Request for Critiques

[Maggott]

Introduction to me and my dark mission:

I am Mark Argyle, supreme overlord of GhazPORK Industrial, an incredibly small and slightly deranged entertainment company (both of which are results of the fact that the company consists entirely of me).  I am new to this forum, but I have come in the hopes of securing your assistance in perfecting my latest descent into madness (read: roleplaying book).

In my experience, feedback is one of the most valuable things a game company--particularly a company of one--can have.  All the usual suspects of playtesting, balance, and even just proofreading and basic critiques are always better when they come from someone who isn't an "insider."  This is particularly true of my work, as it is often rather exotic.  My combat systems rarely resemble any existing ones (you'd be surprised how often this can be a drawback), and my settings range from off the wall to utterly bizarre.  This can make them hard to figure out, which makes it particularly important that I present them in a way that is accessible to new players.

Luckily, in this case I don't need to worry about people understanding the rules, as it is a  quasi-setting + racial supplement for 4th edition D&D.  I've worked to make sure it conforms as closely as possible to their style and schemas as far as how the rules and combat work.  The setting itself, on the other hand, is...well, it's a bit wonky.

Specifically, it focuses on interdimensional races called "Jumpers."  These aren't quite like Planescape races; they use a completely different dimensional paradigm.   D&D and all of it's planes would be considered one dimensional "cluster," and Jumpers are defined by two things: the first is that they do not belong to any dimension, but, rather, *are* their own dimension (albeit a very small one).  The second is that, because they do not belong to any particular dimension, they are not bound to any particular cluster, making them the only creatures capable of doing so on their own.  (Any entity that can move between clusters without help is considered a Jumper.)

Now, while I am of the opinion that the Jumper races are all unique and interesting, they are also a far cry from normal D&D races, fantasy races, or sci-fi races for that matter.  The fact that every jumper is his or her own dimension is but the tip of the iceberg; everything about them reflects that fact, so their powers, abilities and even physiology are based on an entirely different set of "survival needs."  The races range from sentient telemechanic androids (and the hives of non-sentient spacefaring robots that create them) to self-appointed transplanar angels of death who always appear to be whatever race the onlooker is, even if ten different races are looking at them at once.  The powers thrown around by these nutbars are as unusual as their nature and origins; one race can change the "possible past" into another in order to rearrange the present, another can read minds where there are no psionics, and one can psionically fiddle with enemy spells to basically trick them into doing what they want without ever using any actual countermagic.  And this are just a *few* of the potential abilities those races can have at Tier 1.  In fact, the differences between the races and their innate abilities are so extreme that your race *is* your basic character class, along with a specialty you pick that basically represents a "build."  For example, psionically controlling spells is part of one of the specialty paths for one of the ten races.  And the powers are simple to understand compared to the races who wield them; all of these oddball powers come from what each race is.  They are literally realities unto themselves, and the way they interact with the dimensions they are in reflects that.

In short, these are not Adjective Elves.

(Like most gamers, I am guilty of having created Adjective Elves, but there aren't any in this particular book.)

This raises a unique problem.  Much of the lore behind this game has spent roughly two decades evolving and mutating in my brain-meat; the very first Jumper race was invented 18 years ago, and the newest was invented less than a week ago.  With both the new and the old, details that are obvious to me are totally unknown to everyone else unless I remember to mention them; those races that people would have a mental "template" for are actually misleading in that they don't really follow those templates.  The "Venari," for example, have a supernatural allure and the innate ability to drain life and instill ecstacy in the target in the process, which would make them seem similar to a succubus or a vampire.  The problem is that those powers are all they have in common; they have completely different attitudes, outlooks, and general "style," and I can't always be sure my race descriptions communicate these sorts of differences.

That's to say nothing of races that have no equivalent in any setting.  What do I say about the Klernbraggians?  That they're dimensionally attuned, symbiot-suit wearing, peaceful monk-warlord hyper-biotechnologist non-psionic mindreaders?  That's a bad sentence in any context and it hardly even makes sense, but it may be all someone takes away from my racial descriptions if I don't get them right.  My brain is too good at filling in the blanks just because I've known these races for so long.  Thus, I need to see how they filter through other people's brains.

