Myst series and/or Infinite Worlds GURPS

[Tyneras]

It's been years since I played the games and read the books, but a few thoughts.

Paper and Ink: I remember the paper and ink were Super Special and hard or impossible to come by. We could treat this as a very specialized form of alchemy, requiring specific plants and minerals and a difficult process to manufacture. This would make manufacturing a descriptive/linking book a "quick & dirty" enchantment with the paper and ink acting as a specialized powerstone.

Worlds: I remember there were both stable and unstable worlds, with mention of it being related to the skill of the writer. We could make this a meaningful difference, with stable worlds being, in fact, gates to pre-existing worlds and unstable worlds being manufactured due to lack of a match. As I remember, the entire "world" of Riven was a disc only slightly larger than the islands themselves floating in the stary void. That sounds like an artificial creation to me, and may explain the sheer number of island worlds. This would also have the advantage of limiting potential shenanigans to a manageable level, since unless the world you desire actually exists (GM's call) you might not be able to conjure up more than a few hundred individuals and a limited amount (but still significant) of material resources.

Words of Power: I remember one passage about carved words being used to control (or indicate) airflow through a lava tube to the main city. Being outright magic, it's possible that's how the changes to a world are made. The changes are, in effect, a massive area-wide enchantment, with the stability of said changes related to the detail (energy used) and skill of the writer.

Thanks for the thread, I shall ponder how to better integrate Myst into my future IW games as a result.

[Ciergan]

Originally Posted by PTTG

PBP is a great idea. Imagine a large library of old D'ni worlds, crosslinked with books and ruins, with five or six PCs traveling around looking for other each other and/or a D'ni book.

Count me in, then, if you're interested!

I would be reluctant to make players pay for Ages unless they started out with an age already built. Even then, it's easy to lose access to your age, since all control of it is really tied to the Descriptive book.

It would be an interesting advanced skill to learn. Maybe the players pick up tidbits of information across the Ages and eventually learn how to Write. And then they have to keep rolling for personal corruption lest they turn into tyrant writers.

As far as sizes, I like the island-age approach, but Ages can be full-sized planets.

Oh yeah, there's no limit. For storytelling purposes, it seems like smaller Ages work better for a single arc (e.g. Myst and Exile). It's absolutely possible, however, that larger Ages would work well as hubs for larger campaigns. It would also be interesting to see if there's a type of Age that's more suited to GURPS than the island Ages that were small enough to fit on a disc. I like your idea of Quantum Leap-style storytelling, though. Maybe the players scrabble just enough Ages together to keep a metaphysical fortress and have to guard against wayward travelers who would threaten to permanently scatter the players across the multiverse.

Originally Posted by Tyneras

It's been years since I played the games and read the books, but a few thoughts.

Paper and Ink: I remember the paper and ink were Super Special and hard or impossible to come by. We could treat this as a very specialized form of alchemy, requiring specific plants and minerals and a difficult process to manufacture. This would make manufacturing a descriptive/linking book a "quick & dirty" enchantment with the paper and ink acting as a specialized powerstone.

Worlds: I remember there were both stable and unstable worlds, with mention of it being related to the skill of the writer. We could make this a meaningful difference, with stable worlds being, in fact, gates to pre-existing worlds and unstable worlds being manufactured due to lack of a match. As I remember, the entire "world" of Riven was a disc only slightly larger than the islands themselves floating in the stary void. That sounds like an artificial creation to me, and may explain the sheer number of island worlds. This would also have the advantage of limiting potential shenanigans to a manageable level, since unless the world you desire actually exists (GM's call) you might not be able to conjure up more than a few hundred individuals and a limited amount (but still significant) of material resources.

Words of Power: I remember one passage about carved words being used to control (or indicate) airflow through a lava tube to the main city. Being outright magic, it's possible that's how the changes to a world are made. The changes are, in effect, a massive area-wide enchantment, with the stability of said changes related to the detail (energy used) and skill of the writer.

Thanks for the thread, I shall ponder how to better integrate Myst into my future IW games as a result.

I think that's the key to Myst: a lot of these places are weird. They might have served a mundane purpose for the D'ni, but there were always some strange, unintended stuff like you mentioned about Riven. Er'Cana being linked to Ahnonay through a convoluted series of Links? Ingenious way of delivering goods but pretty weird--couldn't they have just written a pure agricultural world? It's often a question of cognitive dissonance and figuring out how the Ages' writers ticked in addition to the Ages themselves.

What I also like about some Ages is that you end up in some strange tale in media res, like the black ships in Mechanical and the suicidal shaman in Channelwood. They are random and dreamlike--characters make decisions that are objectively arbitrary but make sense within the Age's context. It's an interesting melding of the way the original Star Wars used storytelling and some elements of horror.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Ciergan

(
But of course, my actual question is whether anyone here would be interested in playing a GURPS Myst/Uru PBP. Because I'd be all over that.

