Well, Tomas bit the dust, and is now heading on for further adventures in what I intend for a stall world (in other words, he's likely to get out of there quickly).  The question is how was the Tower of Rhodes setting?  What worked? What didn't?  So forth.

Outrageous compliments and cash also accepted.

PT

I loved the place! Too bad it had to end like this :P The amount of magic was good for me, and I liked the added challenges of yours to make travelling harder, because otherwise it would have been waaaay to easy to go and learn magic. The only thing I didn't like was not being able to learn much more magic there, but then again, I could do that in another world, right?
One small curiosity about the Gordian Knot... if I had started to "not-look for the exit" from the very beggining, would I have escaped?

Thanks. Yeah, I had a lot of challenges there...you actually spent only a few days there before versing out. And yes, you'll certainly get a chance to learn magic in other worlds, although not all of them.

In answer, yes.  However, a better way out would be to remember how Alexander dealt with the Gordian Knot.  He met an old seer woman who said that anyone who could untie this knot would conquer Asia.  He couldn't figure it out, so he whipped out his sword and sliced the knot in two.

I don't know much about Alexander, other than the fact that he was a great conqueror ^_^U So I needed a sword, to cut the... place? Or was it a metaphor?

If you'd drawn a sword, and tried to walk out, or say used a sword to draw a line across a street...that could have worked pretty well...depending on the dice of course.  But you found a method that would have worked if you had been given enough time.

And BTW, from what I hear, watching the movie Alexander is NOT a good way to learn about him.

PT

I liked the world, my advice to Tomas, sometimes you have to fight, and as soon as the thug came after you, you had two choices, fight or flee. Sometimes, no matter how tough someone is, you fight, since that's what they least expect you to do, just my 2 cents. That or cast a fireball on them and watch them burn :)

I liked the way Tomas interacted with his world.  He walked into a strange place, got a girlfriend, a job, and a hobby.  He took on the wierd and highly detailed world and make it work for him.  That was very cool.  Misty would have attacked the thug, too, but that is because she is trained in it.  For Tomas, not being trained in that sort rudeness, running was a valid option.  Sometimes...  "Feet don't fail me now!" is the best option.

When being chased by a dozen hoodlums, its definitely got some virtues as an approach.  Remember J, he didn't have a nice shiny Durandum battle-axe in hand.

And attacking the thug would have very possibly drawn other attackers down on you as he yelled for help.  After all, thugs don't believe in fair play.

PT

Understood, but Thugs respect power or at least the illusion of it. Just offering some advice to Tomas, as he will eventually have to learn to fight, it's enivatible as a verser :).

Quite true.

I think there's a continuum of fear. First you annoy the thug so that he beats you worse, then you scare the thug so that he runs away, then you scare him so badly that he fights (aka the cornered rat thing).

This to my mind, is like dealing with terrorists.  A little backlash and you infuriate them as in "How dare you defend yourself against me!!". A big backlash and they are terrified of your fury "We are going to die! Run! Hide!". Too much, say nuking several cities, and they think they really are going to die anyways so they might as well fight (cornered rat). And then of course there's the step above that, like Assad did to a town of rebels...killed thirty thousand people indiscriminately with an artillery barrage but thats not really fear so much as slaughter.

Humans are complicated creatures.  Fear and mayhem sometimes work very effectively, and sometimes they don't.  Mass murder can be a very effective tool of a gov't, as the Romans proved over and over and as the Americans proved in WW2.  However, I don't want to go there, but while I choose to avoid that road, I am aware it exists.

Lastly, inevitable...ha...Tomas might be going into worlds where everyone is sweet and sane and normal and where violence is eschewed...okay, I can't say that with a straight face...

PT

I. Hate. You.

Nah, not really, it's just that facing the exact opposite of the worlds I want to be in is kinda harsh for my peaceful manner of being :P I didn't fight because, as PT said, I had more chances of running away than surviving. Just wait till I learn spells and the such!

I'll see what I can do for a magic and somewhat peaceful world after the one you're in now.

Spells will definitely help.

PT

Yay! That's what I'm talking about ^_-

I like this setting a lot, and certainly wouldn't mind ending up here myself (hint, hint... :).

One thing that wasn't necessarily clear -- what kinds of knowledge and training are available?  I for one would find it *much* more interesting if there was also at least clerical magic available, rather than just wizardly magic.  And I would find it *much* *much* more interesting if there were also psionics, and/or super powers, and/or advanced technology, and/or etc. available.



