"What Would Make 'Time Machine' More Game-able?" Topic

H.G. Well makes it into a one-man show against the Morlocks, which does not sound very game-able without turning him into a super-hero of sorts.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlocks

Online texts of novel:
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gutenberg.org/etext/35

Any interesting suggestions?

CC
PS. Which movie Morlocks (1960 or 2002) make the most interesting looking ones?
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imdb.com/gallery/ss/0268695

Past Morlock models:

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CC

Make the time machine more gameable?

You'd need a doctor for that.

Guy

Just off the top of my head (and consequently not thought fully through)- How about adapting Two Hour Wargames "All Things Zombie"

I never said it was a good idea but there are certain parallels

- the oposition are not the quickest or intelligent

- Having the hero as a Rep 5 "star" (with or without
attributes) gives him a good chance without making him over powerful

Of course you'd have to do some tweaking such as reaction rules for the Morlocks etc etc etc

Hopefully that may have provided some food for thought (then again maybe not…)

What about the GURPS Time Travel suppliment????

Eloi from the 1st Morlocks from the 2nd

Yeah, go with the latter films Morlocks, much more sinister. Uruk-hai or ghouls from Heresey with a bit of work would look pretty good.
As for scenarios, you could do something along the lines of protect the Eloi, rescue the Eloi, find the hidden (not particularly well hidden) entrance. Maybe have a team of Victorian explorers rather than just the doctor to complete the encounters, just don't over arm them in the way of most Victorian exploration parties! If they have a gun make sure it is low on ammo and therefore they'll have to think about when to use it.
Rules wise, the THW suggestion would work well, I think. Or maybe an adaption of LoTOW or LoTR with the doctor as a hero and the other members of his party as henchmen. Mordheim would be another option.
Anyway thats how I'd do it…
Cheers and Merry Xmas,
Ray :-)

I like that idea of having a group of time travellers instead of just one.

Should some of the Eloi get in the action as well? Maybe with improvised weapons?

As you can tell, I am only in the planning stages of this.

CC

The time machine can hold a squad sized team.

The Heresy Ghouls seem to fit these descriptions, if they are not too tall:

'Suddenly I halted spellbound. A pair of eyes, luminous by reflection against the daylight without, was watching me out of the darkness.

'The old instinctive dread of wild beasts came upon me. I clenched my hands and steadfastly looked into the glaring eyeballs. I was afraid to turn. Then the thought of the absolute security in which humanity appeared to be living came to my mind. And then I remembered that strange terror of the dark. Overcoming my fear to some extent, I advanced a step and spoke. I will admit that my voice was harsh and ill-controlled. I put out my hand and touched something soft. At once the eyes darted sideways, and something
white ran past me. I turned with my heart in my mouth, and saw a queer little ape-like figure, its head held down in a peculiar manner, running across the sunlit space behind me. It blundered against a block of granite, staggered aside, and in a moment was hidden in a black shadow beneath another pile of ruined masonry.

'My impression of it is, of course, imperfect; but I know it was a dull white, and had strange large greyish-red eyes; also that there was flaxen hair on its head and down its back. But, as I say, it went too fast for me to see distinctly. I cannot even say whether it ran on all-fours, or only with its forearms held very low. After an instant's pause I followed it into the second heap of ruins. I could
not find it at first; but, after a time in the profound obscurity, I came upon one of those round well-like openings of which I have told you, half closed by a fallen pillar. A sudden thought came to me. Could this Thing have vanished down the shaft? I lit a match, and, looking down, I saw a small, white, moving creature, with large bright eyes which regarded me steadfastly as it retreated. It made
me shudder. It was so like a human spider! It was clambering down the wall, and now I saw for the first time a number of metal foot and hand rests forming a kind of ladder down the shaft. Then the light burned my fingers and fell out of my hand, going out as it dropped, and when I had lit another the little monster had disappeared.'

