Advancement of the Machines

Thoughts about plots involving time travel have been on my mind again lately. I read a series of three articles on the subject from a blog over at Campaign Mastery starting with When Inspiration Is Not Enough: Time Travel in RPGs, Part 1. The first is the best from the writer's perspective. The second would be useful for plotting conflicts and their results in role-playing games. The last is pointed pretty directly at physicists and physics fans and may leave you lost. I can hardly approach the topic of time travel without referencing the Terminator franchise. It is definitely my go to time travel storyline. There is one factor regarding Judgment Day--when Skynet nukes the world--which has been expressed in a few ways, but I would have liked to seen in more direct and deeper ways. Every time Judgement day is pushed back technology advances.

In the real world, between the Terminator movies, there was a lot of advancement in the field of computers and software. There was a fairish bit of improvement in robotics too--especially between the first and second movie for the robotics. Every time the intrepid heroes push back the date of the end of the current world they make the fight against the machines in the aftermath that much harder. The starkest representation of this is the difference between Arnold's T800 and the T1000. There isn't a lot of tactical advancement in Skynet's approach to thwart John Connor in the movies either. It was a welcome addition that The Sara Connor Chronicles had the luxury of looking at a broader Skynet battle plan to weaken the entire resistance. There are still yet other avenues of attack that Skynet could make use of anywhere in the timeline before T3's end.

This paragraph here contains spoilers if for some reason you haven't seen all of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines or The Sara Connor Chronicles. Skynet from the future creates a computer virus that the military uses the current Skynet to try and stop. I'm not entirely sure of the full intent of this tactic but there is a clear leapfrogging of the wait time for Skynet to become aware and it immediately sets off its murderous rampage. In the Chronicles TV series Skynet sends Terminators back in time for a number of purposes from killing the parents of resistance leaders, to plans set in motion to ensure the creation of itself, to stockpiling materials to kick start production of T800s. This is a good start, but I would like to have seen more, deeper plots and conflicts. The question is how can I delve into such a plot of my own, and bring originality not to mention avoid lawsuits.

Mood: mechanical.

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Magic Power Point Presentation

When it comes to the mechanics of magic in a role-playing game two options rise to the top of the list as far as importance. The first is the number of points with which a character has access to for the casting of spells. The second as discussed last week is the time it takes to cast the spell. The points portion of the mechanics can be broken down into several factors that must be considered and balanced. It can be difficult to discern what to deal with first. There is the need to determine the number of points required to cast each and every spell. There is also the number of points to which any single character will have access. It makes sense to determine the spell costs first. Doing that requires starting with the low-end costs and building up to the more costly and thus more impressive and powerful spells, but how to weight them?

The cost of one spell compared to another should be based upon many different factors. These factors can include how long the effect of the spell lasts, how far the effect can be cast away from the spell caster, how large of an area the spell affects, and just how powerful is the effect? What determines how powerful or impressive a spell is? Does it depend on game factors like damage? Is it more powerful if it affects multiple people? Does it matter if it is flamboyant or a spectacle to see? Is it a matter of how much it bends reality and defies the known laws of physics? Is it about the way it can change the playing field and alter the storyline? This last is hard to quantify. Death is a game changing matter when it comes to the players, the protagonists of the story. How does a powerful spell affect the setting if too many can cast it?

Once at least a rough baseline is set for the cost of spells then a look can be taken at how many points to which a single character or player should immediately have access. Factors for consideration include how many spells in rapid succession should a player be able to cast? This will also require knowledge about the other types of characters available so that the spell cast does not run out of options long before his companions. How powerful is a starting spell caster? How should they progress in power? Both of these should be compared to other character types as well, to maintain fairness and promote players to choose a spell caster. From a points standpoint there is an advantage to having more than one spell caster in the player party. Leaving points aside are there other advantages to multiple casters?

Mood: eclectic.

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Super Psychic Power Ability Increase Time

Last we left off our discussion we came to one of those difficulties that are, well, particularly difficult. How do you balance between the desire to progress a character and the practicality of retaining some sense of reality? It is easy to simply suggest throwing out reality in this instance or work with something in a more abstract manner to reach the desired practicality. The abstract method at least deals with the issue. This is not to say that leaving the unreality be is unacceptable. Role-playing games are all about story elements and game elements together in the same experience. It is a layered experience where not everything need meet in the middle. That said how do you go about solving our issue of improving super powers and psychic abilities in a manner that deals with both short and long in-game timeframes?

