nexus Posted April 8, 2004 Report Share Posted April 8, 2004 Alternate Worlds. I'm running a dimesion hopping Heroic game sort of like Sliders and I was wondering if anyone had any particularly cool alternate worlds they'd like to share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted April 8, 2004 Report Share Posted April 8, 2004 Re: Give me your best... My favorite idea for Champions in 3-d was a sort of "Darkworld," where the Champions were killer vigilantes, the Harbinger of Justice was a mercy-hunter, Doctor Destroyer was a loon, and Foxbat was a true threat. Translating that to a more heroic-level "Sliders" kind of setting, you might have one where the United States is a virtual dictatorship under Howard Stern, Osama bin Laden is a pro-Democratic reformer, Jerry Falwell is a pornographer and gay-rights activist, Larry Flint is a Bible-waving evangelist, and Wes Craven is the leading producer of family-friendly entertainment. Historically, Vladimir Lenin is the father of democracy, George Washington tried to have himself named King of America, Elliott Ness was history's greatest mob boss, Al Capone sacrificed his life for law and order in Chicago, Walt Disney was the world's greatest maker of gory horror flicks, and Jim Henson was an infamous pedophile and serial killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThothAmon Posted April 8, 2004 Report Share Posted April 8, 2004 Re: Give me your best... Counterclock World - http://www.geocities.com/pkdlw/counterclock.html Based on Philip K Dick novel of same name - time runs backwards, all actions involving energy conversion work in reverse e.g. you buy packets of cigarette stubs, you age in reverse, you are 'born' from your coffin or crematory vase and sold to the highest bidder. Pavane World - http://www.sfsite.com/06a/pv105.htm Drawn directly from the SF alternate world classic novel by Keith Roberts. Thanks to the success of the Spanish Armada history is not as we know it. The iron fist of the Vatican controls technological and social advancements. In the present day the combustion engine is not yet available, electricity is outlawed and democratic USA does not exist. Fortress Amerika - http://www.rpg-index.com/produktdetail.php?id=8109&PHPSESSID=5827ebffdfafe79cbbd4bce2b5f5888f As described in the classic Champions supplement 'Wings Of The Valkyrie', Hitler was assassinated in the 1930's and the outcome of WWII was vastly different. America is a self-reliant fortress of McCarthy/Orwellian proportions whilst Europe has been split between Russia and the Third Reich. Niteside Dreams AKA The World Of The R'lyeh Falcon - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/zenith/134/night1.htm A film noir world where magic is as common as muck, everybody carries voodoo charms, zombies do all the mass production and the USA defeated Japan by summoning Azathoth to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted April 8, 2004 Report Share Posted April 8, 2004 Re: Give me your best... My favorite idea for Champions in 3-d was a sort of "Darkworld," where the Champions were killer vigilantes, the Harbinger of Justice was a mercy-hunter, Doctor Destroyer was a loon, and Foxbat was a true threat. Translating that to a more heroic-level "Sliders" kind of setting, you might have one where the United States is a virtual dictatorship under Howard Stern, Osama bin Laden is a pro-Democratic reformer, Jerry Falwell is a pornographer and gay-rights activist, Larry Flint is a Bible-waving evangelist, and Wes Craven is the leading producer of family-friendly entertainment. Historically, Vladimir Lenin is the father of democracy, George Washington tried to have himself named King of America, Elliott Ness was history's greatest mob boss, Al Capone sacrificed his life for law and order in Chicago, Walt Disney was the world's greatest maker of gory horror flicks, and Jim Henson was an infamous pedophile and serial killer. My mistake -- many of these were more like Backworld than Darkworld. Let's try it this way: Howard Stern is a soft-spoken liberal, Jerry Falwell is a wishy-washy TV preacher, Flint is trying to add "class" and a sense of artistry to pornography, Ness was a corrupt Federal agent, and Capone was the vigilante who tried to bring Ness down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... There's the Kazei 5 setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... Informix Dimension: A dimension where the residents are much like the residents of the "normal" or home dimension for the PC's, but much more intelligent and better informed and as a people fill various data/information roles ranging from collection to organization to indexing to analyizing to disseminating. Everyone has an Eidetic memory and a 10 point data link. In effect, everyone knows virtually everything their people have ever discovered or conjectured is to know with but a moments thought to access and download the relevant data. Those who arent in information gathering are in a highly disciplined and unified military. Whats more, they are dimensionally cognizant and have turned their massive information gathering and cataloguing skills towards learning everything they can about all other dimensions they can discover. In the process of which they have become aware of the PCs, know many of the dimensions they have encountered and in some cases the spill-over their actions caused in those dimensions. When the PC's are discovered in their dimension an effort is made to trap and capture them. Since they know quite a bit about the PC's feel free to exploit any weakness or vulnerabilities in this process. Once they have captured the PC's the authorities of that dimension will attempt to extract as much information as they can from the PC's, most particularly HOW they travel the dimensions, the one significant bit of crucial data they are missing in their ongoing efforts to move into the other dimensions they have catalogued so thoroughly and take over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... Informix Dimension: A dimension where the residents are much like the residents of the "normal" or home dimension for the PC's' date=' but much more intelligent and better informed ...