Low bod worlds or neg bod worlds? Have we had any ideas about this? Any ideas yourself?
I mentioned a flatline bod world. Or perhaps a world that had areas that were flatline, and areas that were not. (Is it possible to artificially create a flatline body bias??) The versers who land there are trained in @1 fighting styles, and are pitted against one another in gladiatorial combat. It would be a candy store world for martial art styles. It was an idea that I threw out a long time ago.
With the bias being flatline, you could fight, but you couldn't run (or even walk) away. So, the indigs keep you in an artificially created flatline body bias. You can fight in the gladiator combat, you can train, but you can't escape.
Other areas (or perhaps the world itself) has a normal bias. There are other people (versers, indigs, etc) who work in these areas as trainers and handlers. (Makes you sound like a circus animal) You are kept in the flatline bias, so you cannot escape.
You verse into a room filled with knock out gas. It hits you so quickly that you couldn't even try to mount any kind of resistance to it. Someone with 1@1 resistance would be out cold before they even realized they versed in. Someone with 3@10 resistance would get to sit up and look around for about 5 seconds before they passed out. That's how potent it is. When you wake up, you're in a prison cell, in a prison uniform, and wearing a pair of metal boots, similar to the boots in Face/Off. Except instead of magnetically sticking to the floor, these boots have motorized roller skate wheels in them. You are, after all, in a flatline body bias and cannot walk. As soon as your feet hit the floor, the roller skate wheels activate. You are taken before the leader/boss/person in charge, who explains why you're there. Everywhere you go is controlled by the roller skate wheels in the boots. Your day would be wake up, feet hit the floor, wheels take you to the cafeteria where you have breakfast. Wheels then take you to the weight room where you lift weights for an hour. The wheels then take you to the training center, where you are trained in @1 martial arts. Wheels take you back to the cafeteria where you have lunch. Wheels take you to someplace to increase your flexibility, etc. It would be, more or less, forcing you to get your body in shape and learn martial arts. The boots also serve as a deterrent to versers who want to suicide out of the world. I mean who would want to verse out wearing heavy, clunky, metal boots that are next to impossible to take off? When you're actually training or fighting, the boots come off, but that's about it. What do you think, Eric?
The way I'm imagining it, you would be skipping months at a time right from the get-go. They wouldn't put you into the gladiatorial combat until you had reached at least 1@10 in a given martial art.
I'd love that. Just call it "training world." Come out of it after a couple of years, all buffed up like Neo. "I know Kung Fu!"
From what I've been able to determine, there's no way to artificially generate a pocket of negative bias. Bias is one of those game-mechanic things that there's no correlation for in in-game terms. The only way I could think of to do it would be to use a Scriff Device (which I believe is a 15@ in any of the other three biases) to create a pocket of another Verse there (i.e. you create a pocket of "zero bod world" inside the otherwise not flatlined "training world" with the result that if you could escape your way out of the arena, you'd be good to go).
You would begin the gladiatorial combat when you reached 1@10 in the martial art. (Or whatever that translates out to in game terms) You could learn all the martial arts you wanted. The indigs bet on the fights, and it's a very high dollar industry (hence, why they do it) As your skill increased, so does the difficulty of the fights. Eventually, when you reached the 3@ level (or whatever that is in game terms) you would get your chance to verse out, fighting in the highest-stakes matches, which were to the death. So, the way I'm imagining this world, you shouldn't verse out until you reach the 3@ level in at least one fighting style. I'd love a world like that.
The martial arts, plus all of the physical conditioning that they force you to do means if you went in looking like Louis Skolnick from "Revenge of the Nerds" you would come out the bastard son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Lee.
Is it possible to artificially create a flatline body bias??
It is not generally possible for indigs or beings within a world to create areas of different bias. It might be possible to create a sub-universe with different biases, but doing so would be an incredibly difficult feat, and actually controling the biases even more so. (I'm talking about doing it as someone in the universe; as a universe designer, of course you can create such sub-universes, if you've got a plausible explanation for them.)
