|
|
In the near now, Earth is invaded. Not by aliens from outer space or a malevolent government, but by other dimensions. Not just beings from other dimensions, but the realities they originated from as well. TORG is about one such reality, Earth in the near now, fighting off a carefully planned invasion by multiple realities. Each reality is distinct and governed by a High Lord. They and their agents seek to take land and convert the population from our reality to theirs. With each passing day they are successdul; with each passing day more energy is drained from the world. Possibility energy is what makes reality possibly. Possibility energy drives a reality and allows it to change over time. Without it, life ceases to exist.
In the beginning there was the Everlaw of One. It governs the multiverse saying: for every set of two or more conflicting possibilities only one of them can become a reality. The Everlaw of One is the most powerful, and constant, law known. It prevents a reality such as one where you are both alive and dead; it uses possibility energy to make only one of those facts true (which ever requires less energy and change). There is this reality in which you are alive, and in another one, perhaps, you are not. They remain seperate. There are an infinite number realities out there, each one is its own universe.
There is a second Everlaw, the Everlaw of Two, which states that the living and unliving are link by the rules of their cosm, and the living may use possibility energy to create and change their world. People on our Earth harnessed possibility energy particularly well in the 19th and 20th centuries, increasing the Technological axiom by considerable levels. Possibility flows fom the unliving world, to living beings, and back again. Long ago, people began to discover ways of interupting that flow. They became possibility raiders. Using ancient and arcane devices, they opened gates into other cosms, and imposed their reality into the new world. This allows the raider to absorb possibility energy. The energy leaving the new reality cannot connect to the living being from the old reality, so it does not diminish. The being's own possibility energy leaves them and returns to their home reality. When energy from the unliving world in their home reality tries to cycle back to them, it is intercepted by the stelae at the borders, and redirected into the raider's device. Eventually, all the living beings from the old reality loose their possibility energy and disconnect from their home cosm and reconnect to the invaders reality; which strengthens the raider's hold. The Everlaw of One tries to establish only a single reality, by making possibility energy surge, but is blocked by the energies of the raider's device and the energies provided by the Everlaw of Two; which is normally weaker. The Everlaws work to the raiders' advantage.
Torg is about clashing realities and possibilities. Think Mage; instead of nebulous paradigms and definitions of paradox and vulgar actions, each reality has concrete parameters on what is and is not possible. For most people, having another reality thrust upon them will either change their outlook and identity to match the new cosm overtime, or they simply will die from the strain. Stormers are people who, are infused with possibility energy and can manipulate it to a small degree. They can freely move from one reality to another by carrying a piece of their own reality with them.
Though there are some difficulties with being able to move between worlds. The first is the edges of reality. On the border of a reality possibility energy is chaotic and volatile. Stormers passing through still have a chance of being thrown about, paradigmatically speaking, by passing through these barriers. Once in another cosm, one must follow the rules of that cosm. Stormers have the advantage, since they carry a small spark of their home cosm, they can still try to do things as they normally would. This can cause contradictions in reality, violations of axiom rules, which can cause a stormer to disconnect from reality if unsuccessful. Such is the risk of saving the world.
In 1990, West End Games
published Torg. They wanted a cinematic, epic game. It was
also an experiment. They made it interactive. After the initial
boxed set, they published a newsletter called Infiniverse. Each month
it included some news from the company and upcoming products, but the bulk
of it was game material. An Infiniverse issue published three months
after the initial release took place three months after the time described
in the initial rules. Each month was filled with rumors and dispatches
and player questions along with a response sheet. Subscribers would
fill out the response sheet, telling WEG what was going on in their game,
how successful their characters were in the latest mission, and results
of the rumors mentioned or dispatches in that issue (or if the rumors were
false). WEG took the most popular and common occurrences and made
that canon. The High Lords gained or lost ground depending on the
results of the various groups who responded. The direction of my
game will rest largely upon your soldiers. Success and failure of
your characters will have profound effects on the story line; not just
your personal stories, but the progress of the Possibility War itself.
Read the Definitions: for some clarifications on terms.
Learn the Basics:
if you want a small idea of what the game system is like.