[/quote'] This is a great idea. It reminds me a bit of some of the things we discuss in class...Have you got more thoughts on such a setting? A short story, perhaps? Or any other similar notions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... This is a great idea. It reminds me a bit of some of the things we discuss in class...Have you got more thoughts on such a setting? A short story' date=' perhaps? Or any other similar notions?[/quote']No, but only because I just thought of it on the fly as I posted it. Such a people would likely assign a GUID (a very large and supposedly non-duplicateable ID number) to everything under the sun and have hang ups about never repeating any piece of data and standardizing all input. Their language would likely be very precise, to the point of being more like syntax, and they would probably fixate on maximum brevity in their speech, but still manage to be very expressive. Thus they would be abstract thinkers but would have very definite rules of precedence and logical flow. Their society would be highly regimented, and every trait would be named. They would think in terms of aggregates rather than singulars and would function by applying things to the maximum possible state and filter downward by criteria rather than start at one and add upwards. Just some thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... Well, I hate to "jump on the bandwagon" with a "Backworld" sort of story, but I had such good luck with mine that I've got to mention a few things about it. First off, this adventure began when the group of 3 heroes were taking a short vacation in the mountains, looking out over the Pacific. The group included: Blackjack, a young man who "had it all" as a top college football player, but who "lost it all" when he started taking money to "fix" games he was in, and was discovered. Later he proved to have gradually-appearing mutations that gave him fantastic strength and durability, and decided to "redeem" himself by becoming a super-hero. Corona, a young woman who was the half-mortal/half-divine daughter of Apollo. As you might expect, she was very good with a bow, among other talents. Double Helix, the physical expression of the idealized male hero from the mind of a absent-minded female geneticist named Sarah. Double Helix wasn't innocent or naive (he was very well aware of the human nature and the way the world worked) but he was also as true and noble as they come...and incorruptible. His costume was pure white and silver. (Oh, he was a mentalist and a telekinetic.) I decided to draw them into the other world through the means of a latent metahuman who didn't realize what she was doing. That night, as they watched a thunderstorm roll in across the sea towards the mountains, and watched the lightning playing across the water, they started to hear (from everywher and nowhere) "Holding Out for a Hero". (The song was just too perfect to pass up! Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods? (Corona!) Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds? (Blackjack!) Isn't there a white knight upon a firey steed?' (Double Helix!) And the location which they chose themselves was also so fitting it was scary: Where the mountains meet the heavens above, where the lightning strikes the sea...) As they listened to the song, the campsite "faded out" around them, and a run-down theatre "faded in". There was a hushed audience, a band playing, and a young woman singing the song. About this moment a couple of the Champions burst in to "stop the illegal concert" and started killing the "wrongdoers". Immediately the PCs realized there was something very wrong, and in a pitched battle, KO'd the Champions that were there (Quantum, Jaguar, Solitaire) and then set out to find out just what was going on. They discovered that the Golden Avenger was President-for-Life. They discovered that underneath the utopian veneer, the United States was a dictatorship based on fear, and the "hero groups" were actually brutal enforcers for the U.S. government...and that they, too, were supposed to be in that category! They concluded there must be some sort of underground or resistance, and started poking around, trying to find some hint or clue of who or where they might be. While searching for these answers, the PCs were set upon by Grond who explained that though he was loathe to use violence, the good of society and the continuation of any hope of a future of freedom and democracy demanded that, regrettable though it was, they be "dealt with." (This Grond had an INT of 25!) He then proceeded to try and pulverize them. Spending most of their actions on Dodges and Aborts, and talking a mile-a-minute, the PCs managed to plant a few doubts about their supposedly villainous nature. They told him what had happened, and that they had no idea if they were in another world, if something