Groundhog Day

A plot in which the party is caught in a time loop, doomed to repeat a period of time (often exactly one day) over and over, until something is corrected. Only the party realizes what is going on -- everyone and everything else else remembers nothing, and if not interfered with will do the exact same things every time, right down to dialogue.

Think Groundhog Day and Majora's Mask.

Great potential in D&D...ensieged city, the party is trapped inside. State of war and chaos, disaster, with many people and events happening at once. They have to, through trial and error, piece together what exactly is causing this battle, what will solve it, who the major players/events are, etc. Also good because it will allow DEATHS but not really, since the dead PC's will be back the next morning (ie The Dream).

Death = Loss of Memory?
If they died, they don't remember anything they have learned during the ordeal. But this could be a pain, as too many deaths would start clashing with unconscious metagame knowledge. Maybe it's better to just have them remember everything regardless of being dead/alive at the end.
Answer = NO


The party is approached by a man to hunt down some magical item (referred to hereafter as an orb) that will protect his city/kingdom & ensure the safety of its citizens forever.
Pretty routine, in fact, almost too routine. The party might even be suspicious of such an easy quest. Might have to have a good reason why the party is being hired, ie it's an old man, the guardian is too fierce, etc.

The dungeon crawl is relatively short and routine. There's nothing TOO crazy or too dangerous, but a good "warmup" for the real adventure to come. The guardian is challenging, but has a weakness or two that their employer advises them about beforehand. There shouldn't be any deaths. There will also be some hints dropped at something strange going on...nothing too obvious, but a slight feeling of there being more going on than appears. Examples - the dungeon being not dungeonish but instead very well kept up (too obvious?) or a door being locked on the wrong side. The party should retrieve the orb with relative ease, but it should still take a bit of time.
The doors locked on the wrong side can even be passed off as a "Random dungeon generator said so" remark, which will make the players not think anything of it...until later. Other puzzling clues can be wall murals, or maybe a recurring symbol can be an infinity sign or OUROBOROS sign.

The party brings the orb to the kingdom.
Here is where the plot can go in a number of different paths:

a) The employer has no idea about the curse, and thinks he's honestly saving the city. There is no secrecy, the party returns, they are celebrated, maybe a feast and such, and they are honored guests and go to sleep in nice, nice rooms. The time loop now starts, either because the orb is cursed, or because there is a mishap when "installing" it.

b) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop as revenge. He has also fooled the King, and there is no secrecy about the orb. The employer leaves town during the festivities to escape the curse, but otherwise it is exactly the same as above.

c) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop WITH HIM INSIDE so he can enjoy everyone's misery forever. This path doesn't require a huge celebration, but it's a possible outcome - lied to the King, celebrate, go to sleep, curse starts. OR, he could get the orb, and immediately smash it on the ground, confusing the party, and he will start laughing wildly and insanely and then run off. The party should be somewhat disturbed, but they will have gotten paid, so they will either rest (it being late) or leave the city. If they rest, they are awoken as normal, but if they leave the city...not sure how that would work. Maybe they just appear in the city square? Or where the orb was smashed?
Problem with leaving the city - upon waking up they would realize something was wrong, since they are somewhere other than where they went to sleep. This idea is out.


WHAT ENDS THE CURSE?
- The death of someone, or maybe preventing the death of someone
- Some kind of personal resolution with the employer (kinda lame)
- Maybe the orb is shattered each day, which starts the time loop...it has to be protected


On the First Run Through (before the party knows what is happening)
• The morning starts off with one PC (or maybe all the PCs) waking up suddenly, inexplicably. Moments later, something loud and memorable (a bell tower crashing down, a fireball exploding nearby, etc.)
• Present at least one dilemma between two choices, and their choice ends up being wrong or at least unfortunate (so next time they can choose the other option). Example: Tanis in The Dream choosing between Laurana and Kitiara; he hesitates and they both end up dying.
• Seemingly random occurrences that, if the party remembers them, they can tailor to their purposes. IE, a lightning strike will always occur at a certain time at a specific spot, so the party can use that however they wish.
• Toss out some innocent details (names, directions, klatu verada nicto type stuff) that, if they knew the day was repeating, would be invaluabe...but since they don't suspect that, it will be a sudden challenge to try to remember. Should end up like Cam's "tell me the names of your party members." To be really blunt, along the lines of being led through a locked door and saying "it's a good thing the keyword is Apple or else I'd never remember it" and then never seeing that lock again that day. The party would likely just ignore it...until they need to open the door the next day by themselves. Like that, only more subtle and not so prominently brought to the party's attention.
• In a fight in a ballroom/dining hall, have a missed attack or shot cut a rope holding up a chandelier, which sways and tips and crashes to the floor. The party can remember this and use it next time.
• Preventable mishap - someone (like a gnome with a new device) tries to do something and horribly fails and explodes/dies/etc. The party can prevent this the next day...if they want to.
• Have a useful NPC be on the verge of doing something helpful (providing information, casting a triggering spell, etc.) but are slain before they can finish the act. Next time the party can save them (if they remember). A nice example would be an assassin death striking the NPC, and the party can intercept/sacrifice themselves to save them.
• With or without direct input from the party, events happen around them. During the first day they may find themselves acting as spectators more than once.
• At the end, everyone dies in a Major Disaster. Maybe the city explodes, maybe the big demon is summoned and kills everyone, maybe the moon crashes down upon the city, but it ends in a total death. And then they wake up at the beginning of the day...


