Time Travel / Doomsday RP interest thread

[Dio the Awesome]

I am obsessed with time and time travel. The science behind it interests me, and the implications and consequences of changing the future also greatly interest me. Just a brief warning; this RP will challenge your writing skills, because you need to be able to think in the sixth dimension.

(What the Hell is the fifth dimension? Well, for those of you who want to have your heads exploded, go here: Imagining the Tenth Dimension part 1

If you are still with me after that, see part 2, it is also interesting, but not really relevent to this RP. Imagining the Tenth Dimension Part 2)

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Understanding the stuff about the sixth dimension, while not critical to joining up, will be benificial in helping to create an intersting, branching, and potentially confusion story. With this short introduction out of the way, here is what I intend to do for the roleplay.

The plot in brief. The world is doomed. Because of radical changes in [technology / military policy / enviromental conditions / other] the world as we know it will end. Seeing that the end was inevitable, a team of renowned scientists managed to create a time machine, able to send a group of people back in time 17 days. In those seventeen days, the group must identify crucial points in the time line, change them to avoid the cataclysm, and then return to their original time. (Going back in time being traveling in the fifth dimension, and returning to the changed future being travel in the sixth dimension).

I have not yet worked out all the specifics, which is why the thread is only in the interest state. I don't yet know what will bring about the worlds doom, but I want to keep the world in the near future, perhaps 10 - 20 years from now.

The time frame I have set will be 17 days. I don't know why, but I like that number.

Once everyone has agreed on a basic plot for the end of the world, I will identify a series of chain reactions leading to doomsday. The group would need to break one of the links in the chain to save the future.

Something else I want to keep in mind is the idea of creating a time rift, or a time paradox. I'm not sure how I want to handle this aspect, or even at all.

Umm... I hope I have not scared everyone off. My roleplay ideas tend to attract only tumble weeds. I am open to any and all suggestions, comments or hate mail. Discuss my minions, discuss.


ORIGINAL TIMELINE:


July 2 - July 18


July 2:

July 3:
President [Name here] is reelected.

July 4:

July 5:

July 6:
Military from country X begins operations in country Y.

July 7:

July 8:
A suicide bomb on a major city landmark sparks calls for a speedy end to the war.

July 9:
Operation Blackfire is approved, and begins working on a chemical weapon to use on the environment.

July 10:

July 11:

July 12:
The chemical weapon has been synthesized and is now being mass produced.

July 13:

July 14

July 15:
The chemical weapon has been deployed, wiping out country Y.

July 16:
The nature of the chemical has expectantly changed, destroying surrounding areas and poisoning the air.

July 17:

July 18:
A team is sent into the past to prevent the chemical from being launched.



Operating in the past:

Reliving the past assumes that there is a copy of each person still running around. It is inadvisable to meet your past self (though sometimes required) as the event could cause a time rift. (Time rifts will be explained later.) To try and explain the type of time travel we will be using, I'll use the case subject Bob.

Bob travels one day in the past. For Future Bob and Past Bob, they are both living in the present. (Henceforth known as F Bob and P Bob). There are two Bob existing in the current present. F Bob watches P Bob mow the lawn for an hour, walk his dog, and then return the his house and watch TV until the day is over. Then P Bob enters his time machine and travels back one day in the past. F Bob is now the only Bob in the present. Time now continues on it's usual course. In this example, the timeline has not been altered, and F Bob has managed to time travel and resume his life where P Bob left off.


Changing the past:

Now, what happens for example, when F Bob attempts to change P Bobs life. Let's say that F Bob decides that watching TV is too boring, and wishes he had more excitement. While P Bob is watching TV, F Bob climbs on the roof and unplugs the antenna. P Bob, seeing that the cable is out, decides to go to the bar instead and watches TV there.

Here we run into a problem. F Bob has not experienced these events. As far as he is concerned, he spent all day watching TV and did not go to the bar. P Bob on the other hand did go to the bar. In this example, the Bobs have different experiences. F Bob, while he can change past events, he is unable to gain the experiences in that altered past. However when time resumes its course, he experiences the consequences of changing the past. In this case, his wallet is now empty because P Bob bought several beers.

