[IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Note that the problem there is that the players just disregarded the Secret and worse, did it in a world more technologically sophisticated than they are and worse did it in a setting faced with imminent annihilation.

There's also the question of whether or not The Desperate Local has the _ability_ to steal the conveyor. Does Gloval have anyone with the elite EOD skill level to neutralize the conveyor's security? Someone on Earth might but why would they be on Gloval's aricraft carrier?.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Note that the problem there is that the players just disregarded the Secret and worse, did it in a world more technologically sophisticated than they are and worse did it in a setting faced with imminent annihilation.

True, I picked an extreme example, but it was in response to Pursuivant's comment about above-board deals between Infinity and various parellels. I picked the Robotech example because someone else, a while back, mentioned that scenario.

But the general principle does apply, once the crossed-over setting with Infinity knows about the parallels (or meets the Doctor), it will affect their outlook and behavior. How it will affect them depends on the details of the situation, but the crossover setting will be a different place afterward.

Just for one example of the general thing, imagine someone with the tech to make conveyors, once s/he knows about them, and the prospect of empty Earths. Empty worlds, with arable land and where you (usually) know exactly where the useful resources are before you arrive (gold in South Africa, coal in Appalachia, the Permian Basin, uranium in Canada, oil in Texas and Arabia and the North Sea, etc). The opportunities are almost numbing to contemplate.

Or the trade possibilities with inhabited worlds. Or possible ideological allies against mutual foes on both time lines. Or the possibility of having a conversation with/sex with/interacting with yourself (there's a certain kind of personality that would find that fascinating). Or a time line where your dead girlfriend/boyfriend is still alive, and single...

The point is that the knowledge is so profound and important that it would be transformative.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

There's also the question of whether or not The Desperate Local has the _ability_ to steal the conveyor. Does Gloval have anyone with the elite EOD skill level to neutralize the conveyor's security? Someone on Earth might but why would they be on Gloval's aricraft carrier?.

Oh, I imagine he does. The bulk of the best military skill in the RDF is already aboard the SDF-1, and he had Doctor Lang, and an entire city of people, some of whom likely include former military EOD people too (remember that Gloval's Earth just went through a third world war in the 1990s). Or, given how high the stakes are, he might bribe/coerce the Infinity/Centrum people to unlock the security.

As I said, he might fail, but he would most certainly try, given the stakes.

(Honestly, I wouldn't be too shocked to find out the SDF-1 could world-jump on its own already, given Protoculture and Zor. Though that ability might have gone away with the spacefold generators.)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Tr
Oh, I imagine he does. T

I don't Robotech and IW diverged at the end of TL7 and after that Robotech didn't proceed a long very similar paths at all. Especially no signs of portable computers or an internet.

Then IW is early tL9 in computers and would be implementing paranoid levels of security on conveyors. I'd go with a unique operating system and programming language as a minimum.

I wouldn't give anybody but Dr Lang (and maybe Max) a chance at all and that's only because you can't really limit such characters. A regular military EOD guy would be limited to "This thing you say is a vehicle of some sort is made of a magnesium alloy and rigged with thermite to catch fire instantly under the control of an electronic anti-tampering system that's like nothing I've ever seen before. There would be an intense but short-lived fire and nothign left but a scorch mark on the deck.".

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

This is actually one of my complaints with the Infinity concept. It shares a problem with the idea of crossovers between Doctor Who and other fictional characters. Yeah, it lets you crossover with anyone...but doing so would logically transform the places you crossover with.

This is actually a more fundamental flaw in the very concept of "cross-overs". Any time someone in your story interacts significantly with a character in another ongoing story, you run a considerable risk of derailing that second story more or less by [definition]. If an interaction is so minor it does not and could not change the beliefs or actions of the involved parties, it is really hard to label it as "significant".

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

True, I picked an extreme example, but it was in response to Pursuivant's comment about above-board deals between Infinity and various parellels. I picked the Robotech example because someone else, a while back, mentioned that scenario.

But the general principle does apply, once the crossed-over setting with Infinity knows about the parallels (or meets the Doctor), it will affect their outlook and behavior. How it will affect them depends on the details of the situation, but the crossover setting will be a different place afterward.

That is after all the Doylist reason for the Secret. So the player characters can visit a relatively uncontaminated world without golden arches everywhere. At the same time, if you go to a version of 19th century London and encounter a version of Sherlock Holmes, while he might get some sort of idea what you are, there's no particular reason to think that would actually produce dramatic changes to the setting. At most Mycroft sets a up a secret alien hunting team or something and that's about as far as it goes.

Originally Posted by malloyd

This is actually a more fundamental flaw in the very concept of "cross-overs". Any time someone in your story interacts significantly with a character in another ongoing story, you run a considerable risk of derailing that second story more or less by [definition]. If an interaction is so minor it does not and could not change the beliefs or actions of the involved parties, it is really hard to label it as "significant".

It is of course hardly necessary to insert the characters into an ongoing story to have a crossover with some famous fictional character. I once had characters meet Achilles but not in the Trojan War. Then against it would be fun for player characters to intervene to save Sherlock Holmes's life at Reichenbach Falls. I never found Doyle's official explanation all that plausible.