Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet

[Yuki Akuma]

"If you could learn to span time at will, what form of civilization would you be entering?"

Published in 1998 by AetherCo, Continuum is, obviously, a tabletop RPG about time travel - specifically, every PC has the ability to time travel and teleport at will, as swiftly as their heart beats. As part of the Continuum, the society of time travelers, it's their moral duty to ensure that history goes 'the right way' - as the universe is filled with the human species' descendants, and any minor deviation could cause trillions of people to never have been born.

Does anyone remember this game? I've always thought it was the coolest take on time travel as a game mechanic - explicitly letting you do all sorts of crazy time-bending shenanigans. Such as leaving yourself a note in the future, or communicating with someone in real time via paper letters, or instantly mastering a skill by taking a year out to study and then span right back in the microsecond you left.

I've been wanting to play it, but I'm not sure anyone is willing to actually GM it. It's not the easiest game to GM in the world...

[The Random NPC]

From what I hear, it isn't the easiest to play either. You have to take copious detailed notes so that if you ever meet yourself you don't screw up time by doing something different. That being said, I've always wanted to try my hand at playing a game.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

It intrigues me. I've also heard it's impossible to acquire.

[The Glyphstone]

TV Tropes calls it "The best time-travel game you'll ever read, but never actually play." That's probably accurate.

[Yuki Akuma]

TV Tropes calls it "The best time-travel game you'll ever read, but never actually play." That's probably accurate.

That sounds like a challenge.

[The Glyphstone]

That sounds like a challenge.

It does....but it'd have to be with a RL group. Playing Continuum face-to-face is going to be complex and confusing enough, it would be an outright non-Euclidian nightmare at the pace most PbP games experience.

[The Random NPC]

It does....but it'd have to be with a RL group. Playing Continuum face-to-face is going to be complex and confusing enough, it would be an outright non-Euclidian nightmare at the pace most PbP games experience.

On the other hand, you'd have all your past interactions on file right at your fingertips. And as an added bonus, you can go back and edit old posts with the new canon.

[SiuiS]

It does....but it'd have to be with a RL group. Playing Continuum face-to-face is going to be complex and confusing enough, it would be an outright non-Euclidian nightmare at the pace most PbP games experience.

A'ight. Challenge accepted.

[AuraTwilight]

I've actually played this game. It's....really not worth the effort. The time travel mechanic is cool but ALMOST EVERY OTHER mechanic is either nonsensical, unnecessarily complicated, broken, or distracting. Also a lot of the fluff and setting is just really dumb, but that's easily fixable.

It's honestly just better to take the bits you like and run it in your RPG of choice.

[gom jabbarwocky]

I've never played the game, but I've read the book cover to cover and it has got to be the best time travel simulator bar none, but everything else you can either take it or leave it. The actual politics of the Continuum, and their so-called "Great Game" are not very engaging, and the division of the Continuum into fraternities takes the sensible concept of specialization of duties within a society and makes it feel flat and arbitrary. Also, as AuraTwilght pointed out, a lot of the game mechanics that had nothing to do with time travel seemed counter-intuitive.

Personally, from what I've seen of it, the sequel game, Narcissist, is far, far better, taking the core concepts of Continuum and turning them completely inside out. Unfortunately, it will probably never see print, although I've heard you can sometimes find versions of playtest document floating around once in a blue moon. Even though I've given up on ever having a chance to play it, I'd take Narcissist over Continuum any day. If you're going to go crazy with time travel, why not go all the way?

[SiuiS]

I've never played the game, but I've read the book cover to cover and it has got to be the best time travel simulator bar none, but everything else you can either take it or leave it. The actual politics of the Continuum, and their so-called "Great Game" are not very engaging, and the division of the Continuum into fraternities takes the sensible concept of specialization of duties within a society and makes it feel flat and arbitrary. Also, as AuraTwilght pointed out, a lot of the game mechanics that had nothing to do with time travel seemed counter-intuitive.

Personally, from what I've seen of it, the sequel game, Narcissist, is far, far better, taking the core concepts of Continuum and turning them completely inside out. Unfortunately, it will probably never see print, although I've heard you can sometimes find versions of playtest document floating around once in a blue moon. Even though I've given up on ever having a chance to play it, I'd take Narcissist over Continuum any day. If you're going to go crazy with time travel, why not go all the way?

Oh my. That sounds amazing.

[Yuki Akuma]

Narcissist is really weird. It involves a lot of alternate universes, and the rules for such were never... really fleshed out. Or explained well.

Continuum's base mechanics aren't that bad - they're just explained really, really badly. The Great Game sucks but I get the feeling that Span 4 PCs are meant to do more exciting things.

[gom jabbarwocky]

Continuum's base mechanics aren't that bad - they're just explained really, really badly. The Great Game sucks but I get the feeling that Span 4 PCs are meant to do more exciting things.

I agree entirely. The nice part about that is that the setting isn't totally married to the game, so to speak. You can run Continuum with GURPS, Storyteller, BRPS, D6, whatever you're comfortable with, and not have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The rules for Narcissist's parallel universes, however, make the crunchiness of the base mechanics look trite... although since Narcissist is only really half a game, I suppose it's to be expected that some parts of it read like swiss cheese (delicious, delicious cheese...)

[Fwiffo86]

I love the game. Ran it several times. You would be amazed at how long it takes people to figure out that time combat happens in reverse. Of course... the mechanics are... well... we covered that. Or will cover that.

I agree the Non-TT stuff is boring, and pointless. And the book serves better as a supplement to any TTRPG, like PRIMAL does for instance.

I am still amazed that to make it to span 2, the players have to have played X amount of Continuum, and be able to recite the Maxims on page 1 without having them in front of them. Most awesome level requirement ever.

And if you get your hands on it, check the Bibliography for books referenced that aren't published yet.

[SiuiS]

Can you explain the whole time combat reverse thing?

[Binks]

Read it, tried to plan out a campaign, broke my brain, went to a different system. I'm still trying to get to the point where I'd feel comfortable running a game with the system. The actual game universe is kind of dull (lends itself well to gritty realistic stuff + time travel, which isn't what I'd want to run or play personally) but the possibilities for using the rules in another system are pretty cool. When I actually feel comfortable running it I'd like to run a Star Trek based Temporal Investigations game, with time agents from the future of Trek going back to investigate disturbances and stop other time travelers in the time period we see on tv, I think that would be a lot of fun. Who knows if I'll ever hit that point though. For now it sits in my list of 'Games I'd love to run but don't think I could do justice' alongside Nobilis and Paranoia.

[gom jabbarwocky]

Can you explain the whole time combat reverse thing?

Time combat happens in reverse because the winner is whoever gets in the last first blow.