I'd love to participate in a Myst PbP. Player, GM, Adversary -- any role. I don't have exposure to the source material beyond this thread though.

Originally Posted by Refplace

I like the concept. If built as Powers it would be a variation on Jumper and possibly borrow from the Pyramid article on Owning your own Dimension. Forget the article name but can dig it up if needed.

Lord of your own domain, Pyramid 3/63. I wouldn't do it that way though. From descriptions it sounds like its very much magic as technology though. At the most I'd charge being able to write your own world as Unusual background, Illuminated, Magery, High TL (special), or even (see below) Gadgeteer.

Originally Posted by Tyneras

Paper and Ink: I remember the paper and ink were Super Special and hard or impossible to come by. We could treat this as a very specialized form of alchemy, requiring specific plants and minerals and a difficult process to manufacture. This would make manufacturing a descriptive/linking book a "quick & dirty" enchantment with the paper and ink acting as a specialized powerstone.

I'd treat writing a world less like casting a spell and more like an invention, using the inventing rules. You smaller worlds with better understood physics are easier to make, and you already have a set of 'pretty good' rules.

I do think that manufacturing the paper as an alchemy specialization is good. My mind is trying to think of ways to limit the commonality of the paper and ink.

[ericthered]

There are lots of ways you can incorporate the two settings into each other. Almost as important is what directions the players are coming from.

Myst Characters can explore IW.

You can use IW as a sourcebook for Myst as an "Alternate Infinity"

IW Characters can explore Myst. This game is very different depending on the faction and type of character doing the exploring: Infinity Service, ISWAT, or civilians.

An Iswat campaign can have a D'ni writer on it.

I'd personally go with one side discovering the other. I don't know which side I'd find more intriguing though.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'd treat writing a world less like casting a spell and more like an invention, using the inventing rules. You smaller worlds with better understood physics are easier to make, and you already have a set of 'pretty good' rules.

I do think that manufacturing the paper as an alchemy specialization is good. My mind is trying to think of ways to limit the commonality of the paper and ink.

Yeah the invention rules would be a good start, or Effect magic with its high penalties. Could be done for Amber as well.

[PTTG]

I can't commit to running a game until I'm done with some long-lasting IRL stuff. I am interested, though.

Given standard tropes, I'd like the PCs to be Swagmen- not necessarily from Homeline- who encounter a lost Book. The simplest way for them to find it is by looting a library an hour before it historically burned down. (That some D'ni explorer came to this near parallel separately from Earth/D'ni is a whole other story.) The exact means of the PCs finding the book would probably end up having a lot to do with the overall story.

That way, they get to be somewhat eccentric characters (more so than IC characters get to be), they get to have no oversight, and they get the IC people coming after them, (Books are SOOOO much more powerful than conveyors for moving between known worlds, and what if we can make a computer program that Writes?!?!?! Certainly not, as anyone with the Art knows, but IW doesn't.) and wherever IW sends people, the Cabal and Centrum surely follow.

The PCs end up in an unstable situation of hopping from world to world, solving D'ni book puzzles under time pressure... or not, if the GM feels that IC rigor would slow them down. Throwing in other PCs from D'ni or IW factions would be quite interesting, of course.

[Ciergan]

I'd run one but I haven't played an RPG in a long time, let alone GM. (Although it would be fun to have two campaigns collide with each other because of one book...) If a game shows up, I'm in.

[Tyneras]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'd treat writing a world less like casting a spell and more like an invention, using the inventing rules. You smaller worlds with better understood physics are easier to make, and you already have a set of 'pretty good' rules.

I do think that manufacturing the paper as an alchemy specialization is good. My mind is trying to think of ways to limit the commonality of the paper and ink.

I like the idea of using the invention rules.

For a limiter with a definite IW feel, why not make the materials and manufacturing require very specific spin, hop, boogie-woogie, flavour, and concentration of Oz particles? Finding a good place could require a host of skills, ranging from Alchemy to Architecture (Sacred) to Physics (Oz Particles).

As I remember, Ghen HATED the "stupid details" in his son's descriptive books. If the secrets to getting the right mix of Oz particles for ink and paper alchemy are in those stupid details, it would explain why he jumped at the first world where he could do it (Riven) even if it was far from ideal.

If a lodge of the Cabal has come across/studied D'ni books, it's possible they have a similar attitude. Viewing these worlds as a place to pillage and no idea how to make more ink and paper. They'd be a menace to anyone who did know, either as raiders seeking fresh supplies or possibly kidnappers.

[philosophyguy]

I would be very interested in playing in this game. I really enjoyed the Myst mythology and think they discovered book would be a great premise. Maybe the Library of Alexandria...

[Ciergan]

Just keeping a tally of those who have expressed interest in a game for future reference:

Refplace
philosophyguy
ericthered
PTTG
Ciergan