Time Heroes - Fate Adaptation - The World of Time Heroes - Part 2. Locations

In my last post I discussed picking an era in which to set a Time Heroes campaign. Once a time period has been chosen, it's time to zoom in a bit and pick a location.

Location

"Location" in the sense of creating a Time Heroes game is not simply choosing a city, a state or even a country. Choosing a location could be "New York, New York," "Rebel Camp outside of the remains of New York, New York," "King Arthur's England," etc. 

Lifestyle Aspect: The location chosen is going to have more than a cosmetic effect upon the game. While there is one overall game aspect chosen and another left to the group playing, the Lifestyle Aspect is one that should be considered  by everyone as it sets the tone for the world around them. For example, a group playing in King Arthur's England might choose Do the Noble Thing as the Lifestyle Aspect. This could mean that players would be able to invoke the aspect when being virtuous or courageous would be helpful.  On the other hand, a compel could be brought in when the easiest way to do something would be the sneaky way.

Franchise: The name of this step may change as it only applies to the modern setting, but the general idea is this: what kind of group are you? If the game is modern, Time Heroes is a franchised corporation with offices all over the world. In the past, the group might be viewed as a group of knights or in the future a pack of rebels.  The general idea more or less forms itself once the era is chosen. However, that's not what needs to be discussed. The Franchise Stunt is what the particular Franchise the PCs are part of is known for doing. This provides a group Stunt that all the players have access to. An example theme is listed below. There will be more of a list in the final product.

Ghostbusters - This is a stunt for those franchises known for investigating the supernatural. If a supernatural agent is discovered during the course of a session, a player may spend a Quantum Point to make a Magic or Lore check in order to gain an Advantage against that particular supernatural agent in a future scene.

Questions: After the general location, Lifestyle Aspect and Franchise Stunt have been chosen, it's time to ask some round-table questions about it. This will help everyone get a feel for the area as well as assist the GM in understanding what the players will like to see in regards to settings and what the campaign overall might look like. Here are a few sample questions:

Is the game set primarily set in an urban, suburban or rural setting?

Where is your headquarters located and what is it?

What part of the your city's infrastructure is known to be underfunded (roads, etc)?

What is local government like?

How long have you been working together?

Is your franchise overt or covert?

Is the fact that this is happening at all overt or covert (IE. public knowledge)?

You get the picture. I may or may not end up fleshing this step out a bit more when all is said and done, but I think this is a pretty good start at the very least. Tomorrow, I'm going to take what we've done so far in regards to the setting of the campaign and go through an example collaborative setting creation. Stay tuned!