-------------------
'Here was the new view. Plainly, this second species of Man was subterranean. There were three circumstances in particular which made me think that its rare emergence above ground was the outcome of a long-continued underground habit. In the first place, there was the bleached look common in most animals that live largely in the dark--the white fish of the Kentucky caves, for instance. Then, those large eyes, with that capacity for reflecting light, are common features of nocturnal things--witness the owl and the cat. And last of all, that evident confusion in the sunshine, that hasty yet fumbling awkward flight towards dark shadow, and that peculiar carriage of the head while in the light--all reinforced the theory of an extreme sensitiveness of the retina.

'Beneath my feet, then, the earth must be tunnelled enormously, and these tunnellings were the habitat of the new race. The presence of ventilating shafts and wells along the hill slopes--everywhere, in fact, except along the river valley--showed how universal were its ramifications. What so natural, then, as to assume that it was in this artificial Underworld that such work as was necessary to the comfort of the daylight race was done? The notion was so plausible that I at once accepted it, and went on to assume the _how_ of this splitting of the human species. I dare say you will anticipate the shape of my theory; though, for myself, I very soon felt that it fell far short of the truth.'

---------------------------
VI
'It may seem odd to you, but it was two days before I could follow up the new-found clue in what was manifestly the proper way. I felt a peculiar shrinking from those pallid bodies. They were just the half-bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum. And they were filthily cold to the touch. Probably my shrinking was largely due to the sympathetic influence of the Eloi, whose disgust of the Morlocks I now began to appreciate.'

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CC

If Ghouls is the way to go, there seems to be a lot to choose from:

TMP link

CC

If it is to carry a group of travellers, this could the the time machine, or something like it:

picture
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What do you think?

CC

Yeah, possibly include some of the Eloi as part of the adventure party but generally use them to get in the way and confound the explorers actions. That way you can stay true to the story in that the players (as was the doctor) end up wondering if the Eloi are really worth saving.

An underground escape scenario would be cool like at the end of the '02 film, having the players chased through the tunnels with the Morlocks in hot pursuit, maybe with a limited amount of turns to get out.

Ray :-)

Sorry about the spelling of 'Heresy'…

I like that!

How about these for potential time machines:

TMP link
TMP link
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CC

If the situation turns dire for the adventurers you could have the Eloi band together and play annoying music while they smashed the Morlocks' AT-STs with giant logs and knocked them off their speeder bikes with bits of twine…

A thought that might or might not help:

The morlocks are not really villains here. The resemblence of the surface dwellers to homo sapiens is deceptive, but the two are very distint species so the morloks are in no way canibals.

From the morlock's point of view, the whole thing is effectively the same as a farmer went out to the cattle barn and found that a super-intellegent cow from the future was trying to stir up a revolt in the feedlot.

Time Tunnel would be a better game IMHO. More options.

thetimetunnel.com

Analogy to King Solomon's mines. Imagine the Morlock world sharply divided into potentially warring factions. So there may be an evil king or two, and factions just waiting for an edge to start a rumble. Perhaps our Victorian adventurer (s) is just he right guy to get things hopping! Especially if he can bring some Eloi into the mix.

Ooooh! I loved Time Tunnel as a kid… I remember almost nothing about it… except that there were some other 'wierd' time travellers the heroes had to contend with occasionally.

If you were going the Victorian era explorers route I think the 'puddle jumper' would probably be a bit high-tech for them. Something much more fragile would be more appropriate, like a smoking room lounger with some knobs and flashy bits stuck on, oh, and a big lever or some switches to operate it.

You wouldn't really need something to carry loads of equipment, it's not like the explorers are planning to get into trouble! And anyway if there was trouble a gentleman would carry everything he needs to get out of it on his person. ;-)
Ray

Lentulus,

"The morlocks are not really villains here."

LOL. For a minute I thought you were going to start on how the poor Morlocks were victims of their upbringing and their environment, forced to eating human flesh because of the lack of pigs or something.

