Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-03-2017, 10:31 AM   #1
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Our World Is A Myth Parallel

Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
What changes? That's the important part. Debates about what is "really real" are usually pointless philosophical ones. Show me the operational differences.
.
Honestly it's not that weird if real people here are pure myth in other worlds so I'm breaking this off from Weird Parallels. If, say our world existed in Infinite Worlds then Homeline would be one of our myth parallels after all. There could actually be a fair bit of that. George Washington as a completely fictional character in a setting where the American Revolution failed for example. Or what about a setting where Edison and Tesla are characters out of a series of science fiction novels?
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2017, 11:03 AM   #2
robkelk
Untitled
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

I think we're getting into what Heinlein called "transfictionality" in The Number of the Beast - everybody is fictional in somebody else's universe.

I've used the concept myself in fanfic: the first time a multiverse traveler visited Fenspace, the people who greeted him had read stories about him previously - mutually-contradictory stories, so they weren't sure which traveler had arrived, but they had a pretty good idea who he was and what he could do.
__________________
Rob Kelk
“Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.”
– Bernard Baruch,
Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950
No longer reading these forums regularly.
robkelk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2017, 12:29 PM   #3
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

When I ran my campaign Gods and Monsters, its premise was that the characters of fiction and film from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century could be real, but their creators were not. So, I said, Adolf Hitler really exists, but there is no Leni Riefenstahl.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2017, 12:36 PM   #4
Phantasm
 
Phantasm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
When I ran my campaign Gods and Monsters, its premise was that the characters of fiction and film from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century could be real, but their creators were not. So, I said, Adolf Hitler really exists, but there is no Leni Riefenstahl.
So, Dracula, Harker, van Helsing, etc. but no Bram Stoker? Frankenstein and his monsters, but not Mary Shelley?
__________________
"Life ... is an Oreo cookie." - J'onn J'onzz, 1991

"But mom, I don't wanna go back in the dungeon!"

The GURPS Marvel Universe Reboot Project A-G, H-R, and S-Z, and its not-a-wiki-really web adaptation.
Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting
Phantasm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2017, 01:15 PM   #5
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
So, Dracula, Harker, van Helsing, etc. but no Bram Stoker? Frankenstein and his monsters, but not Mary Shelley?
That was the idea. However, John H. Watson had Arthur Conan Doyle as his literary agent for his accounts of Holmes's cases.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2017, 02:42 PM   #6
Steve Jackson
President and EIC
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

So there would have been writers that were never heard from on this Earth, creating their own new sets of characters . . . That could get meta VERY quickly.
Steve Jackson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2017, 03:30 PM   #7
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

Not necessarily. That world could have fewer writers, books, or prefer more mundane fiction like romance. I wouldn't know if the best seller's list full of romances in that world included only authors that don't exist in any other parallel.
While it might matter to characters and players that love that genre, I have trouble imagining how impactful it could be on a game. You have Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.!
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2017, 04:36 PM   #8
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Not necessarily. That world could have fewer writers, books, or prefer more mundane fiction like romance. I wouldn't know if the best seller's list full of romances in that world included only authors that don't exist in any other parallel.
While it might matter to characters and players that love that genre, I have trouble imagining how impactful it could be on a game. You have Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.!
Well, think of Alan Moore's gimmick in Watchmen, where the world had real "superheroes" (though hardly any of them had "powers"), but comic books were focused on pirates.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2017, 07:01 PM   #9
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

I only saw the movie, so there's quite a bit I know they left out or altered.

The movie's supers were more over the top superhuman than Batman, and I'm not one to say that he's a truly human character. But yeah, only two over the top impossible characters.

Though I do wonder why a public wouldn't fictionalize supers. We fictionalize real people all the time. Biopics, and "based on a true story" movies and books are usually at least half fiction.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2017, 08:27 PM   #10
ajardoor
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Default Re: Our World Is A Myth Parallel

The Internet.

The thing that makes our world a myth parallel is the Internet. No other worlds have it, for some reason.
ajardoor is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:30 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.