Was originally thinking of simply using Variable History as a tool to keep players in the dark on what some of the more important historical events were until they either researched them or encountered the consequences in-game. But it would work pretty good as part of an alternate universe toolkit. Something like a random table based alternative to Microscope.
Start by making a core timeline with a handful of the more important bits in place - then roll for variable outcomes. Put the major and minor races in - then roll for possible variations or replacements. Add in another layer of events/details from my big timeline event tables. Add in some historical figures. Create a few historical worlds with my simple systemless generator. Drop in some Instant Game setting elements to taste - then shuffle in a few more random table bits for extra flavor. Work up some story hooks, oddities, and Library Data. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. Find more fun random tables.
For reality shifts, I would probably do it with misjumps instead of intoxication. Make temporal misjumps easier and more common than spatial, and have severe misjumps initiate crossover to a totally new (scrambled) universe. Sort of like an old sf series where the stardrives always dimensionally displaced the ships into closely linked timelines - but the more you traveled, the harder it was to get back to your 'real' home.
----------------------------------------------------------
In what way? Like alternate universes/timelines ?
The closest thing I can think of in Traveller is the way all refs have the
freedom to modify or leave things out.
On the other hand, I am imagining the PCs waking up each morning to a
"Dude, Where's My Starship?" scenario, where they have to figure out which
parts of reality shifted out from under them over night.
> Has anyone experimented with the concept of using Variable History to
> maintain a sense of mystery?
> It was an interesting design feature of Mekton Empire that might be
> adaptable to Traveller campaigns.
>
>
> Was originally thinking of simply using Variable History as a tool to keep
> players in the dark on what some of the more important historical events
> were until they either researched them or encountered the consequences
> in-game. But it would work pretty good as part of an alternate universe
> toolkit. Something like a random table based alternative to Microscope.
>
> Start by making a core timeline with a handful of the more important bits
> in place - then roll for variable outcomes. Put the major and minor races
> in - then roll for possible variations or replacements. Add in another
> layer of events/details from my big timeline event tables. Add in some
> historical figures. Create a few historical worlds with my simple
> systemless generator. Drop in some Instant Game setting elements to taste -
> then shuffle in a few more random table bits for extra flavor. Work up some
> story hooks, oddities, and Library Data. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. Find more
> fun random tables.
>
>
> For reality shifts, I would probably do it with misjumps instead of
> intoxication. Make temporal misjumps easier and more common than spatial,
> and have severe misjumps initiate crossover to a totally new (scrambled)
> universe. Sort of like an old sf series where the stardrives always
> dimensionally displaced the ships into closely linked timelines - but the
> more you traveled, the harder it was to get back to your 'real' home.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> In what way? Like alternate universes/timelines ?
>
> The closest thing I can think of in Traveller is the way all refs have the
> freedom to modify or leave things out.
>
> On the other hand, I am imagining the PCs waking up each morning to a
> "Dude, Where's My Starship?" scenario, where they have to figure out which
> parts of reality shifted out from under them over night.
>
> > Has anyone experimented with the concept of using Variable History to
> > maintain a sense of mystery?
> > It was an interesting design feature of Mekton Empire that might be
> > adaptable to Traveller campaigns.
>
>
Not nitpicking, just trying to figure out a way to derive the maximum
cool-ness from the first paragraph.
I'm imagining your variable history could be something vaguely like a
Chinese Checkers board, lots of "important historical events" joined by
lines, showing parallel paths.
For that to be of the most interest to everyone, all the players, not just
the ref, would need to see the map, so they could get excited when they
moved the timeline. Otherwise they might not even realize they'd moved it,
which would mute the fun. And that kind of naturally seems to drive you to
a time travel game
Meanwhile, in your second paragraph your real idea is different, and
works. We used to try that in college where we'd grab a map from one game,
the counters from another, the rules from a third, and the random event
cards from a fourth. We'd usually have more fun trying to figure out how
the game would work than actually playing it. The "LARP" version of that
was we took a pointer and a digital stopwatch. We'd throw the pointer in
the air and when it landed it would show us the direction we had to go,
and then we'd run the stopwatch and stop it and the decimals would show us
how many paces (0-99) to walk in that direction. And when we got someplace
interesting we would announce to people that "Our Destiny has led us
here." Triangulation within buildings was challenging. Once we were led to
a girl in a study carrel in the library, another time to a bunch of people
getting drunk on the 50 yard line of the football stadium.
Third para: Misjump is a good mechanism to do it infrequently. What was
the series that did that deliberately with all jumps? Could be kind of
dark. You'd get home to find no family, to find you'd never been born,
etc. More parallels to the Amber stuff.
> Was originally thinking of simply using Variable History as a tool to keep
> players in the dark on what some of the more important historical events
> were until they either researched them or encountered the consequences
> in-game. But it would work pretty good as part of an alternate universe
> toolkit. Something like a random table based alternative to Microscope.
>
> Start by making a core timeline with a handful of the more important bits
> in place - then roll for variable outcomes. Put the major and minor races
> in - then roll for possible variations or replacements. Add in another
> layer of events/details from my big timeline event tables. Add in some
> historical figures. Create a few historical worlds with my simple
> systemless generator. Drop in some Instant Game setting elements to taste
> - then shuffle in a few more random table bits for extra flavor. Work up
> some story hooks, oddities, and Library Data. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. Find
> more fun random tables.
>
>
> For reality shifts, I would probably do it with misjumps instead of
> intoxication. Make temporal misjumps easier and more common than spatial,
> and have severe misjumps initiate crossover to a totally new (scrambled)
> universe. Sort of like an old sf series where the stardrives always
> dimensionally displaced the ships into closely linked timelines - but the
> more you traveled, the harder it was to get back to your 'real' home.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> In what way? Like alternate universes/timelines ?
>
> The closest thing I can think of in Traveller is the way all refs have
> the
> freedom to modify or leave things out.
>
> On the other hand, I am imagining the PCs waking up each morning to a
> "Dude, Where's My Starship?" scenario, where they have to figure out
> which
> parts of reality shifted out from under them over night.
>
>> Has anyone experimented with the concept of using Variable History to
>> maintain a sense of mystery?
>> It was an interesting design feature of Mekton Empire that might be
>> adaptable to Traveller campaigns.