This is some introductory material for a role-playing game I’m running… I thought it might amuse “Alas” readers who play RPGs. Comments and suggested additions welcome.
Welcome to your new career with Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations!
As a Historic Service Specialist working for Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations, you will not only have the most exciting job in the world, benefits that have often been comparable to the industry standard, and a sense of pride in what you do. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with what Business Innovations Magazine called “the most forward-looking and welcoming workplace environment available today.”
Please read this introductory pamphlet carefully. This will help you have a happy and lucrative career with Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations.
It’s all about teamwork.
As a member of the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations team, you will have the opportunity to work in concert with dedicated, fully trained Historic Service Specialists, many of whom are pairs of identical twins. If you dedicate yourself to being a constructive part of your Historical Innovation Team (H.I.T.), you’ll soon have a long string of successful assignments in your employee record, eventually qualifying you for exciting opportunities in self-directed historical innovation. Together with the other members of your H.I.T., you will provide the excellent service and matchless results that are associated worldwide with the name Margaret Goodman.
It’s all about history.
As a member of the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations team, you will have the opportunity to experience history as few have ever experienced — as a participant! You and your H.I.T. will actually be embedded in history, meeting famous figures and in the thick of great events! You might bring Napoleon his breakfast, enjoy a romantic moonlit boatride with Cleopatra as your companion, or hand Obama the pen used to sign the Complete And Enduring Freedom Act, in the flickering light of Congress burning!
Naturally, most engagements your H.I.T. will have the opportunity to enjoy won’t be that momentous. But to the eyes of a trained Historic Service Specialist, even the most seemingly bland and mundane of historic moments contains a huge wealth of opportunities for learning, enrichment and advancement!
Frequently Asked Questions.
Questions are good! The drive to get questions answered has been the gas fueling the motor of the speedboats of the careers of many of the most successful Historic Service Specialists to work for the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations team. We encourage all employees to approach their managers with any and all questions during the appropriate time set aside for employee open inquiries, subject to manager availability.
1. Can I kill Hitler?
No, you can’t! The nature of the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology (TM) is not compatible with actions that would permanently alter history. Deliberate attempts to reshape history, or even inadvertent acts that would reshape history if not interrupted, will set off an automatic, involuntary return to your original temporal location. Due to the high expense involved, Involuntary Temporal Returns conducted before the successful completion of your H.I.T.’s engagement must be explained to your manager during the appropriate time set aside for managerial directed inquiries, and appropriate actions may be taken in an appropriate manner. Historic Service Specialists who persist in trying to change history even though any such attempt is a totally futile waste of time, are subject to employment termination without notice.
As Business Innovations Magazine once noted, a successful employee must focus on the goals of her team, not the goals of her self.
1a. Can I be embedded in myself when I was a child?
No. It doesn’t seem to be possible to visit any time that is within the lifespan of the oldest living human being.
1b. Can I be sent to the future
Despite persistent and unfounded rumors to the contrary, it is not possible for a Historic Service Specialist to visit the future using Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology (TM). Any Historic Service Specialist discovered to be spreading these unwarranted rumors may be subject to a managerial directed inquiry or termination of position.
2. What about stomping on butterflies?
At one time, scientists believed that even the smallest act of a Historic Service Specialist could cause irrevocable damage to the course of history, for example by accidentally killing a butterfly. It is true that, due to the interconnected nature of all events, the small breeze caused by a butterfly’s wing flapping could lead to enormous events, such as assassinations, hurricanes, and wars. However, it would need to be an almost impossibly well-placed butterfly, and preferably one with a wingspan several miles across. History is actually much studier than it was once thought, and it turns out that the overwhelming majority of living creatures, including butterflies, are historically irrelevant.
However, if by chance you are about to commit a small, inconsequential act that would irrevocably alter history, there is no need for concern. You will merely experience a quick and very possibly painless Involuntary Temporal Return before your history-destroying act takes place. (See above note about managerial directed inquiries.)
3. What happens to the contemp I’m embedded in?
While you are embedded in a contemp, absolutely no harm comes to the contemp. Our top meta-temporal scientists have suggested that the contemp may experience an opportunity for a sensation of non-corporeal bliss, contentment and comfort, until they are returned to their default state by your return to your temporal origin time. Completely unrelated distress and or agony experienced by contemps has sometimes been mistakenly attributed by non-experts to the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology (TM). Experts, however, understand that it is not modern technology that is to blame. It is important to realize that contemps lived in primitive times, when many important debilitating mental and physical conditions went unrecognized and untreated. The lives of most contemps in places like 20th century Denmark were solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
We at Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations value nothing more highly than the dignity of contemps, and encourage our Historic Service Specialists to exhibit this attitude in all of their interactions with contemps. Repeated instances of proven deliberate mistreatment of contemps may lead to a mangerial directed inquiry.
