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[IamanElfCollaborator]

Oh, okay. Now I've got a clearer idea of what's going on. I assumed this was going to be some sort of mega crossover ala-SSB or something, but eh, idea's still interesting.

If only because I tried it and it backfired horribly because I didn't think it through.

[Chiefwaffles]

What about "Artifacts"?
Basically objects agreed between the GMs of all/certain games (within this system, of course) to have some effect. For example, one artifact in a magic world could allow any user to perform something via the most relevant method in that world. If you have an artifact that shoots fireballs, it could "morph" into a wand in a fantasy game, while be a futuristic fireball cannon in some other game. Artifacts would also definitely stay on characters.

[~Neri]

Enchanted items function as designed so long as they have power.

Same goes for electronic items. A flashlight works until the batteries run out.

A sword that shoots fire on command will work until it's out of mana.

They won't morph but they will be considerably easier to charge in their home setting.

[Avis-Mergulus]

Aw dang, I missed the start of this thread on account of being asleep... Sorry. Here's my two cents.

First, I want to chime in with everybody who supported ability retention, mostly because this downgrading/stylistic shift stuff seems to take some of the fun out of the whole thing. I mean, if a caveman can't get transported into a cyberpunk metropolis and wander around hilariously drunk, attacking people with a club, then what's the point? I get there is a point, but it's a smaller point than it would otherwise be.

Another thing. Do we assume everybody everywhere speaks the same language? For the purpose of not overcomplicating everything, I suggest we make it so, though at the player's discretion, they can have an accent relative to the language of another world.

Thing number three. The "central hub" idea sounds sort of useful to me. Suppose a player in World X finds a gateway into World Y. Yay. GM X PM's GM Y (wow, so many capital letters), but it turns out GM Y is temporarily unavailiable. Then GM X either can't continue his game until GM Y responds to his PM, or is forced to make the player wait outside any game at all, which is mean-ish, or has to say that whatever portal the player found is not functioning currently. Or the player can be transferred to the hub, where they can screw around until their train arrives (Whoa. Interdimensional train station!). The last option seems preferrable.

[Kadzar]

Yeah, I agree that there's not much point to all this if things don't stay basically the same between worlds. If you go to a magic world to get a wand of fireball, and, when you come back, it's suddenly a flamethrower, why even bother? The whole appeal of this idea is inter-dimensional fuckery; someone from our world should be able to acquire a plasma gun and/or maybe learn some magic or establish a bond with a 'Mon.

So, as I see it, we just need to establish a basic ruleset, and from there GM's can add on pertinent subsystems as needed. It's possible that as characters cross from world to world, they will acquire different combinations of stat-types, and there should probably be rules for learning how to use new things in a different world, adjustable by the GM of that world.

[IronyOwl]

We aren't crossing over existing games.

So it simply wouldn't work.

That doesn't answer the question, though. Assuming somebody made an ER-like game and somebody else made a FEF-like game, and they attempted to cross over, what would happen as we/you currently understand it? Or is there some reason those two aren't valid examples (like the unified system thing)?

Aw dang, I missed the start of this thread on account of being asleep... Sorry. Here's my two cents.

First, I want to chime in with everybody who supported ability retention, mostly because this downgrading/stylistic shift stuff seems to take some of the fun out of the whole thing. I mean, if a caveman can't get transported into a cyberpunk metropolis and wander around hilariously drunk, attacking people with a club, then what's the point? I get there is a point, but it's a smaller point than it would otherwise be.

This was the other thing I mostly forgot to mention- it sucks a lot of the uniqueness and fun out of it when there's multiple worlds but everything looks like it belongs.

That said, I still think ensuring that the club is effective at clubbing PeaceBorgs down but not overly effective at smashing bank terminals is probably sound. You don't want the caveman drifting too far into I'm A Bank Robber Now Because My Club Sucks But Lacks A Tracking Chip territory.

Another thing. Do we assume everybody everywhere speaks the same language? For the purpose of not overcomplicating everything, I suggest we make it so, though at the player's discretion, they can have an accent relative to the language of another world.

Thing number three. The "central hub" idea sounds sort of useful to me. Suppose a player in World X finds a gateway into World Y. Yay. GM X PM's GM Y (wow, so many capital letters), but it turns out GM Y is temporarily unavailiable. Then GM X either can't continue his game until GM Y responds to his PM, or is forced to make the player wait outside any game at all, which is mean-ish, or has to say that whatever portal the player found is not functioning currently. Or the player can be transferred to the hub, where they can screw around until their train arrives (Whoa. Interdimensional train station!). The last option seems preferrable.

Having recognizable accents from various worlds sounds like an excellent idea. Better yet if it's noticeable across accents from within the same world, so you can have a Cyberpunk Scot and a Cyberpunk Brit absolutely baffled when a knight insists they have basically the same accent.

As for the hub, "GM Busy, Try Again" sounds like kind of a weird edge case to add a limbo dimension for. I wouldn't think there'd be much for them to do in there that'd be productive or fun, and if not, how much of an upgrade would that be to waiting around or just continuing with their own adventure until the portal's active?

[Avis-Mergulus]

Okay, maybe the hub thingy isn't really necessary. Plus it may add a sort of weak point to the whole structure, in that somebody will need to GM it at all times, else we're screwed.
Still. What do we do in a "The GM is out of the coverage, please call back later" case? There has to be a standard operating procedure.

[IronyOwl]

Okay, maybe the hub thingy isn't really necessary. Plus it may add a sort of weak point to the whole structure, in that somebody will need to GM it at all times, else we're screwed.
Still. What do we do in a "The GM is out of the coverage, please call back later" case? There has to be a standard operating procedure.