Hmmmm...  I suppose that this could imply there is more than just wizardly magic available, which is excellent.  It would be really neat if one could find out about any of the possibilities on this list, and maybe even learn about them.



Hmmmm... it has been about a week since I finished reading this thread, so I forgot some details.  I see that clerical magic seems to be there as well.  How about the other types of powers?

I love the Riddle Roads, and the Waffle House (wow! already there is a way besides versing to travel to and from another world if you wanted! :), and the Book Guardians, and the shifting landmarks that get you lost, and the Gordian Knot.  So many interesting things available, yet with so many interesting obstacles to keep you from getting them...

I too think Tomas did a good job roleplaying, and finding a friend and a job and etc. :)

Lots of ways exist to world-travel...magic gates, dream-travelling..the Stargate SG-1 series is out there (although thats mostly interstellar travel).

Tower of Rhodes...no advanced tech. Gunpowder pistols don't work. Your electronic watch won't even flash "12:12" at you.  Its a paperweight.  Psi is fairly low too.  Rhodes is for magic, and lots of it.

Now Northgate City, a city of superheroes and supervillains has magic, super-tech, massive psi, super martial artists...pretty much anything is possible.  This will be in the 4th Book of Worlds, although I might playtest it again. Although I think none of you are really ready to go there, yet...Closest person is Misty.  Although Summer Queen's GO character went there already, but then her character has also duelled with a god so ....of course, the god laughed at her...but still.

PT

Is there an analogy for Tower of Rhodes that is for psi instead of magic?

And/or for super powers instead of magic?

And/or for advanced technology instead of magic?

If not, can you make them???  :D

Iron Pirates of the Solar System has the Towers of the Sensitives which is not quite the same thing, more like a college for psi's.  And I've done a little work on Apocalypse or Ascension about a runaway expansion to the Singularity which either leads to destruction or superhumanity.

And I've considered a Galactic Library with robots, and its eons old...hmmh a good place for a 'ghost'/ancient AI story, or some Mythos like as you stir up ancient things out of the library which has sat undisturbed for a hundred thousand years...a few passageways are neat and clean, but others have three feet of dust in them, and there are perhaps things left over from the preceding owners like search engines which are well, confused.

And areas of the library exposed to vacuum.  So you open a door, and 'whoosh'..an ancient asteroid impact had ripped open the roof of a particular room, and since the surface of this planet is airless...well, you have problems.

I'm thinking the library is tall, black chunks of data matrixes situated in a long gloomy stacks, and you have to use a single terminal per each stack to access the data in that stack.

Perhaps some parts are more awake than others.

Perhaps, at one point, you turn on a particular search engine, and it makes a copy of you since a 'you' connected to the Library Net would be the 'best possible' person to explain things to you, but unfortunately it doesn't copy all that well...and so the 'you' is either crazy, bizarre or outright malevolent...or worse there are multiple copies and you can't distinguish between the mildly bizarre to the outright malevolent versions since they both look alike.

I think when you wake, you'll be taken to the 'customer service' desk or some such thing, and given a canned speech about the Galactic Library.

There's also going to be translation difficulties.  Alien languages for one.  For another, the meanings of words drifts.

To steal an idea from Vernor Vinge, occasionally you meet a part of the library which is helpful.  It gives you advice on how to better access it.  Some of these ideas are good, and some others are only apparently so.  That is, you end up building according to a recipe a box to hold a super-intelligence with goals that possibly conflict with yours, and it could be 1)Explicitly malevolent 2)Not caring about your goals at all...kind of like Lilandra.  It needs a servant, and you're handy.  No hard feelings, but with an IQ of less than two hundred there's really hardly any point in explaining things to such a limited intelligence....if you're lucky, it might be a kind master, and give you dog biscuits, and at some point it might have no more need of you, and let you go.

Hmmh, well, I think thats got something there.

Any more ideas for the Eons Old Galactic Library?

PT

Maybe versers could find something useful in the Children's section?  Think of the possibilities of alien versions of Dr. Seuss books.  Think of just how "Fox in Sox", "Green Eggs and Ham", or "The Cat in the Hat" can mess up an adult.  Now, tweak it into an educational device in an alien language.

Ummm...  PT, maybe you could just forget that I said anything.