What I would like to do is post excerpts from the book on this forum, starting with the book's intro (if I haven't sufficiently explained the "setting," the rest won't make a shred of sense anyway.)

Following the intro, I would like to post the race descriptions for each race, one race at a time, and get some feedback as to what impression those descriptions give.  I'll hopefully be posting them on multple RPG development forums, putting them in a different order on each so I can iteratively fix problems brought up on one forum and then show them to a fresh audience on a different forum.  I've already posted a race on one forum (where they already know me), and it mostly just confirmed my suspicions that what I write and what people read aren't always the same thing.  A few people understood them after I posted the mechanics they use, but for the most part my vision of the race was very different than what people got from my description.  And looking at how it's written now in view of those comments, I can see why.  Out of all of the critiques I got, only one person seemed to interpret it in the way I intended, and that's something I need to fix.

(Granted, the reason I posted that race first was because I suspected their race's overall "personality" would be the hardest to convey, but there's probably plenty of important details about the others that it never occurred to me to mention even if I am communicating the overall concept...especially since a lot of details on each race were cut out in order to keep the size reasonable.)

Later on I may meekly ask for things like playtesting, but that won't be for a while; most of the races have a majority of their powers listed in basic terms, but they aren't in useable form yet (I only just started assigning levels and exact numbers to them a few days ago, so I've got less than half of one race done).

But anyway, rather than bubbling up from under the floorboards with no warning and flooding the forum with strange and alien book excerpts (or links to such), I figured it would be best to introduce myself and make sure that's kosher with everybody.

Incidentally, I noticed the forum rules mentioned that you prefer long documents be linked and not posted.  Around what length does something need to be before you'd prefer it to be linked?  (The race descriptions are about four pages long, all told)  Also, is there a specific sub-forum that I should post them on?

[TempvsMortis]

A man after my own heart (*wipes tear from eye*).

You know what my first thought was after reading this: why the HELL is this guy making this a frakking d&d supplement? This is awesome! Make it its own RPG for the chrissake! I would TOTALLY play that RPG.

Also, can you describe what you mean by "their own realities"? I get what you meant, but you describe them as having physical characteristics in the three dimensions, and I know how that is possible, but I'd like to hear specifically your take on it. Its fairly abstract and crazy (all "me" things) which I love, but you need to describe it in more detail so we can get what it is you really mean.

Also, "Jumpers"? Really? Makes me think of Sliders, that show.

I have a good idea for what you should call them: Kadmons, or Kadmoni. Kadmon means "primordial" in hebrew, and in Qabalah (no one uses qabalah effectively in fiction, so I find myself lately just littering stuff with qabalic references) Adam Kadmon is the primordial sentient dimension that all things reside in, that is the perfect representation of what a sentient being - a human - should be (god is above sentience). I thought this fit perfectly with your idea of dimension-beings.

Also, why "races"? If they're independent thinking dimensions, veritable god-machines, shouldn't they each be individual? Why should they imitate each other? Each would be a unique being, and if you want an excuse for multiple copies of one or another to be around, just say they can be in multiple places at once. You see, I'm imagining a Nobilis type RPG with all of this, where each player gets to craft their own (*gulp*) ... Jumper and plays as the (*gulp*) ... Jumper, or as an avatar of the ... you know, or whatnot. I'd find that WAY more interesting, and you know there's a million an a half D&D supplements, and there will be that many for 4E soon enough, and it's hard for an independent, one-man company to compete in such a crowded marketplace, especially when only the handful of endorsed supplement brands gets any sort of broad market share among retailers.

Also, have you done other stuff? I don't see anything by you at Indie Press Revolution or sites like that.

[TempvsMortis]

Oh, I just read the story for Divine Light. Really awesome, and very well written. I don't know if I would have wasted (a harsh word, I know) something that good on a card-game. I probably would have written a novel or something first. And I also see what you mean by "weird". Star Thugs? The Maggot Show? Whaaaaaaaat? There's trippy, which people like, and then there's just plain bizarre, the kind where you wonder "what the hell was he thinking?"

