Incarnations

[Grimlok]

Incarnations- (World Book Idea for Sorcerer) The paradigm this works on is the following:

  "Every soul is essentially a complex program running through a celestial computer."

 What this means for game play:

  Every soul has many active parts in different worlds/times/dimensions. The reasons for this are not entirely understood but from some of those that have become aware of their Facets (other Incarnations that share your soul) and have interfaced with the System Demons (the complex dimensional/time/space constructs that guides the Travelers) over long enough periods have made comments that suggest each soul is running through all the possibilities of existence to answer a part of some Celestial question.

  Each soul has what is called a Cornerstone Incarnations during which an important stage of the Celestial Calculation is reached for that soul after that stage has passed the Incarnation (if it survived the event) is not the same having glimpsed into the Skein of his soul and seen a portion of what he is connected to. These Incarnations usually go insane or recover after a time and go on as best they can. Some however, manage to connect with their soul on a deeper level and actually become able to travel between Incarnations and inhabit the bodies of their Facets. These Incarnations are called Travelers.

 Travelers sometimes jump from Facet to Facet trying to find a place where they are happy or try to find a purpose, some never leave the first
Incarnation they jumped to. They are always eventually tracked down by System Demons which are complex entities which monitor the Celestial Program and find these and other "bugs" in the system. Most are shifted back to their original self and mind wiped or are placed in the back seat (in which they are aware but cannot control their host Facet) but sometimes they recruit the Incarnation to help them in monitoring their own Soul or a closely grouped number of Souls.

  The recruited Traveler will then often be grouped with others from nearby worlds and they become part of a cell that their System Demon Recruiter activates when it needs things done within the program (ie. an important Facet was supposed to die but through some fluke lives but is too strongly active within the program for the System Demon to interfere without disrupting the program or the other way he has died and a big fix is needed, etc.).

 Travelers can travel throughout the system but need a System Demon to navigate effectively. They travel to alternate planes of existience, the  future & past of their Homeworlds, and even occasionally into parts of the System itself.

What are Demons?

Demons can be the System Demons but can also be recurring parts of a Traveler's facet, be it a junkie brother, a cruel mentor or a hungry pet that stays with them no matter the facet.

What is Humanity?

 Humanity is the Traveler's root in the system, in reality.  Humanity is how well a Traveler can find their equilibrium when they are put in a facet that is entirely alien or foreign to them.  Humanity is the ability to remember that they can jump into the backstage of the universe, through the System.  Humanity is how in touch the Traveler is to their cornerstone reality.

What is Lore?

 Lore is how much the Traveler knows about how the system works and how different facets relate to one another.


Works of Influence:

Sliders
The Eternal Champion books
The Matrix
Planetary
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Excalibur (remember when they went reality jumping in that big train?)
The One
Even Quantum Leap a bit...

Comments, Critiques and Campaign Ideas are appreciated...

PS. Thanks to Paka for helping type it up & for sending me the Sorcerer rules for an early Christmas present.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Grimlok,

And welcome to the Forge! I'm glad Judd is infecting others with his incredible notions for Sorcerer & Sword; the quicker the Mu setting comes to light through real play, the happier I'll be.

I like many of your notions for this computer-dimension setting, although to some extent I'm uncomfortable with "multiple-setting" games, especially in Sorcerer. That is to say, I'm happy with it as long as it adds to the experience/premise of play, rather than detracts from it.

Let me clarify that. At first glance, most people assume that "more settings" is a kind of multiple for enjoyment, in that if one setting is great, then ten settings must be ten-times-great, and infinite settings must be ... wow! infinitely great! In practice, however, I've found that the effect is to dilute the importance of setting rather than to amplify it.

Can you verbalize how the "sliders" effect would bring the essential ethical/dramatic issues into focus, rather than to suppress them?

Best,
Ron

[Grimlok]

Hi Ron,

Yeah, Judd and I have been infecting each other for along time.... (okay, that didn't come out right...)

 Anyway, In answer to your comments:

 Let me clarify that. At first glance, most people assume that "more settings" is a kind of multiple for enjoyment, in that if one setting is great, then ten settings must be ten-times-great, and infinite settings must be ... wow! infinitely great! In practice, however, I've found that the effect is to dilute the importance of setting rather than to amplify it.

I undertand the sentiment but a mature GM and group can keep the flow going without blurring of the lines or too many non-entertaining distractions. I think this statement is especially valid since it's an idea for Sorcerer which is already geared towards the mature group.

Can you verbalize how the "sliders" effect would bring the essential ethical/dramatic issues into focus, rather than to suppress them?

 Sometimes the things the System Demons will ask of you are definitely dark and cause you to start compromising some of your ideals, such as:

Being asked to assasinate someone who is a good person but was supposed to die but for some reason didn't. You would then have to figure out how to do it and keep in touch with your humanity (ie. make him a martyr and further his causes, still a sacrifice but is a little bit easier to bear but more difficult than simply shooting him).

Defending a rascist dictator who will go on to create an evil empire but can't be killed because he needs to do this to cause certain calculations in the system to conclude with the right answers but doing it in such a way as to make sure some revolutionaries get away to keep the movement going.

In other words keeping the balance of your soul, which keeps you from just merging with the cosmic machinery and the system, which grants you much of your special abilities. If you want to be granted more powers from the system you do your jobs well & fast but by doing so you will almost always lose who you are and either merge with the system (possibly becoming just another System Demon) or loosing contact with your soul and thus the ability to travel between your facets.

Please any more questions/comments, these are helping me think through the world a bit more-[/b]

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Good answers, all 'round. I'm trying to make sure that "infinite settings" does not translate into "same shit, different tech level." If the features of the settings are integrated with the moral crisis at hand, then we're getting somewhere.

So let's get concrete! What descriptors would you list for Stamina, Will, and Lore? I'd suggest about six each, to which all player-characters are restricted.

Best,
Ron

[Judd]

Defending a rascist dictator who will go on to create an evil empire but can't be killed because he needs to do this to cause certain calculations in the system to conclude with the right answers but doing it with in such a way as to make sure some revoultionaries get away to keep the movement going.

In other words keeping the balance of your soul, which keeps you from just merging with the cosmic machinery and the system, which grants you much of your special abilities.  

Oddly, these were the passages that made me want to play in this whole-heartedly.  I liked the idea but wasn't psyched about it until those words...

[Grimlok]

Hi, Ron-

So let's get concrete! What descriptors would you list for Stamina, Will, and Lore? I'd suggest about six each, to which all player-characters are restricted.

 I am a bit busy over the next few days and before putting my thoughts to "paper" I want to reread those sections of the rules to confirm a few things and then get back to you.

 Hopefully by Monday Night I will have them in a solid form as oppposed to the gaseous state the presently reside in.

Be back soon-