I’ve got a lot of respect for the GMs on this forum so I’m reposting this here now that I am drawing closer to the culmination of events in my game. If you are on the Infinity forum this’ll look familiar.
I reached out to a group of people on Discord but I wanted to reach out even further to get as many opinions as possible. I am running a story in my Conan game that will be leading to the entire party ending up in Infinity’s world for what will probably be a short mini-campaign. They are exploring a puzzle circling around the Zodiac (the expanded 14). I have already decided that the source of the puzzle is an individual who is out of place. He comes from the Infinity universe and he’s using this puzzle to help himself get home. The party will be drug along once they solve it.
I’ve come to a few additional decisions since I originally started planning this and they go as follows:
Oh, now this is actually something that I’ve been struggling to work into the lore of the game. How the NPC bbeg got stuck in the far flung past and how I will explain how the pcs end up in comparable but not the same bodies. I don’t want to drop Conan characters directly into Infinity (the systems are similar enough but honestly Conan characters would be so lost with all the tech they wouldn’t stand a chance) so I need a way to explain how they end up in new bodies. Something like this might actually be just what I am looking for in that regard.
Back with an even more firm base for my ideas. As my plans shape up I am realizing more and more I’m going to be taking a couple minor liberties with core Infinity lore to make this work but… I’m looking for suggestions on race/archtype/build equivalents for a handful of Norse gods. Gods are as follows:
Thor, Loki, Freyja Baldr and Hermoor.
For anyone who isn’t sure they are the gods of (as I am utilizing them):
Thor: God of Thunder, storms, strength and protection
Loki: Trickster god, mischief
Frejya: war, death, sex, beauty
Baldr: Light, joy, purity
Hermoor: Messengers, brotherhood
It bears note that the npcs I am creating to reflect these gods are going to be mortal and 100% founded in Infinity. They are usurpers who have displaced the real deities. There were two others (Odin and Eir) but both of these are dead through accidental actions of the players involving a creature that blends the god Hel, some Lovecraftian lore and the digester nano machines that the Tahoo(?) had a hand in creating/unleashing on the universe.
Conversely I am also considering replacing Loki with Sif (goddess of the earth, family and the harvest)
I’m open to discussing any and all suggestions anyone has. Consider this a request for brain storming ideas that could be fun or add to the game.
I don’t know a thing about Infinity but as I was reading your post I was thinking about the big thing en vogue (at least in France) in the eighties about mixing different universes; back in the good old time of yore we had several very popular RPGs: Stormbringer, Hawkmoon and Runequest (they were running on the same 1D100 system) and some GMs ran “crossover” campaigns were (let’s say) Stormbringer characters were sent into Hawkmoon/Runequest universe. And I was thinking, maybe Champion Eternal? Maybe your PCs are more than characters, they are the embodiment of eternal principles/struggles/archetypes and, as heroes, they have echoes on other dimensions.
Therefore it can go like this: "you are the embodiment of a warrior you knew how to use a broadsword when you were dealing with the Picts, but now you are in (the Infinity universe) suddenly Lasers and Gauss Riffles make sense to you, much to your amazement.
As a consequence you could let all the trivia behind you (how can I explain they can use modern weapons? How do I deal with their former gods) and turn it into a mystery they’ll have to explore.
Second, I also know nothing about Infinity, but, after hearing a few posters laud how versatile it is (in terms of setting) I’m looking forward to exploring it, once I can put a few ducats aside.
After reading your post carefully, I think you are looking for advice on how your Evil got to the “past,” in the Hyborian Age, and, conversely, how your PCs can move forward in time—and into new characters, new embodiments. May I recommend the spell Atavistic Voyage? Or some infernal device—a mirror or glowing crystal (from the stars)—that replicates its effects? I can imagine your characters trapped in a closed chamber, once the cover of the machine is removed, asleep where they fell to the floor while their souls range to the Black Vales of Eternity. Modiphius is soon to release the Kull sourcebook, in which the designers recommend that Valusian Age stories be roleplayed in this fashion. In fact, a recurring theme in Robert E. Howard’s stories (and in many others of the Weird era) was reincarnation. Who says it can’t go the other way, that characters might not remember and experience their souls’ adventures in the future? @Jps is right. This kind of Eternal Champion motif might be of great use.
First, I can’t wait for the Kull book to be released. Really any new supplements are eagerly awaited by me.
Second, I actually have a puzzle that I made that is linked to the zodiac and some collectible coins that I bought that fit into it in a certain way. An infernal device is exactly the direction I was heading! I actually forgot about the spell Atavistic voyage. I’ll have to look into that, it’ll link pretty well I think.
I’m honestly looking for suggestions of any sort. I’m at a stage in planning where I’m doing a lot of world building right now. Literally… I am designing a world that has been devastated by cthulu infused nano machines that were corrupted by an ancient artifact.
Oh! I love that as an explanation actually. Since I have five characters that each fit into somewhat unique archetypes. The only question would become what category would my mongol archer fall into. Maybe split the warrior archetype into a ranged one and a melee? Maybe focus on her affinity towards animals… hmm
Or maybe focus on their personality. If your Mongol type Archer used to be a raider fighting against an evil and powerful empire (let’s say Stygia) maybe in Infinity he will be a Pirate raiding against another power empire/nation/planet and therefore would be the embodiment of righteous rage against oppression. And you could let your players convert their former character into the Infinity system based on that, we could even think of session 0 about this conversion.
I think personality might be an easier fit to be honest. However, I am going to be making the alternate versions of their characters, using the character generation process in Infinity but basing it off of the stats and skills that they currently have in Conan. I.E. characters with high lore will end up with a similar trait in whatever is the equivalent in Conan. I’m hoping to reduce how jarring it is. Though… maybe we could do a session .5 type thing as the experience of travelling between realms and maybe I let them/help them create characters during that… hmmm, I hadn’t even thought about that!
