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[~Neri]

Paralysis works, also I like that hybridization. Although a nomagic world may have issues.

Considering how a shift in system would lead to unfamiliarity, putting a person at the basic level, it could manifest in non-magic worlds as having a greater than average ability to decipher the secrets of technology.

That also works~ Or perhaps translates into skills and items. (Although if you lose the item in the world, you still keep the skill when you leave.)

Like a Kinetic based wizard could gain a gun or two and the skill to use them.

[WillowLuman]

At a presentation ATM but just want to chime in

Having every world be its own thread, controlled by its GM, and linked to the central hub thread sounds like the best idea. Having a single world with GMs operating different missions/events has already been done, I think we should try for something new.

I don't think the "Person becomes an expy of their former self when they enter a world with different worlds" would be a good idea. People crossing between worlds may as well be native amnesia patients with odd skills (and it kind of enforces a "gamey" feel to each world). Perhaps, as an alternate to turning cyborgs into more physically fit cavemen with sharper spears when they enter a caveman world, we could move the mechanism of balancing to within the hub(s), perhaps some police entity tasked with preventing inter-world conflicts. Additionally, compensating for tech difference (and not just magic) is really gamey, since tech for the most parts relies on physics, which are likely to be constant between most worlds.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both "Magic works the same as in its native world" and "Magic people use the magic of whatever world they're currently in." For the former, you can have as a plot element people trying to exploit the powers of other worlds to achieve something in their own, or someone from one world mounting an invasion, or someone going around helping in small adventures by doing things natives cannot. For the latter, you might have people using other worlds as a solution by bringing their enemy to one where the advantage of their native power does not work.

[Empiricist]

There's also the option of only anchoring the effects of a character's ability and not the cause, effectively, they remain as an outsider with different capabilities, but those capabilities will still be balanced within the world.

So if say someone was cybernetically enhanced to be able to hack electronics, if they moved to a fantasy world, their enhancements would remain exactly the same, but their ability would have changed into the ability to hack enchantments. Or if say someone could magically summon swarms of japanese giant hornets, if they moved to a science-fiction world, they would still have the same magic, it's just that it summons weaponized nano-machine swarms instead.

[WillowLuman]

Or, if you want a different kind of balance, the hacker loses the advantage they have in their world because the fantasy world has nothing to hack. If we convert magical prowess directly into technological prowess and vice-versa, then power just becomes a uniform quantity. Having it not directly translate means that characters crossing between worlds have to learn about and adapt to the new things they find.

[~Neri]

There's also the option of only anchoring the effects of a character's ability and not the cause, effectively, they remain as an outsider with different capabilities, but those capabilities will still be balanced within the world.

So if say someone was cybernetically enhanced to be able to hack electronics, if they moved to a fantasy world, their enhancements would remain exactly the same, but their ability would have changed into the ability to hack enchantments. Or if say someone could magically summon swarms of japanese giant hornets, if they moved to a science-fiction world, they would still have the same magic, it's just that it summons weaponized nano-machine swarms instead.

What if they warp into a world with no magic or highfi tech?

Or, if you want a different kind of balance, the hacker loses the advantage they have in their world because the fantasy world has nothing to hack. If we convert magical prowess directly into technological prowess and vice-versa, then power just becomes a uniform quantity. Having it not directly translate means that characters crossing between worlds have to learn about and adapt to the new things they find.

I honestly like this idea. Adds a sense of adventure.

[Empiricist]

What if they warp into a world with no magic or highfi tech?

They they'd manipulate the functioning of the closest thing to that kind of technology. So in steampunk or clockpunk settings, they can tamper with machines, in biological manipulation-based settings, they'd manipulate bio-engineered lifeforms.

[~Neri]

If we go with the idea Hugo had, then possibly they get a manapool from their world. They would need to find alternate ways to fill their pool though unless the world is compatible with their magic.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

This reminds me of that time I tried to make a game that crossed over everything.

