Category Archives: WoD
The Principles of Time Travel
The Principles of Time Travel
as I (Sort-of) Understand Them (in Theory)
Before I say anything else: The First Rule of Time Travel is “Don’t.”
The Second Rule of Time Travel is “Don’t Talk About Fight Club,” but I think that was someone’s idea of a joke. Possibly mine. In the future, that is. Anyway, not important.
Seriously though, “Don’t” is a very important rule. Time Travel should never be undergone lightly. If a Moros Mage f@#ks up, the worst that can happen is the zombie apocalypse or the complete and utter destruction of all matter in the universe. In the case of a serious Acanthus fustercluck, the whole of existence—at best—never happened. The problem is if you’ve done enough Time Traveling that someone’s teaching you the rules then you’ve gone and broken the First Rule of Time Travel (and possibly the second) already.
So, you beautiful little rule-breakers, welcome to my domaine.
Most people who have studied (read as: “mucked around in”) the workings of the timestream conclude that there are only two ways the universe could stabilize itself with so many people disobeying the First Rule of Time Travel:
The SPLIT TIMELINE or MULTIVERSE theory suggests whenever someone travels back in time and changes something, two timelines branch off. In one the original event happened unaltered, in the other something completely new happens. Apparently Nintendo subscribes to this theory, much to the chagrin of obsessive Legend of Zelda fans wanting to know how the various games fit in the Zelda continuity. If you are one of those fans, let me try and settle that debate for you once and for all: There isn’t any continuity. None of it ever happened. It’s fictional..
The INEVITABLE FATE or YOU’RE PROBABLY SCREWED theory is best demonstrated by any episode of Disney’s Gargoyles that involved a handy little item called “The Phoenix Gate.” Essentially, If you try to change something you’d find yourself the catalyst for the event you wanted to prevent. For example, you travel back in time to save your childhood friend from being hit by a car. When you see them alive and well and just how you remember them after so many years you shout out in joy—but this shout catches their attention and they step into the street without looking both ways and. . . . you get the idea.
In my opinion, both theories suck. The first creates an overwhelming number of possible universes (and even more debates over said universes), and the second is just damn depressing. I like to believe in a different theory, which I’ll call the BACK THERE theory, after the Twilight Zone episode of the same name. This suggests that “Major Events” are stable, but “Minor Events” can be changed.
Let’s say you decide to get all noble and assassinate a certain crazy German leader from the 1940s. That would be the historical equivalent of rewriting the Harry Potter series so that our eponymous hero croaks in The Chamber of Secrets. Lord only know what horrors you’ll unleash when you unravel that intricate weave of cause and effect. Actually, the Lord doesn’t know. . . but other Time Travelers do. Should you manage to kill Hitler you’ll find yourself a massive target for every (Somewhat) Responsible Time Traveler, and if you’re lucky your work will be undone before you can even begin it. If you’re unlucky, you’ll blink out of existence before you can say “What do you mean my father was never born?”
Saving one Jewish family from the same era doesn’t rewrite as much. It’s similar to the removal of Peeves from the Harry Potter movies. It alters things, but the changes are manageable.
In essence, a Time Traveler is like an editor; The universe is a finicky author. If you want to rewrite things in the author’s beloved manuscript you have to do it with a light touch. Otherwise the author will have a temper tantrum and things will turn out poorly for everyone involved.
All right my little rule-breakers, I’d write more on this but I have to be somewhere yesterday. Good luck on your journey, but if you can slip back and teach yourself the First Rule of Time Travel before you get started that’d probably be for the best.
XOXO
Aenaiyah
A Momentary Reprieve
I previously promised to get to the dream-invading “nocturnal activities” of the most recent session. Sadly, due to some players who shall remain nameless (but not unpunished!) who missed the last session, I can’t do that just yet. I will, and it will be hilarious, but I can’t… yet.
That’s a big yet for some, eh Arrow?
My current dilemma is this: The Recap.
You see one of my players was there for most of the session (during which he caused all sorts of trouble at the Vatican and the Temple Mount), but had to leave early. Ordinarily I would not forgive this, but his brand new baby boy is adorable enough that I will let it slide this once. His character was very much present for the hilarity, and I did in fact feel compelled to make a few decisions on his behalf. I believe I made the decisions he would have made if he had been able to stay – which is to say that they would not necessarily have been the best decisions he could have made under the circumstances. It’s his way.
My current plan is to take the opening moments of the next session and hit him with some “decision points”, by which I can accurately judge how well I know this particular player. I’m guessing I know him pretty well but there’s only one way to find out, right? Along the way maybe I’ll have him make a few WITS+COMPOSURE rolls to see how much of what was going on around him his character was actually paying attention to. This is likely to amuse me. I like this plan.
My next problem is the two slackers who missed the last session altogether. I already have a plan in place to punish Niels, and I am hatching a wonderful plan for our memory-challenged Cabalmate Rex. Their punishments will be slow, drawn out, and brutal (as they should be) and are not my problem per se. My problem is what to do with them while we catch Argus up to speed on the things his character was around for, but he wasn’t. On the one hand – they weren’t there and in theory should not hear the recap. On the other hand – it will be even more hilarious to have them around hearing events unfold as Argus finds out what he missed and certain others start to squirm uncomfortably in their seats.