Anyway, Divine Light sounds cool.

[Maggott]

A man after my own heart (*wipes tear from eye*).

You know what my first thought was after reading this: why the HELL is this guy making this a frakking d&d supplement? This is awesome! Make it its own RPG for the chrissake! I would TOTALLY play that RPG.

It originally was.  It took a lot to convince me to switch it to D&D (especially since, as a system, I totally hated 3.5).  My reasons were basically thus:

1. D&D is the most well-supported system in the history of the gigaverse as far as supplements, expansions, settings, sourcebooks, and so forth, meaning GMs will have things to actually use the Jumper races in.
2. D&D 4th ed is actually cool.  And, to be honest, while it is much more restrictive than my system as far as combat, those restrictions also help me make it balanced in places where it couldn't be before.  Jumpers have historically been very difficult to handle from the GM's standpoint, as they "cheat" in a lot of ways.  One race can use magic where it doesn't exist, one can mindread almost anything (including machines and ghosts), one can retroactively change the past to affect the present, one has technology that them almost literally invincible in starship combat...(they can be damaged, but you have to use very specific weapon types...no magic, no direct fire weapons of any kind including missiles, railguns, energy weapons, or anything physical, really...pretty much the only things that can hurt them are things that are capable of simply appearing inside the ship without ever moving the intervening distance)...D&D 4th ed lets me make abstracted versions of those powers that keep their flavor while making them playable.  A weapon that can flatten a building can be set as an encounter or daily ability rather than letting the player fire it every turn.  (And this actually makes sense; the race with the huge weapons has to draw energy from reactors in other realities in order to power them; "authorization" to use this power is something that would increase as the character rose in level.)
3. D&D 4th ed actually works the same way as my system did in a lot of ways (like tending to use the higher of two stats as defenses and such).
4. I cannot realistically create enough settings for the system on my own; historically, everything from the setting to the monsters to the maps were all in the hands of the GM.  While this works with creative GMs who like to improvise (such as myself), it is a serious drawback in a lot of ways--especially when "crunch" is required, such as during combat.
5. If it's D20 compatible, people might actually buy the fracking thing.
6. I really like 4th ed's non-combat encounter system.  It solves problems I've always had where proactive and creative players dominate the game while less experienced just sit around doing nothing (usually because they have no idea *what* to do) and eventually decide that they hate roleplaying.  This is partially just a failing on my part as a GM, but it is also a natural consequence of systems and worlds that are so open and improvised--half the time *I* don't know what the players should be doing, so I can't guide the ones who aren't natural schemers who find their own way to get things done.
In 4th ed, even if I am making up a non-combat encounter on the fly, I have a good foundation that will let me involve all of the players; they have a stated objective and they can all either go about it the obvious ways or come up with clever ways, as suits the player.

Also, can you describe what you mean by "their own realities"? I get what you meant, but you describe them as having physical characteristics in the three dimensions, and I know how that is possible, but I'd like to hear specifically your take on it. Its fairly abstract and crazy (all "me" things) which I love, but you need to describe it in more detail so we can get what it is you really mean.

Basically, a Jumper is a very small dimensional cluster.  They project themselves into other clusters, and the form they take is that of an individual person.  (This is instinctual; they don't actually control what they project themselves as, and a lot of them don't actually know what they are.  Epic tier is when they start to figure this out enough that they can actually use it consciously, manifesting themselves as things other than people and transcending the limits of "individuality.")  The book's intro explains this better than the original post (which was why it is going to be the first thing I post).

Also, "Jumpers"? Really? Makes me think of Sliders, that show.

Never actually seen it.  I've also heard that there's some movie or book or TV show or something that uses the term, but I've got prior art all over their arses.  (The first Jumper race was posted online in the early 90's).