4. Won’t language barriers prevent me from understanding anyone in the past?
No! As long as the Temporal Replacement Process goes well, you will have all the unconscious knowlege of the contemp you’re embedded within, including their native language skills.
5. Can I be harmed while embedded in a contemp?
No! Although it’s well-known that the inhabitants of the past are given to irrational and unpredictable acts of violence, on those rare occasions when epidemics and or starvation aren’t killing them, your own body remains safely contained in the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations headquarters, where no harm can come to it. You are perfectly safe, and the waivers you have signed are purely a formality.
6. Can I be embedded in Bill Cosby/Cleopatra/Ben Franklin/Saint Mary?
Not likely! The Temporal Replacement Technology is unable to choose whose body you will embed. However, in almost all cases, you will be embedded in a contemp who is extremely obscure to history, if not entirely forgotten.
7. If we don’t know ahead of time who we will be, how will I find the other members of my H.I.T.?
In most cases the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology will automatically embed all H.I.T. members in close social, temporal and spacial proximity. So finding each other will be easy, especially after undergoing the rigorous and intensive sensitivity training given all Historic Service Specialists by the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations team.
In rare cases that you are unlikely to ever encounter, a H.I.T. member’s embedding may exhibit a problematic quantity of success, in which case she or he may temporarily forget that they are from the year 2121. However, it is our experience that overly successfully embedded Historical Service Specialists will still tend to be drawn to their fellow H.I.T. members, even though they won’t consciously know why.
8. How does the Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology (TM) work?
Unfortunately, according to Business Innovations Magazine, Historical Innovation is an extremely competitive field, full of spies and devious behavior from companies less ethical and reputed than Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations. Therefore Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations is not free to share the technical details behind our process. However, please rest assured that Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations Temporal Replacement Technology (TM) is both safe and ecologically responsible.
9. Who is Margaret Goodman?
Margaret Goodman is an entrepreneur, a historian, and the founder of Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations. She loves going to work every day for a company that’s helping to bring history to life every day, and the opportunity this gives her to work with people she considers not just employees but also family. In addition to her work with Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations, Mag-mags, as she prefers to be called, runs several charitable foundations and is the publisher of Business Innovations Magazine.
Okay, fine, I didn’t have any clip-art in mine.
Also, “an historical.” Unless grammar’s less persnickety in 2121.
LOL – Okay, I’m officially looking forward to Sunday. :)
God damn that looks like a fine game, Amp.
—Myca
I imagine this read in the GLaDOS voice.
Oh! I want to play this as well!
Given that “a historical” already beats “an historical” 3:1 in google hits, and given that corporate brochure writing is not really the domain of the High Grammarian, I think “an historical” would be incorrect in this context.
Amusingly, the top two hits for “a historical” are pages explaining why “an historical” is correct, but I doubt that carries very far down the hit count.
That sounds really fun. I wish I knew you:)
Well, I would never say “an historical” or even write it myself. But certainly the air of the brochure seemed to suggest that adhering to such an awkwardly quaint stricture would be in keeping with Mag-mags’ overall philosophy. Was my point.
That, and the corporate clip-art rocks. You could get a whole thesis out of the symbols and shorthand packed into the fourth image down on the long line.
Perhaps my favorite most juicy part of the plan. You’ve really outdone yourself, Barry. ‘An or a’ aside, I think it sounds marvelous and can’t wait to play. How are we going to generate characters?
Thanks, everyone!
To answer Kim’s question:
For the folks playing this game, I’d like everyone to fill out a character sheet for their character. Ideally, email it to me before you go to sleep tonight, or if that’s not possible please do it early tomorrow. (If you don’t mind your answers being public, you can post your answers on the “Alas” thread rather than emailing them to me.)
I at first considered making this an “in character” questionnaire, which might have been funny. I decided against it, however, since there are things you might want to tell me about the character, that the character would not choose to voluntarily put down on a form.
A little something about the World of 2121: The Earth of “Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations” is mostly controlled by the wealthy and powerful “One World” government.
In 2121, advanced technology has created enough material wealth for everyone to be fed and housed without causing environmental destruction.
The U.S., Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, Europe and the Scandinavian countries formed a “One World” coalition government over a century ago, shortly after President Obama had the reactionary US Congress banned (and shelled). On the North American continent, high-speed monorails run between virtually every city in the country and the capital city of North America (Vegas). (The capital city of One World is Paris, of course.)
In the One World nation, there are significant distinctions of wealth; some people and families are very wealthy, with large estates, advanced technology, much leisure, and great influence within the One World government. Most people get by on considerably less.
If you’re poor enough, the government will provide you with a small apartment (a studio apartment if you live alone or in a government-sanctioned marriage of 3 people or less, a 2-or-3 room apartment if you have children or a government-sanctioned marriage of 4 people or more) and vouchers for free food.
