Going in to today's post, I expected to talk about an idea for a Deadlands sandbox that I have been kicking around, and I may still throw that out there as another post because it is a darned ambitious plan that may not happen for quite a while due to its scope versus my time. The interesting bit was that, in thinking about the idea, I realized that it had its roots in the fantasy boom town idea that I wrote about previously in an Adrift post. I also had a third idea based around a new game I picked up this past weekend called Monster of the Week that included a certain aspect of the previous two. In that instance, I realized I had the potential to do something cool: create shared worlds. How, you ask? And why would you want to? Let's take a look.
The core of the idea revolves around a common point of interest in each world: a cave. In the Fantasy Boomtown idea, that cave is part of a fluctuating, magical dungeon that suddenly appears, a source of treasure and magic previously unknown to the land. A town catering to those willing to take on the dangers of the dungeon for wealth and power grows up, creating the game setting. In Deadlands, a similar idea would be in effect: a mine in some remote place suddenly produces a strange new mineral that creates a boom town around the mine to cater to those delving into the mine, a place that is in constant flux, opening portals to random places and spewing strange dangers as a result of the powerful and unknown mineral. The final idea I had is of a modern-day town in a world steeped in the urban fantasy tradition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, or Harry Dresden where an abandoned mine or cave system suddenly erupts in magic and chaos, spewing dangers into the local town, but also providing strange and wonderful items never seen before.
Each setting is a mirror of the other, with the connection being the cave system that suddenly erupts into a mysterious, chaotic flux. This common connection creates the possibility of shared worlds. In each world, the cave would randomly open portals to strange new lands, out of which come both dangers and treasures. What if the portals connect not only to other places, but also randomly connect each of these three worlds? What if the three worlds are actually the same exact place in three different possible universes (here we get into the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, interesting stuff in and of itself). The dangers are magically or otherwise twisted versions of creatures from each world, as are the treasures? What if these unstable portals could act as temporary gateways to each world, allowing those from one to enter the other, at least for a time? There is so much game potential here that it boggles the mind.
Juggling each of these worlds, let alone a shared universe could be quite daunting to the game master, though it could be introduced gradually so as to build each world separately then connect them when the game is mature enough to open up new chapters in the games. Drop hints and nods to each world as the games progress to see how long it takes the players to figure out the connection. Of course, this lends itself to the dangers of metagaming, another good topic for a later post, so some groups may be able to handle this idea better than others. But I know personally I am a fan of dropping easter eggs in my games, nods to past games or pop culture references. In this idea, I could freely do that, knowing that they aren't just head nods, but hints to something larger.
Another possible way to handle this would be to partner with another game master, or game masters. Each running their own games and worlds, but dropping some common element in each world to start the connection, allowing for each to borrow from the other games as sparsley or liberally as they wanted. At some point, this could even lead to crossovers, players from one game suddenly playing in the world of another. Game masters could even move with the players, allowing them to run games in each other's settings for fun and entertainment. If you were feeling particularly saucy and had a good amount of time and energy, you could create an overarching campaign dealing with why these caves and portals are appearing, what they are actually doing to the worlds (probably nothing good) and how the players from each world need to help in order to end the danger.
The idea of shared worlds is nothing new, not by a long shot. But I wanted to share my version and how it could potentially be used in my (and potentially your) games. I am categorizing this as an adrift idea right now due to the time and planning involved in really making this work on a macro level, but it is something I will no doubt work towards. If you are a player in my games, my apologies for the potential spoilers, but you never know when, where, or how I might final realize this. Hopefully this gives you something new to chew on for your games. Happy many-worlds building!
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