Also, why "races"? If they're independent thinking dimensions, veritable god-machines, shouldn't they each be individual? Why should they imitate each other? Each would be a unique being, and if you want an excuse for multiple copies of one or another to be around, just say they can be in multiple places at once. You see, I'm imagining a Nobilis type RPG with all of this, where each player gets to craft their own (*gulp*) ... Jumper and plays as the (*gulp*) ... Jumper, or as an avatar of the ... you know, or whatnot. I'd find that WAY more interesting, and you know there's a million an a half D&D supplements, and there will be that many for 4E soon enough, and it's hard for an independent, one-man company to compete in such a crowded marketplace, especially when only the handful of endorsed supplement brands gets any sort of broad market share among retailers.

That is an excellent question, and is also brought up in the intro.

The answer as to why there are "races" is "they don't know."  They don't imitate each other; they just have a certain form and certain powers from the moment they come into existance.  Each race has their own pet theory as to why Jumper races exist.  The Klernbraggians, for example, believe that each "race" is actually one big macro-Jumper entity, and each individual is just a semi-independant extension of that entity.  Betariians often believe that each Jumper race was created by a higher power (a God on a level higher than that of dimensions and clusters altogether) in order to serve different purposes across the cosmos, and that is their way of explaining both races and the fact that some of the races (including them) appear out of nowhere rather than having children.

There are also Jumpers who don't belong to any Jumper race; creatures can become severed from their home dimension and become Jumpers in the process.  (You can actually convert any existing character into a Jumper and they will remain the same race they were before; they do not turn into one of the "Jumper races.")

As for being multiple places at once and manifesting as whatever you want, you can do that kind of thing once you're Epic tier.  (Or, in some cases, even sooner.)

Also, have you done other stuff? I don't see anything by you at Indie Press Revolution or sites like that.

Yeah, it looks like you already found it.  Star Thugs and Dying Lights are my only published games so far.  I had a few other little things back in the day (like Maggottopoly and a few limited and/or slightly broken homemade video games) but those two are the only ones that were released anywhere other than my own website.

Oh, I just read the story for Divine Light. Really awesome, and very well written. I don't know if I would have wasted (a harsh word, I know) something that good on a card-game. I probably would have written a novel or something first.

I actually wrote the storyline and the universe specifically for the game.  It was basically an elaborate excuse for certain game mechanics (though they both played off of one another as development of the game went on).  I toyed around with stories and such, but ended up focusing on other projects.

My one regret with Dying Lights is that I had a neat story arc that I was going to use through a series of expansions, but the game didn't do well enough for me to afford them.

And I also see what you mean by "weird". Star Thugs? The Maggot Show? Whaaaaaaaat? There's trippy, which people like, and then there's just plain bizarre, the kind where you wonder "what the hell was he thinking?"

Yeah...when it comes to the Maggott Show, there are basically two kinds of people: people who love it, and people who are sane.  Star Thugs is a bit less extreme, but is still eccentric at best.  This project is a bit more PC, as it's aimed for a broader audience (even if the Maggottonians are one of the Jumper races...)

[TempvsMortis]

Okay, see here's the thing: you have transcendent sentient dimensions, so how are they *not* aware of all of this? See, the way I saw it a jumper race is really just an avatar, in sort of a pantheistic sort of way. They are part of a greater god entity, and it is aware of them but they are not aware of it, and so they are physical manifestations of the god entity in the lower planes. Just as we have two dimensional aspects, 10 dimensional beings would in theory have 3 dimensional aspects, and these would be the races, who are therefore technically all one being, just they aren't aware of it (which brings into play the whole thing about "am i being compelled to do things i'm not aware of; is there a purpose that my parent being/dimension is using me for). And I know what you mean about less skilled rpers not knowing what to do with an abstract game, but there are plenty of people out there who love things like Nobilis, and someone has to make rpgs for them (without going under; damn you Nobilis people for falling under and now I can only buy a book for $275).

Also, how the hell do space-robots fit in with the classic d&d fantasy setting?

