Through a Cracked Mirror Prime

Game Master James Martin

I've been thinking about alternate histories recently, and I began to think about Alternate Golarions. Golarions where the Whispering Tyrant yet rules, where Aroden never died, where Rovagug is freed, where Cheliax rules the Inner Sea with an iron first, etc.

Here's the thing. I'm not recruiting yet, but I'd like to assemble a team of player/DMs who would take turns using the same set of players in a situation where (for reasons to be determined) they're shuffled from Golarion to Golarion in an effort to avert some cataclysm or event from destroying their own reality. Perhaps they must assemble pieces of some broken multi-planar device that can stop the Big Bad, or perhaps they're searching for the absolute best ale to placate Cayden Cailean's thirst. However it happens, who's in?

So "Sliders" in alternate Golarions so to speak : p

I'm interested, at least from a player stand point. I'm always down for exploring alternate histories. I just don't have any experience as a DM( however I'd probably be willing to give it a go after a few DMs have went before me).

So for what it's worth, just showing my interest!

I'm in, I like this kind of comvoluted games....

I'm in, though, like redclover, I would need a few DMs to go before me before I took a shot.

I am in another campaign similar to this one (Our character's are just trying to get to the Prime Material Plane, where they would be safe) and are hopping planes.

So, characters for this...all from the same Golarion, or are we all from different Golarions?

Awesome. Count me in James, both as a player (I was looking for a home for some characters of mine) and as DM (I already have a couple ideas).

I am definitely in...very cool concept. I would only be able to do so as a player though. I hope that some GM interest is also generated!

wow and I was just preparing to give my players a magical trinket to send them to an alternate plane, where certain things would be reversed...I'm still putting it together, so would be really interested in lurking or maybe playing...not really very experienced as a DM, but would give it a shot.

I'm also not experienced at mid- to high-level 3.x/PF, but I'd be willing to take a swing at running part of it at some point. OTOH, I'm not sure this is the best venue for the concept as described. Think about it--the GM/prospective player ratio here on the boards is pretty big, and this is going to tie up several GMs over a fairly lengthy campaign with a single group of players. Just a thought.

What if each player took a turn as GM?

Like Ganny and Redclover, I have nearly zero GM experience. I would love to to be a player in this campaign and will do what I can from the Gm side of things. I am not worried about giving it a go, so if that helps I am game, lol.

Okay, we've got enough interest, so let's discuss gritty details. I think 1st level is a bit low, so I propose 3rd level as a good starting point. Anyone have a good idea for the McGuffin of Many Parts? Rods are traditional. Of course the new SHattered Star AP has a star. Perhaps the skull of a dead hero or god?

Also, DMing experience isn't necessary, it can be learned!

Hmm... Might something whacky be done like the gods have opposite days, or are they going to be standard?

Like, maybe in one world, the gods all are dead, and the emperyal lords and the lords of hell are duking it out amongst each other to ascend to fill the vacuum. And appropriate chaos would be reigning on Golarian as well.

Huh... shucks, maybe you can count me in on this one as well. Assuming there's still room.

Might be interesting to have the MacGuffin should be something completely innocuous, like the mirror mentioned in the title of the post. In some reality, someone wished extremely hard for things to be different, and it was absorbed into the will of the item? Maybe I'm just channeling my childhood fondness for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, though. *laughs*

I am lurking about with interest.

My initial thought would be for a Golarion where the First world is bleeding through and the unseelie fae hold court in Absalom

OOh, good call.

Question, how will the various GMs work out the details of "the rails" without being... obvious?

I ask because the GM of a game I'm currently in just revealed to us that we cannot continue until he has laid the track for our fourth player, which makes me want to completely quit the game. *clenches fists* I'm not the world's most experienced GM, in fact, I just started a few months ago, but isn't it generally considered a no-no not to reveal blatant railroading?

Pardon if I come across as surly, I am just incredibly disappointed right now.

I don't think there needs to be rails. Rules would be that each DM has to keep the same basic "Find the McGuffin" trick, but can do what they will. Since each Golarion will be self-contained, each DM can change what they want and call it a new world. Each DM would build off the one before them and the final DM would be responsible for bringing what they can together. Of course, if the players fail, it just sets up the next game to fix what came before or live with it.

I'm definitely interested as a DM. It's a fascinating idea.

I don't have any decent ideas for McGuffin that don't sound overdone. But what about this instead? Let me know what you think.

The Alternate Golarions are caused by some kind of instability on the main plane of existence. The realities are shifted constantly by the alterations in whatever keeps the plane stable (we might call it flow, or mana, or something else). To stabilize reality, the players must go to certain locations where this flow merges with the phisical world (they could be dungeons, or temples, or magical furnaces...) and literally "fix" the plane configuration tinkering with it with some sort of magical method. Like when you tighten the screws to avoid the collapse of a whole structure. This way we don't need a specific McGuffin but we still need to reach remote, dangerous places to save the world as we know it.

Why the flow is unstable? Who caused that? That's another matter entirely...

