So i plan on running the voodoo senario with my group. and in the first encounter with a possessed zombie and have one of the players get attacked mentally by the voodoo shaman. Ill work it out so that the player is able to over come the possession, but be stuck with fractured memories.

The memory will be of a building, that i know the PCs have actually been to in real life, where the voodoo shaman is holding up, but I wont give him any details besides "this place feels familiar".

I was thinking that whenever there is down time and he wants to try and make sense of these memories he can make a series of logic tests to ask me questions about this place.

Does that seem like a good idea? Ive never GMed before so I dont know proper GM/PC interactions.

How many tests do I allow him to take? How many questions do I answer per test?

I dont want him figuring it out within the first session or two....

I like this idea.

Perhaps earlier in the day he witnessed the shaman doing a ritual. That's why the shaman sent a possessed to hunt him down.

As far as the frequency and quantity of the logic tests is concerned I would say you should space them out between other encounters. Maybe he can only try to sort the memory out while he is asleep. Dreaming and sleep is the biological equivalent of defragmenting a computers hard drive so it makes sense that he could re-connect the fragmented memories then.

So only one test per period of dreaming.

Answer one questions for each uncanceled success.

Why do you not want him to figure it out right away?

I like that. I guess it would make sense to do it while he was sleeping. He could have a recurring nightmare that he tries to figure out.

The reason why i dont want them to figure it out in the first session or two is mostly just pacing and directional goals. They need to get food/weapons and such before they could hunt the shaman

The reason why i dont want them to figure it out in the first session or two is mostly just pacing and directional goals. They need to get food/weapons and such before they could hunt the shaman

In that case let me assure you that there is little you can do to control the speed at which the players uncover your secret plans. What you think of as an innocuous clue could give the player enough to unravel the mystery. I suppose what I am saying is that If you want there to be more story before they head to confront the BBEG (Big bad evil guy) but the player figures out the mystery behind the fractured memories quickly, it's not a lost cause. Frankly it is a blessing. Motivating the players to a single goal is one of the hardest parts of being a GM.

When I GM I try to focus my creativity on the big picture. What is happening around the players. That way when the players go in a direction I did not expect I already know what they are going to face. The beauty of narrative systems like this one is that it takes little to no effort to mechanically stat out an interesting encounter. Figuring out the memories could simply give the players a goal to accomplish beyond simple survival. But the BBEG knows that the player has this knowledge so he will continue to confront them. The Shaman has eyes everywhere and can possess nearly anyone. It will be hard to survive in any zombie apocalypse but even more so when the zombies are specifically targeting you.

Thats good insight. I'll certainly take it into account. Ive got a few more weeks before we start so Im trying to create a world around them where they can go any direction and I'll have something there for them.

Does that seem like a good idea? Ive never GMed before so I dont know proper GM/PC interactions.

There's no such thing as "proper interactions," there's just how you and your friends have fun telling stories together. I think the memory thing sounds like an awesome idea.

How many tests do I allow him to take? How many questions do I answer per test?

I dont want him figuring it out within the first session or two....

I like the idea suggested of one roll per sleep period, and questions equal to the number of successes rolled. I would further suggest that you limit it to Yes/No (or True/False) questions to keep things from being revealed too quickly.

In that case let me assure you that there is little you can do to control the speed at which the players uncover your secret plans. What you think of as an innocuous clue could give the player enough to unravel the mystery.

This is certainly true. Sometimes, players will guess your entire plan from something you thought was a harmless clue. Other times, they'll take something completely irrelevant and run with it in a completely different direction; ignoring the "obvious" hooks you laid out to keep them on track.

You need to be prepared for them to make a left turn when you were planning on a right.

Thats good insight. I'll certainly take it into account. Ive got a few more weeks before we start so Im trying to create a world around them where they can go any direction and I'll have something there for them.

