What is the Mazeworks?
This is an ongoing, multiversal adventure game centered around a hub of all universes called the Mazeworks. The players are pulled from any work of fiction or non fiction you can remember or imagine, so long as their powers or abilities are not godlike in power. Spiderman, not Thor. That sort of thing. Gameplay spans genres from one mission to the next, so the sky is the limit! After character creation, all number crunching is done on my end.
New characters are gathered by an enigmatic 'Keeper' at the center of the Maze in cycles, pulling them without warning or explanation into a glowing portal by faceless minions that vanish as soon as the confused individual goes through the portal (either of their own accord or by force from the strange, seemingly endless creatures; this is usually a character's introductory post and can be fully written by the player at once or played out over a few posts with me handling npcs). Once inside, the forces of the maze twists the halls so that new arrivals inevitably wind up in the center, at the Keeper's chamber. Usually new arrivals bump into others in the maze, either npcs or players, who are able to fill them in a bit on their situation. Once they've met the Keeper, it sends them as it's 'Champions' (should they so choose) on missions to worlds in peril with nothing but cryptic information and universal translation.
All worlds/realities are connected to the Mazeworks, so the official missions can vary greatly from one to another! One mission may be set in the world of an established work of fiction set far in the future and full of intrigue and blasters, while the next may be set in the recent past with more of a Mythos/occult focus. I try to tailor the missions to the current group of Champions while also switching it up between missions. I try to run a realistic campaign, so no unkillable god npcs, but PCs will die if they are consistently careless. There are consequences for every action; blow up a library, don't expect to check out any books!
Once the Champions complete a mission and gain 'Attunement', they can see and use the portals that line the endless, blue stone corridors of the Maze; previously invisible and inaccessible to them before attunement). After that, it's up to each individual Champion on what to do next. There will always be missions by the Keeper, but having access to all realities often tempts Champions into side quests and personal motivations. Some form groups, guilds, and even empires; depending on their temperament and scope of vision. Many try very hard to find their world of origin, but for whatever reason very few ever actually do.
Nature of the Maze
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Food for Thought
Darwin's Words of Wisdom for a new Cycle
"The multiverse is a stranger place than you realize. This is a world between the worlds. It's a no space. It's where you go when you're not. When you are teleporting, you wind up in a similar sideways space. Ironically, it couln't be created by your enemies, since it would take power on par with the Lords of the Higher Worlds to create a place like this, but the very nature of this place bars them from entry. I drew the wrath of Arioch, Lord of the Higher Hells and his servant Nyarlathotep, and this is the ideal hiding place. They can't even perceive it."
"If you want to blunder blindly through the Mazeworks with nothing more than the power of your feet, then you could spend a lifetime and still not get anywhere. However, there is a talent most visitors eventually pick up. They fix their destination in their mind, and keep it there as they move." Darwin had slowed down as he talked. When he realized that he was holding up the procession, he increased his speed again and rounded a corner. "The Mazeworks is a hyper-dimensional construct. That's one of the reasons higher order beings can't enter here, or even perceive what goes on within. It literally doesn't exist for them."
He tries to communicate the intricacies of higher order metamagical physics by gesturing with his hands. Not surprisingly, his explanations don't come across very clearly. "But due to this hyperspatial property of the Mazeworks, it's easy to find whatever or whomever you seek."
He turns back to you, then takes the right hand tunnel at a fork. "I think that the walls around us are essentially just," he searches for the right word, "...window dressing. I mean they are real and all, but they don't matter all that much. When you move through here with your mind, you aren't changing the structure of the Maze. You're changing the underlying nature, and the structure shifts to reflect that. It may seem like a trivial distinction, but I assure you it's not."
He rounds another corner, walking backwards in order to face you. "The Keeper is using the reverse process to pull you towards it. Because of this, it is literally the easiest thing in the universe to find right now."
So what about that Keeper?
As the group leaves the hall and passes through the arched entryway, they find themselves in a room 30 x 30 x 15 feet tall and familiar in a sense that goes beyond deja vu. In the center of the room is a raised dais, about a foot and a half taller than the floor, with a pool in it radiating the same soft blue light of the walls of the maze, albeit a concentrated version. Around the pool are four pillars, each about three feet high. If the Mazeworks weren't so sterile of scent you'd completely miss it, but this room seems to have the hint of something in the air. Ozone? Sweat? There's even a tangible sensation in the air as of the externalized feeling of anticipation. If you didn't guess this was the Keeper when you walked in, then all doubt left when it 'spoke'.
:: GREETINGS CHAMPIONS! ::