I'm simply asking for a yes or no. Is there an RPG completelley devoted to time traveling?
Eric,
Yes. I know of at least three.
Paul
{Restarting search for original concept}
Quote from: Pyron{Restarting search for original concept}
If you're going to abstract every idea down to something like "an RPG completely devoted to time traveling," then there
are no "original concepts" (at least not playable ones). You see, using that simplistic a description is like deciding to 'reinvent the wheel' because someone already thought of 'something that goes round and round.'
I mean, think about it. Time travel? There really are an infinite number of ways you can create that, no two even that similar. Examples?
Quantum Leap (about a guy who travels into other peoples' bodies and solves their personal problems) or
Back to the Future (a humorous romp with a one-of-a-kind time machine, messing with one's own history) or
Time Squad (bumbling temporal enforcers crossing swords with anachronistic famous historical figures) or
Time Cop (for you action fans) or even
Minority Report (knowing the future is as much about time travel as anything else). The examples are legion and all very different. (Heck ours is going to be a little
Time Squad mixed with some
Voyagers with a significant twist.)
The point is not to create an "original concept" but to create one that's
compelling. I challenge anybody to come up with an "original concept" as abstract as "devoted to time travelling" that isn't so alien that no one understands it (or so awful that no one is interested). I double dare ya.¹
Fang Langford
p. s. If you want an original concept to gaming, I'm pretty sure I've never seen an NC-17 game about explicit sexual encounters (card games don't count). Is that worthwhile? You have to decide.
¹ I am reasonably confident it can't be done (or we'll wind up arguing over the semantics of "as abstract as").
I understand that, but I'm shure that Chrono Trigger ripoffs must be existant. Would you give me the names of the RPGs that are based upon time travel? My idea was that, throughout history (fantasy/science fiction) figures would be chosen that could access gates. These people would be surrounded by unlikelley happenings and would have to fight a dominent element in their temporal circuit, to allow their temporal circuit to function. This element would have to be dominent in history, and would have to influence the time circuit. Each player could be a sort of Chrono-hacker, that could travel through history, battling other Chrono-hackers (that want to use their power for personal gain) and other such things. The potentials should be obvious. First: It allows for each campaign to be epic. The GM and players would have to create their own time circuit (universe, complete with timeline). Each player would be from a different era, and have corresponding powers. It would allow for a perfect mix of fantasy and science fiction, and fuffil the needs for players to have complete controll of their own setting. I was thinking of portals existing in the periods that mattered for this conflict that would allow access. Each portal would require something to access. Solve a riddle/complete a historical event/get item/come to a greator understanding of something/ect. This is highly Chrono Trigger esk. but that's what I want, so there you have it. It would fuffil a void that a huge market of Role Players are missing: imagination. This does not mean creativity by any means, but it does mean that I think that people are too setting oriented with a system instead of theme-oriented. This leads to endless conflicts. See associated Star Wars thread. Usually a setting is dominated by major events associated with a few characters. I would really enjoy working on such a game, but I just don't know how such a potential could be perpetuated with such a clique idea.
More importantly: I'm depressed, as I've come to a writers' block in my system. I feel that my resolution mechanics/the concept/ characters/premise/ect. is too repetitive with nothing to inspire new role-players looking for something different. I pride my individuality above most humans and to me, this is very frusterating. I repetivilley find this problem, and have thrown away a book I was writing because of it. (That's over 100 pages, double spaced, in microsoft word, in 14. point font right there.) I'm in dire need to make something that people, other than I, would have fun playing.
I'm attempting to aspire this thread to a new level. Elaborate at will. What experience does the industry have with time games, and can mine be any different...
Quotep. s. If you want an original concept to gaming, I'm pretty sure I've never seen an NC-17 game about explicit sexual encounters
Kama Sutra: A roleplaying game about role playing.
"All my sensitive areas fail their resist rolls. This dominatrix scene is going to get intense..."
"My stamina's 17. I want to make a called shot"
"How can such a large black thing have such a high speed factor?"
This might just be a rpg book you get for the artwork. Cue the porn musick...
