Potential issues
Changing systems, and potentially genres, between games presents a number of challenges and imposes some restrictions. The Eternal Champion concept allows for some flexibility in that not all 'incarnations' are necessarily possessed of the same abilities, so only the core features of each character need to be defined so that consistent mechanics (or as close as can be attained) can be assigned based on ruleset - the personality of each champion, and the interaction between them will remain constant and independent of rules.
Interaction and familiarity of the characters with their setting can be handled by GM fiat i.e. characters who go from a fantasy world to a high-technology setting can simply be assumed to be familiar with the environment, social, technological and other features as part of the change process.
Issues already identified and questions to be resolved include the following:
- do we assume that all campaign worlds are part of the same 'universe', so the characters are moving back and forward along a single timeline?
This would require the timeline to be mapped out by mutual consent beforehand. Alternatively, each episode takes place in an alternate reality so aside from the linking 'plot device', no temporal or spatial connection is assumed.
- character creation and change have an overhead. Not all the players have access to some of the possible rulesets and/or familiarity with them.
Either all the character creation would have to be handled by the GM (who would also be responsible for providing key information on the rulesets for players without them) OR the upcoming episode would have to be 'trailed' in advance to allow any players time to create a new version of their characters. An option is to have a period of downtime between episodes when this is done.
- Managing the transition between episodes
By using generic systems, hopefully transition between episodes is achievable. Are the players happy that only the core personalities are transferred between incarnations, or do they also want a limited core set of abilities to exist between incarnations? Even using generic systems, character abilities are unlikely to be able to map completely between episodes. Should we enforce a 'template' on the characters to make the transition easier? While skills and relative combat ability should be easy to translate, magic, more esoteric abilities ('feats' or unusual traits), interaction with faith (do we allow for the presence of divine beings?) and some other aspects may be radically different between systems causing potential power imbalances.
- ability of systems to handle game styles
Not all systems are created equal. Some of the rulesets may be more suitable for certain genres. Should we decide on matching ruleset to setting at the start? If there are to be guest GM slots, do they want to indicate a preference for ruleset and/or setting in advance? There is also the issue of power level - we need to decide what level you want to play at (which can also change on an episodic basis) but implications on how well any particular system scales is worth thinking about.
) but what I will try and do is describe the scene for you (with images/maps if possible) and allow you to state actions. Unlike Wushu where what you say is what happens, I'll let you roll your own dice to decide how successful you are but I'll take a descriptive approach to assigning results more than a rigid adhernace to the rules. Good hits on bad guys may just lay them out if dramatically appropriate rather than have people hang about on low health and drag the combat out (and lose the momentum of the game).
