New Reality Seeds

[ericthered]

For an 'indentured' world, there seems to be great power in "ask for forgiveness, not permission". Once you've illicitly started your colony world, even if its blown, infinity isn't going to ship everyone back-- they're victims! and they know the secret. They are given some legal status on the world they're on, and something has to be done with all this equipment, and... hey, policy has been bent!

I'm imagining a group that forges orders and permissions, and intentionally blows everyone's cover in time to slink back into the shadows and let a 'benevolent' cover organization take over the operation.

Motives are somewhere between personal gain and a solid disagreement with the prime directive.

Infinity factionalism is a great element!

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by PTTG

For an interesting political game, I'd like to add a rogue secret police / intelligence service to Homeline. Their agents are only ever Homeliners. They are completely off the books.

They are tiny compared to any other power player in the IW, but they are also among the most elite forces. They probably use magic or psionics (plus amplifying technology) to ensure loyalty - though they don't use mind control for their own agents; it's to easy to subvert. Instead they use truth-telling or aura reading to ensure that agents are really loyal.

Whenever the morally questionable would advance Homeline in general, and Infinity in specific, these secret forces are the ones to ensure it gets done. Given a darker cast, they're great foes. Given a slightly lighter tone, they become great high-point-value PCs.

This sounds a lot like ISWAT, though I perhaps smaller and less morals. 'The black ops that the black ops call on', 'none more black ops'.

Originally Posted by ericthered

For an 'indentured' world, there seems to be great power in "ask for forgiveness, not permission". Once you've illicitly started your colony world, even if its blown, infinity isn't going to ship everyone back-- they're victims! and they know the secret. They are given some legal status on the world they're on, and something has to be done with all this equipment, and... hey, policy has been bent!

I'm imagining a group that forges orders and permissions, and intentionally blows everyone's cover in time to slink back into the shadows and let a 'benevolent' cover organization take over the operation.

Motives are somewhere between personal gain and a solid disagreement with the prime directive.

Infinity factionalism is a great element!

I like the idea of 'save them first, get the okay later.'

I could see a Homeline NGO, some do-gooder organization, trying to save people on their own. But it would be tough to do so on the small scale necessary to be a secret operation - one can't save thousands of people with one conveyor in anything like enough time before they would be caught by Infinity. And doing so would expose the illegal conveyor, which anyone who had one would be loath to even risk.


But what about an 'Underground Railroad' from Hell worlds to empty/colony worlds? Maybe an Infinite Harriet Tubman (who could actually be an alternate Harriet Tubman...) and company sneak refugees to Homeline-controlled 'safe' worlds by pretending they're cargo and the like.

And despite the good intentions, Infinity has to shut it down - the same route could bring in dangerous stuff into Homeline-controlled worlds (or even Homeline itself). These would be from Hell worlds - the same route that smuggles in refugees from a nuclear winter could bring in radioactive materials; the same route that brings in plague refugees could bring in the actual plague. Even the do-gooders themselves could bring in dangerous items accidentally, like disease or magic.

This could be played from either side: I-Cops reluctantly tracking down the 'Infinite Railroad' (and they would have to respect suspects' rights much more in this case, since the operators are Homeliners); or it could be the Homeliners illegally saving outtimers, trying to stay one step ahead of Infinity, operate in a Hell World, and keep that hell from following them.

A truly fascinating, probably impossible to actually play campaign would have players on both sides. What about players each having two characters, one on each side, with alternating gaming sessions (the players would have to keep their knowledge and play very separate...)?

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by fchase8

A truly fascinating, probably impossible to actually play campaign would have players on both sides. What about players each having two characters, one on each side, with alternating gaming sessions (the players would have to ke
ep their knowledge and play very separate...)?

Two teams of players has the advantage of keeping things totally unpredictable.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Two teams of players has the advantage of keeping things totally unpredictable.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast had a cool idea for this sort of thing. Have the players run two sets of characters.

One week they are the boots on the ground, actually finding the starving refugees of a nuclear war or gotha plague, and moving them to a safe world. Then writing the report, covering their tracks.

The next week they are the bosses back on Homeline, reading the reports but smart enough to know thats all bs. But because of corporate and government rules they have to act as if the report is the truth, and give orders and move equipment and resources as if that was correct. And deal with anyone asking questions. And deal with possible Centrum/Cabal/Reich-5 infiltration. Then write new orders for their boots-on-the-ground characters to run next week.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Two teams of players has the advantage of keeping things totally unpredictable.

What about an Infinite Worlds campaign where there are two sets of characters: I-Cops and natives?

Like on Gernsback, I-Cops are trying to prevent The Secret getting out, while World Science agents are trying to figure out who's infiltrating the top labs.

Or on a mana world, where one team is I-Cops with their high-tech, and the other are natives with their magic.

There's also the Infinity vs. Centrum dual campaign, like on an echo.

Or the ultimate dual campaign - one team is composed of Homeliners, the other is composed of their alternate versions on another world...

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by fchase8

Or the ultimate dual campaign - one team is composed of Homeliners, the other is composed of their alternate versions on another world...

