Beyond Destination

A primer for someone new to the multiverse. What is true everywhere, what varies between universes, and how to build a character.

Note: The levels of detail here are optional to engage with. More in-depth interaction is appreciated, but not needed to play.

Before you play — how this table works. These are the GM's expectations for how players act at the table.

The whole system runs on one d20. It grew from a road-trip game played with a notepad, a pencil and a single die.

Ask first, then argue

• Planning something unexpected or creative? Ask first. Talk it through with the GM before you try it.
• Make your case. Convince the GM your action is possible within the world's logic. If they agree, you roll, and the dice decide.
• A question from the GM is not a no. If you still see room, keep persuading. It ends at an official ruling, or when you are genuinely convinced it can't work. Giving up early just because the GM pushed back is not politeness; it breaks the rules.
• Beat the GM at their own logic. Outplaying the GM fairly, from inside the world's rules, is celebrated — and it can earn you a Hero Point.
• Real-world examples count. An example stretched to fit the world is a solid argument. A ruling can even be overturned if you point out a real example that contradicts it.

Ask about the world

• The scene as described is never the whole scene. Ask for what your character would notice: how someone looks, what they carry, what the room smells like.
• Asking questions is play, not an interruption. Being informed before you act beats acting without knowing what you could have found out.
• If a question goes unanswered, ask it again. The GM forgets things. Insisting is allowed.
• Look for what's missing. Sometimes a detail is left out on purpose to see if you catch it. Catching the GM out can earn you a Hero Point.
• You may fill in reasonable details yourself, as long as they don't contradict established facts.

Honesty

• In the game, anyone may lie — your character, other characters, and the GM as narrator. Don't assume what you're told in the story is true.
• Out of the game, everyone is honest. If you need to know what is actually true, ask the GM for an out-of-game ruling. You can always ask.
• Doubt belongs to your character, not to you. Confidence is for out of game; tension is for in game.
• Layered motives are welcome. Your character can want more than one thing at once: a reason they show, and deeper ones underneath. They might help a stranger because it's the right thing to do, and also because that stranger might know something they need. Let the GM know the layers are there, out of game, and the characters you meet will react to all of them, not just the surface.

What's at stake

• Your character can die, or worse. The world does not care about fairness. There is always a way out of danger the GM planned — but if you walk into something the GM didn't plan, you may get a warning, not an exit.
• "Are you sure about that?" is the red flag. When you hear it, stop and ask questions before you decide.
• Meta-gaming means acting on something you know as a player that your character doesn't, or steering the story from outside it. It's avoided by default. But you can always ask to do it, and it costs a Hero Point; bigger asks cost more, at the GM's call. Use it to steer toward something you really want, or to get out of a mess the story has landed you in.
  • Note: steering from outside the game. Asking for certain content to be included or avoided is fair direction for the GM. The goal is fun, and the game should be fun for everyone at the table, so the GM should be willing to accommodate. Requests shouldn't overstep other players' wants and boundaries, or in rare cases the GM's. If you're unsure, ask.
• Backing out after a warning is fine. If the GM asks "Are you sure about that?" and you change your mind, that's technically meta-gaming too. There's no shame in it.

Playing hard

• Play for your character. Getting information and advantage for your character is correct play. Self-interest is not selfishness, as long as it stays open and honest out of game.
• Being wrong is cheap. You are expected to be wrong until you start being right — and even then, you can still keep being wrong.

Stopping to sort things out

• Anyone can call a Side Bar. It pauses the story so questions and problems can be worked out. It stays open until everything raised in it is settled, then play picks up where it left off.