On the Second Run Through
• The next morning, the party status is exactly the same as when the ordeal begins, ie no gained gear is kept. But they still have the knowledge of what happens. They will most likely be puzzled and try to discuss it and figure things out...BUT they are interrupted by the loud and memorable event. Or maybe the loud event is actually what wakes them up, like a guard yelling at them, a la the alarm clock in Groundhog Day.
• In any fights, the enemies take the same actions as before (in general - if they were wounded on Day 1 and stopped to heal, but don't get wounded on Day 2, then obviously they don't stop to heal...)
• Start chaining, ie on Day 1, Bob dies before he can lead them to the prison. On Day 2, they save Bob and he leads them to the prison, but is then eaten by a dragon before he can say the unlocking phrase to get into the prison basement. On Day 3, they save Bob, then avoid the Dragon, but then Bob is attacked & killed by an escaped insane prisoner, etc.

Bonus: Just to screw with the players, slightly bend the rules. For instance, on Day 3 or 4, an item they find during that day unexpectedly comes back with them the next morning. This should confuse them, and if it's a key item, all the better!

Bonus: Have multiple possible branching storylines. For example, they can go with Bob the guard, or with Phil the Wizard, or with Sue the princess, OR go fight the invaders...etc. Drawback: an AWFUL lot to keep track of to accurately repeat on subsequent days.

Bonus: Maybe they are not the only ones caught in this curse? They could find someone who is actually doing something different each day, for whatever reason. Or maybe their goal is to find a person trapped in the curse.

Bonus: Have an NPC named Connors - "Phil? Phil Connors??"

Bonus: Have a mystery woven into the day's events, that the party can slowly decipher piece-by-piece.

Bonus: (if death = loss of memory) When the ordeal starts, have one or more party members know what is going on already, but the others don't because they have died on a previous day's attempt. Problems = the party members who already know what's going on, WON'T actually know what's going on other than the premise. Bad idea, now that I think about it more.

Bonus: Have NPCs named the same as the characters in the movie. Phil, Rita, Ned...maybe just the first two. Or not.

Bonus: Work in the Sealab 2021 Doppelgangers quote! Something about Queen Doppelpopolos.
Murphy: "Nice try, doppelganger!"
Quinn: "What? No! We're not doppelgangers!"
Murphy: "Save it for Queen Doppelpopolous!"
Carlos: "Sweet dreams, doppelgangers!"



DM NOTE: Maybe have pre-set "results" for NPCs, like dice rolls except more generic, like success, success, failure, success, failure...then if the party interrupts the actions of a certain NPC, their destiny is still somewhat preordained.

DM NOTE: Why are the PCs the only ones unaffected? Maybe because they were the ones who handled the orb? If the employer smashes the orb as in c) below, they were exposed to its magic, which would explain things. Or maybe it's because they aren't native to the city?

DM NOTE: Have some method of tracking in-game time, because certain events can be scheduled to happen at specific times.

--------- ANOTHER OPTION -----------

The party is hired to investigate a cursed city, or a city that has suddenly ceased all communication, or fetch an item reputed to be in this legendary ghost city, WHATEVER. They enter the city & discover it's full of people (where does the time loop start?) and also get trapped in the curse.

But why is this happening? Maybe once the party figures out the solution/cure, the city and all the people fade away? This could be the result of a mission too, ie get rid of / investigate the cursed city, maybe to obtain some artifact. Then after the city fades, the artifact is the only thing left. Along similar lines, is the city real but in purgatory? Do they pass on once the party resolves the curse? Or are they not even real, and it's just a magical effect/curse?