-
h
www.internalist.com
A couple of socratic questions that might help get you started in a direction:
1. Is there a grand scheme to time-space?
Maybe time-space is actually a large complex entity with cells of time circuits. Too much mucking around with CONTINUITY and the entity's survival is threatened.
2. Do adventures and campaigns revolve around What If's?
Hitler's brain in a jar! Nazis everywhere!
or
Prehistory never ended! Everyone fights dinosaurs!
3. Erasure of history? Can someone erase history by folding time-space?
New world never happened. Japan never happened. Internet never happened <gasp!>.
4. Deja Vu?
Time progresses (becomes faster to relative perception) or evolves (becomes smarter removing redundant happenings) or loops (didn't we just see that black cat?).
5. What age are you in?
If chrono-tech available to someone in Post-Industrial age they are going to view it differently that someone from the Dark Ages. Maybe labeling becomes different (magic vs. tech) or put a history stamp on when chrono-tech is known of (say 1977).
6. Real history?
World history is rich even if history class makes it out otherwise. Take significant people from history and make them travel the time-circuits. Even better, make characters from the players themselves and see what they would do with chrono-tech.
7. I/O?
Time goes one way. Everything is retroactive. Characters become trapped going into the past to solve a series of events (adventures) that will open the exit gate.
8. Hello...my name is you?
All characters are the same person just in alternate time circuits. Who are they going against? Why themselves!
These are just some suggestions to help spur you off the block. Use at you're own discretion.
-
h
"i wish i had a time machine, then maybe i wouldn't drink so much".
Quote from: PyronWould you give me the names of the RPGs that are based upon time travel?
Continuum http://www.aetherco.com/continuum/index.html
Time Master (1984) http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=1630
I must have been wafting about in lala land- is this thread a spinoff of an earlier thread? I feel like I just poped into the middle of a conversation.
As for time travel, I'd say Continuum is the definitive time travel RPG... but perhaps the DrWho game Timelord is the most playable...
OK everyone. Read this story. READ IT! Greg Egan is one of the best idea men in SciFi today, and here he presents a ready made, no paradox time travel scheme complete with interventionsists trying to fix the past.
READ IT!
http://www.netspace.net.au/~gregegan/MISC/ORACLE/Oracle.html
the time travel concepts here (as well as the nature of the time traveler) would make a kickass rpg.
Quote from: Jürgen MayerQuote from: PyronWould you give me the names of the RPGs that are based upon time travel?
Continuum http://www.aetherco.com/continuum/index.html
Time Master (1984) http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=1630
And don't forget Feng Shui. Though the Time Travel is usually limited to certain locked periods the effects of temporal shifts are a large part of the game. (Such that PCs are some of the few who are immune and thus realize that things are not what they are supposed to be.)
Quote from: Le Joueur
p. s. If you want an original concept to gaming, I'm pretty sure I've never seen an NC-17 game about explicit sexual encounters (card games don't count). Is that worthwhile? You have to decide.
It's called PORNO! It's up on a webzine someplace. Be afraid... be very afraid.
Pyron,
Time travel is a tricky concept because the very nature of it can be very complex. But there are an number of ways to write it, just be careful that you don't delve too far into the madness. It is so easy to get carried away with concepts that "make sense" that you can have a bloated game that is unplayable.
As far as a writer's block try this. Write about something else in your life. An item or person will do. When you are writing relax and try to let the familiarity flow into your work, making it easy. You should know the concept, item or person well enough that the words write themselves. Don't edit it or re-read and keep writing until you feel better. Don't stop once the words start coming out. Then take two aspirin and call me in the morning. :)
(I thought there was a XXXenophille RPG in addition to the card game. Do I misremember?)
Also, GURPs has, I think, two supplements out on Time Travel now. In shich they discuss how to get the "no Paradox" version mentioned above. In addition to Timelords there was an actual Dr. Who RPG (If Eric says, "What's Dr. Who", I will have to despair for today's youth).
In addition, Eric, there are a whole slew of multi-dimensional games in which one seems to switch periods if not actual times. For example, Rifts, Multiverser, Rob's Game (Million Worlds?), and TORG. And more abstract stuff like "Tales From the Floating Vagabond". Tempus Fugit seems to be a theme of Over the Edge. ("You wake up in a harem, lying on a titanic fuscia cushion covered with razorbacked frogs the size of labrador retrievers, while a blob of quivering yet somehow sentient protoplasm hovers above you looking like its considering if you're edible, and might drop down on you to check any moment now.")
