This campaign will be different from the first campaign. I won't be using player input to select times and places. Instead, I have already laid out the basic plot of the campaign and determined which times and places will be visited. As players, you need to know that this campaign will consists of a series or sequence of temporal events. The team will have to follow clues and trace historical changes to their origins over the course of ten gaming sessions. Certain specific events and temporal manipulations are definite elements of the campaign, while other events and details will be worked out as the plot develops, allowing for players to contribute significantly to plot development. This is the same style of gaming that I typically advocate with a well developed framework within which players are encouraged to exercise creativity.
Characters
Your characters may be those you played previously or may be entirely new creations, but they will all have previous experience with Professor Tempore's time machine. It is crucial to the plot that each character has already made at least one trip through time. As previously stated, the characters need to be 20th Century humans between the ages of 15 and 55 and they need to be fairly stable and at least average in the bravery department. They all know Professor Tempore and are trusted enough to have made some excursions through time already. They campaign will begin with the characters travelling back to Tempore's Farm again at his urgent request. His coded message tells you that the aliens are up to their old tricks again and that a team is needed to investigate.
The Set-Up
Everything seemed to be fine after the last series of time trips. Earth's history had been placed back on the right track by Tempore's Team after the aliens tried to alter Earth's cultures by manipulating the lives of certain religiously and scientifically significant humans (Moses, Jesus, Gutenberg and others). The team found that aliens were also responsible for the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and other great mysteries of human history. But this time they have gone too far!
As the team members travel towards upstate NY again, they will all have the profound sense that things have gone terribly awry. Everything seemed to be fine, but one day they all woke up and found that the world, though familiar as if they had grown up in it (which they have), was different somehow. People that have never made any trips through time will notice nothing. Those with a little experience will have a strange sense opposite that of deja vu, a feeling that this has never happened before, although it should have. Those individuals with more time travel experience will be convinced that the world has been significantly altered by the aliens. As observations are made and discussed between the adventurers, it will soon be clear that the aliens have pulled off a temporal manipulation with profound consequences.
So, relax and enjoy the trip back to Tempore's Farm. Enjoy the view from the airships (dirigibles) that are used for long distance travel by air. Smile, as you gaze from the window of a steam powered train and see the herds of domesticated elephants working the land. The automobiles will evoke a sense of nostalgia by their resemblance to the cars of the forties and fifties, and in some places horse drawn carriages are still in use. Marvel at the latest computer, which occupies an entire building at the Rochester Institute of Technology. You can't quite put your finger on it, but somehow, this should never have been.
Preparation and Research
In order for the players to be prepared they need to have their character sheets completed in advance and e-mail them to me or otherwise transmit the file electronically. Players also need to know that Tempore intends to send the group to 1903 in Dayton, Ohio to investigate why the Wright Brothers failed to invent the airplane. Please feel free to do a little research into the people, the places and the events surrounding the first powered, heavier-than-air flight.
Protocols
I will also be experimenting with some standard formats for governing action in rounds and I'll be asking the players to read over the protocols listed on my gaming website, to familiarize themselves with them and to use them. We may make adjustments as we try these devices out. The intent is to minimize confusion and optimize speed of play. Again, your input is appreciated and your cooperation will make for a more enjoyable game for all, I believe.
ENJOY! ...and good gaming!
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