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It could have been better done by having the PCs confront Starlord Evendor and failing; thus bringing about the altered reality.  Cause and affect.  Instead you’ve basically screwed them and said everything you know to be true isn’t after 23 levels of play.  The idea had merit, but could have been a lot better played on your part.  Your way seemed petty.

In an earlier article you discussed running a game as TV episodes, in many shows where episodes produced such effects the cast characters knew what happened, but not the supporting cast, and they had to find a way to set things straight.

Example: The players have failed dismally scarcely making it to the Maelstrom alive after their defeat by Starlord Evendor.  Even as the ship head to the Dragovar capital to seek the wise counsel of Lenkhor Krige, the fabled Dragon’s Eye rises.  The journey takes weeks longer to complete, the Maelstrom seasoned captain is acting like a novice he claims the currents are not right and the winds blow wrong.

Upon arrival the player’s know that something has gone terrible awry, the Dragovar capital rises high into the sky and strange ships flit amongst the soaring towers.  They now know why it is called the constellation of madness, but undaunted they seek out the Shan Qabal and its powerful leading archmage.  They are made to wait for an hour in a room comfortable conference hall filled with books and scrolls.  They spent their time perusing the room and their discussing predicament.  The languages of the books is unknown and will require a comprehend language spell, but one of the scrolls is they find turns out to be a map of the world; a map filled with great continents.  Even as this is revealed to them the Archmage walks in…twice killed Hahrzan.  He greets them disdain, but offers the service of the Shan Qabal, for the usually high tribute the sect now requires.

The players quickly perceive that their one-time nemesis has no clue how they are.  If they ask about Lenkhor Krige, they find that heroes had clashed with him on several occasions, eventually killing him.  His body is now stuffed in the main trophy hall.

Now the players have options; they can pay for the service of the sect seeking knowledge in the lore that it has, they can try to deal with the problem using Hahrzan knowledge - without telling him the whole truth, they can try to find the secret cloning lab in hopes that Lenkhor used such a ploy in this reality.  What ever they do they will have to do it in this strange new world.

May 12, 2011 -- 12:14AM, M4kitsu wrote:

[1] Different strokes, Morandir. What works for one group doesn't work for others, and sometimes the greatest fun is in torturing your players a bit by throwing situations at them they are beyond their control

[2] Also, you missed the plot arc where something bad happens and it's the PCs' job to figure out what and why and how to undo it.

[3] I assume it's still early enough that the "stress cracks" between the old and new realities haven't begun showing themselves to the PCs yet, nor has the "remember it like it was" MacGuffin shown up yet. Give it time.

[1]  Torturing your players on a mad whim poses the greatest fun for the DM.  However, torturing them, as a result of their failures within the story arc, is building off their foibles. 

Here are two examples of torture from my campaign that the players still talk and joke about four years later.

• A player severed the divine link between the gods and the clerics of the world.  In some cases (NPCs) the severing caused death.  Until it was restored there was no divine power to be had.
• In another they raised a recurring PC villain thought dead (for 10 RW years).  This nemesis an exarch of Asmodeus [through story arc ] began his new reign of power immediately and the mid-heroic PCs were helpless to stop him.

[2]  “Their only recourse is to accept this new reality… at least until their characters become aware that reality has been altered.” - C Perkins

In most altered realities, if you were unaware of the change or could not prevent it, you are stuck within it helpless to affect a change.  The only recurse Chris has left open is for the PC’s to have memories of a past that technically no longer exsists for them. 

• This is similar to the Star Trek (reboot) where the crew know that reality has altered and what the lives may have been is now rendered mute by their inability to change it.
• In SG1 Season 8 episode "Moebius" [19-20] the team changes reality and relied on a videotap to repair it; but not aware of the “cause” of the change were unable to do so 100% effectively; at the end a fish jumps in O’Neill’s fishless pond.

MacGuffin Show

[3]  In there should be no case the “stress cracks” reality was changed, there is no “old” and “new” realities, there is only reality and the PCs caught in the middle without a clue.  The MacGuffin in this case should be immediately apperant as it will be the plot element driving the story arc to “the inevitable (and hopefully satisfying) confrontation with Starlord Evendor.”

A better plot element should have been known to them for the start having them strive to correct their error.

• “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury illustrates this change when a character notices subtle changes.  English words are now spelled strangely, people behave differently, and, worst of all, Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith.  But he knew ahead of time what could happen in a time-jump and frantically pleads to return into the past to undo the damage.  But ends there in an ominous “sound of thunder”.
• The movie actually acts as a sequal of the book by following the characters through their attempts to fix things.

After "fully" reading this article I claimed it had merit, but it still fails.  Even Chris states:

1. “Even my Monday night players - expert roleplayers all - can accept only so much metagame torture before their heads leap off their shoulders and fly screaming about the room.”
2. ” The jury’s still out on whether “Constellation of Madness” will go down as a high point of the Iomandra campaign or sink like a stone to the bottom of the Dragon Sea”
3. He also issues a warning about being “careful not to turn the campaign into something unrecognizable or unfamiliar to your players.  They’ve invested too much time in the world to watch it mutate into something bizarre and unrecognizable.”

May 12, 2011 -- 9:31AM, DrNick wrote:

Are you seriously backseat DMing Chris Perkins based on a free article he posted that is less than 500 words?

If you want to see it that way its your problem.  Price does not matter; but if you actually had a DDI account you’d be able to read other articles, which other paying customers have had problems with and have made comments about its flaws.  Heck, you’ve even complained on subscriber features and are not a paying customer.  Word count does not matter either, although his article contained 1,150, not including unrelated material. 

LET ME SAY IT AGAIN, THE IDEA HAS MERIT.

Instead what I am doing is offering a way to avoid the shortcomings that Chris mentions in using his own plot device.  I have addressed these flaws and offered alternatives to avoid them.

• This is based on my 30 years DMing experience and multitude of pleased players I’ve had across the face of the US.  If Chris or any DM can’t advice that’s their personal problem; but in all my years I have never met with someone (Player or DM) who didn’t offer it. 
• I am a Iomandra campaign group member and follow its happenings.