Role-players are missing imagination? Hmmm, that doesn't jibe with my experience.
Like Fang said, nothing new under the sun. So who cares, do it anyhow. By the way, I'm not sure what Chrono Trigger is, but assuming that its a copyrighted property, I'll bet you don't have a license for it. So any Rip-Offs will be illegal, and the moderators might get concerned. What you're supposed to say is that Chrono Trigger is an influence, along with other stuff in creating a totally different RPG. Besides, to just rip it off wouldn't be very creative, anyhow, now would it.
Mike
First off...
I have read PORNO! and I totally agree. I nearly wet my pants with laughter (and it was at work, so there's a double whammy).
Secondly, my favorite idea about time travel is in of all places Stephen King's the Langoliers. While the basic thought is that time exists as moments, and as soon as a moment is over, the backgrounds are eaten away by some temporal force while living beings are fluid through time. Therefore, the past cannot be changed as it has become a fixed reference point and all parties have moved on. That's where I stop using thestory, because making time travel to the future the only possible siyuation makes things a lot cooler. Players have to think out their actions and can see how things play out in the future. However, if they screw up in their decisions, they can't fix the past. At least they themselves can't.
That gives me an idea for a Sim Exploration of Situation game. Bye for now...
Aaron[/quote]
Eric,
Would you give me the names of the RPGs that are based upon time travel?
Upon reflection, I realized I actually knew of four RPGs "completely devoted to" time travel:
Continuum, which is only a couple of years old, from Aetherco
TimeMaster, out of print game from Pacesetter
Timeship, out of print game from the early 80's, from Yaquinto
Time & Time Again, which I first saw in the early 80's, but may actually still be in print, from Timeline Ltd.
Paul
Yes, not only is time travel to the future not problematic, but, as I'm fond of pointing out, it's actually possible in RL (if not currently feasible). In point of fact, it happens all the time, all around us in such slight quantities as to be indetectable. But all you have to do is go fast enough. You can prove time dialation with Mesons. So its not just theory, but as factual as anything else.
So such travel in a game is very hard sci-fi.
Mike
Well Mike...
if you could PM me a small starter kit of places to go and things to see in the near future (and I'm not talking time travel, I'm talking about checking out websites, books, etc. at places not defined as my workplace), I feel like I'm inspired in a sense. At least in the sense of doing something for my group in that vein.
Aaron
Just did a quickie web search on time travel and found the following site http://Chronos.ws/
Its pretty amusing stuff as websites from the future go.
Aaron
1. Move the porno topic to another thread, please.
2. Thank you for showing me the time travel RPGs.
3. I am trulley inspired now.
4. Basic concept: My game would be based upon your own campaign world. It needs to be. The thought is that, there exist a few individuals throughout history with the gift of ChronoLancing. This means that they can use gates that take them through time. There are five dimentions. You shoud be familiar with the first four, and the fith is Karm. It allows for several Chrono-sovereigns to exist parrellel to eachother. There are infinite. Many are therefore capable of supporting life. A select few from different time periods are chosen by a "Chrono-master" to help time. There are several conditions for the time sovereign to exist in:
1. Chrono-Circuit: This is the default state of a Chronosovereign. It wis a linear paradox, curved and infinitelley looping. This allows for infinite time and space. This allows for Einsteinian princibles to be used. You simply travel throughout the entire timecircuit and to whatever place you land.
2. Chronohole-This is a state that exists spacially and temporally. Timespace is normally curved orbitting a signgle temporal anchor. This is where time has stopped. The approach of this state is a temporal spire. This state is an infinite paradox moving at an infinite rate and cannot be changed.
3.Temporal spire- A temporal spire is a state of decay whee time is slowing down. This shows no effect for thes that exist in the spire, because it's all relative, but had degerative effects. This is usually caused by a paradox of some sort, and can be countered. This leads to a chrono-hole.
4. Chono-ray: Chronorays result when teh ability to travel back in time is impossible. This may result when a temporal anchor is destroyed. This state is a constant state of existance with nothing in the past ever existing.
