New Reality Seeds

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by dcarson

Pulp is full of raised by animals jungle people. Tarzan is the one that made it a trope not counting Romulus and Remus.

Its not just pulp. The jungle book predates Tarzan by about 18 years.

A reality in which the animals have their own language and societies and periodically raise human children would be a fun one.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Its not just pulp. The jungle book predates Tarzan by about 18 years.

And Enkidu grazes with the herds and needed to be taught to speak a human language 4000 years before that. It's not exactly a new motif.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by zarawesome

Ultra-3 is a base year 2021, TL8 civilization - but TL8 according to Third Edition rules. That means laser weapons, cyborg limbs, spaceships and cloning, but no Internet and no computer phones.

Computers are voice activated, but about 100 times slower than mainline computers, and 100 times more expensive. Long-distance travel is via maglev or airships.

I like the idea that all old GURPS books are alternate worlds. Even the ones set after 2027 could have a past as a world, like GURPS Terradyne's 2027, which is Lenin-4.

This could extend to other RPGs, like the original Cyberpunk: 2021.

(and earlier in this thread I did write-ups for the GURPS versions of Conspiracy-X and World of Darkness...)

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

On this Q4 90%/<9%/>1% Low/Normal/High Mana world, a Cabalist has lured the young Adolph Hitler to Tahiti in 1913. Hitler becomes a beach bum and fascinated by the native culture. Meanwhile, back in Germany, the Nazis never amount to much, and the disaffected and hopeless are drawn to the Left.

Unknown to either Homeline or the Cabal, a small part of the Chronobaun intersects this world. Agents of Reich-5 find this world and they are appalled. They find Hitler in Tahiti, but this Cosmopolitan beach bum (healed of his sexual disfunction by the Cabalist) with mixed-race children by Native women, isn't what they want. So they go back to Germany to make a new Hitler.

Basically, Reich-5 and Midwinter Anton thugs combining biotech and foul magics to create an eviler and more competent Hitler. Meanwhile, Homeline and the Cabal each seek to discover why Germany now seems to have dozens of serial killers murdering handsome blond youths and harvesting their body parts.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

On this Q5 low mana parallel Julian the Apostate was brilliantly successful in fighting the Sasanian Empire. Julian was not respectful of the Christians, but he didn't persecute others. Living well into his eighties, Julian's struggle against corruption slowly but surely won him the respect of the people.

His heirs, chosen from the young men he mentored, followed his pattern of ascetic living, evenhandedness, and struggling against corruption. Like Julian, these men were either celibate or homosexual and had no children. These Pagan emperors have successfully run the empire for nearly a century. This has kept Christianity from becoming a majority faith. In fact, this world's Christianity is losing large numbers each generation, or else is becoming so blended with other faiths as to be lost in another way.

The current year is 512CE. The Emperors rule from Alexandria and have reopened the ancient pharaonic canal between an Eastern branch of the Nile and the Red Sea. The taxes on the trade to India are fiancing the Empire.

Homeline is concerned with this world because there seems to a fight evolving between two factions of Swagmen and some Cabalists. The first faction of Swagmen seems to be trying to repeat the success of Johnson's Rome. They've smuggled in mulberry bushes and silkworms. They've recreated the Arab Agricultural Revolution and worked to drain malarial swamps as well as dealing in slaves and opium. Another faction of Swagmen are Right-Wing political groups from Europe and North America seeking an "Ayrian Rome" with reduced "Jewish Influence." These violent thugs are targeting Christian Basilicas to steal their gold. This is leading to religious violence. Meanwhile, the Cabalists want to stabilize this Rome and get in on the ground floor. They've been introducing multiple technologies with an eye to an Industrial revolution in Rome.

Basically, these groups are both leading this parallel's Rome to a destructive civil war that could cost vast numbers of lives and at the same time endanger the Secret. The PCs could be Homeliners fighting to stop the chaos, locals trying to discover what happened, or swagmen and Cabalists fighting for turf.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Basically, these groups are both leading this parallel's Rome to a destructive civil war that could cost vast numbers of lives and at the same time endanger the Secret. The PCs could be Homeliners fighting to stop the chaos, locals trying to discover what happened, or swagmen and Cabalists fighting for turf.

