Continuum!

[Yuki Akuma]

The most awesome RPG I have ever heard of. Like, damn.

Continuum is a sci-fi RPG focused on time travel. The players play as Spanners - humans with the ability to teleport (or "Span") through time and space. You can find information on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuum_(role-playing_game)) or the much more entertaining TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Continuum).

(If you're considering ordering it and live in Europe... order it from America. Shipping is atrocious but the book is listed at £79.99 on amazon.co.uk. It's far cheaper to get it shipped from amazon.com.)

So... who here's heard of it? I just got invited to a game of it and it sounded too awesome not to buy.

[WalkingTarget]

I only ever actually played one session. It was fun, but a bit of a record-keeping hassle.

I will forever love it for giving us terminology for certain time-travel concepts: foremost among them, in my mind, is "slipshank" but things like a character's "yet" and related things are interesting.

[potatocubed]

Oh man. I'm a sucker for anything with time travel, and a working time-travel RPG...

But yeah, that price tag is mighty offputting. Is there a pdf version available?

[Yuki Akuma]

I feel I should clarify: the ludicrous price tag is only on amazon.co.uk. ou can get it from amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/CONTINUUM-Roleplaying-Yet-Barbara-Manui/dp/1929312008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301488162&sr=8-1) for only $19.99 (or $236 if you want a used copy for some reason). (Of course it seems to be out of stock right now, and who knows when they'll get more, but...)

And yes, "slipshanking" is the best thing ever. For the uninitiated, that's saying "I'm going to come back here and put a loaded pistol under this pillow" and, lo and behold, there's now a loaded pistol under that pillow. Of course then you have to go back in time and set it up so you don't frag yourself...

[potatocubed]

The reason for the exorbitant price tag is, I suspect, because the game's been out of print for over five years. Amazon claims to have it for $19.99, but they're lying. :smallfrown:

[Yuki Akuma]

Aww. THat makes me sad... :smallfrown:

[Eldan]

Are there PDFs for sale anywhere?

[WalkingTarget]

I feel I should clarify: the ludicrous price tag is only on amazon.co.uk. ou can get it from amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/CONTINUUM-Roleplaying-Yet-Barbara-Manui/dp/1929312008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301488162&sr=8-1) for only $19.99 (or $236 if you want a used copy for some reason). (Of course it seems to be out of stock right now, and who knows when they'll get more, but...)

Well, the game came out in 1999 and (as far as I know) only had the one printing. That explains the "out of stock" problem at Amazon as well as the outrageous prices otherwise.


And yes, "slipshanking" is the best thing ever. For the uninitiated, that's saying "I'm going to come back here and put a loaded pistol under this pillow" and, lo and behold, there's now a loaded pistol under that pillow. Of course then you have to go back in time and set it up so you don't frag yourself...

Also known as "the Bill and Ted trick". Technically, you frag yourself as soon as you slipshank something - limiting the number of times you can do it until you have the time to actually perform the action.

Other favored concepts:

The means by which spanners identify one another - if somebody asks you what time it is, you respond by asking them the exact same question. Spanners understand that's the way to identify each other, levelers just think you're being weird/a jerk.

Also, the idea of an intentionally information-neutral response to a question. The phrase "further information is not available here" is used to avoid telling a fellow spanner about things in his/her yet. Refusing to answer a question is often assumed to be a confirmation nowadays. I find that aspect of discourse annoying and really like the idea of being able to respond in a truly information-neutral manner.


Are there PDFs for sale anywhere?

Not that I'm aware of/could find in a few minutes' search.

[Yuki Akuma]

Maybe I should try e-mailing the company to see if they'd consider putting out an e-book version.

Although their website hasn't been updated since 2006...

[Eldan]

Hmm. How important is the system, really? I mean, could I just take the fluff and a few concepts (there's a lot of pages discussing the fluff online) and transport it to some generic system?

[Yuki Akuma]

The system itself is pretty deeply ingrained into the setting - especially things like your Span rank and your span book and so on.

Plus, the way skills advance is really neat. Each time you successfully use a skill you tick off a box (which is shaped like a little clock face) under it, and once you fill up all the boxes you go up one title rank. Same for the three ability scores, Body, Mind and Quick - any time you use them (including using a skill that's tied to them) you tick off a clock.

But really, you can play Exalted with another system, so I'm not sure why you couldn't do the same with Continuum.

Maybe we could start a PbP game and I could write out the necessary rules. Fair use and such. :smalltongue:

[Volthawk]

Well, I remember that...TooManySecrets (IIRC) was recruiting for a M&M game of this a while back. I'll see if I can find the game.

EDIT: Found it. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187015)

[Yuki Akuma]

Drawing inspiration from a source is not the same as being that source. :smallwink: But yes I see no reason why you couldn't run Continuum in M&M if you wanted.

I just want to play it with its own system at least once... because it looks neat. The 'get better at things when you use them' thing is really cool, if nothing else.

[Comet]

I'd really like to own a proper copy of this some day. For now I'll have to resort to other means, but I feel this is one game that I'd really like to physically own.

What I like even more is the sequel, Narcissist- Crash Free. While Continuum has you constantly going through hoops to preserve the integrity of the universe and the timeline, Crash Free goes the other way and casts you in a rigteous war against the tyranny of a single timeline. I really like the mythology and history behind the crasher civilization and the warriors and kings that it creates to fight against the 'Swarm', or the Continuum.

Besides, creating alternate histories, crash points and gateways seems to be hilariously mindbending stuff. Add to that themes of rebellion and a quest for a better world and you have some pretty classic material for a good game.

A shame that Narcissist was never apparently finished. There's an 0.7 copy or such floating around the Internet, though, and it's a good read.

All in all, though, I don't see myself ever running either game. Mainly because I don't have any players who would be willing to really delve into this stuff and make notes and think about what they are doing. I might do a somewhat simplified version with Narcissist someday, though, with some basic time travel and some more traditional conflict between the crashers and the swarm.

[Yuki Akuma]

Would anyone be willing to run this as PbP or on IRC or something like that?

I think this is a game that could profit from logs. And, well, I want to play and have no RL gaming buddies... :smallfrown:

[potatocubed]

I'd play a Continuum PbP, but I'm already running two-and-a-half games so I'd rather not start another one.

[Caliphbubba]

This game sounds fantastic. I'm only going off of the wiki/tvtropes link from the OP but...dang. This sounds like a very neat, immersive game.

I think it would be a nightmare to run it, but playing in a game like this would likely be awesome.

thanks for bring it to my attention!

[Yuki Akuma]

Well I guess it was a bit of a logshot to ask... Oh well.

I'm glad I introduced more people to it anyway!

[Feriority]

Would anyone be willing to run this as PbP or on IRC or something like that?

I think this is a game that could profit from logs. And, well, I want to play and have no RL gaming buddies... :smallfrown:

I think the best part of running this as a PbP would be the inevitable part of the game where all of your actions are really just editing old posts in subtle ways.

[Bang!]

I ran into the game a few years ago and absolutely loved the time travel model, but couldn't motivate a group to play it under its system rules (to be honest, I didn't put on a very hard sell).

I ended up slapping some Frag mechanics into Cortex and running a Bill & Ted-meets-Red Harvest time romp. The narrative paperwork was actually pretty fun to deal with, juggling frag with plot advancement.

Has anyone used Continuum's stock rules successfully*?
Was there anything in them that popped out as fun or interesting?

*read: enjoyably

EDIT:
Those questions sound more negative when I read them than I wanted. I'm wondering if there's anything mechanical in there that would justify tracking down the book and stealing rules ideas for future games, not trying to attack Continuum.