Christ that went wrong.

Hm....well, so what about a guy with 'Mons being hurled into a world with no 'Mons, technology level being irrelevant?

[WillowLuman]

Well, 'mons are creatures, so I'd say they'd be treated like any other character crossing into a different world. Depending on the rules we choose for crossing over, they might either loose any special abilities they have, be subjected to a limited "mana pool" which must be recharged somehow, or keep their abilities fully/with some adjustments.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

And also, how would stats be handled? Would we have a generic stat system for battles between people of different worlds? Would we have to have stats for one side converted to the other?

[Empiricist]

My main worry with a system that cuts people off from resources is that some characters are more disadvantaged than others. Mages, hackers and the like would find themselves with a finite amount of resources if any whilst knights, assassins and their kin would still have all their equipment and skills.

[WillowLuman]

My main worry with a system that cuts people off from resources is that some characters are more disadvantaged than others. Mages, hackers and the like would find themselves with a finite amount of resources if any whilst knights, assassins and their kin would still have all their equipment and skills.

That's primarily what the hub's system will be for, I think, and it's something we're going to have to hammer out. As for now, I think whenever characters from different worlds interact in ways that need stats, the relevant GMs should work it out themselves (with possible assistance/moderation from the hub GM(s)) and thus establish interaction rules between specific systems/worlds.

My main worry with a system that cuts people off from resources is that some characters are more disadvantaged than others. Mages, hackers and the like would find themselves with a finite amount of resources if any whilst knights, assassins and their kin would still have all their equipment and skills.

That's balanced, I think: people with power would have to balance their resources, while those with more mundane abilities can operate in a more constant manner between worlds. Bear in mind that said knight would probably be ignorant of other worlds and advanced science, while an outworld visitor with sufficient scientific knowledge (and resources/leverage) might establish a power base and/or technological outpost using the resources of the primitive/fantasy world. Also, if a knight be upgraded into a space marine in order to give them the same relative "power" as on their home turf, should an archaic knight from the space marine setting get downgraded into a stick-wielding barbarian? It just seems really gamey.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Well. This all seems in order, but let's use a theoretical crossover.

Say we crossed over Einsteinian Roulette and one of the various Fire Emblem games on the forum, how would that work?

[~Neri]

We aren't crossing over existing games.

So it simply wouldn't work.

[Empiricist]

My main worry with a system that cuts people off from resources is that some characters are more disadvantaged than others. Mages, hackers and the like would find themselves with a finite amount of resources if any whilst knights, assassins and their kin would still have all their equipment and skills.

That's balanced, I think: people with power would have to balance their resources, while those with more mundane abilities can operate in a more constant manner between worlds. Bear in mind that said knight would probably be ignorant of other worlds and advanced science, while an outworld visitor with sufficient scientific knowledge (and resources/leverage) might establish a power base and/or technological outpost using the resources of the primitive/fantasy world. Also, if a knight be upgraded into a space marine in order to give them the same relative "power" as on their home turf, should an archaic knight from the space marine setting get downgraded into a stick-wielding barbarian? It just seems really gamey.

Doesn't that assume that magic and such has an advantage in the worlds where it is present, enough to justify limiting or outright disabling it other worlds, something that is rarely the case? I mean a knight would still be physically fit and trained in melee weapons whilst a mage would be stuck with knowledge of something they'd have an extremely limited quantity of and a hacker wouldn't have much going for them at all aside from whatever general knowledge they happen to possess.

My view is that all worlds should be capable of supporting skills to a certain extent, not necessarily in the same way as their world. So much like how a knight would have to learn how to use modern weapons, a mage would have to learn what sort of magic a world has (even if it is far weaker) and a hacker would need to learn to tamper with apparatus.

So if a knight and a mage ended up in a modern world, the knight would still have their fitness though likely requiring new equipment and knowledge of weapons and the mage would still have magic, just a different kind of magic that requires as much, if not more adaption than the knight.