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Old 11-01-2017, 08:49 AM   #31
Apollonian
 
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

I think you could also get a reasonable game out of Centrum/Homeline Dark, Interworld Service/Infinity Patrol Light setup. Centrum is an almost-dystopian technocratic collectivist regime; Homeline is a collection of selfish, exploitative agents out to ravage the infinite worlds for their own benefit. Caught between them are the two crosstime agencies, who often find they have more in common with each other than with their masters in the home timeline. Interworld Services agents develop a knack for individual initiative out of necessity, one that's suppressed on Centrum; Patrolmen learn respect for the outtimers that their homeline considers non-persons. And so on.

You could play it a bit comic, like Terry Pratchett's Small Gods; most of the campaign centers around dealing with a common foe like Reich-5 or the Cabal, with regular bits where the crosstime agents have to pull the wool over the eyes of officious inspectors or crooks from back home. Or you could go with something more deeply political and ambiguous, using the agencies to highlight what's good about their home cultures while critiquing the cultures themselves.
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Old 11-01-2017, 03:37 PM   #32
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
I'm fond of having a zone mind from reign of steel discover or come close to discovering parachronics. My favorite is Beijing, as it is playing around with Faster than Light travel, and so may stumble across the physics it needs. This scenario has the following advantages:

  • Centrum can't speak the language it needs to infiltrate
  • Infinity doesn't have the biowar experience it needs to not have agents drop like flies
  • Its in Centrum Territory

This pretty much forces them to work together, for the short run at least.
Great idea!

Officially where does Reign of Steel sit within the infinite worlds setting? Page 528 of GURPS campaigns mentions "Steel" only briefly.
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Old 11-01-2017, 04:05 PM   #33
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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Originally Posted by Boomerang View Post
Great idea!

Officially where does Reign of Steel sit within the infinite worlds setting? Page 528 of GURPS campaigns mentions "Steel" only briefly.
From Infinite Worlds Lost Worlds supplement, which includes 2 pages on Steel.

Worldline Data
TL: 10 Mana Level: no mana
Quantum: 7 Infinity Class: Z2
Centrum Zone: Red
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Old 11-01-2017, 04:55 PM   #34
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

Cool, thanks for that.
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Old 11-01-2017, 05:45 PM   #35
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
I'm fond of having a zone mind from reign of steel discover or come close to discovering parachronics. My favorite is Beijing, as it is playing around with Faster than Light travel, and so may stumble across the physics it needs. This scenario has the following advantages:

  • Centrum can't speak the language it needs to infiltrate
  • Infinity doesn't have the biowar experience it needs to not have agents drop like flies
  • Its in Centrum Territory

This pretty much forces them to work together, for the short run at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollonian View Post
I think you could also get a reasonable game out of Centrum/Homeline Dark, Interworld Service/Infinity Patrol Light setup. Centrum is an almost-dystopian technocratic collectivist regime; Homeline is a collection of selfish, exploitative agents out to ravage the infinite worlds for their own benefit. Caught between them are the two crosstime agencies, who often find they have more in common with each other than with their masters in the home timeline. Interworld Services agents develop a knack for individual initiative out of necessity, one that's suppressed on Centrum; Patrolmen learn respect for the outtimers that their homeline considers non-persons. And so on.

You could play it a bit comic, like Terry Pratchett's Small Gods; most of the campaign centers around dealing with a common foe like Reich-5 or the Cabal, with regular bits where the crosstime agents have to pull the wool over the eyes of officious inspectors or crooks from back home. Or you could go with something more deeply political and ambiguous, using the agencies to highlight what's good about their home cultures while critiquing the cultures themselves.
I'm really enjoying this metaplot concept. Since we're bringing Steel into the mix, it raises the question of how the Cabal and Reich-5 (among other parachronal societies) would respond.

The Cabal would be fun in that there's so many subfactions that it not a matter of what they'd do, more a matter of how many of them take each action. Oh sure, a lodge or two decides to buddy up with the centrum/homeline alliance. But there's always a lodge that tries to split them up, one that's still trying to bring Reich-5 to power, and the one that's decided that a worldline dominated by a single robomind would be quieter than things are now.

Reich-5 is distant enough from Steel (presumably) that they might be able to ignore it; on the other hand, their dream does not have room for other powers, and as inhumane as Nazi ideology is, they probably would despise machines turning against humanity as much as anyone. Still, I don't see Reich-5 ever functioning as an ally. Maybe a Centrum planner wants to get Reich psitech to enhance the war effort, necessitating an infiltration of the far more human foes in the midst of the larger war.
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Old 11-01-2017, 09:51 PM   #36
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

The Cabal is so fractious that it's easy and almost inevitable to become complacent about their potential power and effect. But if anything truly and overtly threatens existence, they can muster more force and knowledge than any other single or group of realities could imagine.
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Old 11-02-2017, 03:53 AM   #37
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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But if anything truly and overtly threatens existence, they can muster more force and knowledge than any other single or group of realities could imagine.
But only after quite a bit of argument and internal diplomacy.
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Old 11-02-2017, 05:20 AM   #38
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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But only after quite a bit of argument and internal diplomacy.
…poisonings, sudden retirements, long sea voyages for the sake of one's health…
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Old 11-02-2017, 08:37 AM   #39
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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Originally Posted by PTTG View Post
The Cabal would be fun in that there's so many subfactions that it not a matter of what they'd do, more a matter of how many of them take each action. Oh sure, a lodge or two decides to buddy up with the centrum/homeline alliance. But there's always a lodge that tries to split them up, one that's still trying to bring Reich-5 to power, and the one that's decided that a worldline dominated by a single robomind would be quieter than things are now.

Reich-5 is distant enough from Steel (presumably) that they might be able to ignore it; on the other hand, their dream does not have room for other powers, and as inhumane as Nazi ideology is, they probably would despise machines turning against humanity as much as anyone. Still, I don't see Reich-5 ever functioning as an ally. Maybe a Centrum planner wants to get Reich psitech to enhance the war effort, necessitating an infiltration of the far more human foes in the midst of the larger war.
If the zone-minds are just developing parachronics, then the cabal will struggle to be useful, as steel is a no-mana zone. They might be able to provide outside support, but a lot of their capabilities will be down. Psionics users might be useful, but I get the impression those are a distinct fringe minority in the cabal. If Steel actually breaks out, the Cabal will be more useful, and people will pop out of the wood work to be helpful. If zoneminds face the Cabal on a world with mana they'll find that facing magic sucks.

Reich-5 has one crucial ingredient to help with steel: biological world jumping. The biggest risk in opposing parachronic research on steel is that they might find out how to do it from the interference itself. Using mules greatly reduces that risk. Its also is inhumane, barbaric, involves working with a fringe group you really don't want spreading, and... yeah. If steel figures out how to get off of its world, Reich-5 won't be that useful.
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Old 11-02-2017, 09:43 AM   #40
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Default Re: Centrum Light, Homeline Dark.

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They're enemies, because they each consider only their reality's citizens actual people.
I wonder how long a society could keep up this belief? After a very short time it should become quite clear to everyone that each reality is just another place to go, and the people who live there are just foreigners. In theory, Infinity and Centrum should have the same sort of relations as, say, the US and Russia: ideologically far apart, plenty of political, economic, and military tension, but there is no serious thought that the people of the other country aren't actually human beings.

I could see the "not real people" argument lingering around the echoes and close parallels, but not otherwise.
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