I
haven’t played Torg for a while but it used to be one of my favorite RPG’s. For
those not familiar with Torg, the story involves alternate realities
overrunning various portions of Earth; each of these realities represents a
different genre of roleplaying (fantasy, pulp adventure, and horror, for
instance). The adventurers, known as Storm Knights, are assembled from all the
different realities to fight the invasion. There are different types of zones
depending on how thoroughly the new reality has replaced the old reality – mixed
zones, dominant zones, and pure zones. Eventually I noticed we didn’t really
use the zones the same way they are described in the rules, so I came up with a
new scale of 5 zone types: mixed, semi-dominant, dominant, semi-pure, and pure.
Mixed Zone: Both realities
operate side by side. In an Ayslish mixed zone, magic and technology are both
fully functional, and can even be combined in ways not possible in either
reality alone. This equality only applies to realities which are part of the
mixture, other realities are excluded as usual. The laws and styles of the two
realities are merged; only the chosen one can defeat the dark lord, but not
without the help of a massive air strike in the nick of time. Ords in the zone
are able to perceive that things have changed and the new reality is different,
but soon acclimate to the new reality and think of themselves as having
previously been ignorant. Landmarks of the old reality either still exist in
their original form or it is noticed even by Ords that new landmarks stand in
their place.
Semi-Dominant: The new reality
is in the process of supplanting the old reality, which is falling before it.
The old reality still works – the laws of physics are not totally rewritten –
but it tends to break down, disappear, and become harder and harder for Ords to
access. There are no factories to produce the guns, they run out of ammo, they
corrode or are broken, eventually nothing is left but useless relics. Ords
retain their identities at first, but over time they slowly “go native”,
eventually their previous lives are nothing but an unimportant memory. Landmarks
of the old reality still exist but decay into ruins as they are replaced by the
new reality.
Dominant: The new reality
has replaced the old reality. Landmarks and people of the old reality have been
transformed into new reality equivalents, unless they are hard points or
possibility-rated, respectively. Ords who enter the zone from outside are
transformed. Ords are aware that things have changed in terms of politics and
events, but perform their new jobs and use their new knowledge, no longer
understanding their old jobs and old knowledge. Ords are aware of the invasion
/ reality-changing situation, but can’t think in ways inconsistent with their
new reality. Storm Knights can use their foreign reality powers normally as
long as they don’t disconnect. Ords comprehend that the Storm Knights come from
strange places and have strange powers, they don’t refuse to believe their
power and back story just because they are impossible according to their own reality.
But this is mainly when dealing with Storm Knights directly, Ord society
overall operates as if Storm Knights did not exist.
Semi-Pure: Storm Knights
who enter the zone are not transformed, but their powers only work to the
extent that they can be made consistent with local reality (barring a reality
bubble). Their possession and appearance may be slightly adjusted (living plant
spears are no longer alive), but in general they look foreign and different. Ords
understand they come from the invading realities, but think of those more as
exotic new places with exotic new cultures rather than really perceiving them
as different realities. So an Ayslish mage in semi-pure Cyberpapacy is
identifiably using a different style of magic but lacks her full powers; if she
complains she had greater powers in Aysle, locals may interpret Aysle as being
“closer to Hell” and full of black magic rather than really treating it as
fundamentally different. Ord themselves have back stories fully consistent with
their new reality.
Pure: Storm Knights who enter the zone
are transformed into local equivalents (a Core Earth tough cop might become a
valiant Knight of the Realm, for instance), gaining and losing powers as
appropriate. Their back stories change as well, although as Storm Knights they
are aware that they have been transformed and are involved in a reality war.
Ord society does not grasp the reality war concept, it is interpreted in terms
that make sense in their reality (Egypt has been taken over by the leader of a
powerful crime syndicate, not by a supervillain).
This
grew out of the way we played Torg. Dominant zones were supposed to be the most
common so that is what we played in. Most of the time, the concept of the
scenarios I created was that the Storm Knights would go on an adventure
consistent with a specific reality; a bunch of characters from different
realities all going on a classic fantasy adventure. So I was treating Aysle as
a classic fantasy realm rather than a realm being slowly converted from Core
Earth to a fantasy realm, which is what the Torg rules implied. I could have
had the adventures occur in a pure zone, but we never wanted to adventure in a
pure zone because you can’t use your cool powers in a pure zone, and where is
the fun in that? So my concept of a dominant zone became one where everything
but the Storm Knights was fully transformed to the new reality.
Other
adventures, however, were meant to deal specifically with the concept of
foreign realities invading Earth, and worked better with a different type of
dominant zone. This is most especially true of the Living Land. The Living
Land’s genre suffers from being rather limited and weird (a dinosaur-infested
land of primitives, covered by a creepy mist that makes you lost, unified by
one all-encompassing religion which grants great power to the faithful). The
interesting aspect of the Living Land storyline is how super-powered primitives
backed up by mother nature conquer areas of the United States (funny how this
sounds similar to the plot of Avatar). Fully in-genre adventures would involve
human savages with divine powers fighting lizardman savages with divine powers.
The adventures I wanted to create for the Living Land involved trying to rescue
pockets of civilization from being consumed by the mist, running low on
supplies, and ultimately going primitive. So for Living Land I was using a
different interpretation of a dominant zone, more consistent with the game’s
original definition.
So
my idea was to change the “less dominant” type of dominant zone to be called a
semi-dominant zone. Then I had the idea that since we didn’t like playing in
pure zones, but they were supposed to exist, I would change the original
description of pure zones to “semi-pure” zones, and make a new type of pure
zone. It always seemed odd to me that in Torg, when you disconnect your
technology stops working, but still remains identifiably something that does
not belong in the local reality. Hence my idea that reality should usually
transform completely to local reality. Having characters do so in a pure zone seemed
really cool. I have to admit that we never actually used this rule, and it
isn’t exactly practical to make a new version of your character when you enter
a pure zone. But the idea of trying to figure out what your character would be
like in a different reality really appeals to me, I love trying to imagine
“what is the Nippon Tech equivalent of a half-Elf, half-Fey elemental
sorceress?”
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