Crystalvox Full Spectrum

[FriNn]

Welcome to the CºNTINUUM FAQ.

This thread answers some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about the CºNTINUUM time travel roleplaying game.

Please don't pose new questions in this thread; consider it locked even if you come across it when it isn't.

New questions for the FAQ can be posted at this thread, or emailed to us at yamara@earthlink.net with "Continuum FAQ" in the subject line. Also, questions posted elsewhere in the forums may find their way into the FAQ.

==General Questions==
[1] What is CºNTINUUM: roleplaying in The Yet?
[2] Where can I find the password for the CºNTINUUM pdfs I downloaded?

==Rules Questions==
[1] On a roll of 0 (ten) against a Skill of 10, if the required second roll results in another 0, is it a Blunder or a Grace?

==Gameplay Questions==
[1] How do chronies communicate across time and space?

 

[FriNn]

Q. What is CºNTINUUM: roleplaying in The Yet?

A. CºNTINUUM is a paper-and-pencil roleplaying game that was released in 1999 from Aetherco/Dreamcatcher, touted as "the roleplaying game of genuine time travel".

The time travel in the game is entirely self-consistent, and logically concludes that if time travel within a single universe were possible, a civilization of time travellers would exist.

Players take the role of one of these travellers (called "chronies" or "spanners" in Modern English) and explore the desires and conflicts living such a life entails.

Official CºNTINUUM site
Wikipedia entry

[FriNn]

 
Q. Where can I find the password for the CºNTINUUM pdfs I downloaded?

 
A. The password is found near the end of Chapter IV of the main CºNTINUUM rulebook.

 

 

 

 

[FriNn]

Q. On a roll of 0 (ten) against a Skill of 10, if the required second roll results in another 0, is it a Blunder or a Grace?

(The original question had more detail:)
My character has a Master Rank in a Skill based on a Attribute of 7. This Skill rating therefore is 10.
If I roll a 0 (ten) in this Skill, I'll have to roll again (pg. 16). –If I roll another 0, is it a Blunder or a Grace?
(– J.M., 2002.04.02)

A. It's a Blunder.

Grace rolls are for chronies with Attributes and Skills below 10– they're the ones that need the help! If you're character has many Skills (or any Attributes) above 9, expect to be him to start being called upon to solve the Grace rolls other spanner characters are rolling!

Also, in CºNTINUUM, every creature from an Inheritor down to an ameoba Blunders on a double-0. It keeps things interesting.

 

[FriNn]

Q. How do chronies communicate across time and space?

A. Dreaming across spacetime is preferred by many, for its feel of immediacy– but true immediacy is what spanning is all about. Many messages are delivered by the Scribes Fraternity, as shown in this example of old penpals, posted in 2002 on the CºNTINUUM List:

Karen "Hunter" Hafner sits in her study at her corner "Styx," at approximately 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, December 14, 1989 AD. Before her on her desk lie a stack of envelopes, all addressed to her, and numbered. The box they came in tells her who sends the letters: her former chrony John from the Wyoming 1880's lodge. A slip of paper inside the box indicates that John is a Three. Hunter knows this means he's busy mentoring his corner in early 1800's Ohio. The slip also says, "Mine is first."

Smiling with memories of her old corner, Hunter opens the letter marked #1. She reads from the unlined paper:

October 30, 1804

Dear Hunter,

Howdy! How's the mentoring going? Are the runts giving you a hard time?
Give them a swift kick from me!

Anyway, I'm trying to track down that old hand gun I used to carry around.
You remember, the one I gave to you as birthday present?
Do you still have it?

The letter stops abruptly at that point, no signature, nothing further written. And Hunter wasn't expecting anything else. She puts the letter to one side, takes a sheet of Snoopy and Woodstock stationery, and begins to write:

December 14, 1989

John,

Yes, I think I do. Or I can find it. What do you need it for?

Putting her pen down at this point, Hunter takes a fresh envelope, writes a #1 on it, stuffs her short message in, and licks it closed. She carefully sets it on her other side. Now she reaches for John's envelope #2. The letter inside says:

We've got a little problem with one of my novices.
He's supposed to be shot with that gun.

Nothing more. Hunter puts this letter aside and writes a new one of her own.

Shot! Don't tell me you're going to hurt the poor kid!

She puts this letter into an envelope she marks #2, seals it, and puts it on top of her #1 envelope. Then she takes John's letter #3 and reads:

No, not me, a little narcissist mess we got in over here. I could arrange for a replica, but the kid got a good look at the weapon and I figured it'd be easier if you could just send it Down to me.

Hunter continues to read messages in order and write her own until John's pile is used up. In the final letter, he thanks her and wishes her well, and takes back what he said (jokingly) about kicking her novices for him. Hunter also writes one more letter, in farewell, and promising to send the gun along.

When she's done, Hunter has a pile of sealed envelopes containing her replies. She takes #1 and adds to it, "Yours is first." Then she rubber-bands them all together, puts them in a larger envelope, and labels them so that the next Scribe who comes by will know when and where to take the letters.

***

"Hey Hunter!" greets Alicia, one of Hunter's novices, as Hunter puts the envelope down on the kitchen table. "What's that?"

"Just talking to John. He says hi."

–David Trimboli
2002.02.26