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07:30, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha.

Posted by Tortuga
Tortuga
member, 1904 posts
Sat 24 Oct 2020
at 18:24
  • msg #1

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

A while ago for some project I compiled a timeline that incorporated a lot of tv shows, games, movies, books, etc, running from the big bang to the end of the universe (and it's restaurant). I don't remember exactly why I did this, but part of the project was seeing how different fictive visions of the world interacted with each other.

Anyway I'd like to use this to run a crossover game that incorporates a lot of different fandoms - Doctor Who, LotR, Marvel Comics, DC, the Aliens/Predator movies/comics/etc, Terminator, Resident Evil, Supernatural, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc etc etc. Even the stuff that directly contradicts itself. Especially the stuff that directly contradicts itself. As long as it conceivably is set in the "real" world and I'll stretch that to include stuff like Lord of the Rings and Conan (supposedly both neolithic Europe. Was Nemenor Atlantis? Was King Kull deposed by Deviants who angered the Celestials into creating the Great Flood?)

Anyway I've got that worked out so I'd like to run a time travel game in this setting, one that allows the players to zip about and experience stories happening in different eras.

Considerations that feedback on would be great:

  1. Should players be from this fictive mishmash world, or from (more or less) our world? Natives might have background elements that incorporate elements of the different media, but visitors have the advantage of in-character knowledge of the secret nature of different media. In effect, that IS their power - genre awareness.
  2. The basic structure will be jaunts to different eras to participate in/witness/alter events from popular media (eg you jump back in time to Isla Nublar on the day the power goes down in Jurassic Park), and then jump back to your baseline timeline to live "normally" for a few months until the next jump. So when is the baseline? I'd like to have the events of media set in the baseline year occurring in the background/affecting the players' lives... but setting that in 2020 is an issue because it's kind of a weird time for movie releases and if we outpace real-time I won't even be able to look up synopsis of stuff that hasn't been released yet. So set the baseline game in the 2010s? 2000s? 1990s?
  3. The mechanics of time travel. How much agency do the players have? Can they guide where they go... and when they leave? Or are they at the mercy of unpredictable and irresistible world-slipping? Are they choosing to visit other eras dangerous events, or are they being thrown into them?
  4. For that matter who ARE the players? Hapless strangers brought together by fate? Scientists breaking the Fourth Wall into the Storyworlds? Time Patrol recruits? Kids testing a new VR game? Companions of a nihilistic Time Lord? Something else?

If this premise interests you, feel free to weigh in on the above options or ask for clarifications.


Quote from downthread:

quote:
Okay, I'm narrowing it down to these two concepts.

1. The players are participants in a psychic research study who find themselves in a world built from popular media (books/movies/tv/etc) that's possibly dimensional bleed into the real world or possibly the collective consciousness of all human creativity. They can leave the "present" of 2010 for short jaunts to other eras to interact with the media of those other era though they have little actual control over where they end up.

2. In the near future of 2050 Disney owns all media, and they've created massive AR theme parks where all of these different intellectual properties have been gamified. Players are a gaming guild enrolled in a mashup tournament with a fabulous prize, and have to compete to earn sponsorships, improve their reputation, and improve both their characters and guild standing. There's a lot of intrigue out of the tournament as well, industrial espionage, organized crime, cheating, and maybe even signs that some game elements are *leaking* into the real world somehow.

So if you're interested in one of these options over the other, have suggestions, questions, etc, let's hear it!

This message was last edited by the user at 17:24, Sun 25 Oct 2020.
airellian
member, 528 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 10:34
  • msg #2

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Interested! :)

1. I think a combination of media-aware normals and natives would be super interesting!
2. 1990s would be a great time to set this.
3. Depends on the story and why they are traveling in the first place.
4. Again, depends on the story, I should think.
Tortuga
member, 1905 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 16:10
  • msg #3

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

My current idea (which may well change) is that players are participants in a psychic research study who've shown some minor talents (good at guessing cards, make a pencil twitch, etc... perk level stuff). One of their fellow subjects could 'see' into other realities - which came across as the weird psychic power to perfectly visualize scenes from TV shows, movies, books, comics, etc, even if they'd never seen them.

Then one day everybody has a psychic breakthrough - the telekinetic makes the pencil levitate, the telepath reads someone's surface thoughts, the electrokinetic turns on the TV, and the "mediapath" - well, suddenly everything changes.

The players find themselves in a reality composed of the world's media, and able to further "slide" along the timeline to earlier or later periods through gateways. Maybe at first navigating these gateways is impossible; maybe they never really get the hang of it, and the only real choice is to leave a given era or stay longer.

As to the nature of what's going on, how it can be stopped, and other details like that, that can be revealed or discovered in the course of play.

Again, this is just my first go at nailing some of this down; I still want feedback and ideas from potential players.
Anachronist
member, 36 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 16:23
  • msg #4

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

I had toyed with the idea of a setting that may work well for your premise. It is more or less an expansion on your "VR" option.

The idea being that the characters themselves are near future minor celebrities, akin to YouTube, except that the medium of choice is a full "out of body" experience like the Abstergo/Assassins' Creed series.

The goal is to not only to survive each scenario, potentially voted on by their fans, but to make it entertaining in the process. Characters that survive each scenario gain more sponsor's, fans and influence, while Characters that "die" in cool ways might get the same. Maybe fans could influence the scenario itself?