(I'm going to have to take a look at 4E from what everyone is saying about it, although I doubt it'll be anything revolutionary. Maybe to d&d people, but the rpg community has been moving ahead at breakneck pace since GURPS, and so I've always had a sort of resentment for d&d being so archaic and stagnant, but hogging all the lime-light so that no-one is aware of how advanced rpgs have actually become. At best 4E can only be catching up.)

[Maggott]

Okay, see here's the thing: you have transcendent sentient dimensions, so how are they *not* aware of all of this? See, the way I saw it a jumper race is really just an avatar, in sort of a pantheistic sort of way. They are part of a greater god entity, and it is aware of them but they are not aware of it, and so they are physical manifestations of the god entity in the lower planes. Just as we have two dimensional aspects, 10 dimensional beings would in theory have 3 dimensional aspects, and these would be the races, who are therefore technically all one being, just they aren't aware of it (which brings into play the whole thing about "am i being compelled to do things i'm not aware of; is there a purpose that my parent being/dimension is using me for). And I know what you mean about less skilled rpers not knowing what to do with an abstract game, but there are plenty of people out there who love things like Nobilis, and someone has to make rpgs for them (without going under; damn you Nobilis people for falling under and now I can only buy a book for $275).

Also, how the hell do space-robots fit in with the classic d&d fantasy setting?

They don't--but that's half of the point.  They don't fit in anywhere--and in a sense, that's part the reason they can *go* anywhere.

They are not dimensions in the sense of two-dimensional or three-dimensional.  They are dimensions in the sense that Baator and Carceri are dimensions.  Basically, it's like each Jumper is his own tiny (And when I say tiny, I mean "right around human-sized") plane.  The reason I don't use the term "plane" is that "plane" usually implies that they're part of a greater reality, and they're not.  (At least, not in any practical sense.)  They are not "part of" any planes or any setting; one may be standing on Athas in D&D's Prime Material plane while a second is on Romulus in the Star Trek universe and a third is hunting vampires alongside Angel and Buffy.  The most important distinction to make is that those settings are not connected and are not normally capable of interacting with one another; there is no way for any creature, neither God nor man, to step from Athas to Romulus, because they are in different dimensional clusters.  Taimat cannot attack Wolfram and Heart in Los Angeles, no matter how powerful she is, because in her cluster Wolfram and Heart does not exist anywhere on any plane (unless you're one of those GMs who says everything is in the Prime Material plane, in which case you're running it as an omniverse, which the book explains but I won't go into here...in short, you would be attacking *a* Wolfram and Heart, not *the* Wolfram and Heart.  There would actually be a theoretically infinite number of them scattered in different clusters, but some are more "important" than others...)  The inner and outer planes, the Prime Material plane, Sigil, and all of the other D&D realms constitute one dimensional "cluster" (or planar cluster, if you like).  Star Trek, it's mirror universes, subspace, and all of it's other "planes" constitute another.  What defines a cluster is it's effective borders; if two realms are capable of interacting with one another, they are considered part of the same Cluster.  If they can't interact, they're separate clusters.  This also means that, by definition, no one can move between them (as that constitutes an interaction).  The one exception is Jumpers, and it's not because they're powerful or transcendant--it's because the ability to interact with clusters other than the one you're in is actually what defines whether something is a Jumper.  (Not all Jumpers are people; any entity that can sense and interact with other clusters is considered a Jumper.)

The biggest difference between a Jumper races and normal races is that their bodies are dimensional clusters (basically) and that those bodies are capable of sensing and essentially travelling to other clusters.  (Most clusters are neither intelligent nor capable of sensing others.)  Jumpers don't automatically know this for the same reason humans don't automatically know how their immune systems work; it is not an ability they earned, learned or invented, it's an ability that is inborn.  And, like the human body, it mostly obeys it's master instinctually; they don't know how they travel between planes and clusters.  They just do it.  They are not transcendant in anything but a mechanical sense.

As far as Jumpers being extensions of greater entities, the actual answer is yes and no, and it actually varies from race to race.  With some races, the race itself is a macro-jumper.  With others, they are not extensions of one another and are not innately connected but can do things that make it seem an awful lot like they are.  With some the question is blurry; in a direct physical sense they are all descended from one another yet they share no dimensional connection.  And with some, they aren't connected and they don't interact in any serious way.

