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[Playergamer]

I call World War Z world!

[~Neri]

What if the world is intended to be more Slice of Life with less encroaching End of All Things?

[Avis-Mergulus]

The Voidgoblins idea seems good, but it shouldn't be just a distraction - having a threat or enemy that spans each world and exists in the 'space between worlds', perhaps trying to get in, would unify these settings in a good way.

I think it'd work best if this threat took a different, suitable form in each world. It could be a Corruption or Chaos or Void or Death of All Things sort of universal threat. In a fantasy setting, it might manifest in a Dark Overlord trying to take over the world or such, in a scifi it could be a ravenous alien swarm, in a espionage setting a shadowy conspiracy manufacturing a war - as small or big in scale as needs to be. If your world should focus on a bunch of sentient toys in the bounds of one house, the threat could still be as dangerous as the world-ending dark god in another; fluff-wise, this'd be because all worlds are equal in the eyes of the universe or such.

This implies an overarching plotline, does it not? Or is it merely a sort of villain-tool that any GM might use for, say, a sidequest? Anyway, such a thing has to be fleshed out for what it is (disregarding manifestations) before it can be used.

What if the world is intended to be more Slice of Life with less encroaching End of All Things?

I guess you as a GM have control over what sort of shit enters your game (with the exception of players)?

[Digital Hellhound]

What if the world is intended to be more Slice of Life with less encroaching End of All Things?

That was my point with the scale of threat being as big or small as necessary. Chaos/Oblivion/Evil/whatever might manifest here as the problem of the week for the heroes to overcome, even just something like a troubled relationship. I imagine you'd still have some kind of goal or background plot even there. I admit I've yet to see a Slice of Life game on the forums, but now I'm really curious of what you'd do with it.

I like the thought of, let's say, a team of violent mercenaries from one game entering Slice of Life world and becoming entangled in everyday shenanigans and problems. The Expendables Deal With The Problems of Getting Old.

[~Neri]

Probs up to GM.

I think players should be allowed access to a world no matter what, although that doesn't stop the SCP Foundation's cousin from capturing them.

A slice of life game could be interesting. Might try it once I finish some of my current games.

Perhaps we should tally up the ideas so far?

[Avis-Mergulus]

Okay. Shall I, or does one of you guys want to do it?

[~Neri]

I'm a tad busy currently so if I tally it might be a few hours till I finish.

[WillowLuman]

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?

Psionics behaves a lot like magic, though. Thing that lets you do other things by applying energy but without doing physical work with your body.

Depending on the setting though, Psionics are powered purely by the body rather then an external source like most Magic. Probably should sort out how that kind of thing works.

Depending on setting, magic can be powered from the body's energy (as mentioned earlier with Inheritance), and psionics sometimes works by manipulating some omnipresent "psychic force" akin to gravity or magnetism. I think the "limited energy pools" for such psionics systems should apply in worlds without psionics (or having to jury-rig something from mana in a psionic-less but magical world). In worlds without either psionics or magic the imported energy pools should probably be of seperate types, though.

I don't know about having an omnipresent threat that threatens all worlds from the hub. Any such overarching threat should emerge organically, like a villain from one world assembling an army to go attack other worlds.

I like the idea of forgoing a hub and just having the worlds be linked through a system of portals, but then we run into practical problems when entities have to move through one GM's world en route to get to another GM's world.

[Avis-Mergulus]

All right, this is what I seem to get so far.

1. After crossing worlds, items remain physically the same. No stylistic shift happens.

2. Physics-based items work everywhere until out of charge/ammo/whatever. Mana-based magic works until the user is out of mana. Mana cannot be replenished on a magic-less world. How non-mana-based magic works is left to the discretion of the GMs of the worlds (world? Maybe just the host GM should decide?) in question.

3. There is no central hub between worlds - the worlds are directly interconnected through a series of portals.

4. A GM can regulate where the portals that lead out of their world are located, what world they lead to, and how many there are of them. A GM can also decide where the portals that lead to their world are located, and how many of them are there (several entrance portals can have just one corresponding exit). There must always be at least one outbound portal on every world.

5. There's a nefarious thing outside the universe that can assume different appearances in different worlds.

6. Everybody speaks a universal language with specific accents. Other languages may exist in a world at the discretion of the GM.


What have I missed?

[~Neri]

I don't think 5 is a good idea.

Threats should naturally occur.

[Avis-Mergulus]

I don't think 5 is a good idea.

Threats should naturally occur.

Well, yeah. I am slightly against it since it would be a bit difficult to GM. But it was voiced, so I put it in. Shall I take it out?

[Digital Hellhound]

The point of collecting ideas is so they can be seen and discussed by everyone. Don't leave or take anything out.

We might want to make titles for our posts re: whatever we are discussing in it for clarity. Bold them like Topic 6 - Language.

[WillowLuman]

And the hub vs no hub thing is still up in the air.

In the OP it was mentioned that some worlds might initially have no access to other worlds, but as the result of the GM's plot, a passage may be opened from one side or the other later.

[~Neri]

I'm leaning towards no hub normally, but occasionally hub for oncoming traffic with one entry into the world proper.

[Avis-Mergulus]

And the hub vs no hub thing is still up in the air.

In the OP it was mentioned that some worlds might initially have no access to other worlds, but as the result of the GM's plot, a passage may be opened from one side or the other later.

Yes. I supposed that a GM decides to which other worlds his world has passages, and can add passages later on.
I also thought that if a GM says that his world has a passage to World X, then the GM of world X can't outright refuse. He can make the portal one-way or put it in some very nasty place, but not refuse it completely.

I'm leaning towards no hub normally, but occasionally hub for oncoming traffic with one entry into the world proper.

Would this temporary hub be GM'd by the GM of the destination world or otherwise?