3. I like it when they see their past self, but have to make sure to not be seen to prevent a paradox.
4. I like the idea of someone ending up in a period where their race might be a problem, like a Japanese and American person ending up in World War II. Example: Chekov asking people in the 20th Century United States where the nuclear vessels are. Star Trek IV
5. It's also good to have a dilemma over whether or not to change a historic event. Example: the commander of the U.S.S. Nimitz deciding whether or not to stop the Japanese before they attack Pearl Harbor in The Final Countdown
6. Don't forget the hot romance between people from different time periods. My favorite was a movie (can't remember the title), where H.G. Wells uses his time machine to chase Jack the Ripper into the 1970s and falls in love with a liberated feminist.
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7. I love the idea of a show where the proper use of the paradox principle is in effect. Primeval is the perfect current example where at the end of the first series they go into a time portal only to find out that the camp they made is the one they found destroyed in the first episode and upon coming back to the current time they find that history has changed and people they knew are not the people they thought they knew. And it stays that way!
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9) Creation of the loop which allows time-travel to be possible. e.g. The first time traveller being an extratemporal being who literally hands the first time-machine to himself in the past, thus allowing others to travel through time. Example: The Journal Entries of Kennet Ryal Shardik
10) An artificial intelligence becoming temporally active and forbidding violations of causality. Example: A novel, the name of which I forget, by China Mieville.
11) The creation of variant timelines which can be selectively travelled to/from, thus allowing for the infinite multiverse effect. Example: A large body of scifi that I wrote with my Beloved Spouse (Kobold Chorus: "We love you!") a few years back.
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Individuals from the future end up being responsible for the legends of the Greco-Roman gods, or the Norse gods, or whomever, using technology or some other advanced knowledge. Once they recognize such a mistake occuring, they take advantage of it and play the roles, and stuff gets way out of hand, with one or more going too far and setting themself up as a tyrant 'god-king,' leading to a 'war between the gods' as those who seek to manipulate the locals are opposed by those who just want to get home. Naturally, the 'god-king' doesn't want to 'go home,' since he's loving his new status...
It's hardly an original idea (see Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, Julian May's Saga of the Pliocine Exile, the movie Stargate or Jack Kirby's Fourth World or Eternals, as well as, to a non-pretending-to-be-gods extent, the movie Timeline), but I think that well's got a few more pulls left in her.
16. At some point, the protagonist(s) must be in a situation where it is realized a certain item will be needed to succeed. Therefore, the protagonist(s) decide that later they will go back and get said item and bring it here so it will be around when they need it and--lo and behold-- the item is there and they may continue on with their adventures. (Thanks, Bill & Ted...)
My favorite was a movie (can't remember the title), where H.G. Wells uses his time machine to chase Jack the Ripper into the 1970s and falls in love with a liberated feminist.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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16. At some point, the protagonist(s) must be in a situation where it is realized a certain item will be needed to succeed. Therefore, the protagonist(s) decide that later they will go back and get said item and bring it here so it will be around when they need it and--lo and behold-- the item is there and they may continue on with their adventures. (Thanks, Bill & Ted...)
I tried that in a D&D game once. It didn't work, I was very upset.
Later on in that game, Mary Poppins showed up. No joke.
Meagan Fox eating a popsickle.
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Howabout if Megan Fox travels back in time to share a popsicle with Yvette Mimieux? And then they eat the popsicle from both ends and the resulting explosion gives birth to a new universe...and Raquel Welch!
Admit it. I just blew your mind.
16. At some point, the protagonist(s) must be in a situation where it is realized a certain item will be needed to succeed. Therefore, the protagonist(s) decide that later they will go back and get said item and bring it here so it will be around when they need it and--lo and behold-- the item is there and they may continue on with their adventures. (Thanks, Bill & Ted...)I tried that in a D&D game once. It didn't work, I was very upset.
Later on in that game, Mary Poppins showed up. No joke.
If I were your DM, I wouldn't let any Bill & Ted antics fly either.
I'd comment on Mary Poppins, but I've run Dungeonland, The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and Castle Grayhawk before, so I really shouldn't. Pot, kettle, and all that.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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If I were your DM, I wouldn't let any Bill & Ted antics fly either.
I'd comment on Mary Poppins, but I've run Dungeonland, The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and Castle Grayhawk before, so I really shouldn't. Pot, kettle, and all that.
Honestly I probably wouldn't allow it either.
It was just a bad scene with that DM. He liked to mess with his players in uncool ways, so I sort of felt justified in trying to Bill & Ted my way out of the situation. 'Very upset' was a bit of an exaggeration as well.