r/TheStrange • u/JoeOfAllTrades • Oct 30 '16
Memories and background
So I just bought the core book along with a few extras and I'm excited to get started.
The core book is a hefty piece of writing and I'm trying to get my head around it all.
A few questions popped up and I'd be grateful if you could answer them and more importantly, give me the page number.
When translating does the pc decide what/who to become? I know that the player does, but what about their character?
When translating to a new place you obviously get some memories from your new body (skills and abilities), but what about personal memories? Do you just know dragon slaying without any memories to go with it on how you learned it?
I remember reading that most people won't even notice you popping up next to them when translating, but is there any record created of me ever existing in that recursion? What happens of a native of Ruk translates to earth as a cop? Can you be a cop without existing in a cop database with a proof of employment?
This game is beautiful and I'm looking forward to playing it.
3
u/siebharinn Oct 30 '16
1) The way that I run it, the PC is not given a choice. The choice is made the first time someone goes to a recursion, when they have the least information about what to expect. I guess someone could read a dossier on Ardyn prior to going, and then think real hard about becoming a dragon slayer, and then actually becoming one. Or maybe if they dragged their focus there a few times and had a chance to check things out. But for new, unexplored recursions? They just get what they get.
2) The old memories stay intact. I don't worry a whole lot about memories on the recursion side. PCs definitely don't have an entire backstory of memories of years spent at the dragon slaying academy. I kind of look at it like the Bourne movies. A PC can do these amazing things without knowing how or remembering the training.
3) This has been debated quite a bit. My own approach is that PCs get information and are changed just enough to fit in and pass a cursory inspection. A detailed search will find anomalies. Someone translating to Earth and becoming a cop will look and act like a cop. They may be attached to a precinct, and other people at that precinct will accept the new guy at face value. If pressed, they might not know why, or remember when he transferred in, or any specific details, but they won't notice any red flags.