A shattered timelines story line, with different plot lines.

Other Games SotM Game Engine
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I'm working on a story line of battles that take place as the timelines shatter, the major idea being that no battle result is truly final, as everything can go right today and then wrong ten years ago, or wrong today with a chance to go back and change events.

My first battle is a beefed up Baron Blade fight, which will lead the players on any of six storylines afterwards.  The fight is a little bit complex, but I tried to keep the changes as basic as possible.  I am working on the other fights, just wanted to see what people thought of the idea and my first battle, will continue to post more if people like it.

Sadly my computer is not working with attaching the document, so I cut and paste, hopefully I can get it working soon.

 

Oh, and this isn't going to work too hard to stick to cannon, but that is the beauty of shattering timelines and merging alternate realities, all kinds of things are possible.

 

 

 

The Beginning:  things go wrong

 

This fight is complicated and difficult, the later fights won’t be so bad, I wanted all six results to be feasible, and a high loss chance on Baron’s first side.  Remember you don’t lose the game by losing the fight, you just enter a different story.

 

Required Heroes:  Legacy

Banned Heroes:  Omnitron-X, Chrono-Ranger, The Scholar, The Visionary and all alternate hero cards.

Villain:  Baron Blade advanced with special rules

Environment:  Wagner Mars base and Time Cataclysm.

 

Wagner Mars Base:  Take Self-Destruct sequence out and set it aside, start game with WMB deck as the environment deck.

Time Cataclysm:  Take out one Rift in Time and set aside with destruct sequence, set deck aside.

 

Special Baron Blade difficulty:  

Setup:  Put Two Mobile Defense Platforms into play.  

Advanced+: At the end of the villain turn discard the top (H)-1 cards of the villain deck. (instead of H-2, move quickly)

 

If the Terra-Lunar impulse beam succeeds, the fight is not over, flip Baron Blade’s card and continue the fight with the following changes:  Do not take Mobile defense platforms out of Baron Blade’s deck, all Heroes take +1 damage.

 

IIf the Heroes stop the Terra-Lunar impulse beam, flip Baron Blade’s card (as usual), then put Self-destruct sequence into play, and replace Wagner Mars base environment deck with Time Cataclysm deck. (Keep all WMB cards that are in play, as well as the cards for Self-destruct sequence, use WMB cards for self-destruct sequence)

Put Rift in Time into play, place a marker on Rift in Time, that card is indestructible unless it is the only environment card on the field at the start of the turn, then it is destroyed.  If the marked rift in time is destroyed, the rift envelops the base, and the fight ends.


 

Story:

 

Prologue

Baron Blade vanishes, all traces of his wealth and influence are gone.  Months pass.  Then, following up on some weak leads they discover his trail, all the way to the Wagner Mars Base.  It appears that he is rebuilding his Terra-Lunar impulse beam, and is prepared once more to destroy the Earth.  The Heroes set off knowing they have little time to stop Baron Blade, who has staked everything he has on this move.

 

On Flip:

Terra-Lunar Impulsion Beam stopped:  “NOOO!!  Not again, not again!”  “Baron Blade, it’s over, time to give up,” Legacy calls as he approaches the slumping form of his nemesis.  “Never, Legacy, never; this is far from over.” Baron Blade punches a few buttons, "Self-Destruct sequence activated, T-minus two minutes and counting." A hum arises in the air, as Baron Blade turns to face Legacy, now in his battle armor suit, "Prepare to die Legacy."

 

Terra-Lunar Beam succeeds:  “HAHAHAHAHAHA, Look Legacy. . . watch as your earth dies.”  Legacy and the rest can only watch as the moon moves closer and closer to the Earth, others look away, but Legacy stands, watching the collision while tears form in his eyes.  “You will pay for that Baron,” Legacy’s voice echoes through the base, raspy and choking, then booming “Prepare yourself Blade, Your time is done!”

 

Endings:

Terra-lunar succeeds, Heroes lose:  “Goodbye Legacy, this has been a great moment for me, I wish I could stick around to see you die, but alas, my future calls, rest assured my old friend, we will meet again.”  Baron Blade presses some buttons on his wrist and an explosion is heard, a portal opens and envelops Baron Blade.  Legacy struggles to remain conscious as the explosions draw near. . .

