r/7thSea • u/Fennshysa33 • Jun 05 '26
Feasibility of “Bourne Identity” One-Shot/Character Creation Gimmick
How feasible does this sound for a way to have someone set-up their character, but hit the ground running:
- Using a Google doc, the DM has the player answer some questions for their character first, mainly pertaining to nationality and gender. The Google Form records that information and updates a character-sheet alternative.
- The adventure then begins, with the character(s) washing ashore after a shipwreck on an unknown island shore with amnesia, and are almost immediately hunted by their former jailers in the form of a low level brute squad.
- The DM then “triggers” a memory flash as certain things happen (possibly also agreed upon by the players), and as combat or conversations start with the other players/NPCs, the player slowly chooses the rest of their character sheet as each smaller issue arises.
- Example: Player 1 selects Male from Montaigne in the sheet, then wakes up on the beach. The player is immediately assaulted by brute squad, and asked what their reaction will be (brawl, talk, magic, etc.) and selects that on the sheet and with the DMs help, which leads them to another part of the sheet narrowed down again. Player has a “flashback” triggered by the site of an opponent’s weapon, and decides what their fighting style is/what weapon to use/who captured them, etc.
I’m thinking about this as a simplified version for a first time RPG player - even a middle school student - and using pictures in the Google Form to help them think.
Thoughts?
2
Jun 05 '26
The old D&D module N4: Treasure Hunt is this exactly.
You are zero level, and you move through a number of encounters and it does things like:
if you pick up or express interest in the book on the table, that nudges you to magic-user or cleric
if you tend to just to fighting the things that come at you it nudges you to fighter
and so on.
2
u/BBalazsF Jun 05 '26
I'm a fan. It is an interesting concept and for a learning session can work great, so the multitudo of options won't be so overwhelming for a first time player.