Quote from: soltakss;639637So, I'm a player in a time travel game which uses Looper-style rules.

No, you're entirely missing the point, which is this:

Quote from: Piestrio;639461It works the way it does, best not to talk about it.

The difficulty is with player who believe they know how time travel "actually works" better than everyone else at the table, and hence the consequences thereof.

Quote from: Bobloblah;639655The difficulty is with player who believe they know how time travel "actually works" better than everyone else at the table, and hence the consequences thereof.

Ah, I see.

So, as a child I see something happening which ties in with something that then happens when I am an adult, especially if I am party to the future event. Once I have seen it done, or had it done to me, or know how it is done then it is fair game for me to do it or to arrange for it to be done.

In my experience, once PCs find out how to do something, it is very difficult to stop them from doing it themselves.

Playing a time-travelling game means that you quickly work out what can, and cannot, be done. Once that is known then it can be used and abused, just like any other knowledge in the game. Nothing about knowing better than anyone else at the table.

Also, speaking from a GM point of view, it is very difficult to run this kind of game. In my opinion, at least.

Quote from: soltakss;639686In my experience, once PCs find out how to do something, it is very difficult to stop them from doing it themselves.

Of course. This isn't unusual.

Quote from: soltakss;639686Playing a time-travelling game means that you quickly work out what can, and cannot, be done. Once that is known then it can be used and abused, just like any other knowledge in the game. Nothing about knowing better than anyone else at the table.

Ahhh...no. You seem to be missing my point. My apologies if I didn't make it very clear. It's ultimately a people problem (as are most problems in an RPG group), but time travel seems to bring it out more than any other type of thing I've run. And it inevitably seems to be rooted in geeks who think, on this subject, they are smarter than everyone else at the table; they are going to more cleverly derive an advantage from it or they are going to "break the world," so to speak.

Now, while that is a people problem, I have watched time travel bring out this kind of foolishness in players I never would've dreamed had it in them. Only with time travel. Which was my point.

Quote from: soltakss;639686Also, speaking from a GM point of view, it is very difficult to run this kind of game. In my opinion, at least.

No kidding, that's what I said. And in my opinion it's largely because players look for holes in this kind of scenario like no other, and practical time travel opens up an awful lot of potential holes.

Quote from: Bobloblah;639696Ahhh...no. You seem to be missing my point. My apologies if I didn't make it very clear. It's ultimately a people problem (as are most problems in an RPG group), but time travel seems to bring it out more than any other type of thing I've run. And it inevitably seems to be rooted in geeks who think, on this subject, they are smarter than everyone else at the table; they are going to more cleverly derive an advantage from it or they are going to "break the world," so to speak.

Now, while that is a people problem, I have watched time travel bring out this kind of foolishness in players I never would've dreamed had it in them. Only with time travel. Which was my point.

Yup. It's the same urge that leads players to argue that they should totally be able to cut the rifle in two because Katana are folded 18 bajillion times, don'tchaknow. Or that they should be able to move more in a day because Scott Jerick can run 135 miles in a single day, etc...

Whenever time travel has come up in my games I make it clear that it's 100% inscrutable and while players can come up with theories as much as they like it will have zero bearing on how it works in the game.

However it works is how it works. Deal with it.

Quote from: Piestrio;639697However it works is how it works. Deal with it.

Yup. The Looper Protocol.

Quote from: Piestrio;639697However it works is how it works. Deal with it.

Time travel in Austin Powers much the same.

I really think that the timemaster book time tricks is the sort of essential resource you need.

It lays out the Laws of Time Travel forthe setting and discusses how far they can be bent. Without a book like that or a GM with absolute player confidence (and if you have a book the GM needs to know it backways and sideways) time travel games can degenerate into a discussion about the physics.

When I do it I lay out at the start that the GM is the law, some of the effects may not seem to be what you woudl expect but that is becuase you don;t see hte whole picture.

I time travel games I try to avoid all the people not in the party following the same linear timeline. So I will let them meet NPCs for the first time who have already met them for example. I think this adds a depth of interest to timetravel plots that you can't get in other games.

I've always found it best just to wing it.

RPGPundit