In the One World system, every adult must have a job. Joblessness that last over 90 days is a crime punishable by fines; joblessness that lasts over a year is punished with imprisonment. There are also severe penalties attached to gaming the system (such as finding a job every 85 days and then deliberately getting fired). The level of evidence required is not high, so people who have been fired from their last job are usually very, very eager not to be fired from their next job.
I should mention that being a Historic Service Specialist is not a job that requires a degree, or any specialized training, to apply for.
Since I haven’t yet worked out what the rest of the world is like, I’d like everyone to play a citizen of One World.
Everyone in One World speaks fluent French, which has become the universal language of One World nation. Your characters may additionally speak a language native to your area, if you like, and if it’s in character they can know other languages as well.
Even though everyone speaks French, names still tend to reflect the geographical area characters were born in.
The Character Sheet
Character’s Name:
Sex and Gender:
Firmness of attachment to sex/gender identity:
Sexual orientation:
Firmness of attachment to sexual orientation:
Age:
Race and/or ethnicity:
Class background:
Religion:
Where was the character raised?:
Level of education:
Significant previous jobs held:
Why did your character apply to be a Historic Service Specialist?
List any special skills or knowledge your character possesses that might be relevant to the game, or just interesting for me to know:
Is there any historic period that your character is especially eager to visit, and why?
Is there any historic period that your character is especially desperate to avoid, and why?
Do you know of any potentially useful game “hooks” your character has, that you can tell me about?
Note: I added two new questions (1a and 1b) to the FAQ.
You know, oddly enough, I originally wrote “an historical,” and then edited it to “a historical” before I posted.
And Kip, I’m glad you liked the clip-art. I giggled a lot putting that together.
As a parody of business-speak, this is good. As a set-up for a role-playing game, I have my doubts. But as a formula for provoking frustrating speculation, it ranks up there with Lost. What the hell is going on here?
1. Ok, are players role-playing people in the past, or role-playing people in 2121 that will be role-playing people in the past? (Please avoid making reference to Dollhouse in the answer, as I’m not following that show.)
2. Since players are being employed by Margaret Goodman, apparently they’re going into the past to achieve something on her behalf. Can you clue us in to why anyone would employ squads of people to travel through – but not substantially alter – history? (Douglas Adams offered some ideas how this might be lucrative, but I’m curious about yours.)
3. I can’t tell whether the whole back-to-the-future premise is merely Amp being gratuitously clever, or foreshadowing that players will eventually come into conflict with Margaret Goodman and the One World government. Any comment?
4. The fact that you’re soliciting feedback about eras people would like to visit prompts me to ask: Have you already worked out the adventure you intend to send them on?
5. Can you compare the mechanisms of this game to any other roll-playing game? Is it structured, or more Gamemaster-Making-It-Up-As-We-Go?
6. Do you require players to agree to play these same roles during your next faux wedding?
Dollhouse! Dollhouse Dollhouse Dollhouse!
Players are role-playing citizens of One World nation in 2121. In 2121, all the player characters have gotten jobs as Historic Service Specialists, and will be sent back in time, where they will possess the body of someone living in the past, much in the style of the old TV show Quantum Leap.
So yes, in a way, the players will play 2121 people who are role-playing people from the own past. So sue me, I like meta. :-)
(In our group, we’ve sometimes referred to this setting as “Connie Leap,” since the time-travel technology is sort of a mashup of the time-travel tech in Connie Willis’ time travel novels and the time-travel tech in Quantum Leap.)
What were Douglas Adams’ thoughts? I might want to swipe them. :-)
The most obvious use of the technology is historic research. Important, but not lucrative — unless you can find a wealthy sponsor who is extremely interested in, say, the history of rose-breeding or depression-era circuses or the like. Fortunately, this sort of hobby/obsession is not uncommon among wealthy people and foundations in 2121.
Another reason is to rescue and collect historic artifacts. If there is a historic artifact that disappeared from known history at some point — in a fire, say, or destroyed during a war — then it might be possible to find the artifact just before it disappears and hide it someplace where it will be possible to recover it in the present day. (In which case, history hasn’t been altered — that’s how it’s been all along.)
There are the obvious ways that going to the past could be used to create wealth (depositing $1 in an interest-bearing account, etc). The problem is that the banking system may have collapsed more than once between then and now, making this sort of thing extremely difficult to pull off.
It’s also possible that the big corporations are lying, and that it is somehow possible to alter history in some ways.
I’m not really planning that far ahead. I just wanted to set up the possibility so it could be picked up on in future games, if we so desire.
No, I haven’t (although of course I have some ideas). Nor am I assuming that I’ll be the only GM — if someone else in our group has an idea for a Margaret Goodman Historical Innovations game they’d like to run, that would be fine with me. Better than fine.
