GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

It seems somewhat common in some of the recent vein of portal fantasy (that you may not have seen) for the main character to be slotted into the place of someone who already existed in the secondary world, though. From what I've seen, usually without receiving any of the memories of the person they're replacing!

Wouldn't you handle that with a form of Possession, or something analogous to it? I have a discussion of "you find yourself in the body of this person who's native to the portal realm" as a 0-point version of Possession.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Wouldn't you handle that with a form of Possession, or something analogous to it? I have a discussion of "you find yourself in the body of this person who's native to the portal realm" as a 0-point version of Possession.

While describing it as possession (no caps) seems perfectly fair, I don't see any benefit of involving or referencing the Possession rules cluster.

[nondescript handle]

Originally Posted by whswhs

[...] Seihou campaign framework [...] Barrens campaign framework, and the Seihou framework [...]

Fair enough, I haven't gotten around to the campaign frames yet. I just noted that e.g. Reawakened was explicitly redefined as non-reincarnation.

Originally Posted by whswhs

[...]* I'm not sure what you mean by "LitRPG" here. Can you give a definition, or some examples?[...]

LitRPG is a sub-genre of Fantasy in which the protagonist are aware that they have stats, skills and hit-points, and other (Japanese computer/console) RPG conventions apply.

In the 'classic' LitRPG that's because the protagonists are aware that they are in a simulated game (often stuck in a total-VR game to raise that stakes), but one trope in the Isekai stories is that the protagonist has a 'status screen', a 'help screen' and can buy advantages in the 'shop' in the new world. Either because the world itself works that way (e.g. everyone in that world has stats) or it is a special power of reincarnated people.

Some things in this vein are easy to replicate in GURPS: Inventory/Item Box is Payload with Cosmic, but what e.g. about Appraisal/Identify?

One example is The Wandering Inn: https://wanderinginn.wordpress.com/

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

While describing it as possession (no caps) seems perfectly fair, I don't see any benefit of involving or referencing the Possession rules cluster.

I find the split between traits you bring with you and traits you acquire from the host for Possession to be a useful set of mechanics.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by thrash

Interesting book, but I'm surprised that (for all the anime references) the word "isekai" never appears.

Isekai (異世界) means "different world" in Japanese, and is currently a hugely popular genre for light novels and associated manga and anime -- to the point of being a fad.

Googling, it looks like a fairly recent loanword to English, and there are hardly any sites defining it. Having one entry on Urban Dictionary, a single Reddit thread and a blog entry giving definitions doesn't suggest a high level of penetration yet.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I find the split between traits you bring with you and traits you acquire from the host for Possession to be a useful set of mechanics.

I suppose it could be useful to think about, though ultimately in this situation you're just building one character - your original physical and 'host' mental traits don't matter at all because neither of them is coming back. (Though sometimes the host is conveniently physically identical to the traveller's prior condition.)

EDIT: In the examples of this subgenre I've seen the social traits - for good and ill - should probably be secret. In fact, Total Amnesia would, in some respects, be appropriate. Sure, you've got memories, but they're memories that have no bearing on the world you're now in. ...Except, of course, when they do because you're not the only point of crossworld contact.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

Fair enough, I haven't gotten around to the campaign frames yet. I just noted that e.g. Reawakened was explicitly redefined as non-reincarnation.

Well, yes, but (a) that doesn't say you can't take the standard reincarnation-based form of Reawakened instead, and (b) it's explicitly defined as something you can use for a returnee. There just wasn't any need to discuss the standard form, as it can be used without modifications. What you have here is an *additional* rule, not a *replacement* rule.

LitRPG is a sub-genre of Fantasy in which the protagonist are aware that they have stats, skills and hit-points, and other (Japanese computer/console) RPG conventions apply.

In the 'classic' LitRPG that's because the protagonists are aware that they are in a simulated game (often stuck in a total-VR game to raise that stakes), but one trope in the Isekai stories is that the protagonist has a 'status screen', a 'help screen' and can buy advantages in the 'shop' in the new world. Either because the world itself works that way (e.g. everyone in that world has stats) or it is a special power of reincarnated people.

Some things in this vein are easy to replicate in GURPS: Inventory/Item Box is Payload with Cosmic, but what e.g. about Appraisal/Identify?

One example is The Wandering Inn: https://wanderinginn.wordpress.com/

Ah, okay.

That's really remote from my tastes, interests, and knowledge, I'm afraid. I don't play console rpgs at all, and in fact I haven't played any game that involves interacting with a computer since the time, many years ago, that I twice played Civilization till my eyes were physically raw, and then uninstalled it. I've never tried a Japanese game. I've read a little fiction where the protagonists find themselves in the world of a game, but it's mostly not a trope I like; the general aim seems to be to have the characters experience the gamelike features of the world, things like hit points and energy levels, as realities, whereas my preference is to have them be as invisible as possible and to have the game world have as much as possible of the feel of a real world, without artificialities. (Though I do remember the original Tron fondly—but I don't think you'd run it as "portal fantasy."))

But aside from that, it sounds as if this is not the same genre as portal fantasy, even though it borrows elements from it, just as superhero adventure isn't really science fiction, even though it often includes science fictional elements. In both cases I think you're looking at something that has become a genre of its own. And perhaps it works in the other direction; are isekai fans familiar with, say, Narnia or the Compleat Enchanter or Labyrinth? do they regard them as part of their genre? In particular, the whole concept that the protagonists can see their status or help screens would take a radically different set of mechanics that wouldn't have much use in classic portal fantasy. (Though that might make a useful focus for a Pyramid article, if some isekai fan wanted to write one!)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Googling, it looks like a fairly recent loanword to English, and there are hardly any sites defining it. Having one entry on Urban Dictionary, a single Reddit thread and a blog entry giving definitions doesn't suggest a high level of penetration yet.

TV Tropes mentions it briefly in their Portal Fantasy entry, but they don't seem to define it.

[Steven Marsh]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

In the 'classic' LitRPG that's because the protagonists are aware that they are in a simulated game (often stuck in a total-VR game to raise that stakes), but one trope in the Isekai stories is that the protagonist has a 'status screen', a 'help screen' and can buy advantages in the 'shop' in the new world. Either because the world itself works that way (e.g. everyone in that world has stats) or it is a special power of reincarnated people.

As an aside, this sounds like a great opportunity for a Pyramid article — especially if it ties into and expands on Portal Realms. (I could easily see it fitting in the Alternate GURPS issue, for example . . . although, now that I type it out, it sounds a bit like C.R. Rice's "Dungeon Fantasy Video Gaming" from Pyramid #3/72: Alternate Dungeons.)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I suppose it could be useful to think about, though ultimately in this situation you're just building one character - your original physical and 'host' mental traits don't matter at all because neither of them is coming back.

Why do you assume they're not coming back?

I remember a Poul Anderson short story—an early one, I think—where the hero is a mighty-thewed sword-swinging barbarian conquering an evil empire; but he's really a man from modern-day New York, whose mind was placed in the barbarian's body, so that his knowledge of organization and logistics and intelligence analysis could be applied to the other world's conflict. And he likes his life of heroic adventure. And then at the end it turns out that the barbarian warrior has decided that life in New York suits him: His new brain has a higher IQ, he has the excitement and challenges of running a business, he's happily married instead of having a series of short encounters with beautiful but unpleasant women, and he can fly any time he feels like spending a little money. So neither wants to go back—but both were expecting to. . . .