One of the objectives of the Scimiar System is for multi-genre play— Whilst Jewel-Delvers of Nagor Kadir focuses on technology based in a medieval fantasy world, it introduces Ghostgates allowing travel between worlds and time.
We wanted the Scimitar System to support play across multiple genres where characters from a lower technology medieval fantasy world can pass into a high technology alien world, and vice versa. We also wanted to have the option to explain future technology appearing in worlds that haven’t yet reached that level of technical achievement.
To support this, we have introduced a method for travelling across space and time that exists within all worlds within the Scimitar System family of settings—ghostgates. Ghostgates are dangerous tears in the fabric of space and time, and open up a huge possibility of adventure.
No one remembers when the first shimmering ghostgate appeared. It was aeons past. Some say the gods created them, some say they are a fault in the coding of the multiverse’s structure. However they came to be, they appear suddenly, tearing through the fabric of the world before fading with no trace. Some stay active for hours, others for weeks. As small as a man or as big as a mountain, they vary in shape and size. Appearing in the sky, on the ground, in deep caves, and beneath the sea, the only certainty is that somewhere in a distant world, a glitch has opened to somewhere else, creating a temporary pathway through space and time.
The first traveller through a ghostgate was never seen again—at least not by the world they left behind. The anomalous ghostgates transport those that step through them into other worlds, other times, other dimensions. One-way doors to fantastic, inhospitable, abundant—and often—deadly places. There is no returning. Once passed through, these curious portals leave a fading ghostlike remnant in the arrival-world, with no way to get back home. Travellers become lost and found in an instant. The only hope is to find another ghostgate, hoping it will lead back to familiarity, but they never do. Some worlds protect newly spawned arrival gates with military force, fearing what may come through, others are not advanced enough to understand these curiosities and suffer the fate of whatever the ghostgate’s regurgitation brings. Known by many names; ghostgates, worldgates, devilmaws, black portals, world tears, or doors of the lost, they rarely bring hope. However, one thing is always certain, whatever and wherever the world may be, somewhere within it there are those who want to exploit, discover, raid, befriend, trade, and conquer; slobbering horrors hunting for prey or food; or lost travellers simply looking for ghostgates leading home.
Ghostgates are a fundamental feature of the Scimitar System’s multigenre game. How they look and function is going to be useful when explaining their operation and how characters interact with them. The following is a list of key ghostgate features:
- Creation: Ghostgates form on origin and destination worlds simultaneously.
- Appearance: The gates mostly tend to be vertical or horizontal tears but can vary is shape.
- Size: The smallest gates allow a human-sized body to squeeze through. The largest known gates are well over 1,000 feet wide.
- Viewing from the Origin World: From the origin world side, the destination world is visible through the gate but appears as a ghostlike shimmering/glitchy image. It can be entered from this side.
- Viewing from the Destination World: From the destination world side, the origin world is visible through the gate but appears as a ghostlike shimmering/glitchy image. It cannot be entered from this side.
- Activating the Ghostgate: Generally, although visible, origin world ghostgates are also intangible and functionless, unless their operation is understood. Only those sufficiently versed in occult and esoteric knowledge can understand the method to pass through a ghostgate, requiring an OCC attribute score of 10 or higher to understand how it functions. Once known, they can share this with anyone else allowing them to pass through without the necessary OCC score. Methods of operation could be learned from other sources too, such as ancient tomes, encrypted data tablets, vlogs, etc.
- One Way: A ghostgate only allows passage one way. This is by passing from the origin world to the destination world. The gate in the destination world is intangible and Characters can pass through its image like a hologram.
- Entering a Ghostgate: Once an object or person begins to enter a ghostgate, it enters a black nothingness of space between gates. Only when fully passed from the origin world do they begin to emerge into the destination world.
- Opening Gates: Gates appear instantly in both origin and destination worlds with a loud tear, which can be almost deafening for the largest gates.
- Closing Gates: Gates close gradually, fading over time (usually hours, but sometimes days and even months) until they blink out of existence. Anything or anyone partially through a portal (or within the black nothingness of space in-between) when it closes is cut into two pieces. This can be fatal for living beings.
Supporting Multigenre Play
- Technology Levels: Worlds and equipment have technology levels which influence how they get used in differing technological worlds.
- Wealth: Wealth is generic, and is universally used throughout. A Referee is free to use exchnage rates and world specific terms if they choose. We just want to keep it simple.
Grab the Current Rules
If you want to grab the current version of the play-test rules, then head to the feedback form here and download them from the link provided:
Thanks all, Glynn
