Revision as of 22:17, 6 July 2010

Venn is a temporary code name for the live gaming project that Dan & Brian are working on. This page is a creative brainstorm draft which outlines the setting, plot framework, and goals of the game.

Setting

Premise

During the Age of Enlightenment, western civilization embraced science and reason over magic and superstition. Magical traditions like alchemy gave way to the birth of empirical sciences like chemistry. The rational revolution brought us out of the dark ages, aiming at transforming every aspect of life into something which could be examined, measured, and understood.

But there is another earth, one that exists in a timeline parallel to ours. For simplicity's sake, we will call this place Terra. Upon a surface reading, Terra shares our history up until the mid 1600s, where it takes a dramatically different turn.

Western civilization on Terra did not enter the Age of Enlightenment like we did. On Earth, we abandoned magical traditions like alchemy in favor of rational sciences like chemistry. Our Terran neighbors, however, did not distill the secrets of chemistry from their magical studies. Instead, they discovered that alchemy and ceremonial magic actually worked. Lifespans were lengthened, lead was transmuted into copper (the transformation of lead into gold would not take place for another few centuries), and contact was made with extraplanar beings. Empiricism was the new fad, and the scientific method was used to perfect magical and alchemical techniques. The academies of learning which began to appear in Europe in the mid 1600s focused on arcane, rather than scientific study.

Oddly enough, everyday life on Terra did not turn out to be much different than everyday life on Earth. Scientific inventions such as gunpowder, antiseptic, and the printing have magical counterparts on Terra such as salamander dust, undine tincture, and Gutenberg's living quill. By the year 1950, Terrans had horseless carriages, and a basic long distance communication system based on aetheric spirits. Magical waste presents similar problems as pollution - ergo Terra is also experiencing environmental problems such as climate change. It seems that whether we embrace magic or science, our fate is the same. We are still humans: confused, conflicted, vulnerable creatures obsessed with their own destruction.

The simultaneous activation of the Large Hadron Collider on Earth and the Primal Auric Ouroboros on Terra pierced a hole through the veil between worlds. There are now a few channels, gates through which matter may pass. These channels are small, secret, privately controlled, and poorly understood.

On Earth, a few of these gates exist in New York. The scientific community is uninterested in this discovery, dismissing accounts of the other world as hallucinations - a product of contact with radiation. One channel has been found in an old office building leased by Aporia incorporated. Aporia sells weekend trips to Terra, provided you follow the rules of the agency they've paired with on the other side.

The Stage...

Although the players may come through the gate to Terra for any number of reasons, when they arrive, they find themselves embroiled in world politics. The company which tends the gate between worlds requires them to join an organization which more or less makes them adventurers.

Narrative Goals

Venn's story is allegory for the real world. We have created a fictional version of the world which allows us to explore real world issues through a fantastic narrative. Characters may engage in plotlines which discuss the cold war, civil liberties, and immigration reform, albeit in an entertaining fictional context.

Weekend plotlines will address salient current events. The are thematic, not literal interpretations of those events. For example, if we run a plotline based on arizona's immigration reform, we may make the drama center around shapeshifters or extraplanar entities, not hispanic people. The confusion surrounding Barack Obama's birth certificate can manifest in our game, but not about the current president.

If we do this successfully, we will have given players a new point of view in understanding world politics and current events.

As writers and directors, we will not embrace left or right wing interpretations of history and current events - we will provide a platform which includes a spectrum of ideas and points of view.

LARP Format

There are two possible formats for Venn events

• one-shot modules, run at an Aporia office accessible from NYC
• weekend events, run at an Aporia portal located in "upstate" NY. (Okay, Poughkeepsie isn't "upstate", but spags from NYC don't know that)

In both cases, the players show up to the event in their real world clothes, and are greeted by a representative of Aporia Inc. After stepping through the portal, they find themselves in a world which looks a lot like the real world, but with a different history, and LARP rules.

Occasionally, players will come back through the gate and solve problems on Earth (with LARP rules).

Differences between Earth and Terra

• Fashion - fashion on Terra is uhhhh LARP gear

Real World things that have a magical equivalent on Terra

• Oil / Electricity
• Telephones / Cell Phones
• Cars / mass transit
• Gunpowder
• Medicine
• computers - on Terra you may have a familiar or an intelligent gemstone which can perform certain tasks for you, with the same basic range of capabilities as a laptop
• the Internet (on Terra this is an astral communication network which seems to be taking on a life of its own)
• The Stock Market?

Things which are more or less the same in both worlds

• Books (although the publishing industry is totally different)
• Money & Banking
• the US Government (secretive orders such as freemasons have a larger role)
• war in the mideast
• pollution

Magic

In our narrative, Magic is a symbol for technology. Not everybody on Terra is skilled in magic, just like how on earth, not everybody can build a microwave from scratch.

Magic cannot do much that technology cannot accomplish. No spell has been invented that makes you invisible, or able to fly. There are spells, however, which cure diseases, instantly communicate with others, and give you crazy druglike trips.

While some people must spend years learning magic at formal institutions, people from Earth can learn it as fast as they can spend XP. :P

Religion

Religion is one of the few things that is the same in both worlds. Christianity, Islam, Judiasm, Buddhism, Atheism, etc are still present. Magic cannot prove or disprove the existence of divine entities. Prayer is not magic. Jesus did not do magic, his supernatural feats are attributed to the divine.

Magic is seen as an everyday phenomenon. Regular people do not regard it as any more fantastic or supernatural than we regard roobots and computers.

The Veil

The veil between worlds is a selectively permeable membrane. Certain things cannot pass between worlds. This includes anything that would drastically change either world. For example, a Terran magic sword becomes a regular sword when it passes through the gate. If a Terran mage learns how to build a microprocessor in our world, he forgets that knowledge as he passes through the gate home.

The laws of physics in both worlds are slightly different. Gunpowder, for example, simply does not work on Terra. Electricity is too wild to be contained and utilized. Likewise, if you learn magic on Terra, it does not work when you return.