It struck me that Myst is a fantastically well-constructed universe for a GURPS-style adventure. Ages are much like worldlines in a IW campaign, and unlike many computer games it can transition smoothly to a slower-paced, deeply interactive experience such as tabletop gaming.
There are a few big problems with GURPS: Myst as a pure IW setting, of course. Players will want to write books which solve problems, and that's totally reasonable. GMs will probably have to come up with a lot of worlds, especially if PCs work with any D'ni or post-D'ni writers. These are most likely part of the charm.
I am not totally up to date with Myst lore, but from what I understand I think we can get to the main parts. Everything here is a proposal, so feel free to make suggestions.
Books and Ages:
Age: An alternate universe. There remains some controversy as to if these worlds are created in the "writing" process, or if they all exist initially in all possible states. This "many worlds" paradigm is assumed to be correct. This strictly means that all worlds that can be described (if not more) exist and can be easily accessed. If that is the case, presumably most of them are on distant quanta. Others believe that the act of writing creates the age. Though currently discredited, some experiments (such as Stoneship) dispute a purely "many worlds" universe. Among other things, it is possible to cause small physical changes to a world by modifying the descriptive book after visiting. Additionally, no "near parallels" have been conclusively discovered.
Classically, Ages consist of a vast ocean with a single isle or small continent; however, this is by no means a requirement. Nor must Ages match Homeline physics (although most do, simply because it is hard to make such fundamental changes safely).
Ages are given names as are any other region or worldline. Ghen used numbers; Atrus used meaningful conjunctions.
Descriptive Book: The primary means of traveling to an Age. This takes the form of a large codex, varying in size complexity depending on the complexity of the age, but Riven (an older Age with a native population and unusual physical modifications, created by a master) was approximately 4 in. x 8 in. x 12 in. These books either define the Age or create a specific link; if it is destroyed or even simply lost, it is practically impossible to return to the world so linked.
These books are full of D'ni writing. An unskilled person could not make any sense of it, and even a highly talented Age-Writer given substantial time can only make vague guesses about the condition of the Age it links to from the contents of the book.
More immediately apparent, however, will be the Linking Panel. This is a clear visual window into the age (unless something is wrong), almost always placed on the top of the first page of the book. Simply touching the panel instantly transports one to the age described in the book. Importantly, though the transportation includes everything you are carrying up to maximum load, it does not include the book itself (Occasionally excepted when using unusual new technologies). The user appears in a fixed, key location within the age, as does anyone else who uses the book. This spot is accurate enough so that a one-yard-wide "prison" could be constructed to trap new arrivals.
Linking Book: A specialized book for safer linking. They also allow direct linking to some place other than the target of the Descriptive Book, allow someone to store the descriptive book within that age itself, and provide an emergency teleport out of an age when in a situation that might destroy a more valuable Descriptive Book. Physically, they can be much smaller, perhaps only a few dozen pages.
Linking Books and Descriptive Books require very precise resources. The ink, the paper, the binding, any physical part of the book must be of the highest quality and must possess specific qualities known only to highly skilled D'ni writers. Earth apparently possesses these resources, but some ages either lack the D'ni infrastructure or raw materials needed to make working books. If so, there are two tools that can power a well-written and mostly sufficient book: Little is known of either, but one involves geode frames for the linking panels, and one involves vast quantities of beamed geothermal energy. Presumably other means exist.
Neither Linking Books nor Descriptive books will function as teleporters when within their respective age.
D'ni: A race of humanlike people who invented or perfected the art of creating Descriptive Books. This is, again, contested; for some time it was believed that only D'ni could write ages at all, however Earth humans (conceivably the same as Homeline humans) have written functioning Books, as have more distant intelligent creatures. D'ni are either extremely productive or have drastically slowed lifespans; Atrus constructed brick buildings, entire ships, complex mechanisms, an elaborate "spaceship," spent months and years traveling and exploring ages, all with no industrial support and only two young sons for help. His father wrote at least 255 counted Ages, possibly hundreds more, and each one took a substantial amount of time. I personally don't know how to make note of the difference, perhaps someone has a better idea of what a D'ni template looks like.
EDIT: Yeesha, Atrus' Daughter, is only 1/8th D'ni, and yet was still a young woman at the age of 199! D'ni do age, but most likely do so at no less than 10 times slower than humans.
Writing Ages:
The Art is an IQ/VH skill which requires native proficiency in written D'ni language. It may be impossible to gain any skill in the Art without D'ni anyway, since all existent texts are in that language. D'ni might not be essential, but the Art as it stands is built on D'ni precepts, many of which simply do not translate to other languages.
This skill allows the character to examine ages to forecast what they might be like from the contents of the Descriptive Book, create Linking Books to places within Ages, and work upon Descriptive books. Additionally, any experiments regarding the nature of Ages and Linking suggests this skill.
Using this skill to create Linking books or read Descriptive books is straightforward. Creating new Ages requires a number of other skills to do so safely and consistently. Simply creating an age successfully requires a roll against The Art. Such an age will be crude and barren. To achieve interesting terrain, roll against other relevant skills: Astrophysics for unusual moons or stars, Biology for unusual creatures, Geology for strange terrain. Almost every age should involve a roll against Physics simply to ensure that gross physical laws aren't violated. Sociology as well as Anthropology and any number of other skills can be called for in other circumstances. Textbooks on the Art can provide information about these skills, and presumably those who don't know the Art can advise the writer about their own fields, but it seems that most writers were able to get the basic idea they set out to achieve but never anything too specific.