I generally have trouble with any universe in which anything is done for the versers. Generally, the number of versers in a populated world is going to be so infinitessimally small as not to be noticed--hey, start with the head count of the number of people who play or have played Multiverser in the real world, and then realize that this is the only universe in which they will all be alive at once, and you begin to see how few there really would be out there. I suspect even I know far more people who have never played than who have played, and I have a lot of contact with our players.
So you have a sub-universe:
The versers who land there are trained in @1 fighting styles, and are pitted against one another in gladiatorial combat. It would be a candy store world for martial art styles.Well, yes, you could put him in the ring against no one, or you could put all three of them in the ring together. Problem at that point is, they probably know each other--what incentive do you have to make them fight each other, instead of fighting you?
And there are easier ways to do a martial arts candy store, and better, too--for a real good martial arts world you want a high bias, so you can learn and practice all the really interesting high-intensity maneuvers. Sure, it's nice to have a wide selection of basic styles and weapons, but if you can't use any tacticals, intensified damage attacks, special defenses--it gets pretty limited pretty quickly.
Oh, as a side note, if you've got a universe in which the bias is high enough that indigs can actually learn and teach martial arts styles, and it contains a sub-universe in which the bod bias is lower, the indigs from the main universe are not really indigs in the sub-universe, and are affected as visitors, just like the verser: they can do whatever they know within the curve.
I'm really intrigued as to how the indigs know where to put this room. Contrary to the beliefs of some, there is no place in a world that has a greater or lesser probability of being the arrival point--and in fact, if you reach stage six, you can relocate your arrival by some distance and set up defenses before you arrive. I'm sure that Michael di Vars could switch to his internal oxygen system before the gas was in his nostrils. Others would have similar defenses.You verse into a room filled with knock out gas.
There already has been a gladiator world--it's called Xanax, actually (the designer was a medic and got a kick out of the idea). But what you need to do is create incentive to make the verser want to be involved in the gladiator games. Force versers to do something and they will rebel. I mean, seriously, John--if I put you in that world, would you fight the other versers, or would you fight me?
Also, you're saying that you would never be killed in one of the fights, but martial arts combat in Multiverser is easily lethal. That means your handlers would need a way to break up the fight that works inside the low-bias area--and if they've got that, then any skills/equipment you've brought with you (a lot of versers have various sorts of implants) that are in the same bias area under the same curve are going to work, and that's probably not what you wanted.
--M. J. Young
First off MJ, as Doc Brown said "You're just not thinking fourth dimensionally." When asked the question "Is there a way to do it in Multiverser?" The answer I always hear is "Yes" Simple explaination. The world has 15@10 biases in all 4 areas. Someone botched doing magic, and so the biases on an area of the planet of (whatever size) had all the biases dropped to 0@2. The tech bias remains, however. The indigs don't understand exactly what happened, but they know that in that area of the planet, most things don't work. Machines still work, however, and they use machines to explore the area. They found that some people (versers) are still able to perform limited skills in this area, and so used the machines to build the complex. The trainers could be androids and/or Star Trek Holodeck style holograms.
Too many stories, including ones you've told, lead me to say there has to be at least an occasional higher probability place where a verser is likely to land.
Besides, it makes sense.
And its not like 'weaknesses in the world walls' and 'scriff pools' are mutually incompatible. They could be explanations for the same event from a different point of view.
Or, it could simply be that in some places there are 'weaknesses'...as there should be, and in other places the 'pool' effect kicks in because of unknown factors.
The notion of flaws in the fabric of space/time where its easier to create a gate, or naturally occurring gates is not that unusual.
I don't ask that this be the explanation for each and every case, but the idea that its not an explanation ever is incorrect, in my, not very, humble view.
One easier way to deal with such is my President David Copperfield world where America is a superpower because any time someone is rude to America they have a nasty fall down the stairs and break their neck.
