Hey there, friends of Wheel Tree! Please help us come up with time anomalies for Time Cellist!
So Megan and I are currently putting together the LIST OF RANDOM TIME ANOMALIES for Time Cellist.
If you haven’t played TC, what that is is when there’s a tie in the conflict mechanic (i.e. rock, paper, scissors), it creates a time anomaly where something from another time comes crashing into wherever you are.
Examples:
-Dinosaurs come running down the street.
-A 747 lands.
-A bunch of cowboys come driving a herd of cattle through the desert.
The idea is that some goofy appears in whatever time period you’re in, forever changing history.
So we’re trying to come up with a HUGE list of time anomalies people can use as a random table if they can’t think of one. We’d like to invite you all to suggest some below. The ones we like the best will wind up in the table.
Thanks everyone!
Futuristic bounty hunter
A Wild West posse
A world war 2 bomb falls but doesn’t explode (yet)
A Neanderthal
A pony express rider
An extinct rhino (pregnant)
Dodos
A jousting medieval knight
A bi-plane flys in low
Roman centurions
Vikings
Pirate boat without the crew
Pirate crew without the boat
Are tehse all anomalies in today’s time? I.e, a Roman Centurion in Ancient Rome isn’t an anomaly. Should we define the time in which the anomaly would be found?
Good question, Chris. Sadly, that’s not possible since each game will be in a different time. Just coming up with fun things that can come crashing in wherever you are. Everything won’t be an anomaly for one particular time, but we’re just going to say on the off chance you pull that one, just pull again!
A carnival parades through (Renaissance? Depression Era? You decide).
Wolly Mammoth.
Nero strolls through, fiddling merrily.
French-Canadian lumberjacks roll cabers through the scene beneath their feet.
Illinois Nazis.
Lewis and Clark arrive, asking for directions.
A director yells, “Cut!” People arrive form all directions, fixing people’s hair, clothing, and correcting their dialogue that does not fit the script. The director berates the PCs, calling their performances completely unfitting for the era they are actually living in.
I laughed out loud at that last one, Larry.
-A presidential motorcade rolls by.
-A huge flying saucer hovers overhead, while it’s bright colored lights blink in time with synthesized notes.
-The Rough Riders charge up a hill (or whatever else is convenient)
-So many rats…
-Napoleon and his men arrive, marching in time as they enthusiastically sing “Waterloo.”
-The Hindenburg crashes into the Titanic.
-Mongols!
– A caravan of camels with drivers in turbans and long robes.
– A gang of dirty, wild looking men and women with filed teeth on battered motorbikes
A smartphone alarm goes off in someone’s pocket. It has a perfect net connection to the present day irrespective of the time period it’s in.
Are you looking for real things from another time or things that could have existed had history gone differently? And does history change immediately (because the thing was removed from its proper time) or because of its impact on the current time?
-An android bounty hunter chasing a blond space janitor
-a blue box appears and and your favorite doctor’s actor and his companion step out and comment on how well the set people did
-A ghostly set of legs run by the smell of rootbeer wafting through the air
-A man in full-plate with a mace, A woman in greens with pointy ears and bow, a child dresses in black with a dagger, an old man in a funny hat and robes and a large tome.
-Three mean looking Mexican men with guitar cases
-Zorro
-An old man in a delorian
-Three people in black suits flashing ids that say INSPECTRES
-A stampede of mixed animals from the savannah
-a blonde elementary school girl in blue tights and a mask with the number 84 on her chest
-a mr. handy
-Wyld Stallyns
-Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla having a fist fight
Wow way too many time travelers in that list
-pizza delivery person
-Hollywood Walk of Fame, complete with costumed folks.
-Ren Faire parade/employees
-A retired couple with pet mini poodle in their camper
-Commedia dell’arte group
-Religious flagellates
-Carney Games Alley
-Pro Wrestling Match
Okay, it looks like this is petering off, so I think we’ll go with what we have here.
Seriously, folks, these are amazing. Expect to see some of these turn up in the book. Thanks a bunch for contributing!