Line #40 TabletopGame/Timemaster


1	[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timemasterrpg.jpg]]
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3	''Timemaster'' (sometimes written Time Master) is a time travel {{tabletop RPG}} originally published by Pacesetter Games in 1984. Goblinoid Games bought the rights to both the game and the rule system in 2011, and re-released the game in 2012.
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5	The peace treaty that ended the Time War also formed the Time Corps, an organization devoted to repairing the damage to the timestream caused by that war. Unfortunately, a lot of the mercenaries who fought in the Time War didn't see any real reason to quit living off the past, and the war had also attracted attention from an alien race known as the Demoreans. The [=PCs=] are all members of the Time Corps, whose original charter has been amended to include defending history from Demorean and renegade actions.
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7	The game uses a combination of percentile dice and a chart to determine the results of an action, on the same line as the old [[TabletopGame/MarvelSuperHeroes Marvel FASERIP system]]. The same basic system was also used in Pacesetter's ''TabletopGame/StarAce'' (space opera) and ''TabletopGame/{{Chill}}'' (horror/monster hunting) games.
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9	The ''Timetricks'' supplement expanded the base rules to allow more freeform timehopping.
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12	!!This tabletop RPG provides examples of:
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14	* AllDeathsFinal: One of the game's Laws of Time Travel. However, it only applies to time travelers; you can keep a historical figure from getting offed at the wrong time, but can't undo your partner's death.
15	* AlternateUniverse: Each Parallel of the Continuum.
16	* CaptureAndReplicate: Demoreans can do a short-term shapeshift without capturing their model first, but for a shift that's expected to last any length of time the model needs to be stuffed in a sleep pod.
17	* CantTakeAnythingWithYou: A Demorean's innate time travel ability moves the Demorean, period. They have to hire renegades to move any equipment they'll need.
18	* CrossOver: The game includes suggested rule tweaks so you can combine this game with ''Chill'' and/or ''Star Ace''.
19	* DelayedRippleEffect: Added to the game in the ''Timetricks'' book.
20	* DirectLineToTheAuthor: Several sections of the rulebook are written "by" high-ranking members of the Time Corps.
21	* GivingRadioToTheRomans: One renegade plot against the Time Corps consisted of dumping UsefulNotes/AlCapone in ancient Rome, on the (correct) assumption that he'd do ''something'' to seriously screw up the timeline. When one of his gambling rackets started printing betting tickets with Arabic numerals, the [[DelayedRippleEffect Temporal Disaster Wave]] began.
22	* GrandfatherParadox: A corollary to one of the setting's Laws of Time Travel states that it is impossible for a person to kill one of his ancestors. No matter what he tries, it won't work. (Your ''enemies'', on the other hand, will have no problem getting rid of you by blowing away Grandpa. Time Corps agents are advised not to talk about their families.)
23	* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: The Corps' "chronoscooters" are referred to as [[TimeMachine time machines]], but since they travel between Parallels as easily as they travel through time they're closer to this trope.
24	* JustOneSecondOutOfSync: A chronoscooter's "vanish" mode sends the 'scooter backwards in time at the same rate as the current forward flow, effectively putting it on the edge of existence until it is recalled.
25	* MultiversalConqueror: The Demoreans.
26	* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] for the Demoreans -- a failed plan is clearly imperfect, and ''shouldn't'' be repeated.
27	* OminousMessageFromTheFuture: Time Corps etiquette demands that if an agent dies during a mission, someone leave a message for earlier-him to let him know.
28	* OnlyOneMeAllowedRightNow: The Law of Identity (one of the Laws of Time Travel) states that you can't "overlap" your own presence. If you were on Earth during November 1963, any attempt to investigate the [=JFK=] assassination will "loop trap" you into your previous visit.
29	** Though, ''Timetricks'' provided a gadget that would let you meet up with yourself -- for a limited amount of time, and assuming it worked.
30	** NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: The different Parallels give players and [=GMs=] an "out" for this Law. You can't go back to November 1963 in Parallel T-0, because you were already there, but you ''can'' visit November 1963 in the nearly-identical Parallel T-5.
31	* PlanetOfHats: The Demoreans are obsessed with "perfection". Their entire motive to conquer the Continuum is to make all the Parallels closer to their home Parallel, thus making them "more perfect".
32	* PublicDomainCharacter: The high-risk mission ''Timestorm'' has the players controlling extremely powerful characters based on legendary personalities, like Hercules, Merlin, Robin Hood, Cleopatra, Boudica, Miss Marple, etc.
33	* RippleEffectProofMemory: Paranormal Memory lets a [=PC=] remember what happened before time was changed. It's the one ability all characters must have.
34	* RubberBandHistory: Time travelers ''can'' change the timestream, but the greater the change the greater the resistance from the timestream to the change. Blow away some random medieval peasant, and history will instantly change. [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct Blow away Hitler?]] The resulting Significance Wave will move comparatively slowly through the timeline, changing events as it moves, like a tidal wave of history.
35	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: More like "set right what just got altered by the Demoreans or careless renegades".
36	* SpottingTheThread: A common way to identify a shapechanged Demorean. While technically a "perfect" duplicate would have the same scars and/or missing bits as the original, they just couldn't make themselves duplicate those "imperfections".
37	* [[TakeOverTheWorld Take Over The Continuum]]: The Demorean objective.
38	* TimeLoopTrap: Just called a "loop trap" in-game. Sometimes it happens accidentally (if a time traveler doesn't keep track of when they've been), sometimes deliberately. A common assignment in the Time Corps is to be voluntarily looped into an important event (say, Julius Caesar's assassination) to make sure someone's on hand if the Demoreans try to alter it.
39	* TimePolice: Your job.
40	* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: The more free-form time traveling available in the ''Timetricks'' supplement means this needs to be addressed. The game picks "pastward" to refer to any time previous to the moment you happen to be occupying in the Parallel you're on, and "futureward" for any time subsequent to that moment.
41	* UniversalDriversLicense: A time traveler from 1920's Chicago who learned to drive on a Model T Ford would use the same skill (unmodified) to drive any other road vehicle -- late 20th century semi, 30th century hovercraft, 45th century mecha ....
42	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: All Demoreans have this ability.
43	* WarGaming: For some reason, ''every'' Pacesetter-published adventure wrapped up with the players gaming out an important battle. If you bought the box set, it even came with a supply of generic cardboard counters for the Obligatory Battle Sequence.
44	* YearInsideHourOutside / YearOutsideHourInside: On some Parallels, time flows at a different rate than it does on T-0 (the "home Parallel" of the Time Corps).
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Context TabletopGame / Timemaster