Wwygmd

[CourtFool]

I am not sure this has been thought up before. On the opposite side of the What Would Your Character Do I propose the What Would You, the Game Master, Do. Now I am sure this is the concept behind a lot of "My players suck. What should I do about it" type posts, but that is not what I had in mind. I am looking more for creative input than specific instructions. Feel free to be as vague or specific as you want.

You are running a high powered cross dimensional campaign. One of your characters is an intelligent construct with flight and a sword that projects an energy blast. You are thinking of dropping the players into the English Civil War, a cyberpunk world and then a fantasy setting complete with a dragon to fight.

What do you do?

[Nolgroth]

Create an intricate plot wherein the PCs are chasing a "Big Bad" (or powerful minions) through these different times in an attempt to stop him from achieving some goal (finding the Artifacts of Power always seems a good one). The mere thought of intelligence constructs and dimension/time hopping has already destroyed any chance of reality, so each setting would have in genre methods of dealing with the powerful future tech.


Black magic and alchemy seem like good choices for the English Civil War
The plethora of cyberware and stuff for the cyberpunk setting. I also tend to wrongly associate Shadowrun with any post modern, nihilistic setting, so toss in the random summoned spirit or fireball spell there.
The standard fantasy setting? Need I mention the ways?

Mostly I would just want to make sure that the locals to each time were not completely helpless. I admit the English Civil War one was difficult to picture.

[CourtFool]

Well, hopefully, the locals in the English Civil War will not be 'engaged', at least not in combat. The only reason I tossed that in is it came up on Wikipedia's today in history. I wanted to start the session in media res and I thought the middle of a battle would be kind of cool. I imagine the PCs fighting one of the Big Bad's lieutenants in the middle of a battle complete with canon balls flying.

[Ian Mackinder]

A lot would depend on the Player-Characters.

If they are reasonably principled / restrained, I'd put a scare into them as regards the English Civil War phase - keep them worried about the dire consequences of messing up History, etc.. That way, you don't NEED the opposition to be all that high-powered - successful resolution will emphasize brains and finesse over brute force.
If they are less ... restrained, maybe throw in somebody like Merlin and/or the Fae as a counterforce option.

In either case, whether or not they can actually alter history is up to you. But unless they have extensive prior knowledge, it is probably best to play up the uncertainty factor in any case. That way, you discourage them from simplistic solutions like nuking Cromwell.

[CourtFool]

Great point, Ian. Thanks.

[Narf the Mouse]

The PCs are members of an interdimensional police force. The organization has the capability to detect 'interference' to a timeline. When unauthorized interference is detected, a couple of 'uniformed officers' are sent out. Most often, it's the high tech equivelent of drunken joy-riders, people who got a bit lost, someone who built a dimensional machine in their basement (And needs to get pointed towards home) or etc..

The player's squad is sent out when it's a significant problem. Generally, they are to operate in secrecy. The greater the threat level, the more they can operate openly, but the default assumption is 'Nothing to see here, just a few blokes wandering around'.

This would allow both spy/investigation adventuring as well as high-powered blast'em'up and to segue from one to the other.

[Curufea]

I drop them in.

Power levels-
Consequences has very little to do with who wins in combat. Consequences has a lot to do with the repurcussions of actions in and outside of combat. I may introduce a similar or higher power - but am more likely to enforce low level character interactions that encourage roleplaying and immersion - rather than "be bad, slap hand, the GM is my external moral compass because the PC is lazy"

Campaign creation-
As usual, lots of consultation. Find out which players want to have existing relationships with other players or the setting, and work out a reason for dimensional travel that is reasonably consistent.
Plot the significant parts of the campaign around PC background hooks - very important.

PC creation-
I want more words than numbers, always. I want at least as many acquaintances for their character as the player has in real life, or an excuse that is a good hook.
Every PC should know at least 1 other PC. But one can be a loner.

Ideas-
If a player comes up with reasons for this campaign, or mentions in passing something I can use for the campaign, or if it something that I find entertaining, or could be entertaining to the players - use it if possible and reward them.
A GM's job is half the effort if players create their own plots (if sometimes in an oblivious way).