I like that, PC. And when you've fixed enough locations, it brings something else into focus, something that may have caused the instability to begin with?

Perhaps. Or it allows the planes to become stable enough that the PCs can teleport to the "Prime Golarion" and fix the mess once and for all. Since all the other Golarions are based on a Prime template, they become fixed once the Prime is fixed.

As for the object...what about the star that causes mortals to ascend to become dieties? What if that got screwed up?

I like that, PC. And when you've fixed enough locations, it brings something else into focus, something that may have caused the instability to begin with?

Exactly. Or it could be done at the same time: a group could go fix the problem, while another investigates on what caused the instability. All the elements should add up to a big bad or a cosmic cataclysm of some sort.

I just started playing Chrono Trigger again the other day and this sounds like a good method for the approach. Have you thought about the different Golarions being at different times. I like the idea of some things taking place betweeen Nex, Geb, and Alkenstar. Thoughts?

I think that level 4 or 5 might be a better starting point. We will being engaging in a pretty epic quest here. Not just routing goblins or gnolls. It also allows for a bit more diversity in the character creation process.

I have a proposed cause for the instability, which I'll put behind a spoiler tag.

We still looking at this as a viable game? Not much in the way ideas being bounced around the last couple days. I like the ideas for destroying/preserving the artifacts that are causing the issues. A lot of character archetypes support this type of game.

I think it's a viable game. Weekends always lead to posting lulls.

Okay, let's have everyone create a level 4 PC, coming from the prime Golarion. 20 point buy, usual 4th level PC gold. Paizo Classes and races are available, others available on a per-case basis.

Let's aim for getting this kicked off in a week.

BOOYAA! Will set to work tonight or tomorrow. Looking at cavalier or barbarian I think. I prefer martial classes, but am happy to play whatever.

I had this character concept ready for such a quest. He is a former slave, freed and trained by the Nethys clergy, so restoring the magical balance is kinda his thing. I will come up with a more detailed background later.

I'm thinking a Varisian cleric of Desna who's seen signs of the instability in the sky, and is trying to learn more about it to start with.

I've never played a paladin before... And I have the faiths of purity book.

Then again, I've been kicking around an idea for a sorc/druid/MT that uses a bow...

hmmmm.

In order to inspire character ideas, and since I think I'll start the game out, I'll put up some flavor text for the opening scene:

It all began with dreams.

At first it was just dreams of fire, of bright lights followed by darkness. Then it was dreams of screams, of terror, feelings of loss and entrapment, of peril and pain. The thing was, EVERYONE had the dreams. Even the elves, who sleep only rarely and never for long, had the dreams.

Then came the sound. Every day, a long drawn out keening sound, as if the sky was being rent in twain. It happened at the same time, everywhere, echoing from here and there.

Then came the dragons. Flights of dragons, all converging in the sky to talk. Deadly enemies, longtime foes, all came to speak on the omens it portended.

Last came the rips, tears in space that vomited forth strange creatures and strange men who spoke of other worlds and other places, of things that had never been and places that no longer existed: of Azlant Victorious, of the flying cities of Garund, of the lost city of Absolom, or the Disappearing Trails of Old Cheliax. Of cataclysms, catastrophes and things even worse.

The world began to buzz with talk of the ending of this age and whether a new one would arise. The fey began to speak of the Third World, a refuge to flee to when this world was no more. In the midst of all this talk, a meeting was convened by a little old man who called himself Prester Gallowsmith. You've been a message, delivered by a thrush, that invites you to come to Absolom, to the home of Prester Gallowsmith in one month's time to discuss the end of the world. The letter is signed with a signature and a sigil: three interlocking circles with a spiral at the center. It's not a symbol you're familiar with, but it seems to evoke a sense of familiarity none the less.

Against your doubts, or perhaps because of them, you've decided to attend. You choose your travel methods carefully, but you know that you may never pass this way again.

Hrm, looks like someone beat me to the Magus table. Oh well, got a couple concepts for consideration.

Expect a second post to elaborate on an old human, and a story we don't often hear.

Working up an Order of the Seal Cavi and a magic hating Kellid Barbarian of some sort. After I look both over I'll pitch stories for both and see which feels like it will mesh the best with this story line.

Should we move this to an ooc page?

Probably best to take it to OOC, and register people down once they arrive there.

For character I'll let other people decide first then see what fits.

i'm considering a bard with the archaeologist archetype

I might even invest in the whip mastery feat line : )

it's nothing concrete yet however

Alright, get thee to a nunnery! Or else go here for the discussion thread!

Have a look at this campaign: http://paizo.com/campaigns/DMCarbidesThroughACrackedMirrorTheDarkRoad

I really enjoyed it, but due to burn out I couldn't continue it which really pisses me off as I loved it soo much. There were some interestingly twisted worlds with things like Golarian being under a second age of darkness and so on.

I would love to get Krolmnite Underhill involved as his whole backstory involves wanting to investigate the different planes and universes to understand the nature of his summoned creature.