Multiverser
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| Multiverser | |
| Publisher | Valdron, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy/Science fiction |
| System | Custom |
| http://www.mjyoung.net/ | |
Multiverser is a multi-genre role-playing game published by Valdron Inc. that has the player character moving from dimension to dimension with each dimension being based on varying rules of reality which determine what is possible in that dimension. Reality is governed in four skill areas, known in game terms as biases: Body, Technology, Psionics, and Magic.
- Body refers to bio-chemistry and organics (this includes inorganic lifeforms as well), defining what is possible for organic life in a given world.
- Technology refers primarily to traditional physics and the behavior of equipment and machines.
- Psionics or Inner Power (that is a natural ability of the being using such) refers to psychic phenomenon (from basic ESP to physically impossible acts of mind over matter).
- Magic or Outer Power covers not just spells, but the supernatural world at large, using the explanation that the ritual of a spell (a spell being anything from a prayer to alchemy) channels expectation of the spell-caster into a desired effect.
The interactions of these biases in a particular universe determine how difficult it is for a particular action to be accomplished in that universe. The higher a particular bias, the easier related tasks are. For example, in a universe with a high Magic bias and a low Technology bias (compared with modern-day Earth, which is assumed to be the baseline), players could expect to see a world similar to medieval Europe, but with wizards and dragons running around. A moderately high Technology bias, in conjunction with a slightly higher Psionic bias could put the character into a world very similar to the TV show Firefly. Nearly any sort of universe, ranging from almost normal to bizzarre beyond imagining, can be modeled with the system, allowing Referees (Multiverser's term for the person running the game, similar to a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master) great freedom in creating new places to take their players.
[edit] Metaphysics
Along with this explanation comes the system's supernatural order that divides magic into four categories: Arcane Magic, Alliance Holy Magic, Anarch Holy Magic, and Neutral Holy Magic. Arcane Magic is drawn from raw supernatural energy, while the other three call upon a deity to act through the magician. Alliance ("good") powers submit to the Creator, Anarch ("evil") powers do not, and the Neutral powers are undecided.
Note that "Neutral", as used here, does not mean the Dungeons & Dragons definition of Neutral alignment. Instead, a Neutral Multiverser Power is undecided about which side to favor, and often has interests which do not at all interact with nature. For example, a Lord Tek who did not care whether technology was used for good or ill, but only that it was used, and who did not care who won the War in Heaven because he found only tech to be interesting, would be a Neutral power.
Multiverser is not a generic role-playing game system like Hero System or GURPS, or cross-genre game like Rifts, but a "campaign system", with a discrete back story. The best comparison is the television series Sliders, but players are not limited to "mundane" alternate earths, with the same rules of reality as our own. "In the Multiverse, every story is true somewhere. There is no fiction." Everything is true in some universe.
The "plot immunity for heroes" problem drains excitement from action-adventure TV shows, and role-playing games. Multiverser retains the fear without game-ending consequences by letting a player character be killed, and then transferred to another material world to start another adventure. However, this means that the player was defeated and exiled from the first world.
This is achieved with a substance called scriff, a golden colored mercury-like substance that behaves like a liquid, but is not matter. It is an ether of sorts, binding the universes together and transporting the players. Players usually become infected with scriff when they suffer a deadly accident caused by a "scriff enhanced" appliance, though it isn't the only way to travel the Multiverse.
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