There is also another problem. With every altered event, you run the risk of your past self not going to the past. Perhaps P Bob gets so drunk that he does not enter the time machine later that night. Two Bobs can not exist in the same timeline. If P Bob does not enter the time machine within the same time frame as F Bob, a time paradox will be created. A time paradox results in the destruction of the universe as we know it.

[SanityStealer]

Tumble weed #1, reporting!

Aaaah, time travel. How I have missed thee. I'm quite interested in this, actually. For the doomsday world scenario, how about a combination of all? Maybe the technological aspect is being controlled by the military, and there's some sort of impending (or begun) global war of ultimate destruction in the original timeline. In preparation for this war, the economy and environment have been completely ruined. Maybe some other elements can be added?

Time rifts and paradoxes can be fun, if not incredibly confusing. Might I also toss out the idea of a time loop, or a repeating set of events that someone is trapped in and can't get out of? Those can be fun too -- again, confusing. Not sure how that would happen, but it would be great if we could figure out a way to slip one in there.

17 days sounds like a plan. Am I correct in assuming that some sort of catastrophe will happen and there'll be more time-travel than just that?

[Dio the Awesome]

I'm actually surprised this got a response. Such is the way of FoG I guess.

I still want to go through with this, but I posted the idea a while ago, and need to recollect some of my thoughts on it. Hopefully this can garner some more interest.

*Puts on thinking cap*

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....


The problem with environmental effects is the time frame I have set down. 17 days is not enough to radically alter the course of mankinds effects on the environment. Of course no sooner than I say this, I get an idea. A nasty idea. I had a nasty brilliant idea.

The military of country X could have developed an environmental weapon. The use of which causes some sort of blight. There is some sort of unexpected science mumbo jumbo which threatens to destroy all life on earth in a matter of days.

So. It try and frame the story, here is a rough time line. These events will be known as the original timeline. Once you and I, and any other people who join have established a set time line, the roleplay will begin. We will need to change some or all of the key moments in the timeline.

To make it easier to make a timeline, I'll just grab a random month off of the calendar. Days with nothing below them means I have no important events to put here. If you decide that your character has already done something important that they may want to change, you should include it before we start.

Let me know what you think.

[Chainlinc3]

Nuclear holocausts are far more dramatic, but far less efficient at wiping out all mankind. Biological weapons make sense, but I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by an environmental agent.

On another note, this premise intrigues me, but I'm afraid I just don't have the creative juices to put any towards helping you brainstorm. If this gets off the ground though, I'll probably join in.

[SanityStealer]

Oh, I applaud you for that brilliant, nasty idea. Oh, and this is just a thought, what if the chemical started bonding with oxygen, making it impossible for life to breathe without breathing in the chemical (and altered oxygen), thus making for some very insta-sick people?

...Your timeline has sixteen days, not seventeen. As a whole, however, I think the timeline is good enough. We won't know character details until the characters themselves are created.

Which reminds me. Characters. Obviously, all the important organizations -- and by important, I mean important to the world, like government, science, and military, not bigshot companies and whatnot -- are going to want to send people on this mission. Should we frame it so that only a set amount of people can join? So, maybe the group can only afford one diplomat, three military people, two scientists, whatever. I don't know.

And age. It might be a good idea to have a minimum age, just so there aren't young teens trying to sneak in. Unless, of course, there's a good reason they're sent back.

All brainstorms, mind.

[Chainlinc3]

Bonding with oxygen is well and good, but if it were to do so it would make for some very insta-dead people-- with no REAL oxygen to breath, they would perish. Furthermore, unless the chemical was able to somehow commandeer living tissue (like a virus), there would be no way for it to reproduce, meaning that only a limited outbreak would be unfeasible.

Then again, that's all just science speaking, and we all know that science can be bent for the sake of the story if the need arises.

[Dio the Awesome]

And because I am done dumb I nuked my post.