Both psychic abilities and super powers can actually advance in the same mechanical manner as skills with the right story framework behind them. It is pretty much a de facto standard that psychic abilities are a function of the brain--the pituitary in this scenario may effectively be the gas tank, or not. For the purpose of producing psychic effects the brain is likened to a muscle. As blood flows into the sections of the brain responsible for psychic abilities other adjacent, or close by, sections serving a similar function, but so far unawakened power-wise, become activated over time. Thus like skills there is a chance every time the character uses their powers they might trigger a new psychic ability. Some kind of limit might be put on how soon the next chance might be, especially after having already gained a new power.

A similar scenario can play out when super powers are involved. Whether the character is a mutant or an experiment or gains their powers from some other method, the physics of gaining powers is the same--for a setting like this. Powers are caused by elements introduced within the body. These elements can range from chemical compounds to forms of radiation that leave residual traces in the body, to magical substances. They react to other body chemicals secreted during the use of super powers. Again like building bigger muscles new compounds are created that combine with some other chemical, hormone, or compound and result in new powers or further mutation. In either case, super or psychic power, the progression chance could be coupled with points, which are used to determine when a chance becomes available preventing too frequent progression on a dice fluke.

Mood: empowered.

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The Risk to Remain Tight in a Bud

Previously on R.G. Male's Dark Corners... I set up some information for those uninitiated in the greatness of role-playing games, particularly the pen and paper kind that come with books and people track things and do everything more or less by hand or keyboard. Last week I discussed the unrealistic method of character advancement known as levels, whereupon reaching a new level of experience the character has an explosion of growth, as opposed to a more natural progression. This leaves us with the need to look at how to bring that sense of realism, or verisimilitude back to the mechanics of the game. Advancement of your playing character within the game is one of the best ways of gauging how well the game is going. It's like winning in a game where there isn't real winning or losing because, as a story shared among friends, the journey is more important than the destination.

Rather than levels where everything advances all at once some games measure progress incrementally. The Game Master takes note of when a skill is used, or the players track it themselves, and after so many successes--or in the best systems a measure of losses as well, since mistakes are important to the learning progress--the skill is advanced. This is a fair simulation of the real world. The same process is applied to powers that the character has whether that is super powers, psychic abilities, or magic. This is particularly useful to magic systems involving learned incantations and rituals. The other side of the coin in this incremental advancement is that the character is required to practice and study. This is especially true of picking up new skills, learning new spells or creating new magic. However it does have its issues with psychic abilities and super powers.

Depending on the setting, and the mood it looks to evoke, psychic abilities may not be something that is learned. The power is either there waiting to be unlocked or it is not there at all. Super powers tend to be dependent upon time for their advancement or exposure to new catalysts that cause new powers to develop. This is not to say that existing powers do not advance just as skills do, and characters should ultimately learn new tricks with use of existing powers even if they are not expressed in the mechanics. For the new powers and abilities a system must be in place that works in parallel with skill advancement or on a time scale. The problem with a time scale is that a game could run only hours at a time within the setting or stretch out for weeks in game. This leads to slow or fast power gain respectively. Tune in next time for some options to deal with this.

Mood: excited.

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Can You Hear Me Now?

The cross-generation planning method of harnessing the game-changing power of immortality as noted last time requires good communication. The kind of communication that it requires is about the quality of the communication. It doesn't matter the quantity if it is concise and clear. It also makes no difference in regards to time if preservable writing is an available option in the setting. What does have some impact is the timing. A small impact in this case, but on its own communication times can be their own game changer. As with everything else communication time can be enhanced either by technological or fantastical means. Understanding just how it changes things can be something of a challenge. It is, right now, something still being figured out for real.

Most fantasy settings are set in a time where messages can be relayed by horse riding couriers. There can also be carrier pigeons--the Egyptians and Persians first used them 3,000 years ago. This was a huge improvement over people made to run messages far away carrying only a verbal message and making the use of multiple runners along a longer route. Since this is a fantasy setting, and not a strictly historical one, magic comes into play. It would start with magical carrier pigeons that could fly faster and longer. It would end with the scrying version of video conferencing at the other end of the spectrum. In between are tomes that writing appears in from another copy, telepathic style messages, oracles that know things from far away lands, and lesser deities as couriers.

Information is power when it is put to use. Using it in a timely manner is an important way to capitalise on it. It doesn't matter whether it is intelligence for battlefield planning, trading information, spy work, or organising research. Good speed for information flow negates the importance of distance. It makes the world a smaller place and that changes the dynamic of many things. It also should involve more direct communication, cutting out middlemen who can distort the message. This is because the fast communication form should also be as easy as it is fast, which does add some constraints in the fantasy settings. It is only fitting that the magical method of fast communication is not only fast in passing the messages back and forth, but also fast to initiate.

Mood: vertical.

Music: Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin and Legions by Stratovarius.

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