5. Chrono-anchor- This is simply a fourth dimentional black hole with extreme gravity. This forms the basis of most Chrono-sovereigns. If this increases it may form a temporal spire or even a Chrono-hole.
6. Chronoline: This is a chronosovereign with no possible time travel other than a constant rate forward. This is different from a ray in the fact that the past actually exists.
7. Alternate dimentions: Other dimentions exist as an effect of ChronoAnchors which actually bend the fith dimention, called karm. Karm is the way Chronosovereigns remain parrellel. In most cases, sentience limits comprehension of such concepts.
8. Chronogateway: Ways exist in seemingly random points throughout histories and lead to a single place in another point in a chronosoveriegn. It's not reversible. When you leave you're gone. The placement of these is always interestingly linked to chronolancers and their quests.
9. Chronolancers- Chosen throughout history, what has been generally applies to chronolancers and karmolancers. These unique individuals serve to highlight historical points and are blessed with greator powers. They alone can open the ways to other times and they alone can destroy or save an entire reality.
10. Chronomaster(s)? - Tje greatest debate pertaining to temporal phenomenon is the chronomaster. believed to be sentient, a phenomena that is responsible for the chosen and the ways. Many argue that it is fate itself, but most cultures seem to agree that what happens throughout existant needs to be a sentient force. When dealing with time this becomes more pronounced, or so the theory goes...
11. I did all of this during math class today.
5. This is not setting specific. The default setting is YOUR setting. It should allow for a whole new level of epic quests that never end and never begin...
6. The science fiction should undermine a greator point, that is characters, and you. The players and CM (Chronomaster[GM]) should actually spend at least a week prior to play making up their own setting, and it's time points. This will be intimitelley linked to character creation and other stuff.
7. The paradoxes should obviously be a main conflict. But how they are used should be open to the group. I think that my rules conflict Einsteinian physics in no way, but have been idealistically furthered for gaming reasons. And why should I be depicted as the first? It should be able to do time, undisprovably right and the players should have fun doing it. Conflicts are endless, possible other chronolancers, evil dragons, or maby a contest of technology.
8. The guidelines will include the rules guarding character development and chronolancer specifics, including a mechanic that gives chronolancers power. They each have chronospheres, or tokens that are gained by passing through time. Each player should actually have a pile of tokens on the table that they use, and spend to improve their rolls and use their abilities. I think that each session would encompass a single encounter with a time frame.
9. I exagerate when I call it a ripoff. It was what inspired me and keeps inspireing me. It is my favorite computer game of all time, but differs in concept dramatically. However, I aspire for the same feel that the excellent game has.
10. Do you think that it has a chance?
11. Thanks.
That's alot of Chrono-'s!
So you mentioned that time stops at temporal anchors with time/space looping infinitely around it? Am i correct here? Because if time/space are interconnected and fundamentally the same, wouldn't you have an infinitely dense point in the middle which would warp all relations to time/space similarly to reaching absolute zero? are there chain reactions to this?
personally i think sci-fi works best if you go to the extremes; either go hardcore and include as much hard data as possible with big words or go extremely light and mysterious. Suspension of disbelief is key.
-
h
You are entirelley correct. It'l be easier for people to understand when I actually know how I'll approach it myself. Think of a temporal anchor as a 5th dimentional black hole. In the center time-space is stopped. The creation of it is caused by a chain reaction, known as a temporal spire. I guess I used chrono a bit too much... That can be ammended. I hope that I've clearly displayed the concept though. The thing is... I don't really want this to be science fiction at all... I want the fantasy elements prime, with science fiction filling in where appropriate. To me it doesn't really contradict physics as we know it, but it does present a way of looking at it not though of before. I've looked at some of the other time RPGs, and they deal with a Terran setting, which allow mine to be unuque. I want this to be light scince fiction above hardcore, as it appeals to a wider audience. I actually have experimented with hardcore timetravel in a ZZT game known as "time theory". It was a post apoptalictic where you need to amend the past. The limits of ZZT stopped me, but I learned much.
Feel free to ask more questions. The more questions I answere to you, the more questions I answere for myself.