A little thinking about time and dimensions

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Glistam
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A little thinking about time and dimensions

Unread post by Glistam »

I was thinking today about how Palladium determined all their different game books to be different dimensions rather than the set past or present of any other game line. Except for Chaos Earth. And since there is a 300 year gap between Chaos Earth and Rifts Earth, it got me thinking about those other dimensions. Specifically, if the "Present day" of those other dimensions is the same time period as Rifts Earth, then in the Chaos Earth time all those dimensions should have been 300 years in their past. Phase World/Skraypers, Wormwood, Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, Palladium Fantasy, etcetera...

Or, if the "Present day" of those other dimensions is the same time period as Chaos Earth, then in the Rifts Earth time they would all be 300 years into their future.

I know that the Dimension Book 7 for Rifts talks about varying time flow rates in different dimensions, and I also know that the Chaos Earth book is just as likely to be determined a parallel dimension that's just very similar to Rifts Earth's past, but the idea intrigued me nonetheless. Anyone else ever consider this, or anything like this? If so, how did you incorporate it, if at all?
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Re: A little thinking about time and dimensions

Unread post by Killer Cyborg »

Other than "Rifts happens 300 years after the 'present day' settings," I'm not sure what you mean, nor why you find any importance in the bit that I do follow.
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Glistam
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Re: A little thinking about time and dimensions

Unread post by Glistam »

Killer Cyborg wrote:Other than "Rifts happens 300 years after the 'present day' settings," I'm not sure what you mean, nor why you find any importance in the bit that I do follow.

Yeah, I'm not really sure where I was going with all this either. I had some idle thoughts during a slow period at work today and I don't think I really formalized them properly before I posted.

I guess I was positing how all of Palladium's game lines all happen at the same time. "Present day" in the Heroes Unlimited game dimension is the same time as "present day" in the Palladium Fantasy game dimension, which is also "present day" in the Phase World game dimension, and so on. Rifts/Dimensional Portals from one world to another don't actually transport one through time, but to other dimensions. This seemed to work out across the board with all game settings until I got to Chaos Earth and Rifts.

Now, I know they could just be declared as alternate dimensions that just resemble each others past/future, and then that's the end of the discussion. But that's not where I'm taking this. I started thinking of them as representing the past/future of the same dimension, and what that might mean in relation to the other dimensions.

The idea was, if the Rifts earth "present day" is the time that matches with the other dimension's "present days", then the Chaos Earth "present day" would be 300 years in the past of the other game lines. Why would this matter? Because when the Rifts start tearing occupants from other dimensions during Chaos Earth, they would be coming from the past of these other game worlds. Maybe 300 years in the past doesn't matter a whole lot for Palladium Fantasy or Phase World, but the modern day settings like Ninjas and Superspies and Heroes Unlimited would have pulled people from the late 1600's and early 1700's into their world. I realized as I pondered this that such an issue did not seem to be addressed. It raised other questions like:
  • What was Wormwood like 300 years ago?
  • Phaseworld and Palladium Fantasy have timelines, was 300 years ago significant for them?
  • What was Skraypers like 300 years before the Tarlok invasion?
  • Would 300 years before After the Bomb be Before the Bomb?
  • Systems Failure, Nightbane, Dead Reign, these settings all look identical in the 1700's.
  • ...and so on.

Conversely, as I thought on this, I wondered what it would be like if the Chaos Earth's "present day" lined up with the other game's "present days"? If that was the case, then any rift events from that game line would pull in characters from those game lines' present days. But then I considered 300 years later, in the Rifts' "present day," and how that would mean 300 years had passed in the other game lines. It raised similar, but opposite questions:
  • What will Wormwood be like 300 years in the future?
  • How would Phaseworld and Palladium Fantasy be changed in another 300 years, if at all?
  • What will Skraypers be like 300 years after the Tarlok invasion?
  • Would any creature be recognizable at all 300 years after After the Bomb?
  • Systems Failure, Nightbane, Dead Reign, what would those settings look like 300 years in the future?
  • ...and so on.

Ultimately I wondered if I was the only one thinking this, and if not, how anyone else might've handled it?
Zerebus: "I like MDC. MDC is a hundred times better than SDC."

kiralon: "...the best way to kill an old one is to crash a moon into it."

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Temporal Wizard O.C.C. update 0.8 | Rifts random encounters
New Fire magic | New Temporal magic
Grim Gulf, the Nightlands version of Century Station

Let Chaos Magic flow in your campaigns.
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Carl Gleba
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Re: A little thinking about time and dimensions

Unread post by Carl Gleba »

Glistam wrote:Ultimately I wondered if I was the only one thinking this, and if not, how anyone else might've handled it?


I keep it real simple and call it a temporal Rift. Characters can travel between time and space. Makes getting home a challenge trying to find a temporal Rift home, but that's half the fun :D
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Re: A little thinking about time and dimensions

Unread post by zyanitevp »

In mine, the stream of time is difficult to understand or comprehend.
Concurrent to my game, set in Palladium Fantasy, there were occurrences that happened on Rift's Earth, and tonight we did one in the Toon universe.....
Just for a change of pace....
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