Time Travel

[Deaner12x35]

So, my group each are level 3 and when they get to the next level I'm going to have their overlaying quest arc finally reveal it's true nature, Time Travel.
They've been subtly interacting with a being, they only know it as Ka, it's true name before beginning it's own journey was Ralinn TahDoh. It (no longer he/him, it's beyond time) possesses a power source that allows the manipulations of the flow of time in the area it inhabits. It can be related to StarGates, many entry/exit points throughout the expanse of time and space.
My friends' group have found an item, in one of their level 2 dungeons, that would be used by Ka to power one of these devices.
In their first level 4 dungeon they'll have a chance at discovering the 28th 'door' that was used.

I need suggestions on times/places they can be transported to. (If they find it haha)

[Doug Kovacs]

easy answer is : stone age, then run frozen in time… there is another time travel "gate" they can find in that adventure to go back or on to the next time.

hard answer: everyone loves poland or the ukraine some time when everything is hot and heavy during world war two right?

[Deaner12x35]

I like going to a more 'modern' time, but know it wouldn't be easy to play.
So something like the Stone Age would be cool, a friend of mine also suggested somewhere around the Paleolithic Era.

[thogard]

Great empires of the past (Egypt, China, Rome) should be straightforward -- features will be familiar to the players, but you can throw just about anything at them from the religion/mythology.

[Skyscraper]

Are the PCs located on planet earth in a geographical/historical reality? If so, the other suggestions sound good; if not, I'd consider how the world they are on was formed, and/or towards what it might be going; before anything else. E.g. WWII assumes you're on earth, right? Even paleolitic etc...

[Doug Kovacs]

Are the PCs located on planet earth in a geographical/historical reality? If so, the other suggestions sound good; if not, I'd consider how the world they are on was formed, and/or towards what it might be going; before anything else. E.g. WWII assumes you're on earth, right? Even paleolitic etc...

That's a really good point. You could be getting into very hard answer territory though . I'd assume everything was some kind of fantasy version of a time period, with a foundation in some real time period but…. of coarse, It doesn't half to be. There is always the second level of imagination too, like a sci-fi future imagined from a 1950's point of view. Interestingly enough some of us are already in a three tiered system were DCC is an imagining a 1970's point of view of a pseudo medieval period from the early 2000's of reality . Lots of choices. No wrong answers, but many complex and interesting ones.

[Skyscraper]

That's a really good point. You could be getting into very hard answer territory though . I'd assume everything was some kind of fantasy version of a time period, with a foundation in some real time period but…. of coarse, It doesn't half to be. There is always the second level of imagination too, like a sci-fi future imagined from a 1950's point of view. Interestingly enough some of us are already in a three tiered system were DCC is an imagining a 1970's point of view of a pseudo medieval period from the early 2000's of reality . Lots of choices. No wrong answers, but many complex and interesting ones.

I think it's a question of what you want the story to be.

I did time travel in an old campaign of mine, some 20 years ago. It ended up being very fun. I had the PCs travel back to get an item that was destroyed before their "present" time. There were enemies in the "past", of a group that also existed in the "present". And I had some other enemies go in after them. It was cool. I had the present be affected by their actions when they came back. And more time had passed when they returned, then when they went away.

I think the fun part about the time travel was the stuff that could be linked from one time period to the other. I.e. if you end up in a place that has nothing to do with the present, and your actions have no impact, it's essentially like travelling to two different areas of the world that have no relation with each other. You do stuff in place #1 and other stuff in place #2 and you're done.

However, if when you go back in time, you find stuff you heard about in the present, and you can act accordingly, it adds a layer. Also, I had some cities from the past be very important, whereas they had declined to a lesser power in the present. And vice versa. So they explored new places, but with a known name and a known reputation. It gave the cities of the present a new angle, having known them in the past.

Before time travelling, they were briefed on the factions of that time, that they would need to deal with. Those factions were ancesters of the factions of present. Another link.

When they came back, a couple of the people they knew had never existed. One very powerful enemy, long dead, was still alive. One city had risen to power instead of another. And they came back about 2 years after the date of their departure, even if they only stayed about 1-2 weeks in the past.

[Deaner12x35]

Are the PCs located on planet earth in a geographical/historical reality? If so, the other suggestions sound good; if not, I'd consider how the world they are on was formed, and/or towards what it might be going; before anything else. E.g. WWII assumes you're on earth, right? Even paleolitic etc...

Yes and No.
Their world exists parallel to ours.
But, the "gate" they will be using (hopefully) is connected to thousands of others, across different planets, planes of reality and so forth. It acts a bit like a random spinner, where it spits you out at some random exit unless you know the "controls" (which are constellation alignment based). Hence why I require several if not a dozen options. I highly doubt the group will discover the secret of manipulating it unless the stumble upon/find Ka's log.

[Deaner12x35]

Actually I'm up to 7 destinations so far.

Ancient Egypt based world (Stargate thief but whatever)
An oceanic civilization (Akin to Atlantis before it's plunge)
NI.BI.RU (easily designed alien world since I study Sumerian culture)
Feudal Japan (only want one or two on the actual "Earth timeline")
Nightosphere (A plane of Rylak (Hell), named because I think I'm the only one of them that watches Adventure Time)
HireHanne (Cloud city)
JuR/RuJ (a forest town divided by race)

And while typing I just realized I can have a "misfire" roll in there, abandoning the players in a purgatory type realm.
Something like an expansive field of...roses? haha...something, with doors connecting to the still usable gates.

[cjoepar]

...
And while typing I just realized I can have a "misfire" roll in there, abandoning the players in a purgatory type realm.
Something like an expansive field of...roses? haha...something, with doors connecting to the still usable gates.

Or perhaps they get caught in something akin to the Courts of Chaos as described by Roger Zelazny in the Chronicles of Amber.

[Skyscraper]

How about including an alternate timeline in the very place and time they live in? Like the old Star Trek series show where Kirk (and McCoy?) had a transporter problem, and they ended up in a parallel universe where the entire Starfleet Federation was evil; Spock had a beard, and so on. So the same characters exist in this alternate timeline, but with different positions: the lieutenant might have assassinated a few superiods to become general; the good mayor might be dead; the paladin was corrupted and became a blackguard; and so on.

[Deaner12x35]

Or perhaps they get caught in something akin to the Courts of Chaos as described by Roger Zelazny in the Chronicles of Amber.

Have not read that series. I'll be sure to pick it up and see what you speak of sai.

[Deaner12x35]

How about including an alternate timeline in the very place and time they live in? Like the old Star Trek series show where Kirk (and McCoy?) had a transporter problem, and they ended up in a parallel universe where the entire Starfleet Federation was evil; Spock had a beard, and so on. So the same characters exist in this alternate timeline, but with different positions: the lieutenant might have assassinated a few superiods to become general; the good mayor might be dead; the paladin was corrupted and became a blackguard; and so on.

I LIKE THIS!
Thankee sai.
That included I can almost use a d% to determine the random warp destination.
That also means I get to write up some more story! Favorite part of running games.