Thanks for the feedback! I mentioned to the anon below that these options were added in response to people who wanted characters to be able to choose to come to the setting (which might have been in a different post now that I think about it), as well as being tired of the "trying to find a way home" concept. So these ideas were all based around trying to answer to that: how can characters be given an avenue to come willingly, while not excluding characters that wouldn't want to? I agree, it's a big deal for the characters to choose something like this, which is why I didn't think that having that be the only mechanic to come into the game was the right way to go. But I wanted to offer it for the types of characters who would go for it with relatively little convincing.
So how long is the wormhole open? As long as it needs to be, within reason. Likely less than a day, no more than three. If that wouldn't be enough to convince a particular character, then that wouldn't be the option for them. This would be something measurable, e.g. you have an hour to make your decision, you have a day to make your decision -- whatever the player thinks would work best.
what's stopping the dimensional traveler from going, "Sure! I'll take you home!" I did mention this. I think the number of characters who can not only dimension hop themselves and also take others with them are relatively few, that it could be worked out on an individual basis, whether that's some kind of small power nerfing, or other character specific mechanic.
Or what's stopping someone who doesn't want to be there from popping through one of the wormholes? You mean from popping back the way someone just came? They're unidirectional. That was a thing from the start that I neglected to mention.
Also, what's stopping the genius scientist brigade and the genius mage brigade from joining forces to try to analyze and manipulate the wormholes? In theory, absolutely nothing! In fact, I'd welcome that kind of plotting. But just as easily as other games can say it's not physically possible, I could just as easily say it wouldn't be something they could solve in a day or a month or even a year. Genius scientists that are native to the setting have been trying to figure this out themselves for decades or more, and if it was that easy, they would just send people on their way without a fuss.
What if a character wonders if it would be a better use of their time and resources to take their money, set up shop on an isolated planet with 15 members of the playerbase, create a research lab, and analyze the wormholes because if they can create a nexus it would revolutionize science/magic across multiple dimensions. Isn't that a better use of everyone's time? So why can't they just bail? Where are they going to get that money? Or the resources? Space Greenpeace wouldn't stop them, but that's like saying you're going to take $1000USD and the clothes on your backs, move to Siberia with ten of your friends, and start researching astrophysics. Could you do it? Sure. But it wouldn't be as easy as that. Plus, Space Greenpeace would be happy to let them join their scientists in researching this with all of their numerous resources.
"solving the jamjar" is more than just how characters get there, it's what they're doing with the situation they're given Of course there's more to it than just the arrival mechanic, but my understanding was that's a big part. I was looking at this subthread in particular:
But I wanted to take it a different direction too. "Your world has been destroyed" or "you're a clone" are fine ideas but not really the kind of tone I was looking to set, and bring up their own mechanical issues. (What if characters start questioning if their world is really destroyed or not, etc etc) So how do you let the characters who would come willingly actually do that, but also provide a method for the ones who wouldn't?
I also think another part of eliminating the whole "get back home" issue is just setting the tone through the mechanics you choose as well as the setting itself, rather than what the mechanics themselves actually do. I've played in games where getting home is all characters talked about, and others where they didn't talk about it much at all, and the major difference between those games was overall tone.
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So how long is the wormhole open? As long as it needs to be, within reason. Likely less than a day, no more than three. If that wouldn't be enough to convince a particular character, then that wouldn't be the option for them. This would be something measurable, e.g. you have an hour to make your decision, you have a day to make your decision -- whatever the player thinks would work best.
what's stopping the dimensional traveler from going, "Sure! I'll take you home!" I did mention this. I think the number of characters who can not only dimension hop themselves and also take others with them are relatively few, that it could be worked out on an individual basis, whether that's some kind of small power nerfing, or other character specific mechanic.
Or what's stopping someone who doesn't want to be there from popping through one of the wormholes? You mean from popping back the way someone just came? They're unidirectional. That was a thing from the start that I neglected to mention.
Also, what's stopping the genius scientist brigade and the genius mage brigade from joining forces to try to analyze and manipulate the wormholes? In theory, absolutely nothing! In fact, I'd welcome that kind of plotting. But just as easily as other games can say it's not physically possible, I could just as easily say it wouldn't be something they could solve in a day or a month or even a year. Genius scientists that are native to the setting have been trying to figure this out themselves for decades or more, and if it was that easy, they would just send people on their way without a fuss.
What if a character wonders if it would be a better use of their time and resources to take their money, set up shop on an isolated planet with 15 members of the playerbase, create a research lab, and analyze the wormholes because if they can create a nexus it would revolutionize science/magic across multiple dimensions. Isn't that a better use of everyone's time? So why can't they just bail? Where are they going to get that money? Or the resources? Space Greenpeace wouldn't stop them, but that's like saying you're going to take $1000USD and the clothes on your backs, move to Siberia with ten of your friends, and start researching astrophysics. Could you do it? Sure. But it wouldn't be as easy as that. Plus, Space Greenpeace would be happy to let them join their scientists in researching this with all of their numerous resources.
"solving the jamjar" is more than just how characters get there, it's what they're doing with the situation they're given Of course there's more to it than just the arrival mechanic, but my understanding was that's a big part. I was looking at this subthread in particular:
http://rpanons.dreamwidth.org/69645.html?thread=222525197#cmt222525197
But I wanted to take it a different direction too. "Your world has been destroyed" or "you're a clone" are fine ideas but not really the kind of tone I was looking to set, and bring up their own mechanical issues. (What if characters start questioning if their world is really destroyed or not, etc etc) So how do you let the characters who would come willingly actually do that, but also provide a method for the ones who wouldn't?
I also think another part of eliminating the whole "get back home" issue is just setting the tone through the mechanics you choose as well as the setting itself, rather than what the mechanics themselves actually do. I've played in games where getting home is all characters talked about, and others where they didn't talk about it much at all, and the major difference between those games was overall tone.