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Seth1221
2013-08-05, 06:21 AM
Hello all,

Me and one other DM are preparing a specific campaign. We want to try different systems but with more or less the same characters and with one consistent story. The plot is still just a sketch - the aquire an artifact that allow them to travel in time. On their journeys they are being harrased by a different group of time travelers. So far it goes like this:

We start off in "present" - we want to use fate for this one, to focus on characters and not their mechanics. here the PCs aquire the time traveling gizmo and are sent of to the past.

"The Past" - we are going to use D&D for that one to get that medieval feeling. Magic is present. here they fail to finish their task (in no small part due to the other group) and the artifact showes them the future

"The Future" - probably Neuroshima - a post-apo version of the future. Their main objective here is to find information on what and when happend that made the future like this.

"The present... different" - mutants and masterminds - here the PCs see that their actions in the past gave people in the present "magical" abilities. They finally fight the group that has been harrasing them and defeat them. The antagonists manage to escape.

now the idea is for the "evil" group to be the PCs but older/in different bodies (if we decide to add some cyberpunk) etc. It turns out that excessive use of the time traveling gizmo ruins the continuum or something like that. The older versions are trying to stop them. Our main concern with this is simple: Why the older versions didn't just tell the younger selfs that this stuff is dangerous in the long run and should be destroyed as soon as they finish their mission? We see the memory wipe as a last resort and try to find another way.

What do you playgrounders think? Any ideas? did you ever try to juggle systems? What systems would you add and how? How should we resolve the younger-older selves problem? Thanks in advance for your input!

geeky_monkey
2013-08-06, 10:06 AM
I've DM'd something similarish in the past and I ruled that meddling with their own timelines was extremely dangerous and weakened the walls of reality.

The players were free to do it, but I told them I'd probably be openning the Call of Cthulu splatbooks if they did.

erikun
2013-08-06, 11:41 AM
here they fail to finish their task (in no small part due to the other group) and the artifact showes them the future
I am hesitant to endorse any RPG plotline that assumes the PCs will fail at a particular task, especially when it's the result of some actions done by a group of NPCs. There is just too many things that could go wrong there, from the PCs killing their rivals to the PCs actually succeeding at whatever they are doing.

I'd probably recommend giving the players something else to accomplish, and having said artifact show them the future at the end of it anyways. Success or failure can have some other effect on the story - maybe it will change how the "present" turns out once they return.


Why the older versions didn't just tell the younger selfs that this stuff is dangerous in the long run and should be destroyed as soon as they finish their mission? We see the memory wipe as a last resort and try to find another way.
Why use older versions of the PCs?

Also, there are plenty of reasons for the NPC group to not tell the PCs. One is that it could cause all kind of timey-wimey problems. One is that it doesn't change anything. One is that, perhaps the last time they tried, the PC party just killed them (in an alternate timeline).

Also, the NPC party should probably return if they are killed. After all, mucking around in the past changes things in the future, and one of the things changed in the future would be the NPCs going back in time and trying to stop the PCs. The "new" NPC party would probably have a bit more knowledge each time they show up again, as well.


What do you playgrounders think? Any ideas? did you ever try to juggle systems? What systems would you add and how? How should we resolve the younger-older selves problem? Thanks in advance for your input!
Why are you trying to use four different systems in this game? Something like Fate Core should be flexible enough to handle all the different settings. Plus, all the players will need to rebuild their characters three times throughout the game, because you cannot simply port a character from one system to a radically different one without major problems.

This seems like it could be interesting/confusing enough without needing to switch up how basic fundamentals of the system works.

Bulhakov
2013-08-06, 04:31 PM
I did a similar campaign in Vampire the Masquerade. The World of Darkness has a very decent and adaptable system to all sorts of urban fantasy.

The players started out in modern times, then were transported to the dark ages, then a cyberpunkish/shadowrunish future, then a fallout-like shizo-tech post-apocalypse. All the transporting was done by the True Brujah (an ancient vampire presumed dead, that mastered the control of time).

One thing I found the players pay a lot of attention to is the consistency of time travel rules. So spend some time working on your own, or adjust one of the standard approaches http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeTravel

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TemporalMutability

I made a combination of two approaches in my campaign:

Alternate realities - each instance of time travel creates a new timeline. The time travelers will never be able to return to their own timeline but it is possible to land in a new one similar enough for them not to notice the change.

