they were diminished and had their memories fractured. She had her servants dump the characters at the Mortuary."
If the glitch and different incarnations were caused by being trapped by Shemeshka, and destroying the gems in the Cage returns characters to normal, why did they keep reincarnating after death *before* that? What am I missing? Is the "glitch" that they are reincarnating, and Shemeshka merely interfered with them returning with full memories/power? If so, why is each character "a regular character who lives and dies as normal" now, when they haven't solved the glitch/modron plotline yet?
It feels like I'm failing to grasp something fundamental about how the story is supposed to work, but I've also seen some pretty scathing commentary about the story not making much sense in this adventure, so maybe it's just nonsense.
The story doesn't appear to go into any details ... but you could read between the lines a bit.
I only skimmed some of it but hopefully this helps.
1) The confused modrons are disrupting reality and causing glitches. Some of these inconsistencies in reality might involve creatures, others could involve events or other things. In this case, all of the characters in the adventure have been glitched by the universe not letting them die. When one of them dies or is entrapped an alternate version (from a different universe or maybe different plane of the multiverse) shows up.
2) This would just keep happening - one dies - another different one replaces them.
3) In this case, all of the characters have something against the demon NPC that created this plan. Each of them tried to attack her at some point and failed. She killed them but the glitch generated a different version that also had issues with the demon. She apparently killed them all quite a few times. Eventually, she started trapping them instead of killing them off. This didn't stop them reappearing but when they did come back, they lacked their memories. Each new incarnation then built up new memories until they too were killed. The demon has one or more versions of each character stored away.
4) When the character frees their various versions all at once - the universe won't allow all of them to exist and instead they all combine into one version of the character who DOES have both their memories and all of their original abilities. (The player decides which version of their character was the real one). I would also think that all of them all hate the demon so be prepared for the party to decide that a truce is not worth it and try to kill it off. (I'd certainly consider it since all of the characters have some reason they wanted to oppose the demon in the first place and she has killed them all multiple times and they now remember ALL of those events).
5) Anyway, what the prison has done is restore the characters to their one true version by recombining multiple incarnations.
6) It is not stated how the characters became affected by the glitch in the first place. It is possible that recombining multiple versions of themselves has reinserted them into the flow of the multiverse so that they are now stable. It could be that each character had some previous interaction in the Outlands within the range of the modron march that caused them to be subject to the glitch.
7) The glitch is caused by the invalid belief systems of the modrons. "The modrons’ belief is skewing the underpinnings of the Outlands and the planes beyond, creating multiversal anomalies". So to fix the anomaly issue the characters need to adjust the modrons beliefs in an appropriate way. One of these anomalies was the characters being replaced by incarnations when dead or imprisoned.
Anyway, the story concept is weak and not well covered in the book. I would just go with the unusual event of recombining multiple versions of each character results in a negation of the glitch in the context of the characters.
Here is the supporting text I found in the book ...
From the intro:
"
A Multiversal Glitch
Sometimes the multiverse doesn’t work as it should. In this adventure, characters find themselves victims of an unprecedented multiversal mistake. They each led a remarkable life, died by suspicious means, and were reborn untethered from their true pasts. This makes each character a singularity of existential uncertainty—a being that the laws of the multiverse contort around as planar forces fail to identify their logical place in reality. This has the following effects on the characters:
Causal Uncertainty. Characters have confusing memories of multiple possible or previous lives. These impressions are vague and conflicting.
Physical Fluctuations. The multiverse isn’t certain who the characters are or where they’re supposed to be. Whenever a character dies, a probable incarnation of that character manifests nearby. Players will have the opportunity to customize and play these incarnations of their characters.
In part 3 of this adventure, characters learn about themselves, their true memories return, and their place in the multiverse solidifies, unlocking lost abilities and revealing the characters’ actual nature. The “Glitch Characters” section provides details on creating and running characters affected by this multiversal glitch."
--------------------------
"Part 1: Schemes in Sigil introduces characters to the city of Sigil and the multiversal glitch that has severed them from their previous lives."
----------------------------
"
----------------------------
"Incarnations Reunited. Every player whose character’s incarnation is freed must choose one of their character’s incarnations or a new one they create now. This is now their one and only character—who they truly are and have always been. The other incarnations aren’t used again, and the details in the “Glitch Characters” section in the introduction no longer apply. Each character is now a regular character who lives and dies as normal."
-----------------------------
"The modron R04M has their first challenge in mind, though: freeing its lost modron brethren and putting an end to the disruption in the Outlands that caused the characters to become unmoored from reality."
------------------------------
Missing Modrons
When the characters meet with R04M again, the monodrone assesses that they can now do what it couldn’t: correct the multiversal disruption that affected the party and caused other glitches across the Outlands.
Thanks for the response. I think this is the key part:
"I would just go with the unusual event of recombining multiple versions of each character results in a negation of the glitch in the context of the characters. "
What I was rather poorly articulating in my original question is that the glitch clearly is caused by the Modrons and the characters repeatedly reincarnating is due to that glitch, and the villain's use of the gems and splitting the character incarnations *has nothing to do with the glitch* so there's no in-story basis for why any interaction with her, the gems, or the split incarnations would cause the characters to *stop reincarnating*.
Your suggestion is as reasonable as any, but I think I might stick to character death being impermanent until they've actually addressed the Modron problem. As you say this story element is super underdeveloped and it seems its really up to DM discretion to make it make sense.
Anyway, thanks for engaging on this, I'm finding preparing for this adventure equally exciting and frustrating so I finally took my annoyance to the Internet 😆.