 

Terra-Lunar Succeeds, Heroes defeat Blade:  Bloodied and beaten the Baron laughs, spitting out blood as Legacy pummels his face and torso.  “You lost Legacy, the Earth is gone, all of them dead, you failed them all.”  Legacy doesn’t respond, striking his enemy over and over till the Baron ceases his laughing, till he goes limp and lifeless, till his team mates pull him off of the Baron’s corpse, his face broken and tear-stained.  go to fight B

 

Terra-lunar stopped, Heroes win:  Legacy stands over his foe, the Baron beaten and broken.  “This time Blade, you won’t be coming back.  It’s all over.”  “No,” chokes Baron Blade, “I told you Legacy, this is far from over.”  He slaps his wrist, and a loud hum fills the room, a portal opens on the Baron, and then closes with a pop, the Baron is gone, and the Heroes are left to clean up the mess.  go to fight C

 

Terra-lunar stopped, Baron blade defeats heroes (HP to 0):  Baron Blade looks down at his beaten foes, “You think you have stopped me, but you are wrong, this is only the beginning Legacy, I will reign supreme, and you will bow before me yet.”  Baron Blade calls his remaining minions and then presses several buttons on his wrist.  “See you later Legacy, or should I say earlier?”  go to fight D

 

Terra-Lunar Stopped, Self-Destruct sequence is triggered:  A scream echoes through the Rook City Home for the Criminally Insane.  Visionary sits upright, staring straight forward in a cold sweat, “They’re dead, I didn’t see it coming, they’re all dead.”  A young lady puts her hand on her shoulder, “What are you talking about?”  The Visionary looks around her, as her surroundings sink in, “Everything’s changed, where am I?”  go to fight E

 

Terra-Lunar Stopped, Rift in Time envelops base:  Legacy looks around him as the time slows and, well. . . swirls?  Legacy calls out, his words too slow to comprehend. Baron Blade recoils, a look of shock and horror on his face, his mouth trying to form words.  Legacy flings himself forward, flying in slow motion, areaching his nemesis, grabbing ahold of him as the world goes shiny, then pops.  go to fight F



 

Arcs: each ending has a rough storyline attached, that will have several outcomes as it goes, i'm aiming for five or six fights

 

A:  Omnitron-X finds Earth destroyed and no human life, travels to fixed points to discover the cause and save Humanity.

 

B:  Heroes travel to try to change the timeline, save Legacy and the Earth.

 

C:  Heroes go home to find a very different Earth, and fight to set things right.

 

D:  Young Legacy sets out in her fathers place to find out what Blade is up to.

 

E:  In alternate rook city Vis must escape, find friends and travel to Mars, where they hope to undo whatever has been done.


F:  The rest of the team must hunt for Legacy and Blade.

 

A few final things, sometimes a storyline will kill an incapacitated character, but generally incapacitated does not at all mean dead. Players will have to keep track of heroes used, because some fights and results will cost you part or all of the team from that fight for future battles. I'm giong to work to keep it easy enough to keep track, and make sure you can't drop too low on options.

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Finished two fights in story line A, I'll post them seperately.

 

Fight A1

 

Required Heroes:  Omnitron-X, Chrono-Ranger

Villain:  Plague Rat

Environment:  Silver Gulch

Team mates:  This fight is intended for two, add more to fit your group, but other team members don’t fit in the story.

 

Special Rules:

 

Humans Unite:  Each player may discard one card during an environment turn (up to the point damage would be dealt) to remove their hero as a target for gunmen for the rest of that turn.  (they cannot be targeted by environmental targets and they do not factor into calculations for highest/lowest HP, etc.  Plaguerat can still redirect damage to heroes.  The idea is that by spending some effort the heroes can keep the Hayes brothers focused on fighting the giant rat for the time being.

 

Spread the Disease:  Infection can target Human environment targets, at player discretion.  An infected Environment target only targets hero targets.  (Tyler Hayes would deal each Hero target damage, Sherriff Pratt would target the Hero target with the lowest HP, etc.)

 

Got the jump on ‘im:  The game starts with the Heroes turns.

 

Story:

 

Sol system, the future.

 

Temporal jump successful. . . arriving Planet Earth, 2134 AD. . .  Sensors Show no life forms. . . Analyzing Asteroid field. . . Debris approximate to combined mass of Earth and Moon. . .  Scanning Temporal records. . . No record of destruction found. . .  Searching fixed points. . .  Temporal Jump initiated. . .

 

Final Wasteland, distant future.

