Editing MEMbrane.

MEMbrane - The alt.worlds expeditions.

MEMbrane is a pilot-episode Game for a possible series. It is a Science fiction/conspiracy cinematic game, drawing inspiration from series such as Fringe, Warehouse Thirteen, Supernatural, Stargate, Helix, Sliders, X-Files, Quantum leap, Grimm, Buffy/angel and others. Like most of these series, there is a secret that reveals another world, behind 
the normal. The characters are the people at the centre of the events that unlock the secret.


'''Background'''

It is the late 2010's and the world is in a bad way, with evolving brushfire wars, resources conflicts, world famines and increasing political unrest.
Amongst the programs backed by the UN is a research team that claims a practical use for three obscure branches of hi energy physics. 
Through the creation of a micro event manipulator, a stable window between different possible universes 'branes' are created.

Brian Greene heads up the Micro Event Manipulator project that allows the existence of the Membrane - a passage to the world next door.
A very secret research project (private, but with heavy oversight from the UN) MEM has hired specialists to aid them in the next stage of their research - sending humans through the membrane.  

"The Stepping Stones"

Stepping stones are permanent membranes between specific worlds. Most often, they are a particular portal, but sometimes they manifest as a field that attaches itself to any nearby geography that suits transition (a path, a tunnel, doorways, holes, a box). These areas are known as borders or borderlands if they are large enough (the largest field on home Earth covers an area roughly the size of Europe). These portals, borders and lands are, as usual, totally undetectable by electric/electronic means and will not manifest in the presence of iron.  

Stepping stones are quite rare at Home - they are normally subtle places and iron or transmitted electricity disrupt them easily. They are, however, the basis for many (though not all) myths regarding otherworldly creatures. 

'''The set-up'''.

MEMbrane will be run using Unisystem, based on the cinematic version, but including a little more grit in skills - specialities will be slotted it and the slightly grimmer combat rules will apply.  
It will, however, be a cinematic game. Characters will be larger than life, broadly competent with large, obvious backgrounds and personality traits. They also have limited plot/event changing powers in the form of Drama Points.

There will be two base archetypes - the Hero and the Companion(white hat).

The '''Hero''' represents the very competent veteran soldier, the all-rounder with an interesting past, the billionaire scientist patron, the Polymath engineer, the intelligence agent planted in the project, the counterintelligence agent planted in the project, the ex-astronaut explorer, the eccentric genius who designed the MEM, the UN liaison officer with special forces training, the shady one the Swiss government insists on being present.

Heroes tend to have a past that puts them where they are now. They are highly skilled in many fields and have well defined roles, already established. The expeditions are something their previous lives have already prepared them for, in some way.

The '''Companion''' is the regular person who gets caught up in the expeditions in the course of their work or interests. The brilliant field botanist, the 14-year old kid with the high IQ and perfect photographic memory, the UN soldier/field tech, the nosy reporter they couldn't keep away, the selfish rich guy who invested the family fortune so he could travel to another world, the medic with a heart of gold.

Companions tend to have relatively ordinary lives before the expeditions begin - but their path in life is not as well defined as the heroes. The expeditions are a life altering event for companions.

[[Character Creation for MEMbrane]]

'''Drama Points'''

Heroes start with more of everything - except '''Potential''' (the extra drama points). Heroes have five, companions have fifteen. 

Heroes or Companions may, at any time, use up to 5 pts of their extra drama points to begin '''[[Realising a Potential]]''', as long as this fits the plot of the game and the GM's expectations of fair play. These points are lost permanently. The 5 base drama points can never be used this way and function via the normal rules.


'''Setting'''

The MEM project is based in an underground research facility close to Berne, Switzerland. It is publicly known as a secondary research facility for high energy physics and receives UN funding for other, more practical work. It is, however, privately funded.

When a final breakthrough is made, a stable harmonic is created with other branes. All electronics shut down while penetrating the membrane, though communication can be carried out. More robust, primitive electronic tech can survive the passage through the brane, but delicate microchips, etc will not. 

Plotlines: Earth, our Earth, is designated Home. MEM intends to find a means to use membranes to aid Home. First of all, exploration and research needs to be done. This will be the job of the teams assembled to go through the branes to other worlds. 

'''The Starting Point.'''

PC's will be the first people who attempt to use a membrane to cross into another world. Depending on the characters, this could involve anything from being hired to do it to being one of the creators of the project. 

'''Previous research.''' (All only possibilities at this point)

Branes come in 'states' - collections of worlds with similar conditions. 
Other states still reflect the same physical laws, but may have wildly divergent local conditions. Changes back in the Earth-history of that brane cluster.

''Other possiblities''.

Branes with other laws/conditions. Base physics holds across all branes, but some branes tap more easily into n-dimensional energies, allowing things like the three laws of thermodynamics to be broken by sourcing energy external to the system.

Other sentients.
alt.humans and primates exist. Other sentiences may be found, deeper into the branes.

Hi tech. some of these sentients may have branetech of their own - which will be useful to MEM.


'''Brane clusters'''.
Listed in order of ease of access - power requirements and inability to maintain stable membranes rise th further down the list.
*The Empties. A range of Earths where humans seem not to have evolved.
*The Parallels. A range of Earths that reflect our own, though often wildly divergent in history and culture. So far, none of those monitored have technology as advanced as Home.
*The Mids. A range of Earths centred around an Earth with a thinner atmospheric and a reduced axial tilt. The Equator boils, the poles never rise above freezing. The only inhabitable areas are the mid-latitudes.
*The Mirrors. A range of Earths that reflect Home, but with relatively minor detail changes.
*The Alts. Worlds that are an unusual take on our own - generally associated with the basis behind some human myths and legends.
*The Wrecks. Series of worlds that are 'fading', running down into steady-state nothingness.
*The Reaches. Unusual series of worlds hard to maintain contact with. More 'bleed' from the n-dimensions.

Clusters are not exclusive or easy to map. All of these types can be found within a single cluster, but all clusters tend to a predominance of one type.