Oooo!  Ooooo!  Pick me!  Pick me to playtest this one!!!

Vinge is great -- I must have been suffering from temporary insanity to have left his name off of my favorite book list.  And having the library do "A Fire Upon The Deep" with the poor verser... ouch...

I think this is a groovy idea, although it has such a different feel than the Tower of Rhodes had.  That one was lighter, with fun riddles and all -- more "magical", if you'll pardon the pun.  But this idea seems a lot more... lonely and depressing and spooky, somehow, like Kate's intro world at the end of a universe.

I personally would find it a lot more enjoyable if it wasn't a no-win scenario.  The Tower seems more fun.  Maybe you should send me to the Tower first.  :)

Hmmm... now if the Galactic Library has a cafeteria, and the Waffle House connected to it... :)

Misty's idea for a Children's section is definitely a keeper.  In fact, that is another shade of Vinge (both "A Fire Upon The Deep" and "A Deepness In The Sky" this time), using Children's books to help bridge a language gap.

More ideas?  Hmmmm...

Perhaps there are devices that psionically transmit information directly into your brain?  Or that directly impart or awaken psionic talents and/or super powers in the user?  But how well are they still working?  And how compatible are they with verser brains?  And if your brain gets damaged, does versing make it all better... or not?  Only the botch dice know for sure...  <8o

Perhaps there are replicators to (re)create objects, devices, etc, based upon library computer instructions.  How well are the replicators still working?  What do the mysterious devices do when you push the second button from the right, with the unreadable label next to it?  :/

How about a nexus room, able to communicate with and/or teleport to other universes?  A verser could look at and/or communicate with and/or go to anywhere and/or anywhen they wanted to... IF they could only figure out how to specify the desired target...  :)

Yeah, that was a great book....you have some really good taste Oak!

One of my favorites for books too.  I've read it a number of times.

..Even the omniscient viewpoint quailed... (from memory, mind you.)

Well, if you can find a way to convince the replicator to build you a spaceship, you can escape, and find another world.  Or you can jump through the Universe Scan Device the Nexus Room, and try to land in the right world.


Its a good point that its similiar in feeling to Kate's world, but with the addition of your replicators for ships and Other Universal Scan...it doesn't have to be.

Of course, the chance to get off in a spaceship is the cheese on the mousetrap, and the mousetrap is the superhuman intelligence you "accidentally" created.

Misty, I think we should call the Children's Book section to have a holographic librarian named "Misty".  Forget? Noooooooooo....as the sound echoes down the long, lonely corridors, only disturbing spider robots, and a cleaning bot...

PT

Oh, and how about taking Vinge's Blight one step further?

The Blight and/or the cure for it don't just change Vinge's version of the "zones" of *this* universe... but the Multiverser's version of "zones" for *all* of the multiverse.  Some worlds that used to be in the "Magic" zone get moved to the "Psi" zone, and some in the "Tech" zone get moved to the "Super" zone, and ...  :D

One way to make the setting less lonely and depressing would be to have the planet inhabited, rather than airless.  Something along the lines of Asimov's Original Foundation Trilogy, after the First Empire fell, and the Galactic Library on Trantor was long abandoned, yet simple farmers (with limited/mythical knowledge of the past) still dwell on the surface of the planet.  They stay away from the Library, though, since that is haunted, after all...

And of course, for even more companionship, you could always use this as a gather world.  Combine that with your idea to have the Library make "copies" of users, and you could have multiple copies of everyone running around (with the quality of each copy unknown) interacting with the others.  You could even have each verser roleplay their copies as the copies interact with the others...  ;)

The four bias areas are "Magic", "Psionic", "Body", and "Technological".  "Super" would be broken out between those...Charles Xavier would be psi, Iron Man tech, Dr. Strange Magic, and the Hulk Body.

Some of these might have prerequisites...like you can use this psi skill if you have a certain genetic structure...If I 'm getting this right....Jhiaxus?

Could still stick with the airless surface, just having robots on the surface who are independent, or insectoid races that need no air...and then have the verser with a space suit visiting them.

Hmmh, an apparently earthlike world with robots, but no air...thats an idea for another game world too...

Hmmh, bias-shifting weaponry...which is basically what Vinge has...just his is limited to the Tech arena.  This would have to be connected to the Nexus room in order to have multiple biases.

The gather idea would be a good variant suggestion I think.  Its not really a gather world, although you could work it as one.