At least when I’m running it, there will be no formal rules. As the GM I’ll guide the game, using a combination of common sense and my own instincts for what makes a good story, although of course the specifics of the story are going to be determined to a great extent by the choices the PCs make.
Despite the lack of rules, I’ll probably use dice on an ad hoc basis — if someone says “I’m going to do such-and-such,” and it’s not something they’d automatically succeed at, I might say “roll a die, if you get 4 or above then you succeed.”
(There’s a more complex version of die-rolling, in which the player chooses three sub-goals of whatever they’re trying to do and rolls three dice, and then decides after rolling which die applies to which goal. It actually works pretty smoothly and intuitively in play, and is nice for allowing randomization to get at more complex outcomes than just success or failure).
But that’s just me. If someone else wants to run a future game under GURPS rules or some other rule system, or to do a GMless game, or anything else, that’s cool with me.
Heh. No, I don’t think so, although having someone at the next wedding play a time traveler would be spiffy.
Although since you bring it up, it won’t actually be a wedding — the next event of that sort we’re running is going to be a funeral.
“Dollhouse, doll-freakin’-house! I’ll keep saying it, it’s fun to say… dollhouse, dollhouse, dollhouse, dollhouse.”
Oh I tell you, the bad Russian accents abound at my house come Friday nights.
—Myca
That was how patrons would pay for their meals at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
But by the time you get to Mostly Harmelss, the publishers of the Hitchhiker’s Guide (perhaps under the influence of the Vogons) had developed this idea further into Reverse Temporal Engineering. You make a wish, and RTE goes back in time and makes whatever slight adjustments to history are necessary to cause events to suit your needs.
Such technologies were deeply distrusted by Slartibartfast, a proponent of the Campaign for Real Time, an organization dedicated to preserving history as it existed before the advent of time travel (although, admittedly, life “before” time travel is itself a challenging idea.) But time travel was causing all kinds of problems. Ever since the Middle Ages pilgrims would travel to see the Chartres Cathedral – and to by souvenirs made by nearby vendors. As time went on this proved to be a lucrative business, and the souvenir manufacturers wanted to expand their operations. But real estate near the Cathedral was, by now, very expensive. So they went back in time to buy land that would, in time, become home to souvenir factories. And they did this so often that eventually they bought up the land that was supposed to house Chartres Cathedral. So now pilgrims would arrive and buy postcards and T-shirts and mugs and models of a cathedral that didn’t, strictly speaking, exist.
I trust that Margaret Goodman is keeping an eye out for these possibilities….
My first thought was, “Ok, they’re [MGIT] evil.” Am I right, wrong, or would telling give away a plot point?
Realistically, the One World is, of course, evil because there is no way that it could be anything else if it is as powerful as it sounds. Much like a certain country that many of us live in.
I love that the central conceit about the world is that all the Righties’ darkest fears about liberal muslamofascist Obama are true.
And obviously they’re evil. Evil speaks in soothing, bland tones. I’m currently reading A Wrinkle in Time to my daughter, and IT clearly has had an influence on corporatespeak.
The other Adams idea on how to make money using time travel was to send your product back in time to get a famous person to use it. The example was a poor poet who used quills and his own ink to write wonderful poems about a beautiful woman, who wouldn’t pay attention to him because he was poor. A pen (and correcting fluid IIRC) company paid him to use their pens and correcting fluid, which made the poet so rich that the woman did pay attention to him, so he never ended up writing the poems…
The pen company then, just sent him a copy of his book, and paid him to spend a week copying the poems (with a few judicious errors and corrections), and everything was the same, except to the people who said it wasn’t.
The other author that your campaign reminds me of is Kage Baker with her “The company” series. If you haven’t looked at those, you should.
In any case, gorgeous campaign teaser, and you are clearly either much more clever, or much braver than I am.
Without question it is reminiscent of The Company series.
Another way to make money? The stock market. Buy up IBM or Microsoft, etc. at its low point & hold onto it until present day.
It sounds like it’ll be a great game.
A way to make a ton of money (well, a ton of power) off of this:
Sociological research. Time travel which accepts slight changes allows you to develop sociological experiments which are actually true experiments. Presumably, you could then develop extraordinarily good theories of sociology, which would let you manipulate events in the present time to your liking.
yrs–
–Ben
Ooooh, that’s a really neat idea.
One way to make money, if and only if you have a monopoly on time travel, is the acquisition and selling of rare historical artifacts. Rare coins, Shakespeare original folios (or the first drafts that he threw out), etc. Wouldn’t work if everyone were doing it though.
Well, I have to say, I had a fantastic game playing. Barry did an amazing job of putting this all together coherently for such a short planning time.
Brad, you could always join us, you know! :)