Introduction

"You're telling me we're in Chicago, the year is 1997, and we're all supposed to be Dead?"

-- John Astor to Captain O'Donahue

The central appeal to any gaming environment is the ability to leave the world you are familiar with behind for a while and wander about in one that is utterly fantastic and operates on natural laws that are very different from the norm we have grown accustomed to. In a fantasy setting, magic and mythical creatures abound, while the cyberpunk future is gritty and dark and the lines that separate man and machine have become blurred or obliterated altogether. Horror brings our most terrifying nightmares to life.

In role-playing, we enter foreign worlds of our own free will and venture about as natives of our environment. But what if we were ripped from our own world and thrown abruptly into one which we knew nothing about and where ignorance can be the most deadly weakness? This is the premise behind Timeship: TITANIC! where the crew and passengers of the famed liner must contend with worlds beyond their wildest imaginings, beings totally alien from themselves, and natural laws that sometimes defy logic.

This article is intended to serve as a guide to running an adventure in some of the more popular gaming genres, with tips on where to find inspiration for each as well as providing brief adventure starters. In addition, I have also provided two scales for measuring how the Titanic and her crew will be reacted to in each game world. These are: Awe Factor and Tech Advantage.

Awe Factor

This is the factor by which the Titanic and her crew will be looked upon by the people of any particular world she visits. This can range from contempt, where the world has technology so advanced that the players are looked upon as primitives, up to god-like where the ship and her passengers attain almost supernatural status in the eyes and minds of a backwards culture (The World War Two pacific island "Airplane Cults" are a good example of this).

An on-par rating means that the technology level is equal to that of 1912 era Earth, and the ship and crew will draw scant, if any notice, outside of their garb, and general appearance.

Tech-advantage

Quite simply, this signifies how much of an advantage or disadvantage the players will have against the people and creatures of any particular world they find themselves in by virtue of the devices and weapons they carry. Will they be facing arrows and spears?; or running from lasers, and smart bombs?

Charting Your Course: Gamemaster Guide

Introduction
Fantasy
Cyberpunk
Horror
Superheroes
Steampunk
Alternate History