This one has real potential. Very nice.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

On this Q5 low mana world in the spring of 1939, a French spy learned that Erich von Manstein planned to launch a surprise attack through the Ardennes. The French made use of the information and stopped the Wehrmacht dead in its tracks. The French then launched an attack deep into German territory. It's now late November 1939, Russia is planning to let the Western Imperialists destroy each other. So with America still mired in a neutrality both in a bitter reaction to Britain and France's grab for radically expanded empires. And Russia waiting to crush the wounded survivors, Europe's future looks grim.

The Cabal is active on this world, informants in the Cabal say there are rumors of "relics of the True Atlantis." This disturbs Homeline. Further, there are large numbers of Swagmen smuggling technology to both sides. The USA has Transistors and Jets. The Nazis and the British have computers more like a 1950 UNIVAC than the early computers of Homeline's WWII. All of this advanced tech is still TL7 but it's only a matter of time before that changes.

Homeline looks at this parallel as a disaster in the making. Restrictions on any or all travel to this parallel, but the Cabal ignores Homeline in these matters, and Swagmen, being a blend of Organised Crime, terrorists, and unstable loons, pay even less attention.

[Astromancer]

This is a rip-off of Torg, but that leads to fun which is the point of any game.

Basically, this Q5 parallel is being attacked by six, or possibly more outside realities attempting to drain it of its very life (possibility energy). Homeline is terrified and has decided to aid the Stormknights but the SECRET is even more important to keep in this fight. The Cabal has offered an alliance in this fight.

If you have Torg, use what you like from that game and ignore the rest. If this is the first time you've heard of Trog, here's a Fansite and a Wiki. Again, take what you like and dump the rest.

Frankly, I'd have to PCs land in an area with lots of Reality Trees. Reality Trees are a nondestructive means of altering reality. They layer on additional aspects to the local reality. Picture traveling around the Bahamas and every island is a different genre of story. Heck, maybe Freeport has the reality laws of Tolkienesque fantasy added on to the local reality while East Grand Bahama is in a pulp adventure plus superheroes realty and Eight Mile Rock is in a Science Fiction reality. Ride the bus from one reality to the next.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

On this Q5 80% Low/20% Normal parallel, actual Mad Scientista showed up in the 1930s. After some issues with violent robots stalking around the American Northeast and zombie outbreaks in Eastern Europe, and those guys that turned into beastmen in Paris (the wolf and ape men were caught the owlman escaped) WWII came as a mild relief. But things don't look to stay normal, Homeline estimates the local Tech Level as TL7+2. The Nazis have jet packs and the Americans have Super Solider serum.

Basically, it's the period of the Winter War and the Phoney War with Weird Science being mass-produced. Homeline sees this world as a threat, after all, World-Jumping is as weird as science gets. The higher-ups have decided that only the assassinations of Hitler, Stalin, and the key Japanese militarists, can avert WWII.

The PCs are assigned to a target. They need to eliminate their target and then work towards preventing the target's nation from waging war. Remember, Weirdness is everywhere on this parallel.

(Fun Extra: All out-timmers on this Parallel have Weirdness Magnet. Remember Weirdness Magnet is a Social disadvantage, people will quickly come to see the PCs as Weirdos! Which, because Weird Science is real in this world, means they see the PCs as a source of profits and power if they can control you.

Also, they assume that all Weirdos are insane, but must be humored.

Lay it on thick.)

[TGLS]

Kickstarter (Q6, 2022)

In this relatively near parallel, there are thousands of gadgeteers ready to prototype the most wondrous inventions. Unfortunately, they have a dire lack of funding. So they stand up web pages telling everyone about their teleporter/android/meat mixifier/etc. crowdsourcing the funding in exchange of key-chains/posters/copies of the invention/etc.

Unfortunately, basically everyone thinks these scientists are nuts, and a new golden age of technology is held back on the account that the inventors suck at financing. However, this provides one of the best sources of gadgeteers in the five quantums. For better or worse, there still are fraudsters.