I suspect that I will err on the side of hilarity.
As part of this I have to decide where their characters are right now. Since the Cabal is on an Astral journey it’s always possible that their characters will simply show up later than the others did because it took them longer to enter a meditative state. Rex probably fell asleep a few times making the attempt, and Niels was probably distracted by Physics. Damien was using spells to help everyone arrive in Astral Space together so in theory they would find the others eventually. Since this is not a physical journey, and dream-time is even more wibbley-wobbley than real time, they could be arriving just in time to bear witness to hilarity. This would completely excuse their being party to The Recap since their characters could in fact have witnessed it, which in turn would have a synergistic effect on the hilarity!
Are you squirming yet Arrow?
You will be!
You. Will. Be.
Tech at the Table:
Tonight’s #RPGChat, tonight as I’m writing anyway, made me feel compelled to say a few words about working gadgets into the game table experience. Naturally mileage will vary with your group of players.
I would have a very difficult time running Mage without my laptop. There are just so ridiculously many things my Mages can do (See: The rest of this blog) that if I had to print out all of my notes there wouldn’t be a tree left standing anywhere on the planet. I also keep their stats on an Excel spreadsheet so that I can make secret die rolls for them from time to time without having to ask what their dice pool is, which would blow the secret now wouldn’t it?! Then of course there is the nightmare that is tracking initiative when people are speeding themselves up, slowing each other down, and mucking with the time stream. I don’t think I need to name any names here, do I Aenaiyah?
Yes, a laptop at the table is this GM’s friend.
The problems can happen when the players have them. They can make a player easily distracted. I admit that I have been guilty of being distracted myself from time to time, which is no one’s fault but my own. We live in a world of multitasking. We’re all so used to needing to multitask at work that we even multitask when we’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying things.
One thing that makes it easier for me is the fact that I GM in a modern day setting, so the characters have just as many gadgets as the players. As a result I can work them into the game. When I’m researching a setting for a game session I’ll keep track of what comes up with interesting Google hits. Then I’ll work those things into the game session. For example, I was looking for an abandoned location for a less-than-sane Mage killer to be hiding out in and settled on a monastery in Staten Island. I chose this particular location because not only did it suit the general feel I was looking to evoke, but there had been some interesting stories about the location posted on various sites around the web. These sites had everything from your standard hauntings, to a fire set by a crazed monk (who continues to haunt Staten Island), to 17 flooded levels deep beneath the ground that hadn’t been entered in a century or more. Not only did this give me great encounter seeds, I knew that I could count on my players to Google the place as soon as I said the name. When they did they turned up the same links I had, so I was prepared for everything they decided to do at the location. Furthermore, I didn’t have to worry that they would “know to look into something” because “if the GM bothered to make this up about the location it must be important”. Some things were absolutely not of any consequence whatsoever and were just random facts they found on the internet. Other things they found on the internet were absolutely important. All of them had equal weight in the minds of the players because I hadn’t made any of them up.
By taking advantage of the laptops the players had with them I was able to not only prevent them from being taken out of the game by the distraction, I was able to bring the game into the real world just a little bit more. By using real life places, and real life search results, I was able to make everything just that little bit more eerie because it was more than simply something I made up. It was real.
And real is creepy.
Rome If You Want To
I wonder what could be inside...
***SPOILER ALERT***
This post may contain some small spoilers for people in the World of Darkness Parallel Campaign. Just because you read it on my blog doesn’t mean your character knows – so suck it.
***END ALERT***
This one I blame entirely on my Co-GM… and the players. Yes, the players get blamed for this too. Or, to be more specific, Argus gets blamed for this. Argus and my Co-GM are at the root of this particular bit of insanity. If I look closely enough at the root of this I believe I see someone with purple hair hiding behind the Guardian of the Fail too. Hi Aenaiyah.
Remember how Sangre Santo was so amused by Aenaiyah that he gave her a gift? (See: Death is Always an Option) Well, my players finally decide to investigate something, and instead of focusing on the captured Seer of the Throne, they decide to play around with Aenaiyah’s present.
The present is a coin.
It’s a shiny silver coin.
It’s a very old shiny silver coin.
It’s a very old shiny silver Roman coin!
Now, I’m fine with wanting to test it out. As a matter of fact I’ve come up with more than a few interesting ways to test the coin myself. Of course, that isn’t what they decide to do. Why? Because they’re Mages, and making me weep is their favorite thing in the universe. So here I am, all prepared to delve into the Oneiros of a Seer of the Throne who was once married to the Cabal’s Mastigos Mage and what do these freaks do?
What could possibly go wrong?
Argus: “I’m scrying on the Vatican…”
MM: “You’re… what?!?!?”
Argus: “I’m scrying on the Vatican… in Rome.”
MM: “I know where the Vatican is, smartass. Why are you scrying on the Vatican?”