And even if a character gets eaten by a Tyrannosaurus, it's not a huge deal as they simply "Spectate" or run commentary while the others continue play. They will be back for the next one.

Sort of a Hunger Games/Tron/Ready Player one blend, and if you want to make the consequences a little harsher you can always have each "death" or traumatic experience wear on the character psyche.

Just another idea to throw in the pot.
Tortuga
member, 1906 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 16:29
  • msg #5

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Reminds me a bit (a little bit) of Dreampark, but yeah, I could run the game as a sort of near-future pro-gamer thing. Players are a team, train together, etc, engaged in a tournament whose theme just happens to be all of these media elements.

Or I could take it the other way and say the players are a guild in a future VR MMO gone horribly awry.
Anachronist
member, 37 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 16:31
  • msg #6

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Absolutely, both of those sound viable to me.

Just a matter of deciding on a theme. Lighter and maybe kichy or a little darker and more serious.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:32, Sun 25 Oct 2020.
Tortuga
member, 1907 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 17:22
  • msg #7

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Mood will probably be a bit gritty with lighter moments. Not a comedy, not a traumatic broodfest. Might be a little grim but more cynical than outright pessimistic; there's hope, but you've got to be that hope because other people will let you down and the people who do have your back are the exception rather than the rule.

Okay, I'm narrowing it down to these two concepts.

1. The players are participants in a psychic research study who find themselves in a world built from popular media (books/movies/tv/etc) that's possibly dimensional bleed into the real world or possibly the collective consciousness of all human creativity. They can leave the "present" of 2010 for short jaunts to other eras to interact with the media of those other era though they have little actual control over where they end up.

2. In the near future of 2050 Disney owns all media, and they've created massive AR theme parks where all of these different intellectual properties have been gamified. Players are a gaming guild enrolled in a mashup tournament with a fabulous prize, and have to compete to earn sponsorships, improve their reputation, and improve both their characters and guild standing. There's a lot of intrigue out of the tournament as well, industrial espionage, organized crime, cheating, and maybe even signs that some game elements are *leaking* into the real world somehow.

So if you're interested in one of these options over the other, have suggestions, questions, etc, let's hear it!
This message was last edited by the user at 17:24, Sun 25 Oct 2020.
Anachronist
member, 38 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 17:48
  • msg #8

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

I would be interested in #2, with bonus points if the tech used for the AR has some potential harmful side effects that Disney is trying to sweep under the rug.
Tortuga
member, 1908 posts
Sun 25 Oct 2020
at 18:03
  • msg #9

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

I'm thinking the players might have access to special prototype AR tech that gives them an edge but has unforseen side effects.
airellian
member, 529 posts
Mon 26 Oct 2020
at 05:54
  • msg #10

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

I think I'll bow out, but I hope you guys have fun with this concept. :)
zeone3000
member, 563 posts
Mon 26 Oct 2020
at 06:04
  • msg #11

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Man, I have an idea like this several times, usually with a different type of media. I'm interested to see how it develops.
Knight_Vassal
member, 541 posts
Tue 27 Oct 2020
at 07:30
  • msg #12

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 7):

#2 Has a lot of merit. And bonus if it starts crossing over into the real world you have a road map for that as well. Pixels. Just saying. If this ever gets off the ground someone Rmail me please.
Tortuga
member, 1909 posts
Tue 27 Oct 2020
at 16:20
  • msg #13

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Blurb/Intro for option 2:

In the grim future of 2073 there is only Disney. The House of Mouse has taken over all entertainment media from movies to breakfast cereals, bringing all intellectual property in under their benevolent umbrella, ushering in an era of reboots, remixes, and mashups the likes of which the entertainment world has never seen.

At its pinnacle are the Disneyland Dreamparks, massive facilities incorporating the latest anamatronic and augmented reality digital technology to create an interactive fusion of games, movies, and live theatre known by most as simple The Games. Gamers from all over the world come to play and compete in scenarios, some for fun, some for sponsorships and fabulous cash prizes.

The most prestigious of this is the League, a circuit of pro-gamers raking in millions - billions - in corporate sponsorship deals and social media influence.

In Hardcore Mode the players are a minor League game team about to move into the majors for The Tournament, a Game celebrating Disney's 150th anniversary and incorporating all of the media under the Mouse's umbrella - which is to say, all entertainment media. Gameplay will focus on both the action inside the tournamnet - taking the form of augmented reality games drawn from popular media - and outside the arena, where intrigue can bring danger of a more permanent variety, and strange secrets wait in the corners of reality.

Inspirations: Dream Park, the Matrix, Westworld, Blood of Heroes/Salute of the Juggers, .Hack, Dark City, Ender's Game, and basically all media for the games themselves.

The Game is run in GURPS, but players don't need to be familiar with the system. We can learn as we go.
Knight_Vassal
member, 542 posts
Tue 27 Oct 2020
at 16:57
  • msg #14

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 13):

Totally down for this breaking out Ready Player One to brainstorm to.
Anachronist
member, 39 posts
Tue 27 Oct 2020
at 19:38
  • msg #15

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Sounds like you have at least two.
Tortuga
member, 1910 posts
Tue 27 Oct 2020
at 19:41
  • msg #16

GURPS Super Crossover Megamix EX Alpha

Good point, here's the game link: link to another game

Players unfamiliar with GURPS are definitely welcome!
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