[Supers] Meta-Campaign, has anyone tried something similar, and how'd it work?

[christ0pher]

I'm planning a Supers campaign that will span all of human history, from the stone-age to modern/near-future. The idea is for the PC’s to play different characters at different time periods. The Big Bad will be a threat that spans the timeline and serves to tie the mini time period campaigns into a single meta-campaign. I'm wondering if anyone has tried anything remotely similar and if so, what worked and what didn't. I also welcome any criticisms or suggestions or even talking me out of it if sounds too stupid.

The PC’s will be Supers in the style of Unbreakable and Hancock, by that I mean they have a drive to protect the weak and are not really happy unless they are doing that. They are humanity's immune response to threats, both internal(human made) and external(alien or nature).

The Big Bad is a corrupt techno-magical Atlantis(TL3+ Magical Society). As in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, Atlantis attacks an “Ancient Athens”, is beaten back and falls out of favor with the gods and famously submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. At least that’s the story that gets handed up through time. The real story is what the Players will unravel.

I envision the first group of Stone Age PC’s battling into Atlantis and causing or witnessing the cause of the cataclysm that “destroys” the island. Perhaps even believing themselves killed in the disaster. Thus would end the first mini-campaign. The next group of characters would begin play and after a couple sessions realize they are in the same world their previous characters were in, only several thousand years later. This is where the Atlantis thread would pick up, either with dangerous artifacts or cultists or cultists with dangerous artifacts. The plan would be to get this group of characters wondering where Atlantis went and make them believe they need to find it. The endgame for these next few mini-campaigns is to have the PC's step through mysterious portals/passages or enact ancient spells that supposedly lead to the Lost City. After the last(modern) Super Team vanishes into blinding light in search of Atlantis, I will have the Players pick their favorite character(or maybe roll randomly). This is the character the Player will step onto Atlantean soil with. They will be surrounded by all the other past/present characters they've played and maybe some they don't recognize. All heroes/adventurers; individuals of great power. They've landed on an Atlantis that's been thrown out of time, existing in its own pocket universe where very little time(relativity speaking - lol) has passed since the supposed cataclysm occurred, an Atlantis ready to push out and conquer the world, even the modern world - which the Atlantean scientists/magi are now ready to return the island continent to. The final battle starts after the assembled heroes(and maybe some of their enemies that are present) get acquainted and figure out what's going on.

Proposed Mini-Campaign Timeline
Neolithic Age (10200 BC - 4500 BC), TL0
Mycenaean Age (1600 BC - 1100 BC), TL1-2
Early Middle Ages (500 AD - 1000 AD), TL3
Age of Sail / Pirates (1600 AD - 1900 AD), TL4
Old West and Victorian Era (1607 AD - 1912 AD), TL5-6
WWII/Golden Age (1938 AD - 1950 AD), TL6-7
Modern Era (1985 AD - Now), TL8-9

[D10]

Actually im planning something similar to this right now, dont plan on running it anytime soon. But I figure I wanted to make it something involving psionics and aliens.

Your idea seems very interesting, I also plan on using atlantis as a backbone of the plot, but I was thinking more along the lines of ruins, heritage, lore.

[christ0pher]

That sounds fun, sort of Hellboy meets Indiana Jones searching for Atlantis feel to it.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

I would totally play this. My only suggestion is: "That sounds awesome. Do that."

[dfinlay]

I tried something similar with a series of 5 campaigns spaced over around 400 years or so. The third fell apart because the characters couldn't get along. The main thing I'd point out is not to plan too much ahead because otherwise you'll qind up railroading to make it work. The appeal of this sprt of thing is for the players to see how what they do affects the world and if you already know that you need the world to be like this in 500 years for the next campaign to work, then they will lose much of that freedom.

[christ0pher]

Gold & Appel Inc - Thanks. There's always room for one more at the gaming table.

dfinlay - That's a fear of mine, that I'll railroad them into the story I want and not the story we make together.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by christ0pher

...
dfinlay - That's a fear of mine, that I'll railroad them into the story I want and not the story we make together.

It sounds like a fantastic campaign.

In terms of the danger of railroading, it might help if you make yourself comfortable with a few 'what if' scenarios. What if they damage something important? What if the quest fails? etc.

[christ0pher]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

it might help if you make yourself comfortable with a few 'what if' scenarios.

I try to do this with most of our games, but I know you can't plan for every possibility - and I'm ok with that, it's even fun sometimes just to watch it all fall apart, as along as the players have a good time.

They are pretty good about following the thread of a story so I'm not too worried.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by christ0pher

Thus would end the first mini-campaign. The next group of characters would begin play and after a couple sessions realize they are in the same world their previous characters were in, only several thousand years later. This is where the Atlantis thread would pick up, either with dangerous artifacts or cultists or cultists with dangerous artifacts. The plan would be to get this group of characters wondering where Atlantis went and make them believe they need to find it. The endgame for these next few mini-campaigns is to have the PC's step through mysterious portals/passages or enact ancient spells that supposedly lead to the Lost City. After the last(modern) Super Team vanishes into blinding light in search of Atlantis, I will have the Players pick their favorite character(or maybe roll randomly).

Having watched a friend try to devise a campaign rather like this, his problem was with making the threat sufficiently convincing, and explaining why it can't be overthrown in the earlier times. Players come up with very weird schemes, without even trying, that play havoc with long, detailed pre-planned plots.

Make sure that your players know that this is a series of campaigns with an overall plot; bait-and-switch often wrecks things.

Let the players pick the character they want to play in the finale; randomness here frees Murphy to mess things up.

[christ0pher]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Having watched a friend try to devise a campaign rather like this, his problem was with making the threat sufficiently convincing, and explaining why it can't be overthrown in the earlier times. Players come up with very weird schemes, without even trying, that play havoc with long, detailed pre-planned plots.

What was the outcome of your friends game? Did the players enjoy it?

Originally Posted by johndallman

Make sure that your players know that this is a series of campaigns with an overall plot; bait-and-switch often wrecks things.

I believe I will let them know there's more to the story up-front, thank you.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Let the players pick the character they want to play in the finale; randomness here frees Murphy to mess things up.

That was my initial thought, to let them choose, I threw the random picking idea in there because the players have asked for this in the past in regards to stuff like power sets during character creation.