Which quantum--is there any pattern?

[YankeeGamer]

Is there any particular pattern used to assign which quantum a worldline is in? It seems that magic is overall tends to exist in lower quanta, as I peruse Infinite Worlds, but not exclusively--most is out of reach of Centrum, but not all.

Are there any other patterns that I might have missed? Or is the quantum mainly determined by the physics of the plot. (World A should be easy to get to for Homeline, impossible for Centrum--call it Q5. Next one should be hard to reach, with no Centrum--OK, that's Q3.
We need heavy Centrum opposition--this one's Q 7.

[Steve Jackson]

It's very much a "speed of plot" thing. As the GM or background builder, put your worldlines where you need them to be. The background assumption was that there are rules, but they operate across too many dimensions, and parachronicists have too few data points, to make any hard and fast predictions, let alone statements, about what is possible.

[YankeeGamer]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

It's very much a "speed of plot" thing. As the GM or background builder, put your worldlines where you need them to be. The background assumption was that there are rules, but they operate across too many dimensions, and parachronicists have too few data points, to make any hard and fast predictions, let alone statements, about what is possible.

I did not expect a response from Steve Jackson--THANKS!

A search for a pattern could be an interesting background for an ongoing campaign. It might make sense, over time, to start to create a pattern--which could then be as illusory as any pattern found in Pi.

[scc]

I think that someone did post at some point that there is a pattern, but I can't remember who, where or what.

[patchwork]

It boils down to: who is the enemy? Quantums 6 and 7 are the fight with Centrum; on 6 Homelines has home turf advantage (Echo defense, primarily), on 7 Centrum does. Quantum 5 needs no projector to reach, so the opposition is going to be Homeline criminals, unsociable Homeline states, whackjobs, and people too rich to call whackjob. No one but Infinity can reliably reach Quantum 4, so it's for puzzle worlds (and maybe the Cabal). Quantum 3 has several nascent world-hopping organizations: Reich-5's SS, Merlin-1's CIA, the IST worlds, possibly Shikaku-mon, people who found the chronobahn...you don't know, going in to Quantum 3, who the opposition is going to be.

And yes, the weird ones tend to be on 3 (low-information situations) and 4 (puzzles).

But to figure out where a world "belongs", look at your plot and decide who the most interesting or appropriate villain for this world is.

[ericthered]

Additionally, Centrum doesn't handle magic well, because they don't see many of the appropriate worlds. That doesn't mean there aren't any on Q6 and Q7, just that they tend to be rare.

[Stormcrow]

As others say, it's a matter of plot. Place worlds in quanta according to how difficult you want world-jumping to be:

Q3 - difficult projected conveyors
Q4 - easy projected conveyors
Q5 - Homeline, easy conveyors
Q6 - Echoes, easy projected conveyors, Centrum has difficult projected conveyors
Q7 - difficult projected conveyors, Centrum has easy projected conveyors

("Easy projected conveyor" means you can prearrange any kind of retrieval from home; "difficult projected conveyor" means the time you can get home is unknown to you, and you just have to wait.)

Who is running the operation? A company that can only afford a single conveyor will probably spend its time in Quantum 5, though if it can afford to be projected to a different quantum it might be able to operate independently there. If you're working for Infinity you have the full gamut, and the questions become whether you want to encounter Centrum, who has the advantage, and how difficult you want it to be to be able to get home. In adventures where being able to just pop home whenever it's convenient are different than adventures where you have to wait in the right place until the stars are right, and only THEN can you go home.

[AlexanderHowl]

The cost of operating across the quantums is rather prohibitive, so I doubt that there are many corporations that bother. Now, there might be some corporations with rogue conveyors outside of Q5, but Infinity probably comes down on them like a ton of bricks when they get caught.

[Flyndaran]

The single line quantum system is very restrictive yet very grab-bag, in my opinion.
Not saying that I could come up with a better way, of course.