08-14-2017, 06:55 PM | #141 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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08-14-2017, 07:06 PM | #142 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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S.O.P. is to send Jumpers and scientists to Coventry, regardless. Of course ISWAT often "loses" such "threats" on the way, but on paper, rules are rules.
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08-14-2017, 07:34 PM | #143 | ||
Forum Pervert
(If you have to ask . . .) Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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These are not nice people. They may not be as bad as I make them out, but they're closer to black hats than white knights. ETA: I’m sure the mention of “more obscure detention facilities” is intended to give the GM carte blanche to create whatever secure facilities they may need. Some of these are likely hostage facilities, where, as I suggested above, the loved ones of “agents” could be held, to be produced as needed, to ensure cooperation. After all, Coventry can’t be that easy to get people out of, and there’s no guarantee of their survival there. I’d be surprised if some of the worlds didn’t have divergent physical laws allowing different forms of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Mind control. Mind reading. Psionics or magic. Some victims who wind up on Coventry might have made a trip to one or two of these first . . .. Last edited by Mark Skarr; 08-14-2017 at 07:48 PM. Reason: wrong preposition, and added thought |
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08-15-2017, 07:27 AM | #144 | |
Untitled
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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Honesty, the whole Coventry deal as presented in Infinite Worlds is a case of Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? (warning: tropes site) - a chance for Homeline to hold the Idiot Ball while giving the PCs a chance to continue the campaign by figuring out some way to escape the deathtrap they've been dropped into. From a gameplay perspective, that's a good thing.
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
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08-15-2017, 11:53 AM | #145 | |||
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(If you have to ask . . .) Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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Are they dropping Reich-5 troopers on Coventry when they catch them? That would be catastrophically bad for all of the innocents they've banished and colonists living there. We know they're dropping innocent civilians from Shikaku-Mon there: Quote:
And, let's be honest, if TL8 people will have a hard time adjusting to TL4, how are TL8/9 people going to manage? Quote:
It's the "orcs are chaotic evil, so you can kill as many as you want and not feel bad about it." You can bring people to be dropped on Coventry--they'll actually be free and safe, but can't possibly interfere with The Secret anymore. It's like telling a child that they're old, beloved dog is going upstate to live on a farm, when, in reality, you've had them put to sleep. It's intellectually and morally dishonest at best. Infinity, I-Cops, I-SWAT, they're bad guys. Centrum isn't any worse, they're just different. Arguably, they're "better" because they're less dishonest. |
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08-15-2017, 12:18 PM | #146 | |||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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And yes, you totally should be using multiple fortresses and communities. You should not be sticking stubborn scientists in the same community as your home-grown world-hopping crime lords, and you should keep both away from crazy world-hoppers. Quote:
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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08-15-2017, 12:55 PM | #147 | |||||
Forum Pervert
(If you have to ask . . .) Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Somewhere high up.
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
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The Reich-5 world-jumpers are going to escape and meet up. Possibly abducting a number of brilliant scientists to help find a way home. And they'll leave with a bevvy of brilliant scientists who were close to discovering dimensional travel on their own. Good job, Infinity. Quote:
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At a basic level, you're right. It's a morally bankrupt version of "we're better than they are" even though you're not. It's "we didn't kill them, but we did turn them into slaves, basically. So, we're better than those who did kill their objectors!" It's a lie they tell themselves to feel "superior." And, that's great for your version, but, that's not the version depicted in the books. The picture the books paint of Infinity is a very bleak, basically fascist world.
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WE would be carted off to Coventry because we "know too much." They would then take over our accounts and discredit our arguments, and everyone else's just like you said above. Then, they'd probably abduct a few more people from the fora, especially a mod, whom they would impersonate and go in and delete our discussion about Coventry. Problem solved. Other than there are a half-dozen people who simply vanished with no reason. |
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08-15-2017, 01:18 PM | #148 | |
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
I want to address this separately:
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To use a conspiracy-theory cliche: I didn't drink the kool-aid. Most players/GMs want Infinity to be the good guys, and ignore all of the morally sketchy and horrible things they do. They accept that Homeline is real and the other lines are just there for the plundering. Like you, they believe that Coventry is an idyllic, romanticized version of TL4. But, it's more like the real TL 4 in that it sucks, but at least they have decent medicine. After all, who gave Homeline the right to decide who can and cannot know about transdimensional travel? They gave it to themselves. Why? Monopolistic reasons. They don't want others out there that they can't control. It's only their oyster as long as no one else can use it without their permission. Most people want to think that their characters are doing the right and good thing, without thinking about the repercussions. We saved world-line X from Centrum, we're heroes! Now we can go back to sending tourists and strip-mining Africa without interruption. |
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08-15-2017, 02:23 PM | #149 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
At the risk of bringing up real politics, your last paragraph perfectly describes both sides in the Cold War. Lots of "we're not destroying independent nations and peoples with proxy wars and resource stripping, but saving them from the evil corruptions of 'other side'."
If anything now, Centrum is starting to look more like the U.S. in the conflict to me. At least they want to bring all others into their monoculture. Homeline wants to use, abuse, and often destroy all enemies of the state. At "best", Conventry is an internment camp, at worst gulag.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
08-15-2017, 03:10 PM | #150 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations
It occurs to me that someone able to bypass Coventry's travel restrictions and having a grudge against Infinity would find Coventry a fertile recruiting ground.
I'm not sure what the name of the organization would be, but the reaction of Infinity agents, not to mention the organization itself, to finding people they know were sent to Coventry (and that are clearly those individuals, not counterparts from other worlds) is likely to be pretty strong, something to be very deeply concerned about. That doesn't mean that they'll be working against every Infinity operation they come across (they could be just as much against Centrum or Reich-5 as against Infinity), but they are likely to be very busy causing trouble, such as outing the Secret on various worlds that they know Infinity to be active on.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
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campaign design, infinite worlds, infinity unlimited, worldlines |
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