had changed history and everyone/everything but them, or what. After thinking about it for a bit, Grond stated that if they agreed to let him take them prisoner, he'd conduct them to a remote location where his superior could examine them and vet or disprove their statements. They agreed. In a remote location in the mountains, they came upon a large, heavily armed and armored flying ship (currently grounded) and were introduced to one of the key figures in the underground: a world-weary martyr who could never remove his life-support power armor or he'd immediately die of old age and infirmity: Professor Preserver (Dr. Destroyer!). With the help of his aide Menton (a shy and apologetic man who hated the grim necessity of invading the thoughts of others) Professor Preserver found they were telling the truth, at least as they knew it. Professor Preserver took them to a temporary base where he introduced them to the strategic and tactical genius who was responsible for the underground's continued existence and what few successes they'd had; the man who was the world's last, best hope for a free tomorrow: Foxbat!!! (You should have seen the player's faces at that one! And yes, they had already encountered Freddie-"I'm a loon"-Farnsworth as their world's Foxbat.) Since the knowledge that the PCs were not, in fact, their villainous counterparts not yet widespread (such "jurisdictional disputes" as happened with the Champions were apparently commonplace between government "hero" groups) Foxbat conceived a plan in which they would appear to capture him, and would then escort him to the world's most secure prison: Stronghold! Once there they would engineer a general break-out, but with a special emphasis on freeing what would possibly be the underground's most potent weapon, though he/it absolutely refused to use lethal force under any circumstances: the great protector of the common man, Mechanon! The breakout was a success (though it involved a long and brutal battle) and the underground retreated to their secret base to begin planning the overthrow of the Golden Avenger and the restoration of freedom to America (and after that, to the world). In return for their aid, Professor Preserver devised a way using magic (he was a master of the mystic arts as well as the scientific ones) and music (since music had been...ahem..."instrumental" in their arrival) to send them back to their own world. With the help of a musical band of metahumans known as Order Noir (Argent Anarky) they were successfully returned to their own time and place...and then had to explain/repair the damage done to their reputation by their villainous counterparts, who had been "exchanged" with them when they were initially pulled into the other world. All in all it lasted over a number of sessions, and was a huge hit with my players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted April 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... All in all it lasted over a number of sessions, and was a huge hit with my players. How did you do that weird lil sign thingie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... Just go here: http://www.danasoft.com/ And you can have your very own! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Mask Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Re: Give me your best... I used this once in a game and it amused me, maybe even more today. America lost WWII and is divided between Germany and Japan . The Nazi in charge of the Los Angeles area is Col. Arnold Schwarzanegger. Former Olympic weightlifter now the Iron handed ruler of Tinseltown, Feel free to use other Hollywood icons as you see fit. The players were dimensionally lost skilled normals ala Sliders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Re: Give me your best... I once transported super-characters to a world that had been invaded by aliens - and the aliens had won. I used "Lizards" a la the "WorldWar" series by Turtledove (but I ran that game five years before the books - not that it's a terribly original idea). Humanity had been reduced to a few million, mostly in slave-labor camps and such. There was a tiny resistance movement fighting a hopeless losing battle. Well, it WAS hopeless before the superheroes showed up. Now, thanks to the PCs, humanity has a fighting chance. It's about as heroic as a PC can be. Can you save the world? Can anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 Re: Give me your best... One that a friend of mine used in a dimhopping game - a superhero game, using superhero tropes. It is pretty standard that powers kick on when exposed to radiation, or when major odd accidents happen. Well in WW2, when the bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima there was a huge wave of superpowered people as a result, and Japan took over the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocMan Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Re: Give me your best... The joy of "What if..." worlds. Like... What if the Romans Empire had never fallen? No dark ages. Science and technology continued to progress unabated by war as one empire unites the west and the Middle East. A world where Champions type superscience is already old-fashioned... and Tribunes still weild ultimate power. What if the Spaniards had all been sunk in a mid-Atlantic storm? The Mayan nations would never have been destroyed by the diseases brought from Europe. Superpowers built on traditional Native American beliefs. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.