Ya Ta Hey!
2008-01-27, 05:46 PM
Here's some flava-fluff to set the mood (I forgot my incense candles).
Welcome to Temporal Solutions, Inc.!
Congraluations on your decision to join our team! The fact that you successfully completed our application process unharmed means that you are a flexible and quick-thinking individual, with a knack for timeliness and a strong attention to detail. We're confident that you will be challenged yet inspired by the dynamic work environment and the ever-chaning nature of this exciting field.
While we appreciate the vast diversity of working styles among our associates, the following practices are not permitted in the workplace:
Sexual harassment or misconduct toward any other Temporal Solutions employee. This includes the solicitation or offer thereof on the condition that preferential treatment will be given in exchange.
Usage of company equipment, funds, capital, personnel, or any other asset for personal gain, financial or otherwise.
Knowlingly misinforming or providing false information to a supervisor for any reason whatsoever.
It is also suggested that you refrain from causing or involving yourself in significant events that do not pertain directly to the current assignment. This includes wars, revolutions, disasters, excessive loss of life, intellectual and social developments, and religious or philosophical movements. Specific restrictions may vary on a case by case basis.
These simple rules are a small sacrifice, however, in comparison to the rewarding career that awaits you; in addition to providing ample travel and field experience, Temporal Solutions offers full medical and dental coverage, bonus pay for extended assignments, a wide selection of potential spouses and offsrping, as well as generous extemporal vacation leave and plentiful opportunities for advancement.
Employees just like you are what make this company a leader in the industry and understand that from this point onward, no matter what background or credentials you may have brought with you, there will always be a place for you here at Temporal Solutions. We look forward to seeing your career unfold!
Sincerely,
__Inca Viracocha__, Director of Human Resources
Temporal Solutions, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and makes no discrimination based on ethnicicty, class, gender, disability, chonological origin, sexual orientation, marital status, criminal history, combat aptitude or any other basis prohibited by law.
So, I like games where exploration and sense of discovery are a large part of the reward. An important part of creating that effect is to have a wide diversity of possible environments, and make sure that they're well justified within the canon of that homebrew world. You can't just have forest abruptly give way to desert and then a glacier thrown in for kicks.
The problem is (and this may just be a reflection on me), I can't think of a way to implement that in a single setting that hasn't been done better elsewhere. To make a confession, I once wrote a story where my big Perspective Shattering Historical Revelation™ was that a giant robotic mouth cataclysmically chews the globe every ten-thousand years for various reasons. (Yes, various; it had multiple justifications for this.)
Instead of trying to dream up ways to make a well-concieved but completely unfamiliar world, I've decided to just make the mode of travel different: time travel.
I write a lot, but I'm fairly new to tabletop gaming and wouldn't be GM-ing this without a lot of practice. Obviously, most of the game would center around travelling to different eras in history and completing a chosen assignment under a specific set of criteria. Mistakes would have to be corrected in a sort of Back to the Future or Bill and Ted manner.
For now, what I need advice on is...
How to synthesize D&D 3.5, d20 modern, and d20 future since all three settings will apply. For now, I'll be sticking with open source material so that I don't have to bankrupt myself considering Complete-this and Unearthed-that.
How exactly the rules of causality should work. I'd like the consequences of player actions to be far-reaching but not too easy to take advantage of (I don't want someone planting messianic legends about themselves, and then jetting forward a millenium to have an entire civlization at their command unless they can really play their cards)
Most importantly...how to make it fun to play. While I don't want the time machines to be the answer to every problem, I do want them to provide ways for the player to get creative and think outside the box. I mean, The easiest way to reign in the potential for munchkinny abuse is to put strict limits on how the time machinery operates, but if they can only change scenery when I say so, then it's basically a raildroad adventure with a very capricious GM.
I'm thinking of treating the various eras like "towns" and the overall world timeline as the "world", so that travelling between them wouldn't be done lightly.
Here would be an example of what I think is ideal game structure:
"Pierre?! Now would be really a good time!" Jonas' voice echoes from inside the rumbling blast furnace. A hideous alien snarl interrupts him, followed by a frenzied round of gunshots.
"Yes, I'm sure it is! Keep your stance on, and all that!" Pierre, outside, snaps, fumbling around with the energy cell.
"Its, uh 'pants'." Archie politely adds.
Pierre sneers over his shoulder at the little kobold. "'Keep your pants on?' Why would anyone--?"
There's another, much angrier snarl, followed by the click of an empty pistol. ("Pieeeeeeeerre!!!")
Finally, the uranium battery clicks into place. The temporal engine immediately blinks to life and boots up, the screen Apple logo reflecting in Pierre's black eyelenses as he smiles.
"Aaaand, s'pose I'll go with nanoseconds." He mutters after a flurry of typing, hitting 'enter'. With a brilliant red flash, all activity slows to a halt around him; the flames from an earlier phase of their elaborate trap become stationary columns of superheated air, Archie stands uselessly frozen in place (not that that's abnormal), and the geiger counter is frozen mid click.
The only sound is his watch, which beeps as it measure the heat buildup in the temporal engine's core. With a sigh, Pierre slings the satchel of TNT over his shoulder and heads for the furnace door...
And no, that wasn't supposed to make specific sense. The point is, it would be human ingenuity and using the time machines other funtions that would accomplish stuff. I hope.