Secretly, its in addition a world where the top levels of the government are mages. Its a world with medium magic, but general denial.
One of the problems for the indigs is invading infiltrators from nearby dimensions up to no good. So, there is a planetary screen to let the POTUS's people know when an Outsider arrives. This could be a materialized demon, or a verser.
So that avoids part of one problem.
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In the backstory of my Canadian fratboys who go to worlds and claim to be the Greek gods come to Earth, I have a world which they seriously messed up.
Such a world might have a very good reason to keep an eye out for versers with very expensive technology, and an eye to protecting themselves against 'those pschyo lunatic threats'/getting some payback.
The way they get the versers to fight and the way they keep the fights from killing the verser is that the verser is pitted against one of the before-mentioned androids or holograms. His opponent won't kill him, but if the computer decides that the verser won the fight, it stops.
The verser's choices are "Fight back or stand there and take a beating" Having taken the second option too many times to count (Pacifist mother) I know that the first option is the far better one. (Hey, the Bible says "Turn the other cheek" It does not say what to do after they slap you the second time.)
And OF COURSE the verser will try to fight back!!!! They still have limited psionics and magic, and the tech bias is normal. However, they are ALSO at the mercy of the computers to move around the complex. They still can't walk. They're options for fighting back are kind of limited by their inability to move around. "But John, teleporting is an @1 psionic skill, they could leave" Well, as far as the verser knows, the entire planet IS the complex. Where would they teleport TOO?
As far as why the verser lands there, side effect of the botch.
Why would they want to learn martial arts in a flatline world? Well, their teachers are not only 3@10 examples, they are ARTIFICIAL 3@10 examples. Perfect examples that never make mistakes or botch. Just add a +30 sit-mod on all learning rolls for that.
I think it could be a cool world.
We all have different things that snap our belief suspendors pretty hard. For me, when I first started, it was the notion that you could have True Humans with normal abilities that lived in a world where Communism worked.
MJ corrected that notion with a brew of This is Multiverser.
Now, as a general rule of thumb, its a bad idea to try to put the player into a situation where they are forced to do things. IF, and I say IF, you decide to do this, you should be aware that you are breaking a basic rule of roleplaying gamemastering. Its not neccessarily a Multiverser rule; its something even more basic. You can break rules, but you should only break rules when you know why you're doing it.
Its also not a good idea for a beginning gamemaster to do. I've broken a few rules now and then, but frankly I'm pretty leary of doing such.
Player freedom and game balance are what you should start with. Once you master those, then you can move on to being insanely unfair and getting the player to like it....or more likely being fair, but making it look like you're not.
J, my friend, taught me those two sets ofwords for GMing, and they are brilliant and powerful and wise: Player Freedom and Game Balance. They're also good words for game designers like moi, and like you John...your Music Wars has this. It gives the players freedom while providing action, and it gives them a balance between their abilities and the abilities of those they face.
It was just an idea that I had, that's all. I think I personally would get into a world like this. I like routines. Once I get into a routine, it's pretty hard to get me out of one. It's the only way I can ever get anything finished.
Also, there's the notion that the verser might not even realize that his captors are not human. He might try to make alliances with them. I could see that going all manner of different ways, from the machine reporting on him, to an uprising of the sentient computer systems against the indigs. Led by the verser, of course.
An uprising of the sentient computer systems led by the verser...thats not half bad, John.
Yeah, think about it. An army of androids that have 3@10 in every known martial arts style versus the indigs. The androids would be outnumbered, but they can fight like there's no tomorrow. Plus, once the verser does escape, the bod bias is 15@10.
They found that some people (versers) are still able to perform limited skills in this area, and so used the machines to build the complex. The trainers could be androids and/or Star Trek Holodeck style holograms.
