Temporal paradox rules

Michael Thayne · 10-10-2017, 10:45 PM

Recently, I've skimmed the rule books for two time-travel RPGs, Continuum and TimeWatch, and am thinking about trying to come up with broadly similar, setting-independent rules for GURPS, more likely hewing closer to the TimeWatch rules (because they're more setting-independent to begin with). I'm curious if anyone has ever attempted something similar before.

What the systems have in common is that in both systems, temporal paradoxes are bad but not the end of the universe, insofar as you only go *poof* if you get caught in multiple temporal paradoxes in a row without fixing the damage. Furthermore, the damage from temporal paradoxes tends to get resolved eventually, one way or another. Think the first Back to the Future movie: Marty can screw up his parents' meeting, and this is bad, but he has a chance to fix the damage he did.

In Continuum, other time travels will fix your paradoxes ("frag", in the game's in-universe jargon) if you don't, and may be quite annoyed at you for not cleaning them up yourself. Fixing paradoxes always requires putting back the timeline as it originally was, or as close to the way it originally was that no one can tell the difference. One reason I'm not thrilled about adapting Continuum to GURPS is that the setting ultimately depends on the existence of all-powerful transhumans from the future who will fix temporal paradoxes no one else can.

TimeWatch, a more lighthearted game, lets you automatically heal the effects of temporal paradoxes ("chronal stability loss", in TimeWatch's jargon) in-between adventures, and allows a certain amount of temporal paradox first aid, so to speak, mid-adventure via your fellow PCs reminding you who you are. (Because the premise is you're hanging on to your ontological status through sheer force of will.) Thus, unlike Continuum, it's fine for paradoxical things to happen and never get resolved in a logical fashion—as long as too many don't occur in a single adventure.

I wrote up some notes on a loose conversion of TimeWatch to GURPS which I'm going to post later in the thread. But I want a clear break, where I can ask: does anyone know of anyone doing this in GURPS?

10-10-2017, 10:45 PM	#1
Michael Thayne Join Date: May 2010	Temporal paradox rules Recently, I've skimmed the rule books for two time-travel RPGs, Continuum and TimeWatch, and am thinking about trying to come up with broadly similar, setting-independent rules for GURPS, more likely hewing closer to the TimeWatch rules (because they're more setting-independent to begin with). I'm curious if anyone has ever attempted something similar before. What the systems have in common is that in both systems, temporal paradoxes are bad but not the end of the universe, insofar as you only go poof if you get caught in multiple temporal paradoxes in a row without fixing the damage. Furthermore, the damage from temporal paradoxes tends to get resolved eventually, one way or another. Think the first Back to the Future movie: Marty can screw up his parents' meeting, and this is bad, but he has a chance to fix the damage he did. In Continuum, other time travels will fix your paradoxes ("frag", in the game's in-universe jargon) if you don't, and may be quite annoyed at you for not cleaning them up yourself. Fixing paradoxes always requires putting back the timeline as it originally was, or as close to the way it originally was that no one can tell the difference. One reason I'm not thrilled about adapting Continuum to GURPS is that the setting ultimately depends on the existence of all-powerful transhumans from the future who will fix temporal paradoxes no one else can. TimeWatch, a more lighthearted game, lets you automatically heal the effects of temporal paradoxes ("chronal stability loss", in TimeWatch's jargon) in-between adventures, and allows a certain amount of temporal paradox first aid, so to speak, mid-adventure via your fellow PCs reminding you who you are. (Because the premise is you're hanging on to your ontological status through sheer force of will.) Thus, unlike Continuum, it's fine for paradoxical things to happen and never get resolved in a logical fashion—as long as too many don't occur in a single adventure. I wrote up some notes on a loose conversion of TimeWatch to GURPS which I'm going to post later in the thread. But I want a clear break, where I can ask: does anyone know of anyone doing this in GURPS?