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.

Realising potential usually involves something unusual happening to the character within the game, allowing access to changes that are rare or unusual. Examples may be

*Showing an immediate talent for a skill or ability never previously encountered or used. (use the force, luke! or "you shoot pretty well for a reporter.")
*Undergoing an event that changes the characters outlook and drive significantly, leading to improved attributes or skills centered around that theme. (They didnt kill me, but they'll wish they had...)
*Developing new skills, abilities or talents that are revealed as a result of gameplay (acquiring a psychic ability, a new language quickly and fluently, learning an obscure martial art or science, having a unique gene or an unusual connection to an NPC, catching a weird gene altering disease, acquiring a symbiotic bond, etc).
*Some power ups may involve acquiring new qualities and drawbacks. These must balance to a five point maximum. Qualities should be limited to 10 points maximum.

'''Powering up and gameplay.'''
The idea behind the above rule is to allow for two basic types of PC - the previously established hero and the companion, who is far more open to the change brought by '''peak experiences'''. This kind of mimics the changes you see in some sci-fi series, where initially one dimensional characters acquire new areas of skill or knowledge that increase their competence across a broader range. Quite often, it is the ones who intially have less to offer that change the most.  

The idea is that companion players who find something within game that grabs them can throw a power up request at the GM (moi), then we sit down and hash out details of what (While in the interests of the game, I reserve the rights to 'when' and 'how'). 

To use some examples
*Luke Skywalker finds out he is force-boy!
*Samantha Carter acquires Ga'ould memories and Naquada blood.
*Willow learns magic.
*Delenn becomes half-human.
*Daniel Jackson learns Ga'ould technology and languages.
*O'Neill has the ancients gene!
*Daniel Jackson ascends.
*Spock returns to a different timeline.
*A Vorlon opens Lyta Alexanders mind.
*Ellen Ripley is cloned.
*Sarah Conners survives an attack by a terminator.

'''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)