If possible, the character should probably just keep on doing whatever they were/want to do until he becomes available. If not possible... I guess we could do some kind of "lost in the rift, fight void goblins for a while" mini-sidequest? Ultimately we can't really do much in a world without its GM, so there's only going to be so much grace to an absence like that.

Unless we want to set it up so that we can do stuff without a given world's GM, but that's got its own set of issues.

[Corsair]

I like the idea of stuff not changing too much across worlds (so a caveman club is a wooden club no matter where it is it just may be tweaked slightly depending on the exact place), otherwise as previously stated it would all become homogenized (which would ruin the hilarity of killing knights with a plasma cannon). How do we determine the location, destination and number of portals?

[Ambidextrous]

PTW

[Empiricist]

Wait, whose suggestion involved changing items? My suggestion involved modifying abilities to still function in other worlds and Hugolumen's suggestion involved having everything remain the same, with supernatural abilities running out eventually.

[Avis-Mergulus]

Okay, maybe the hub thingy isn't really necessary. Plus it may add a sort of weak point to the whole structure, in that somebody will need to GM it at all times, else we're screwed.
Still. What do we do in a "The GM is out of the coverage, please call back later" case? There has to be a standard operating procedure.

If possible, the character should probably just keep on doing whatever they were/want to do until he becomes available. If not possible... I guess we could do some kind of "lost in the rift, fight void goblins for a while" mini-sidequest? Ultimately we can't really do much in a world without its GM, so there's only going to be so much grace to an absence like that.

Unless we want to set it up so that we can do stuff without a given world's GM, but that's got its own set of issues.

I think I like this "void goblins" idea. Okay, so we get a mini-sidequest thing to pass the time in such a case. Got it.

I like the idea of stuff not changing too much across worlds (so a caveman club is a wooden club no matter where it is it just may be tweaked slightly depending on the exact place), otherwise as previously stated it would all become homogenized (which would ruin the hilarity of killing knights with a plasma cannon). How do we determine the location, destination and number of portals?

I think it would be fair to let each GM determine the number and location of portals in their world, with the possibility of adding new ones later on (new worlds may appear, right?)
Or wait. Do our portals have fixed destination worlds (like, this portal will only transport you to World Y) or do the players get to choose where they're going, and if they get to choose, is the selection of worlds they choose from limited, or are all worlds in the game alright?
The latter option also opens up a possibility of inter-world navigation failure. For example, a character was going to visit a wild world to harvest resources, SURPRISE MOAHFOKKA - emerges in a cybernetic tomb-world full of dust wraiths. Because such is life in the Zone.

Wait, whose suggestion involved changing items? My suggestion involved modifying abilities to still function in other worlds and Hugolumen's suggestion involved having everything remain the same, with supernatural abilities running out eventually.

There were a few suggestions in the first pages to that effect. Plus I remember somebody suggesting changing fire magic to wrist-mounted flamethrowers or something in magic-less worlds. That doesn't seem very fun.

[Digital Hellhound]

I love these kind of ideas. Deffo interested.

I didn't have the chance to read the whole thread so this could've been mentioned - there was a similar project called RTD Wars in that subforum. Multiple GMs running separate but connected worlds. I bring this up because it crashed and burned with the power of a thousand suns - not really because of anything innate, but a lack of coordination, communication and organization. For this to work, there's a huge amount of responsibility and competence for the overall person in charge (or persons). Lack of communication is deaaaath.

Re: tech/magic/physics transfer between worlds. I don't really like the idea of converting stuff to equilevants, but this could be handled in other ways too. Maybe you get to have your futuristic boomgun into a dark ages world, but you'll now face a rapidly dwindling stock of ammo and will be targeted by those in power who want it for themselves (or zealous witchhunters). Maybe your magic functions in a mundane world, but only your innate pool of mana, so better only use it in extreme need. Point being, they can still be retained but limited if necessary, to give some sense of continuity.

Re: universal system. I'd recommend a simple base system, allowing GMs to add to it per their needs. The GMs can convert skills and equipment to more or less complex versions when changing worlds if necessary.

I ran a 'World of Espionage' game about a team of (freelance) agents in a city of conspiracy, subterfuge, car chases, interrogations, shadowy agencies etc. in that RTD Wars thing. I'd love to do something similar again.

[~Neri]

I'm thinking connectionwise, the portals could either directly connect to another world or connect to a "hub" that has portals to others (or a single one that connects to others), how specific portals function should be up to GM discretion.

Voidgoblins is an interesting idea, although someone needs to GM it. Maybe make it a pseudocolab that can just rotate between GM's as needed, and probs shouldn't have it be too lethal. Maybe make it puzzlebased?

Language, probs universal with accent, although other world specific languages should exist according to GM discretion, although the primary language should be the universal one.

What do we do about psionics? Technically it isn't magic, they're fueled by the body rather then mana- Wait. Idea: In native world, mana and energy can be absorbed rapidly from environment. In other worlds, gotta either adapt to local energy or just slowly generate your own mana from nomming foodnsuch. Thoughts?

Psionics though. Perhaps as a balance, energy can only come from self or specific sources defined by GM when thry make the psionic system. Psionics don't get the limitation that Magic gets from being in a different world. However they don't have the option of absorbing energy from the surroundings of their homeuniverse like magic can outside of specific circumstances. Thought?

[Empiricist]

Idea: In native world, mana and energy can be absorbed rapidly from environment. In other worlds, gotta either adapt to local energy or just slowly generate your own mana from nomming foodnsuch. Thoughts?

That idea I definitely like. So if someone had bullet time as an ability and entered some sort of Perplexicon-esque world, they'd either have to manage a limited amount of it, OR channel unstable eldritch energies to maintain it with all the new benefits and drawbacks.