CC

BTW, really despised the "Time Tunnel", and its modern equivalent about time and space shifting with John Rys Davies.

Rddfxx,

I agree. "Sliders" stole and then corrupted a lot of very good ideas from previous authors.

CC

Fantastic suggestions on Morlock figure candidates:

TMP link

CC

Dragon Gunner said "The time machine can hold a squad sized team."

*BINGO*!

Gaming "The Time Machine" is actually a project I've had on a back burner for several years now. I haven't actually followed through with any of it yet, but I have had a couple of ideas.

I've reached the conclusion that it would be too difficult to try to recreate the events in TM in a game and make it fun. Others may disagree, but that's my assessment. That being said, I think a "Hollywood-ized" sequel would work better. Something on the order of "The Morlocks took Weena. Now they've got to pay!"

If the Time Traveller first visited his near future (20th century), he could obtain the resources to build a bigger time machine--in effect, a troop carrier. He could also recruit mercenaries armed with modern weaponry for his second expedition into the far future.

NOW it's wargameable. You've got the time traveller as a heroic leader, and a decent-sized band of soldiers behind him, led by a plucky sergeant or two.

This opens up several possible scenarios. You could have the humans ambush the Morlocks when they raid an Eloi settlement. The humans could be the aggressors, entering the Morlock caves to destroy/disrupt their machinery, or they could find themselves the defenders as the Morlocks raid their camp in the dead of night.

Just my $0.02 USD

Along those same lines, this is an idea I've been toying with for some time. One of these days I'll try to actually develop it further . . .

It is just very, very preliminary, but what do you guys think?

CC
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Unlike the 1960 film, George convinces his colleagues and even Mrs. Watchett (six in all) to accompany him on his fantastic journey through time. When they reach October 12th, 802,701AD, they stop the machine and investigate.

Main Victorian Characters:
George – Time Traveler
Filby – George's best friend
Dr. Hillyer
Anthony Bridewell
Walter Kemp
Mrs. Watchett

Eloi:
Weena
8-10 Eloi males
6 other Eloi females

Morlocks:
15-20 Morlock warriors
1-2 Morlock leaders

Possible Time Machine Scenarios

Scenario I:
After befriending Weena, and the first hypnotic "harvesting" of the Eloi by the Morlocks (which takes Weena and the other Eloi into the Sphinx), George and his companions try to find an entrance. When they discover the Eloi about to be slaughtered, George and his companions (some with small firearms, others with torches to blind the Morlocks), fight the Morlocks and embark on a return topside through the Morlock underground.

If they are successful in the rescue, the Victorians must try to set fire to the fuel running the underground pumps. If Weena is not rescued, George's morale and skills will be severely compromised.

Mrs. Watchett is the slowest one of the group, so all have to reduce their movement to accommodate her frailty. She will not be left behind (it's not the Victorian way, after all).

Victory conditions: All Victorians and Weena are safely returned to the surface.

Scenario II:
After reaching the surface, they discover that the time machine has disappeared into the Morlock structure. They must re-enter the Morlock underground. If they are fortunate enough in their search, they find the time machine. However, it is damaged and can only make a single very short trip into the past. They must move the machine outside the gates, if they are to make this escape successful, while fighting off a band of Morlocks. This may be just what they need to avoid (recover) any losses during this second scenario.

Victory conditions: The time machine must be found within a few turns, in order for them to make the trip back to before the taking of the contraption. Don't even ask about the temporal implications of going back before you have left! :)

@ Casique: Those are both really good ideas! I hadn't considered the possibility of including some of George's colleagues. That would add some real flavor to the game.

You could change it up a bit--make it so that, prior to the game, the TT player has to choose one (or more) companions from the list above. Each companion has different abilities (and drawbacks), greatly affecting how the scenario is played out.

Hmmmm….interesting possibilities.