Or when you verse in, you are seized by the androids and/or holograms. (Holograms would probably work better for this) They just happen to be completely immune to most kinds of kinetic and energy attacks (since how do you put a bullet into a beam of light?) A pack of crazed holograms that are completely immune to weapons and that all have 3@10 martial arts? There could be 50 clones of Michael Di Vars, and they STILL would be no match for even one of them.
I beg to differ. One of the problems with Star Trek style holograms (I'm watching "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (VOY) right now) is that they're not <i>selectively</i> intangible. Their intangibility is either on or off, not in sections. So they might be intangible enough to avoid being restrained (you're right that they are basically immune to damage) but then they wouldn't ALSO be able to fight.
Game balance, A1, game balance.
Yeah, its kewl...from the perspective of the GM, but from the perspective of the player it is horrible.
Eric
Game balance, A1, game balance.
What does that mean?
Yeah, its kewl...from the perspective of the GM, but from the perspective of the player it is horrible.
Now that I see it from that angle, I agree with you. You're right. It was just something I thought cool in concept.
And Osevens, there was an episode of Voyager where the holographic doctor gets into a fight with a human being. Despite the fact that the doctor can't fight very well, he still defeats his opponent. You're fighting something that doesn't feel pain and never gets tired. If nothing else, all it would have to do is keep you occupied until you passed out from exhaustion.
Probably the most plausible way to pull this off is for something with remote teleport capabilities and general surveillance ability to have standing orders to move anyone who appears out of nowhere to the arena.
Not that it would be a good way to do it, but wouldn't it lower the Bod bias to kill off a bunch of wildlife? I thought I heard MJ say something to that effect one time - that if all the butterflies, starfish, blowfish, mind-controlling parasitic wasps*, and other Really Weird S***t died off, the Bod bias of the world would lower. Maybe the androids are all that's left, and they fight humans in the arena because, well, androids aren't very creative, so seeing the random things humans will do in there amuses them.
* I am not making this up:
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=17
http://thekillfile.blogspot.com/2008/06/zombie-caterpillars-and-mind.html
You're confusing the concept of "indig".They found that some people (versers) are still able to perform limited skills in this area, and so used the machines to build the complex.
If a universe has sub-universes, then indigs are indigenous to one or another sub-universe, and are visitors in any other sub-universe.
A verser who comes into a universe is controlled by the curve but not the level not because he is a verser but because he is a visitor. The same rule applies to visiting angels, demons, dimension travelers, sliders, visitors from fairyland, and anyone else who is not native to this world--where "world" is defined as the subuniverse in which the person is native.
Thus you've created a sub-universe in which abilities are extremely limited, and versers can only perform @1 skills. Fine. It is also true that anyone native to that sub-universe will only be able to perform @1 skills and, since you've set it at 0@2, they won't be able to perform any skills above level 0. This won't concern them, though--since such skills do not exist in their world, they won't know them. Only visitors from outside their sub-universe will know anything about such skills, or be able to perform those @1 skills that are above the level but within the curve.
However, the way you've constructed this world, there are no creatures indigenous to the flatlined zones. All of the "indigs" in this universe are indigenous to the sub-universe with the 15@10 biases. Therefore, they all have the same restrictions in that sub-universe: they are visitors, just like the verser, and can perform any skills that are within the curve without reference to the level.
Now your reason for wanting versers to do this has evaporated: versers have no special abilities that make them particularly suited for this sub-universe, because any indig of the primary universe will be affected in exactly the same way as the verser, able to do anything within the curve, limited to a +0 bias adjustment and thus much more likely to botch. Thus you're going to have zones that are used for this sort of combat by the indigs, between themselves. The verser just becomes part of the culture, and either volunteers to participate or is lured or coerced into it for reasons that have little to do with the fact that he is a verser. Maybe he gets in a fight, and is challenged to combat in the zone. Maybe it's like a game show, the entertainers getting rather lucrative salaries and the verser figuring he can make an easy living with the skills he has. And maybe there's no way you can get a specific player to get involved.
--M. J. Young
--M. J. Young