See, the situation is more complicated than the Jumpers see it.  Even the ones that know the most about Jumpers don't know the whole story.  (I'm venturing outside of what's going to be in the book for the moment; a proper treatment of this concept would take up even more space I don't have.)  The reason nobody can agree on a theory is that no single theory is correct.  The different Jumper races actually came to be Jumper races in different ways and are interconnected in different ways (if they are connected to each other at all).  A lot of the theories are correct, but only when it comes to certain specific races.  For example, Klernbraggians are extensions of their homeworld; it gained sentience and eventually became a Jumper, and that's why they became Jumpers.  So their theory as to the origin and nature of Jumpers is accurate, at least when applied to them.  (Anything can potentially become a jumper; it's just rare unless other Jumpers are already involved, as they tend to screw things up, dimensionally speaking.)  On the other hand, the reverse is true of their former archenemies, the Maggottonians; they were Jumpers long before their homeworld was (though it did eventually become a Jumper as well).  And it can hardly be said to apply to the Venari; they don't even have a homeworld (though they camp in what is basically a small jumper dimension), and the Xzelerax homeworld, while connected to more clusters than even they can count, is neither intelligent nor a Jumper; all of it's connections were intentionally made by the Xzelerax themselves.  (Clusters cannot naturally connect to one another, but they can be connected by external forces such as Jumpers)

There actually is even one race (or, more appropriately, set of races) that are extensions of a Godlike entity that can influence and control their actions, but, sadly, they're not going to be in this book.  (There is enough to that entity that he will be getting his own book if he gets mentioned at all.  Long story short: he's one of the few cases--and, for practical purposes, the only case--where an entire, full-fledged sentient dimensional cluster became a Jumper.  As it turns out he has a huge amount of influence despite having only been around a short time, but nobody--not even his own people--even know he exists, because he is not actually a God; he, like a Jumper, is the intelligence of the cluster itself.  The races he sends out are just normal Jumper races as far as anyone else knows--albeit formerly unheard-of ones with an abnormally large population.  They're also the first "Jumper Races" encountered that are not humanoid...)

[TempvsMortis]

Okay then, but the thing is, what the hell good does it do you to say that they're really their own dimensions? I mean, really. If it doesn't do anything, mean anything, they are not part of a greater reality, etc. then they're just planeswalkers with a different name. See my point? What are they good for then except having random entities in your story?

[Maggott]

Okay then, but the thing is, what the hell good does it do you to say that they're really their own dimensions? I mean, really. If it doesn't do anything, mean anything, they are not part of a greater reality, etc. then they're just planeswalkers with a different name. See my point? What are they good for then except having random entities in your story?

The distinction makes more sense in light of the set of "interdimensional theory" the book presents.

I guess the best way to explain it would be to post the part that talks about that:

What This Book Is

   This book allows you to introduce interdimensional "Jumper" races to your D20 campaigns, along with uniting game settings under a flexible set of rules and giving you a general concept of how these different settings can interact.  Many books have introduced the concept of interdimenisonal travel, and even travel between different genres and game settings.  Each, however, has required that all of the other universes accept their mythos of "this is how the omniverse works."  They typically have a particular set of "higher powers" that tie universes together and generally railroad all of the different universes into a single, overarching uber-setting.  This book does not do that.  Sure, we have our own interdimensional theory that we're applying to the great pan-dimensional everything-whatever, but there are two important differences: First, in this system, there is no central, unifying theme or force that all universes ultimately bow to (or if there is, the Jumpers don't know about it).  Second, the theories and commonalities that do exist are often theoretical; they could be wrong.  This helps the GM avoid the problems inherent with introducing omnipotent omnidimensional superpowers.  Jumpers are powerful, certainly, but they're usually on their own; they don't have any God of All Gods or Shards of Universal Power backing them up .  Not that those things are bad; it's just that they're limiting.  The point of a cross-genre setting should be to free the GM and the players hop into their favorite settings without completely re-writing the fundamental concepts of those universes or completely overpowering everything that's there.

