Before I read the "Create Realms" section, I was thinking that "World Walking" was used for the same purpose. I was thinking that since the multiverse was infinite, the player would describe little by little how the worlds would change as they walked the various paths. And they could invent their own world just by wandering into it.
But since there is a "Create Realms" power of Olympian magic, that makes me think that the GM maps everything out and tells the players what they see during World Walking. How do most people play World Walking? Are there any actual play examples?
In LoO, world-walking works through a kind of visualization, but it is clear that the Olympian is not actually creating the worlds, he is passing through them in a kind of wormhole that traverses parallel universes. He can follow certain features to try to reach a world akin to what he's looking for, but there are important limitations (most notably, that each of the three roads must have its defining feature: open air, or running/tidal waters or subterranean spaces).
I would not recommend that a GM "map out everything", but important locations that he's planned for the campaign or that come up in play should be places that he notes just where on the roads (and which roads) they can be reached.
So during World Walking, does the player make everything up during this visualization? Or is that something the GM does?
Is World Walking performed like:
A. Player states I want to travel to a world with red oceans. As the player gets on the Atlantean road, the oceans go from blue, to purple, and then eventually red.
B. Or does the player not give an end-of-the-road requirement and goes to worlds already explored, or mapped out?
Or does A require World Walking Mastery to See a road and then Open a Road? And until one gains World Walking Mastery, one walks around only known roads/worlds.
Quote from: motherlessgoose;863639So during World Walking, does the player make everything up during this visualization? Or is that something the GM does?
Well, when I've run it, the player can potentially choose a path by describing the types of areas he tries to cross through on the path, though the GM is free to say at some point that there are certain areas on the road he can't get to that easily, or others that he'll have to go through on the way.
On the other hand, the player can also say "I want to go to X" and then leave it to the GM to describe the path he takes, possibly with the player also stating whether he's trying to get there quickly (even if through more difficult or dangerous areas) or more carefully/cautiously (taking more time).
Quote from: motherlessgoose;863670Is World Walking performed like:
A. Player states I want to travel to a world with red oceans. As the player gets on the Atlantean road, the oceans go from blue, to purple, and then eventually red.
B. Or does the player not give an end-of-the-road requirement and goes to worlds already explored, or mapped out?
Or does A require World Walking Mastery to See a road and then Open a Road? And until one gains World Walking Mastery, one walks around only known roads/worlds.
A and B are BOTH possible.
The difference with World Walking Mastery is twofold: first, without Mastery, a world-walker can't just create a road where they are; they need to go find an entry point in the world they're at first. So world-walking mastery lets them make a new 'byway' that will form from wherever they want (again, as long as the correct basic terrain requirements are present in said place).
Second, with world-walking mastery a character can use the power to carve new roads as a way to make a route that potentially shortens their travel time or bypasses areas they don't want to go (for example, if the road they know of gets them from Point A to Point B but only with a place that's dangerous or problematic for them in between; or if they know there's someone waiting for them on that route that they don't want to run into).