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Time Travel in yourgame?
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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7442797" data-attributes="member: 177"><p>A Chronomancer may be able to travel through time, but that doesn't mean they don't have a home place and time at which they can usually be found. They can go out, travel in time to do something, and then return home. Time travel is their day job.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, Kevin Kulp's <em>Timewatch</em> game has a mechanic for this, a variation of the Preparedness rules used in other GUMSHOE games. "Okay folks, remember when we get back to HQ, we have to send someone back to last week to leave a blaster... under this rock!" *Makes roll* "Yes, here it is!"</p><p></p><p>But, in general, these things can be controlled by the mechanics of time travel. In a sci-fi game, maybe it takes a lot of energy. In a fantasy game, maybe it requires (and destroys) a ruby the size of your head to time travel. </p><p></p><p>What keeps the PCs from acting like Bill and Ted is the *player's* lack of knowledge of game world history, because most of that history does not exist. Time travel stories set on Earth have the benefit that we all have *HUGE* amounts of contextual information on real Earth history. We typically study it for years when we are young. And what we don't know, we can usually look up. We can each name dozens or hundreds of historical figures without blinking an eye. The player in a game not set on our Earth will have a much harder time - the GM has not written down the names of hundreds of historical figures for the players to know them. Bill and Ted can say, "We need a great scientist, let's go get Einstein!" and name the year and the city in which he's found. If your PCs need a potent wizard from 200 years prior to the current game, who would they name? Anyone?</p><p></p><p>You cannot make plans for time travel if you don't know the history in detail. And while we think of otu game-world histories as immense and well-detailed, I've yet to see one as well filled out or expansive as a middle-school history book.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 7442797, member: 177"] A Chronomancer may be able to travel through time, but that doesn't mean they don't have a home place and time at which they can usually be found. They can go out, travel in time to do something, and then return home. Time travel is their day job. Well, Kevin Kulp's [i]Timewatch[/i] game has a mechanic for this, a variation of the Preparedness rules used in other GUMSHOE games. "Okay folks, remember when we get back to HQ, we have to send someone back to last week to leave a blaster... under this rock!" *Makes roll* "Yes, here it is!" But, in general, these things can be controlled by the mechanics of time travel. In a sci-fi game, maybe it takes a lot of energy. In a fantasy game, maybe it requires (and destroys) a ruby the size of your head to time travel. What keeps the PCs from acting like Bill and Ted is the *player's* lack of knowledge of game world history, because most of that history does not exist. Time travel stories set on Earth have the benefit that we all have *HUGE* amounts of contextual information on real Earth history. We typically study it for years when we are young. And what we don't know, we can usually look up. We can each name dozens or hundreds of historical figures without blinking an eye. The player in a game not set on our Earth will have a much harder time - the GM has not written down the names of hundreds of historical figures for the players to know them. Bill and Ted can say, "We need a great scientist, let's go get Einstein!" and name the year and the city in which he's found. If your PCs need a potent wizard from 200 years prior to the current game, who would they name? Anyone? You cannot make plans for time travel if you don't know the history in detail. And while we think of otu game-world histories as immense and well-detailed, I've yet to see one as well filled out or expansive as a middle-school history book. [/QUOTE]
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