So, am I on to something?
Welcome to Temporal Solutions, Inc.!
Congraluations on your decision to join our team! The fact that you successfully completed our application process unharmed means that you are a flexible and quick-thinking individual, with a knack for timeliness and a strong attention to detail. We're confident that you will be challenged yet inspired by the dynamic work environment and the ever-chaning nature of this exciting field.
While we appreciate the vast diversity of working styles among our associates, the following practices are not permitted in the workplace:
Sexual harassment or misconduct toward any other Temporal Solutions employee. This includes the solicitation or offer thereof on the condition that preferential treatment will be given in exchange.
Usage of company equipment, funds, capital, personnel, or any other asset for personal gain, financial or otherwise.
Knowlingly misinforming or providing false information to a supervisor for any reason whatsoever.
It is also suggested that you refrain from causing or involving yourself in significant events that do not pertain directly to the current assignment. This includes wars, revolutions, disasters, excessive loss of life, intellectual and social developments, and religious or philosophical movements. Specific restrictions may vary on a case by case basis.
These simple rules are a small sacrifice, however, in comparison to the rewarding career that awaits you; in addition to providing ample travel and field experience, Temporal Solutions offers full medical and dental coverage, bonus pay for extended assignments, a wide selection of potential spouses and offsrping, as well as generous extemporal vacation leave and plentiful opportunities for advancement.
Employees just like you are what make this company a leader in the industry and understand that from this point onward, no matter what background or credentials you may have brought with you, there will always be a place for you here at Temporal Solutions. We look forward to seeing your career unfold!
Sincerely,
__Inca Viracocha__, Director of Human Resources
Temporal Solutions, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and makes no discrimination based on ethnicicty, class, gender, disability, chonological origin, sexual orientation, marital status, criminal history, combat aptitude or any other basis prohibited by law.
So, I like games where exploration and sense of discovery are a large part of the reward. An important part of creating that effect is to have a wide diversity of possible environments, and make sure that they're well justified within the canon of that homebrew world. You can't just have forest abruptly give way to desert and then a glacier thrown in for kicks.
The problem is (and this may just be a reflection on me), I can't think of a way to implement that in a single setting that hasn't been done better elsewhere. To make a confession, I once wrote a story where my big Perspective Shattering Historical Revelation™ was that a giant robotic mouth cataclysmically chews the globe every ten-thousand years for various reasons. (Yes, various; it had multiple justifications for this.)
Instead of trying to dream up ways to make a well-concieved but completely unfamiliar world, I've decided to just make the mode of travel different: time travel.
I write a lot, but I'm fairly new to tabletop gaming and wouldn't be GM-ing this without a lot of practice. Obviously, most of the game would center around travelling to different eras in history and completing a chosen assignment under a specific set of criteria. Mistakes would have to be corrected in a sort of Back to the Future or Bill and Ted manner.
For now, what I need advice on is...
How to synthesize D&D 3.5, d20 modern, and d20 future since all three settings will apply. For now, I'll be sticking with open source material so that I don't have to bankrupt myself considering Complete-this and Unearthed-that.
How exactly the rules of causality should work. I'd like the consequences of player actions to be far-reaching but not too easy to take advantage of (I don't want someone planting messianic legends about themselves, and then jetting forward a millenium to have an entire civlization at their command unless they can really play their cards)
Most importantly...how to make it fun to play. While I don't want the time machines to be the answer to every problem, I do want them to provide ways for the player to get creative and think outside the box. I mean, The easiest way to reign in the potential for munchkinny abuse is to put strict limits on how the time machinery operates, but if they can only change scenery when I say so, then it's basically a raildroad adventure with a very capricious GM.
I'm thinking of treating the various eras like "towns" and the overall world timeline as the "world", so that travelling between them wouldn't be done lightly.
Here would be an example of what I think is ideal game structure:
"Pierre?! Now would be really a good time!" Jonas' voice echoes from inside the rumbling blast furnace. A hideous alien snarl interrupts him, followed by a frenzied round of gunshots.
"Yes, I'm sure it is! Keep your stance on, and all that!" Pierre, outside, snaps, fumbling around with the energy cell.
"Its, uh 'pants'." Archie politely adds.
Pierre sneers over his shoulder at the little kobold. "'Keep your pants on?' Why would anyone--?"
There's another, much angrier snarl, followed by the click of an empty pistol. ("Pieeeeeeeerre!!!")
Finally, the uranium battery clicks into place. The temporal engine immediately blinks to life and boots up, the screen Apple logo reflecting in Pierre's black eyelenses as he smiles.
"Aaaand, s'pose I'll go with nanoseconds." He mutters after a flurry of typing, hitting 'enter'. With a brilliant red flash, all activity slows to a halt around him; the flames from an earlier phase of their elaborate trap become stationary columns of superheated air, Archie stands uselessly frozen in place (not that that's abnormal), and the geiger counter is frozen mid click.
The only sound is his watch, which beeps as it measure the heat buildup in the temporal engine's core. With a sigh, Pierre slings the satchel of TNT over his shoulder and heads for the furnace door...
And no, that wasn't supposed to make specific sense. The point is, it would be human ingenuity and using the time machines other funtions that would accomplish stuff. I hope.
So, am I on to something?