Emau99,

"You could change it up a bit--make it so that, prior to the game, the TT player has to choose one (or more) companions from the list above. Each companion has different abilities (and drawbacks), greatly affecting how the scenario is played out."

See. That's the advantage of brainstorming with your peers!

As I said above, these are just some preliminary ideas I threw together, but that require additional input from other resourceful thinkers like yourself.

Thanks!!!

CC

If you're talking about the remake, you can keep sending the protagonist back in time to resurrect his girlfriend and then find ingenious ways to kill her off, spoiling his plans.

I laughed out loud when he made sure to avoid the mugger, left her outside while he did his business and she got crushed by that wagon.

You could even have him take a morale check or some sort of desperation role, which would make his plans for saving her ever more ludicrous.

JW

Someone wrote a sequel to George Pal's Time Machine and part of the book involved going into the future where the Eloi are now battling for survival against giant insects. The Time Traveller manages to discover a bunker full of color-coded rayguns that he hands out to the Eloi.
I have the paperback somewhere. It doesn't have an ISBN, but you might try eBay.

Coelacanth1938,

Is it any one of these?

link

CC

Thread about the use of varnish to reinforce items (such as stalagmites) made of plaster and hydrocal materials:

TMP link

CC

Ok. Moving along . . . very, very slowly, it seems.

I am still working on the terrain and figure aspects, before tackling the rules and game itself.

Here is some of the latest progress and research:

TMP link
TMP link
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TMP link

CC

Any interesting suggestions?

A '73 Oldsmobile, a bottle of magical sleeping potion, boomstick, chainsaw, and a guy named Ash telling the Eloi "Shop smart, shop S-Mart!"

;)

LOL.

CC

Emau99,

Any progress on your end, since this was originally discussed?

I'd be very, very interested to know.

Thanks.

CC

I have about 10 Reaper Ghouls for Morlocks, and plan to get more Ghouls that can blend in with them.

QUESTION:
What specific figures would you guys suggest for the following?

George – Time Traveler
Filby – George's best friend
Dr. Hillyer
Anthony Bridewell
Walter Kemp
Mrs. Watchett
Weena
10-12 Eloi (male and female)

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link

Thanks.

CC

Alternate ending?

link

CC

In my view, the problem with presenting The Time Machine as a game – particularly an RPG – is that both views of H G Wells' future humans are difficult to transform into interesting characters. I understand that the story is one of dystopia and that both halves of humanity are taken to extremes but a game would be better served is the Eloi were a bit less like cows and the Morlocks a bit less like wolves.

Perhaps if the year visited was 401,350 – the decline on both sides might not be in such a profound state. Our heroes might find potential allies and foes on both sides. Eloi and Morlock might both have concerns of their own about how the trend is going. Both might have plans about what should be done.

In a more general way, most time travel games and stories suffer (again, in my opinion) from an inevitability factor. While Twelve Monkeys was quite well presented, there's not much point in time travel gaming if nothing can be changed. The more possibility for charting a new course, the more room for a game.

As to figures, I'd recommend Blue Moon Manufacturing's London Victorian Civilians for most of the names characters. Halflings and orcs seem best for the Eloi and Morlocks.

I'd go elves and orcs, myself.

I'm giving the short novel another re-read at this moment. Eloi are described as 4 feet tall, Morlocks not much taller.

If using 28-30mm figures for Victorians (which I'm still searching for TMP link ) maybe some daintier GW LOTR woodland elves (24 plastic ones for $25 USD ) could work for Eloi "recruits"?

CC

Would work nicely. If you wanna be pendantic, you can trim the ears, but I wouldn't. Makes it interesting.
Other ideas for Morlocks.. Neanderthals? Perhaps some Gollum figures?
One thought might be some ghouls.. lean, gaunt, hunter-looking things..

Robin,

What do you think of my attempts at Morlocks?

TMP link

CC

Nabad. Heads seem a little big and lacking detail, but pretty good conversions all around.