[Basic] Advantage of the Week: Jumper

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

J If you have some ultra-charismatic (or sneaky) dude who uses his power to jump to a TL11 world.

Note that this requires the jumper to have been taken to that TL11 world by someone else or tracked an item from it or that he have Blind and a personal TL of 11. No TL11, no ability to visualize a world above your personal TL.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Note that this requires the jumper to have been taken to that TL11 world by someone else or tracked an item from it or that he have Blind and a personal TL of 11. No TL11, no ability to visualize a world above your personal TL.

Basic doesn't seem to say that. New Worlds +50% would do it, and does not specify any such requirements with regards to TL. It does say that the roll for new worlds is "IQ-3 or worse (GM's discretion)", and of course that there's no guarantee that the world you're hoping to find actually exists.

...But I'd not really expect 'charismatic or sneaky' to be enough to enable a TL3 character to obtain power armor in a TL11 setting. Where they may not speak the language, understand less of the technology than toddlers do, and don't really know what they're even looking for. At least it wouldn't be a quick-and-easy exercise.

(If RedMattis meant 'a TL11 world-hopper with arms-dealing ultratech contacts', well, that would be more useful to mention than "ultra-charismatic (or sneaky)")

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Basic doesn't seem to say that.

Ah, but check for a similar situation under Snatcher on p.86. If a low tech person trying to Snatch a laser pistol ends up with a toy then the same person trying to Jump to a futuristic world ends up in Tomorrowland at Disneyworld.

Perhaps it is only an individual GM's ruling but I think it one with considerable common sense behind it.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Ah, but check for a similar situation under Snatcher on p.86. If a low tech person trying to Snatch a laser pistol ends up with a toy then the same person trying to Jump to a futuristic world ends up in Tomorrowland at Disneyworld.

Perhaps it is only an individual GM's ruling but I think it one with considerable common sense behind it.

Well, I don't entirely agree with the Snatcher bit I admit. (If you can get a real-but-broken laser gun why is there no chance of getting a real-but-working one?)

But it's a bit harder for Jumper (World) to pull off that bait-and-switch, since it goes to the same place you left. It can't take you to Disneyworld unless you're standing on a site where somebody built Disneyworld in another accessible reality.

...Also, making it so that it's impossible for jumpers to discover worlds ahead of their own TL is kind of a weird restriction, provided you allow New Worlds jumpers and have high-tech worlds in your multiverse. The trait literally has no references to TL in it.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

...Also, making it so that it's impossible for jumpers to discover worlds ahead of their own TL is kind of a weird restriction, provided you allow New Worlds jumpers and have high-tech worlds in your multiverse. The trait literally has no references to TL in it.

The question is not "discover". It is "travel to at will". I listed 2 ways a Jumper could get to a world above his personal TL. I just don't think "visualize where you want to go" for a place that should be beyond your ability to clearly visualize is one of them.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The question is not "discover". It is "travel to at will". I listed 2 ways a Jumper could get to a world above his personal TL. I just don't think "visualize where you want to go" for a place that should be beyond your ability to clearly visualize is one of them.

The question is discover. Travel to at will is a given if you can discover it, and impossible if you can't, that's just what the trait does unless very heavily modified.

[RedMattis]

If I need to perfectly imagine my destination I can't realistically go anywhere. Not unless someone brings back video or at least pictures of it.

The line "Of course it is always possible that the desired destination does note exist" implies that you don't need an exact match. Imagining Tolkien or Generic-fantasy-land might send me to Yrth. Imagining Star Wars might send me to some TL8+4* world, etc. Imagining a land of talking horses that solve things with friendship might fail if nothing quite like that exists.

Of course in a world where just about every imaginable world does exist and the GM is fine with exploiting them the Jumper advantages gets a lot more powerful. Especially if crazy plots aren't held back at all; the character can return with a pocket watch that summons a giant mecha, and psi-amplifying tech that basically upgrades their advantages.

But anyway New Worlds, like everything else about Jumper is clearly very much up to the GM. Hence why I think they could just as well have put the point cost as "Whatever suits the campaign".

As for language? Depends on the setting. It is common for alternate worlds to all speak modern english for some oddball reason, or everyone has "Universal Translators" (Star Trek) and a cross-world traveler gets understood anyway. In fact, unless diplomatic struggles is the focus it is probably more likely for the languages to be oddly similar.

In most settings Jumper is outrageously overpriced (like the Spaceship comparison made by another poster). In situations where it is not it tends to be so good that there would be no fair price for it.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

The question is discover. Travel to at will is a given if you can discover it, and impossible if you can't, that's just what the trait does unless very heavily modified.

If not "travel to at will" then the question is "clearly visualize".

If you have new Worlds and want to visit a world where somebody else is President you can just visualize a newspaper headline with President Fill-in-the-Blanks name in it. How do you viisualize a TL11 world?

Go with a pulp magazine cover with flying cars and I might let you go to Gernsback istead of Disneyland.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Basic doesn't seem to say that. New Worlds +50% would do it, and does not specify any such requirements with regards to TL. It does say that the roll for new worlds is "IQ-3 or worse (GM's discretion)", and of course that there's no guarantee that the world you're hoping to find actually exists.)

Well that's the issue isn't it? While you can go to any world you can imagine that exists, your imagination is going to be wildly off target when it comes to visualizing the next few centuries of technological advancement. So those worlds can't exist. Mind you, once you've seen one of them then you can imagine all kinds of plausible variations.