I'll do you one better: In this campaign, everyone is Fred. Fred is an accountant. Then Fred encountered a portal to a strange world. When Fred arrived, he discovered that he wasn't alone - all the other alternate Freds on the quanta happened to find the same portal at the same time.

Starting with hundreds of Freds in a deadly labyrinth, it'll eventually whittle down to the size of your PC group until they can escape, and by then one Fred will be the first to turn to auto-cannibalism, one Fred got bathed in magical radiation and now has Mana Enhancer, one Fred made a pact with a demon, and one Fred grabbed a magical sword that's bound to him...

Here's a more traditional one:
The US Congress is swept with a free-market export-driven political group bent on eliminating government spending deficit and paying off loans in the mid 2000's.

The 2008 financial crisis, brewing since the 90's, reaches a head and causes liquidity to, well, dry up throughout the system. The Congress takes an aggressive austerity stance and maintains that individuals need to take responsibility for taking loans they can't pay back. Attempts to stabilize short-term loans for businesses are blocked, and regulators are actively blocked and tied up in congressional hearings.

Utter paralysis causes what was left of the economy to grind to a halt, and even healthy businesses first suffer foreshocks of currency fluctuations, then commercial paper markets shut down, and then finally the shockwave of collapsing bankruptcies.

Unemployment jumps to 25%, then keeps climbing steadily. Gold, silver, even copper skyrocket and land values come completely unglued. Riots, fires, and looting take place in every major city in the nation as local and federal services shut down in the name of "austerity."

Ten years later, the economy is still in ruins around the globe, and new, experimental government systems are coalescing, including, frequently, neocommunist approaches that see capitalism as an absurd and dangerous experiment. Not only has technology stagnated, but standards of living are down dramatically.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by fchase8

Or the ultimate dual campaign - one team is composed of Homeliners, the other is composed of their alternate versions on another world...

That would be useful in a group where the players are allowed multiple characters. You'd have the same character, but with differing histories, skills, ages, etc.

Your main character is a doctor. Your team goes to a world about 10 years earlier than Homeline, being hit with a zombie plague. You ferret out your younger self, probably barricaded in your medical school or at a shopping mall near it. You recruit yourself, with the same skills just not as good, and maybe having picked up some gun and survival skills.

Your expanded team then goes on a mission on a world where North Korea ignited a nuclear war a few years back. You find this world's you a medic for local warlord that used to be a drug cartel leader or a awol army major. More medical, gun and salvage skills.

But BOOM, your main character is shot by mutant bikers! No problem, you have two choices, young zombie killing you, or nearly as old, world's gone to heck you, to take over the story.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I'll do you one better: In this campaign, everyone is Fred. Fred is an accountant. Then Fred encountered a portal to a strange world. When Fred arrived, he discovered that he wasn't alone - all the other alternate Freds on the quanta happened to find the same portal at the same time.

Starting with hundreds of Freds in a deadly labyrinth, it'll eventually whittle down to the size of your PC group until they can escape, and by then one Fred will be the first to turn to auto-cannibalism, one Fred got bathed in magical radiation and now has Mana Enhancer, one Fred made a pact with a demon, and one Fred grabbed a magical sword that's bound to him...

Nice one.

Here's a more traditional one:
The US Congress is swept with a free-market export-driven political group bent on eliminating government spending deficit and paying off loans in the mid 2000's.

The 2008 financial crisis, brewing since the 90's, reaches a head and causes liquidity to, well, dry up throughout the system. The Congress takes an aggressive austerity stance and maintains that individuals need to take responsibility for taking loans they can't pay back. Attempts to stabilize short-term loans for businesses are blocked, and regulators are actively blocked and tied up in congressional hearings.

Utter paralysis causes what was left of the economy to grind to a halt, and even healthy businesses first suffer foreshocks of currency fluctuations, then commercial paper markets shut down, and then finally the shockwave of collapsing bankruptcies.

Unemployment jumps to 25%, then keeps climbing steadily. Gold, silver, even copper skyrocket and land values come completely unglued. Riots, fires, and looting take place in every major city in the nation as local and federal services shut down in the name of "austerity."

Ten years later, the economy is still in ruins around the globe, and new, experimental government systems are coalescing, including, frequently, neocommunist approaches that see capitalism as an absurd and dangerous experiment. Not only has technology stagnated, but standards of living are down dramatically.

Let me guess, First Citizen Sanders runs upper New England, worshiped almost as a god by his young, fanatical followers, ala Colonel Kurtz? Bonus with Anderson Cooper as the Dennis Hopper/Photojournalist character.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Drifter

Let me guess, First Citizen Sanders runs upper New England, ...

Or First Citizen Trump, or First Citizen Smith...

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Or First Citizen Trump, or First Citizen Smith...

No, Ultra-King for Life Donald rules Atlantic City with an iron fist. His biker gang mercenaries help enslave the thousands of "guest workers" in his posh hotels, maintained like the Weimar Republic; opulent, overstuffed sofas in the foyers, actually infested with rats.