   It is also cleaner than your typical omniversal setting.  When every universe is connected and every possibility is manifest in some alternate reality somewhere, saving the day basically becomes pointless.  There are so many realities that the only way you can have a meaningful campaign is if it revolves around saving the whole omniverse, and any setting that only allows you to have one plotline is a bad one.  Certain concepts introduced in this book, such as Primes and Clusters, give meaning back to players' actions even when they are on a small scale.  Part of the reason this book keys down the normal concept of pan-dimensional powers is so that game settings can be used as they are intended.  While Jumpers may bring new and bizarre powers to the table, any given universe can still keep it's unique style and dynamics; jumpers are meant to add to them rather than replace them.

   Lastly, it is convenient to have a clear and flexible paradigm that helps the GM keep things straight.  In this book we have done our best to make sure there are logical and consistant ways to tie different settings together while still allowing each setting to keep it's unique flavor and importance.

   Ultimately, though, this book does tend to revolve around the omniverse as Jumpers see it.  It will tend to use their terminology and their way of structuring things, and it utilizes their sets of interdimensional theory.  Just remember: it's your game, not theirs, so you get to decide whether they're right or whether they're just self-absorbed idiots.

The difference isn't there for the Jumpers' sake so much as the settings they're entering.  If every conceivable dimension is connected as part of one gigantic  multiverse, you're opening a can of worms that you can't really close.  When you establish that creatures can move between such dimensions, you're bringing with it the unwritten assumption that *any* creatures could move between them, potentially even armies of them.  Unless you're really careful, that will eventually get out of control and you basically end up with RIFTS or Torg.  (Not that these settings are bad; I rather like them, but they're not what this setting is meant to be.)  Dimensional travel as a universal concept tends to undermine the integrity of any given setting; if nothing else, the GM has to constantly be on guard against players who try to pull armies along with them using whatever means they have of travelling across dimensions.

What's worse, if all dimensions are linked, that forces them into certain pigeonholes--you basically have to pick one setting to be the "dominant" setting that decides how all the others "really" work.  For example, if you're using a planeswalkers paradigm, that means you're using Planescape, and that means that if Captain Picard gets killed he's logically going to Mount Celestia or somesuch, and not every GM wants that.  Plus it begs the question of why nobody in the Federation can use magic, forcing the GM to come up with all manner of convoluted excuses as to why things work or don't work the way they should.  It gets even worse when you try to use a more detailed setting; what happens when a character on World of Darkness Earth tries to step into the Umbra?  Is he in Limbo?  Then why haven't the Void Engineers run into any Gith?  And are the Nephandi actually Baatezu?  Is the Wyrm just some Abyssal demon lord in disguise?  Is there any way *not* to screw the whole setting at this point?

That's why I invented the concept of clusters.  If different multiverses are autonomous, screwball changes to continuity and other craziness just aren't necessary; each set of dimensions is self-contained and you can enable the players to move between universes while allowing each setting to keep it's original identity.  You don't have to worry about finding an excuse as to why legions of mindflayers aren't invading the Battlestar Galactica if they don't exist in the same cluster, and you don't have to worry about which plane Hyperspace is in.

And this brings me to the reason Jumpers are clusters:  If clusters are completely self-contained, that means PCs can't get there either, unless they aren't bound by the same rules.  You can't let them just break the rules; If they can break the rules, then theoretically anyone else could break the rules, and that means everything is interconnected and you're back where you started.  Thus, they don't break the rules; they just aren't bound by them in the first place because they are a different kind of dimensional entity, and the only way you can make them dimensionally unique without making some dynamic that would potentially let everyone else in every other dimension do the same thing is by closing them off from the concept altogether.  Thus, they don't travel between dimensions or clusters and they don't come from dimensions or clusters; they are clusters, and they link to other clusters in a way that effectively means they're inside them.  By placing them outside of the bounds of the rules; i.e. making them their own clusters, you enable Jumpers to travel into different realities without having to worry about any interdimensional cluster-%$#@s.