 

“Well done sir, this information is just what we needed, why as soon as we get you stitched up and de-toxed I’ll run the information through the plotter and-”  “You’re rambling Con,” Jim interrupted, “just get me ready to go.”  “Of course sir, I’m sorry for rambling, but as I’ve told you I was alone here for many-” “Yes, I know Con, I just want to get this done, and I appreciate the work you did tracking the death worm.”  Jim added, wishing he could tell Con to shut up without the machine sulking and whining for a week.  “Well it was your suggestion sir, and the rats did run away long enough to get you into the library, I just wish that old coot would have helped you get back out.”  Con stated, trying to watch his word count, “or at least let me use the library, I mean what’s he got against machines anyway. . .”  Jim was just starting to enjoy the moment of silence when an alarm went off, “what the. . .” “Sir,” Con started, his voice panicked and hurried, “We need to go now, we are about to be hit by what appears to be a time wave, something big, and very old.”  Jim leaned to look at the display, it was 20-something, not long past his own time, “What the heck could cause a wave that big?” asked Jim, but he got no answer, Con was already engaging the time drive, and couldn’t respond.  He’d have time to figure that all out later, first he had to fix a rat problem.  “Can’t believe we crossed paths so perfectly,” Jim thought out loud, “That’s just bizarre.”

 

Silver Gulch, 1883

 

Jim hadn’t been there long, but it had been long enough, the rat was bigger than his descendants, and looked a lot smarter.  “This’ll be tough with just me,” he said to himself, “those Hayes boys aren’t going to hold out long.”  He’d seen one townsperson get bit, and he didn’t like the look of it.  “You are the Ranger.”  He turned quick, gun ready, to see a humanoid robot addressing him.  “You are the Ranger,” it repeated, “You will help, You will come.”  “Yeah right bud, just give me a minute.”  He couldn’t tell the armor, and it bothered him, he had no clue what to expect from this thing, or even which of his weapons to use.  “I will assist you, then you will assist me, it is a deal.”  This thing didn’t seem to understand asking, but if it could distract the Rat he’d have a lot easier time, whether it could fight or not.  “OK bud, let’s do this.”


 

Endings:  

 

Heroes Defeated:  The Ranger’s vital signs were fading, he would not be of use now.  Omnitron again scanned the timelines for a fixed point that would be of value, and started the time jump.  Perhaps this would not be as easy as he had hoped.  Go to Fight A2

 

Heroes Victorious:  “You did good bud, you’re pretty handy in a fight,” Jim stated, and he meant it.  Jim had always preferred going solo, partners just go in the way, but this robot. . . “Now you will come,” it stated.  “There is much work to do.”  Go to Fight A3

 

Lost in the past activates:  Jim lined up his shot, if only that Rat wasn’t so fast. . . The robot was turning into the clearing now, the Rat would try to cut him off.  Jim took aim and waited an eternal millisecond for the rat to leap out, he fired. . . the bullet eased out of the barrel in a swirl of light, the rat, robot, everything held in a deafening immobile hum.  Then the world popped.

 

Jim opened his eyes and looked around, what had happened?  “You’re okay sir, oh bless my circuits.”  “Con,” Jim wearily asked, “What happened?”  For what must have been the first time Con hesitated to answer, “I don’t know sir, but the time drive is dead, and that robot seems stuck here too.”  “What do you mean, how is that possible?” Jim asked, his head clearing.  “I don’t know sir, but for now, we are stuck here.”  “The Rat!” Jim exclaimed, reaching for his gun.  “The rat is gone sir, all scans are negative, he appears to have just vanished.”  “Damn. . .”  It was all Jim could think to say.  Go to fight A4

 
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The storylines from different paths will entertwine a bit.  Also there will be a few PVP fights, because they work for the story.  Also this arc might revolve around Omnitron-X, but he's crappy to write for, so he just doesn't speak much and Chrono-Ranger is sort of taking over the story.  Also the result of this battle probably won't change the story at all, It just really worked for the story.

 

Fight A3:

 

Special Match:  PVP, heroes vs. heroes.

Required Heroes (teamA):  Omnitron-X, Chrono-Ranger

Required Heroes (reamB):  Greatest Legacy

Second hero team B options:  Wraith, Visionary, Expatriette, Mr. Fixer.

Environment Deck:  Realm of Discord

 

PVP rules:  

1.  The heroes are on two teams, all hero cards referring to villains, refers to the opposing team, heroes on opposing teams are considered villain targets (as well as non-heroes), and their cards are treated as villain cards, their deck as a villain deck, and their discard pile a villain discard pile.  All boosts that refer to heroes or players only affects the team that the card belongs to.  

2.  Any hero card that targets villain ongoing cards also targets equipment, and the choice of what cards are destroyed is the player playing the card.

3.  Environment cards treat all heroes the same, and all are considered to be both villain and hero targets, as well as non-hero and non-villain targets.