There are many alternate realities, but not as many as one would think, due to two effects - the flowing river of time (alternate timelines seen it merge if the differences between them are minor enough, so it's nearly impossible to "change history") and "key flow points". These key points in time can cause the altering not only of the timeline just created by the time travel event, but also of many other timelines (both those branching from the new timeline in the future, and those similar enough to pull other timelines into their "flow").

The discovery of the key flow points is what made the god-like NPC send our PCs around in time to alter many futures for the better (the NPC could not make the changes himself, as he was "ouside of reality" with the only power left was to occasionally move some travelers in time and space). In our case it was three mini-campaigns:
- 1400s - replacing the holy grail with a replica, allowing some secret organization of good mages to get their hands on the real one (taking care not to alter history of the crusades too much)
- 2050s - preventing the assassination of a scientist that would discover a blood substitute for vampires, allowing for a peaceful "coming out" (the campaign was done long before True Blood aired)
- 2500s - disabling a satellite network that interfered with sunlight making it possible for all vampires to day-walk (the technology caused a global cataclysm and draught, callapse of civilization, with whatever humans left being ruled by vampire-lords that controlled all technology).

Seth1221
2013-08-06, 11:12 PM
Why are you trying to use four different systems in this game? Something like Fate Core should be flexible enough to handle all the different settings. Plus, all the players will need to rebuild their characters three times throughout the game, because you cannot simply port a character from one system to a radically different one without major problems.

This seems like it could be interesting/confusing enough without needing to switch up how basic fundamentals of the system works.

This is kind of the point to the idea. We want to try out a few systems and see which we like. the whole plot is based on the point of trying them out not the other way round:).

Seth1221
2013-08-06, 11:15 PM
Why use older versions of the PCs?



We thought it would be a nice twist. In the end it turns out that their meddling with time was far worse that what they accomplished and so the have to stop themselves before futher "weakening the fabric of the universe";). And we want the PCs to geniunely believe that the oldies simply cannot tell them - "hey it's us - stop or we will all perish".

Rhynn
2013-08-06, 11:34 PM
I am hesitant to endorse any RPG plotline that assumes the PCs will fail at a particular task, especially when it's the result of some actions done by a group of NPCs. There is just too many things that could go wrong there, from the PCs killing their rivals to the PCs actually succeeding at whatever they are doing.

I have to agree. The problem I immediately saw was that Seth1221 has written a story instead of a campaign. A campaign has a premise and a setting (as does an adventure); you have already decided what will happen, and if it doesn't, the bottom will fall out of your story.

It's hard, because our sources of inspiration are usually novels, video games, and movies, and all of those have elaborate stories - because they're preplanned and can follow rails, even video games (which usually heavily limit what you can do). There are some few games that actually match up decently to RPGs, but they don't have strong stories, and often that's what attracts people.


did you ever try to juggle systems?

No, and I personally wouldn't; especially not systems my players aren't familiar with. I could try it with, say, D&D 3.X, AD&D, MERP, and Rolemaster, but why would I ever?


What systems would you add and how?

The only reason I could see to add other systems would be because you want to try out those systems, or because you're familiar with them.

Honestly, the system-hopping idea is a bit gimmicky. If I wanted to run a genre-hopping game, I'd probably use GURPS, BESM, Fate, or some other very generic system. GURPS even has a time-travel genre-hopping semi-superpower setting.


What do you playgrounders think? Any ideas?

Trying out different systems in a sort of episodic way might work, though. Create one episode/adventure for each system, loosely tied together by your existing framework. Think of two start conditions for each: one for if they succeeded in the last one, and one for if they failed. (And maybe add points into later ones that depend on which ones they've failed and succeeded at.)


How should we resolve the younger-older selves problem?

No clue - it's your plot.

I'll say this, though: if you find your plot has a gaping hole in it, you might want to try to rewrite the plot.

Lorsa
2013-08-07, 05:38 AM
It seems you've already decided what will happen, so what's the point of playing?

If I was GMing I would first of all find a system that could work in all time periods (there are plenty of those) and then my plan would be:

"The players find a time-traveling device, X and/or Y person/group is actively working to prevent usage of/get hold of this device."