I am apparently rather frazzled, because my words and spelling errors are astronomical right now. So I run the risk of sounding incoherent.

First. I welcome SanityStealer, though I think you will find sanity lacking in my hollow shell. Now, as for your 'storming...

Yeah, I was going more for a "Fucks up the atmosphere thing". That way the world is fucked, but it is slow to reach the entire globe, allowing for the country with the time travel capabilities can react before they get destroyed as well.

As for team make up, the number I had in my head was 4-6. That way it A) keeps the number or players reasonable, and more importantly B) reduces the risk of a time rift. As for age, between 20-40 preferably. You're right I don't need kids time hopping, but the 20's allows for the brilliant scientist archetype.


Now, I will try and explain time travel. Keep in mind that there are different theories, and if you guys have your own, I'd love to hear them. The hard part is keeping the different timelines straight, and allowing the heroes to make it back to their original time.

Operating in the past:

Reliving the past assumes that there is a copy of each person still running around. It is inadvisable to meet your past self (though sometimes required) as the event could cause a time rift. (Time rifts will be explained later.) To try and explain the type of time travel we will be using, I'll use the case subject Bob.

Bob travels one day in the past. For Future Bob and Past Bob, they are both living in the present. (Henceforth known as F Bob and P Bob). There are two Bob existing in the current present. F Bob watches P Bob mow the lawn for an hour, walk his dog, and then return the his house and watch TV until the day is over. Then P Bob enters his time machine and travels back one day in the past. F Bob is now the only Bob in the present. Time now continues on it's usual course. In this example, the timeline has not been altered, and F Bob has managed to time travel and resume his life where P Bob left off.


Changing the past:

Now, what happens for example, when F Bob attempts to change P Bobs life. Let's say that F Bob decides that watching TV is too boring, and wishes he had more excitement. While P Bob is watching TV, F Bob climbs on the roof and unplugs the antenna. P Bob, seeing that the cable is out, decides to go to the bar instead and watches TV there.

Here we run into a problem. F Bob has not experienced these events. As far as he is concerned, he spent all day watching TV and did not go to the bar. P Bob on the other hand did go to the bar. In this example, the Bobs have different experiences. F Bob, while he can change past events, he is unable to gain the experiences in that altered past. However when time resumes its course, he experiences the consequences of changing the past. In this case, his wallet is now empty because P Bob bought several beers.

There is also another problem. With every altered event, you run the risk of your past self not going to the past. Perhaps P Bob gets so drunk that he does not enter the time machine later that night. Two Bobs can not exist in the same timeline. If P Bob does not enter the time machine within the same time frame as F Bob, a time paradox will be created. A time paradox results in the destruction of the universe as we know it.


That's all my brain has time for tonight. I'd like some input on this idea as well. I will copy this information into my first post as well.

[Artorius]

Hm... I'm interested, I must say time travel intrigues me. However, I never could wrap my head around how time travel doesn't trap one in a continous loop of time travel effectively, or maybe creating more than one universe. If a guy traveled back in time to observe events, wouldn't his double then essentially do the same? Creating an endless loop in the processs and infinite worlds. God.... I really just can't wrap my head around it. However, consider me interested.

Oh, and I always was intrigued at the idea of Pandemic in the same vein of the Bubonic Plague, but worse. Why not make it a virus? Sure, there will be those who develop immunity but as said, it allows for greater flexibility with the laws of science. It can also be transmitted in a number of ways which would allow for a great plot point. If you fail to stop the launch, can you destroy the biological weapon during its flight? Can you destroy the virus itself? It leaves a lot of possibilities, but just ideas. I'd love to participate.

[Dio the Awesome]

Again, the thread suffers from, I get one or two people interested, then everyone falls off the face of the planet. Consider this roleplay idea of the defibrillator I suppose, and if I can drum up some more interest, more work can be done on the idea.

As for a virus, I want to shy away from that idea, since it feels like it has been done way to many times as an explanation for the end of civilization. (I am Legend, 28 Days later, Left 4 Dead, Heroes, ect.)

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