Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

[Karmakaze]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

We've been known to kick the "start date" back one to five years so that if we wind up with too much between game downtime, we don't wind up in the future.

 

As far as campaign to campaign continuity goes, I tend to use a more alternate universe sort approach than the US Comics sort of major retcon. If you're importing characters from another campaign, it's kind if like the difference between, say, Superman (the comic book), Superman: the Animated series, and Smallville. The general flow of things carry over, but details may be adjusted to fit the new setting.

 

And yes, this can cause some repeat players to think they know how a subplot is going to work out... And if they get too sure, then they are sure to be wrong...

[Savinien]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

Who was that masked Necroposter?

[keithcurtis]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

Alert! Alert! Thread Necromancy!

This thread is over two years dead!

 

Keith "I miss Mister Vimes" Curtis

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

Well the game I am running right now was started on 7/4/1995. I have to move the game upto early 2016, so I have to be aware of time and it's movement. The PC's all know that they will age, change and (I have one player who has a C that will not grow personalty wise, that will....even if I have to make it happen, happen). The reason for the need to go thru the 20+ years is that this world has a direct connection to one that has run for over three real years and over 11 game time years.

I have the game more or less ploted out for the complete 20+ yrs. The two worlds are in many ways an Earth 2 (Defender Earth: DEF) and Earth 1( Jump Start Earth: JSE) type worlds. The first one is Earth 1 and my world is a Earth 2. The two worlds are interdimensionaly connected, meaning the the two worlds will have to work together to save each other in a few game years, DEF years.

I played in a game that ran from over 13 yrs, it had a full history. Heroes aged, died, married, had kids. They changed and grew, it is one of the things I want and need to happen for my personal enjoyment and my players.

[sinanju]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

The only long-term game I've played in was one back in Virginia. It started my freshman year in college (1977-78) and the campaign is still active. I played thru it until I moved away in 1991. It began as a "Traveller" universe game with bits and pieces of Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha and Starguard (SF minis game) background and continued to mutate over the years into a 100% homebrew system.

 

The GM kept track of passing in-game time. Years and decades accumulated (especially early on, when we were using Jump Drives--one week/jump--constantly. Players have retired characters and played their kids or grandkids on a number of occasions.

 

Anyone ever been tempted to play out a retcon? Do a Crisis on Infinite Earths game?

 

I've played thru several. The campaign described above has undergone constant change over the years. Sometimes minor changes, sometimes major. Changes of game system, changes of combat rules, background changes, etc. Once or twice the entire campaign was essentially "rebooted" with a whole new background, though recurring NPCs and many PCs usually got transplanted, sometimes rewritten from the ground up and sometimes not.

 

At one point, the GM decided to switch to an entirely swords & sorcery campaign; he ran a series of linked adventures that culminated in a complete transition to a single world campaign with swords and sorcery. Some PCs were translated into fantasy version of themselves and never knew anything had changed. Others remembered the previous campaign universe. (It became traditional, when such characters thought they're met a fellow refugee to throw a term into the conversation that only a fellow rememberer would understand, like sign and countersign.)

 

"Sure wish I had a microwave oven."

"Yeah, and some frozen pizza...."

 

Now in its third decade, the campaign continues. Most of the NPCs from early on have long since retired or died; the campaign is full of their descendants. Most of the adventures these days are based on relationships--good, bad or indifferent--between NPCs and PCs. One Fu Manchu-like immortal bad guy is still around...sort of. The native version of him was murdered by his more ruthless "evil twin" from another universe, who is currently causing most of hte trouble in the campaign world....

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Chronology, Continuity, Comics and Champions

 

Anyone ever been tempted to play out a retcon? Do a Crisis on Infinite Earths game?

 

I'm in the process of setting it up in my campaign -- I've been leading into something called "The Time of Gathering" when the dimensional barriers of the established parallels of earth (about 20) become so tenuous that modestly powerful creatures (i.e. superheroes and their ilk) can cross them without magical intervention. Because of this, new alternate earths are created as the merged realities mix and mingle and then separate again with creatures of alien dimensions still within.

 

Essentially, each dimension must fight the influences of corrupting dimensions to remain intact. Of course, for the sake of adventure opportunities, there will be plenty of interdimentional enemies (including analogues of the characters themselves) who will be trying to end all existence for the game dimension. In the end, what stays and what goes will depend on what the characters do and when.

 

As a way to tell when The Time of Gathering (TToG for brevity), Arcainus Prime of the game dimension (named Dr. Who, just because he looks a lot like Tom Baker after he's raided Dr. Strange's closet) created The Five Pillars of Reality, which would disappear one by one if the game universe were in danger of being lost in the shuffle. As of the last adventure, one of the characters in the group was in possession of one (unwittingly) and it was destroyed...only four left now, and the fun is just beginning.

 

Actually, TToG was intended to be the major story arc for the campaign, but it has taken 13 game sessions just to set everything up for the big event to get started. I must be getting older or something.

 

Matt "The-Don-Quixote-in-search-of-the-ultimate-campaign" Frisbee