My humble suggestion would be to prepare a handful of encounters that are location-agnostic. Independent, plot-wise, but connected thematically. They could be happening anywhere, and each one will contain one or more clues pointing the players in the direction you actually want them to go. Then, if and when the players go off track, throw one of those encounters down in front of them, wherever they've decided they want to go.

If you plan your encounters in specific locations, you'll end up spending six times as long preparing for encounters that never happen. It can be a lot of fun to plan out a whole world like that, but you have to understand your players will probably only experience about 1% of your work in the course of the game.

Thanks for the advice. Now i have a question as to how to generate the dice pool for the test. What factors would allow for extra positive and negative dice? +1 for being rested? +1 for sleeping in a bed? +2 for having a magic talisam? (I acctually like this one) -1 only a quick nap? -1 per mental stress track filled?

Looks like you have a good list going already. Beyond that I would think of the things that make dreaming harder or easier. I know I dream more when I sleep when I am already well rested, but don't when I am exhausted.

I believe you actually dream every night but it is whether or not you can recall that dream. I for one very rarely remember my dreams, whether I'm exhausted or well rested. This will depend on the individual. I would actually maybe ask everyone if they remember their dreams and then gauge how you do things based on that.

Thanks for the advice. Now i have a question as to how to generate the dice pool for the test. What factors would allow for extra positive and negative dice? +1 for being rested? +1 for sleeping in a bed? +2 for having a magic talisam? (I acctually like this one) -1 only a quick nap? -1 per mental stress track filled?

I wouldn't apply a bonus for being rested, since you have to rest to get the roll in the first place.

Your other ideas all sound good. Being remarkably well-rested should certainly be a bonus (ie: sleeping in a bed.)

Some other ideas (+ or - modifier):

+ Having a physical object related to the event being remembered (a talisman used by the shaman, a photograph of the building where it happened, etc.)

+ Another survivor who was also there has recently joined the group.

+ He physically encountered the shaman yesterday (perhaps an encounter in disguise, or a fleeting run-in wherein the shaman escaped into the night.) Bigger bonus if he actually knows this person was somehow connected to the dreams.

- The shaman is connected to the player through some kind of dream-state and is actively trying to suppress the memories.

- The player suffers some significant trauma during the day unrelated to the event (ie: he almost gets killed by something. Another survivor does get killed by something.) Basically something that might distract him from the dream, or give him new dreams of something else.

- Being unable to sleep for more than 24 hours. I'd say -1 per 8 hour period of wakefulness beyond the initial 24.

- Having another survivor mock his idea that the dreams mean something.

- Going to the building in his dreams and finding nothing to physically prove his dreams are real.

The magnitude of the bonus for each condition should fluctuate based on how "strong" the specifics are. In general, I would say +/-1 for each applicable condition (just to keep the math easy and keep things moving.) +/-2 for something "big." +/-3 for something huge, or something that the player really worked to get.

If the player spends half the session working to get a particular clue, the bonus it provides should be commensurate. If it literally falls into his lap without effort, it should not make a huge difference. I also wouldn't necessarily explain where all the bonuses/penalties come from. Just give him a lump-sum modifier. Again, if he spent half a sessions getting one clue, he should know that clue is relevant, but otherwise, let him guess at where all these modifiers are coming from. It reinforces the whole psychology/subconscious effect.

Another thing you might consider doing is have him make the roll before you describe the dream. If he rolls poorly, some details are wrong or "fuzzy." If he rolls well, the details are more accurate. When asking questions, if he asks about a detail that was "wrong" on account of a poor roll, the answer should indicate that this detail is "not quite right."

Also keep in mind that if you're describing the dream, you can control what he does in the dream, and therefore what he sees. Maybe a really good roll would make the character turn to the left at one point, bringing into view an important detail that he had been missing up until now. You might want to work out the entire "true dream sequence" in advance so that you can fudge details like this on the fly as needed.

Sweet! I really like that.

Another question: What should be used to determine if a PC is possessed by a voodoo shaman? if the voodoo shaman manages to deal X mental stress?