06/25/2024
Since this page now has a few followers, here's an update...
In and around job searching, I've been working on the mechanics of the game, while thinking about the various implications of how Paratime actually 'works' (something that is treated a bit lightly by Piper, but characters and referees will need to have an understanding of).
The first part I've been working on is the character system. I've decided to not go 'way far afield' for a lot of the mechanics. Some recent RPGs have introduced all kinds of strange dice or resolution mechanics just to be 'different'. I've generally found these to be counterintuitive and clunky. I'm sure some like them, but I'm not a fan.
As such the characteristics will be the common 3d6 style.
There is a 'Paratime Twist' however. Paratimers deal with many different civilizations - in the stories usually referred to as 'cultures'. The Paratime use of the term culture is pretty broad, as it includes technology, religion, language, ethics and mores etc. Given this, one thing that the game needs to do is take into account how different cultures impact the people living in them.
A great example - people of the same family (so genetically very similar) living on different sides of the North/South Korean border are physically different. The diet etc. on the North Korean side is so restricted that the people there are thinner and shorter as they had poorer nutrition in their formative years. So 'culture' has a direct hand in their actual physical form.
With advanced technologies and medicine playing a part, this becomes even more extreme. High Tech cultures like First Level Paratimers or the Akor-Neb culture live longer lives, are stronger, get sick less, have greater endurance etc. Add in the potential of some high tech societies to replace parts with things like Bionics and it gets even more extreme.
So the system will include 'cultural templates' to modify the basic 3d6 baseline with the ability for the game master to create new ones for new Paratime cultures quickly.