4.  Decide order of play by coin toss, the winning team gets to choose whether their team goes first and third, or second and fourth, then must declare which of their heroes will act when, then the team that lost the toss chooses their order.  The environment deck plays after all heroes act.

5.  (Optional rule) Each hero gets a mulligan, if they have a really bad hand they can use their mulligan to turn in any number of cards and draw the same number of new cards.  Only once per hero.

 

Story:

 

Jim was getting restless, that robot Omega-thon or something had been plugged into Con for three hours now, and as much as it killed him to admit it, the quiet was getting to him.  The robot was interested in their sensor reports on the time wave, thought he could trace its origin.  Apparently you can’t track the wave itself, you either catch it like they did, or you don’t.  Also apparently if they hadn’t taken off they wouldn’t have any memory or record of it.  “But we did and we do,” Jim thought out loud, pertending it made sense.  “What was that sir?” Con asked, startling the human.  “Umm, I was just asking how things are going.”  “Splendidly sir,” Con answered, “We have tracked the wave variance point to the 20th or 21st century, and have a name, Legacy.”  “Legacy, never heard of him.”  “Of course not,” Con continued, “he is well out of your time, but we think if we can eliminate this Legacy we can stop the Earth’s destruction.”  “That is correct,” the robot added, “the one called Legacy is key to the disruption.”  “Well,” said Jim, “if he’s responsible for destroying the Earth, then I’m in, let’s get him.”

 

Earth, 1945.

 

“At least it isn’t a parade,” James Brooks turned to his companion, “How exactly are we supposed to get him in this mess?”  Soldiers were everywhere, there was a ceremony going on, a flag, looked like the U.S. flag, but with too many stars.  “Why’d they go away from the circle, it looked good, like a target. . .” Jim trailed off, thinking about what he was about to do, this Legacy was a war hero, a US war hero.  He’d seen enough of war in Oklahoma.  The stuff people did then. . . and now, he had to kill a man whose war just ended.  It wasn’t sitting right.

 

“We will move at night, during the celebration, the time drive will be ready then.”  The robot’s cold machine-like answer was a bit too much for Jim, but it wouldn’t stop him.  He’d killed men he didn’t want to before, and they weren’t responsible for the destruction of the whole damn planet.  He’d only get one shot at this too, Con and Omm-whatever had rigged the time drive to force this event into a fixed point, somehow it would lock the results tonight into all timelines, not just create another branch of reality, and Con had said something about things getting weird. . .

 

It was dark and noisy, but they found him talking to someone, off behind the barracks, they were alone.  Two vs. two, a fair fight.  “Let’s go.” Jim told the robot.  The robot hesitated for a second, “The time drive is activated, the time field is operational, let us engage.”

 

Results:

 

Omnitron-X/Chrono-Ranger win:  James Brooks stood over the one known as Legacy, he had to finish this.  His hand faltered. . . “Damn it I can’t,” he said to his robot companion, “You do it.”

~where is your master assassin~

“What the?” that voice came from inside his head.

~Baron Blade, why is he not here~

“Who the hell is Baron Blade, and what the hell is going on?” Jim was starting to get angry, and scared.  The robot stopped and looked at him, “Ranger, is there a problem?”  (Here either the Visionary props herself up on her elbow, or approaches the heroes)  “You tell the truth, you are not servants of the Mad Baron, why are you trying to kill Paul Parsons?”  The robot turned and responded, but Jim wasn’t listening, he’d heard that name before.  “Paul Parsons, he was a war hero, he’s in the appomattox picture, read a book about him, what’s he got to do with this?”  “That was my great-great grandpa mister,” the man called Legacy answered, recovering quickly from his wounds. “There’s been a Paul Parsons fighting in every war the U.S. of A. has ever been in.”  Jim pointed Danny Boy at the man claiming to be Parsons, and a stun dart at the bald lady.  “I suggest the two of you reach for the sky and explain exactly what is going on here, and how you plan on destroying the planet. . .”


Greatest Legacy wins:  James Brooks had never been a deep sleeper, you couldn’t drop a playing card without him hearing it, no matter how tired he was.  So it was a brand new experience getting woken up by a bucket of cold water, a wet and unpleasant experience.  He checked for his weapons, they had found them all, even that one grenade.  Looking around the room he saw the Man called Legacy, and several young ladies dressed, well. . . uniquely.  He also saw the robot, head removed and looking pretty banged up in the corner.  “You’ve got a lot to explain, Sheriff. . .”