Argus: “I want to find a quiet place near the Vatican that I can teleport to with this coin.”
And so Argus decides to teleport to Rome with this ancient Roman Silver Coin in his pocket, and upon entering the Vatican he decides to drop it into the Holy Water. It’s right about then that the Vatican starts to fill with steam, because the coin is boiling all the Holy Water away. Mind you, the Vatican is a place filled with tourists. These tourists carry cameras, and cell-phones that can shoot movies! Who has two thumbs and thinks that videos of my favorite Guardian are gonna wind up on YouTube? THIS GUY!
But it gets even better.
He then hits me with his plan to teleport to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Because boiling the Holy Water away in the Vatican isn’t quite enough, he now wants to take this clearly cursed object to The Holy of Holies. That’s right, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was once kept. It’s at this time that I walk over to the other table in the campaign, smack my Co-GM upside the head, and yell:
F@#% YOU CO-GM!!!
We ultimately decide that the coin simply will not go to this particular ancient hallowed site. Take THAT Argus Guille! And while you’re at it, take some bashing damage for trying to teleport this thing somewhere it clearly isn’t wanted. That’ll teach ya!
Who am I kidding? He ain’t learnin’ anything.
Maybe next session he’ll try wrapping it in the Shroud of Turin. That should work out brilliantly!
Here’s a hint folks: If you really want to know how it works, there’s a very easy way to find out, it’s called asking.
(Yes, the note is written in blood. Sangre Santo still had some smeared all over his tentacles after the fight and didn’t want to waste it. He’s nothing if not environmental. It’s his version of “Going Green”. Aenaiyah did her own version of “Going Green” when she realized that little factoid.)
Death is Always an Option
As a matter of fact, not only is the death of PCs an option, it’s the one I look forward to each time I run the game. Sadly, it sometimes just isn’t very likely. Even more sadly, tomorrow’s Mage game is looking to be one of those times as it seems as though my players will actually spend some time gathering information. It’s been a while since they’ve done anything remotely resembling research, which I have to admit isn’t entirely their fault. Sometimes fans get hit, and things need to be sanitized. When that happens sooner is generally better than later.
For example, on their way back from dealing with the “crazy homeless guy” who was actually a former police officer that was about to change into a Werewolf for the very first time*, the Mages and Werewolves stumbled upon a nun that was possessed by a demon. This is the kind of thing you typically want to fix as quickly as possible. you want to take care of it even more quickly when you realize that the demon is Sangre Santo:
Sangre Santo is not much fun at parties. He does enjoy making deals though!
My co-GM and I made sure that there was at least one way to come out of the encounter unscathed. We also allowed for the possibility that they would figure out other ways to come out of this OK, though we could only think of the one, and we were reasonably certain they wouldn’t avail themselves of it.
As you may have already guessed – they didn’t.
Death was very much an option during this encounter. In fact Sangre Santo made it quite clear that he might kill them all quite by accident if he wasn’t careful! The sad truth is that this is one of those cases where simply killing them didn’t make sense. Quite frankly, that would have been way too passe for Sangre Santo. He didn’t want to kill them, he wanted to corrupt them. If he had to knock each and every one of them unconscious and then play “Let’s Make A Deal” with the first one to wake up over and over again until someone broke down and decided which one of their friends should be killed, so be it. After all, being an abyssal entity means that Sangre Santo has too much time on his hands. While this made a TPK unlikely, it did make it quite possible that one of the characters would be forced to sentence another one to death in order for the majority of them to live. Since it is unlikely that any player would make this choice, a successful “RESOLVE + COMPOSURE” roll would have been needed to not give in. The corrupted PC would have suffered some Morality loss and a possible derangement, the other PCs would be shocked and horrified (well, the ones that weren’t the dead one anyway), and my co-GM and I would have congratulated each other on a job well done.
Of course, failing that Sangre Santo would have eventually gotten bored again and just killed them all in the hopes that more entertainment would arrive soon.
The PCs actually caught a break here. It was down to final health points for several of the characters, and the big guy himself. Aenaiyah pulled a Hail Mary and managed to sever the connection between Sangre Santo and the mortal plane just before he managed to kill her.
This entertained him so much that he later sent her a gift!
Sangre Santo is nothing if not appreciative of a good time.
It’s important for death to be a very real threat in the campaign. The possibility of character death creates a sense of urgency and tension. The specter of death makes it clear to the players that the choices they make for their characters are important. The trick is that too much death, senseless death, and unavoidable death cause the same problems that no fear of death causes. If the players know that their characters are going to die anyway it takes away that very sense of urgency and tension – they are going to die no matter what they do!
Death needs to always be on the table, but it should always make sense, always be meaningful, and always be avoidable. If it isn’t it becomes cheapened. It becomes a certainty instead of a risk. Once the outcome is certain it just isn’t much of a game anymore.
*Let the record clearly state that the Mages and Werewolves actually opted to help this guy! (Let it also clearly state that previously the Gaurdian of the Veil handed him a fresh bottle of whiskey and pointed him toward the nearest subway tunnel.)
Mage Mistress 