Writing is a very long-term task, equivalent to writing a novel of similar physical size.
There are a few big problems with GURPS: Myst as a pure IW setting, of course. Players will want to write books which solve problems, and that's totally reasonable. GMs will probably have to come up with a lot of worlds, especially if PCs work with any D'ni or post-D'ni writers. These are most likely part of the charm.
I am not totally up to date with Myst lore, but from what I understand I think we can get to the main parts. Everything here is a proposal, so feel free to make suggestions.
Books and Ages:
Age: An alternate universe. There remains some controversy as to if these worlds are created in the "writing" process, or if they all exist initially in all possible states. This "many worlds" paradigm is assumed to be correct. This strictly means that all worlds that can be described (if not more) exist and can be easily accessed. If that is the case, presumably most of them are on distant quanta. Others believe that the act of writing creates the age. Though currently discredited, some experiments (such as Stoneship) dispute a purely "many worlds" universe. Among other things, it is possible to cause small physical changes to a world by modifying the descriptive book after visiting. Additionally, no "near parallels" have been conclusively discovered.
Classically, Ages consist of a vast ocean with a single isle or small continent; however, this is by no means a requirement. Nor must Ages match Homeline physics (although most do, simply because it is hard to make such fundamental changes safely).
Ages are given names as are any other region or worldline. Ghen used numbers; Atrus used meaningful conjunctions.
Descriptive Book: The primary means of traveling to an Age. This takes the form of a large codex, varying in size complexity depending on the complexity of the age, but Riven (an older Age with a native population and unusual physical modifications, created by a master) was approximately 4 in. x 8 in. x 12 in. These books either define the Age or create a specific link; if it is destroyed or even simply lost, it is practically impossible to return to the world so linked.
These books are full of D'ni writing. An unskilled person could not make any sense of it, and even a highly talented Age-Writer given substantial time can only make vague guesses about the condition of the Age it links to from the contents of the book.
More immediately apparent, however, will be the Linking Panel. This is a clear visual window into the age (unless something is wrong), almost always placed on the top of the first page of the book. Simply touching the panel instantly transports one to the age described in the book. Importantly, though the transportation includes everything you are carrying up to maximum load, it does not include the book itself (Occasionally excepted when using unusual new technologies). The user appears in a fixed, key location within the age, as does anyone else who uses the book. This spot is accurate enough so that a one-yard-wide "prison" could be constructed to trap new arrivals.
Linking Book: A specialized book for safer linking. They also allow direct linking to some place other than the target of the Descriptive Book, allow someone to store the descriptive book within that age itself, and provide an emergency teleport out of an age when in a situation that might destroy a more valuable Descriptive Book. Physically, they can be much smaller, perhaps only a few dozen pages.
Linking Books and Descriptive Books require very precise resources. The ink, the paper, the binding, any physical part of the book must be of the highest quality and must possess specific qualities known only to highly skilled D'ni writers. Earth apparently possesses these resources, but some ages either lack the D'ni infrastructure or raw materials needed to make working books. If so, there are two tools that can power a well-written and mostly sufficient book: Little is known of either, but one involves geode frames for the linking panels, and one involves vast quantities of beamed geothermal energy. Presumably other means exist.
Neither Linking Books nor Descriptive books will function as teleporters when within their respective age.
D'ni: A race of humanlike people who invented or perfected the art of creating Descriptive Books. This is, again, contested; for some time it was believed that only D'ni could write ages at all, however Earth humans (conceivably the same as Homeline humans) have written functioning Books, as have more distant intelligent creatures. D'ni are either extremely productive or have drastically slowed lifespans; Atrus constructed brick buildings, entire ships, complex mechanisms, an elaborate "spaceship," spent months and years traveling and exploring ages, all with no industrial support and only two young sons for help. His father wrote at least 255 counted Ages, possibly hundreds more, and each one took a substantial amount of time. I personally don't know how to make note of the difference, perhaps someone has a better idea of what a D'ni template looks like.
EDIT: Yeesha, Atrus' Daughter, is only 1/8th D'ni, and yet was still a young woman at the age of 199! D'ni do age, but most likely do so at no less than 10 times slower than humans.
Writing Ages:
The Art is an IQ/VH skill which requires native proficiency in written D'ni language. It may be impossible to gain any skill in the Art without D'ni anyway, since all existent texts are in that language. D'ni might not be essential, but the Art as it stands is built on D'ni precepts, many of which simply do not translate to other languages.
This skill allows the character to examine ages to forecast what they might be like from the contents of the Descriptive Book, create Linking Books to places within Ages, and work upon Descriptive books. Additionally, any experiments regarding the nature of Ages and Linking suggests this skill.
Using this skill to create Linking books or read Descriptive books is straightforward. Creating new Ages requires a number of other skills to do so safely and consistently. Simply creating an age successfully requires a roll against The Art. Such an age will be crude and barren. To achieve interesting terrain, roll against other relevant skills: Astrophysics for unusual moons or stars, Biology for unusual creatures, Geology for strange terrain. Almost every age should involve a roll against Physics simply to ensure that gross physical laws aren't violated. Sociology as well as Anthropology and any number of other skills can be called for in other circumstances. Textbooks on the Art can provide information about these skills, and presumably those who don't know the Art can advise the writer about their own fields, but it seems that most writers were able to get the basic idea they set out to achieve but never anything too specific.
Writing is a very long-term task, equivalent to writing a novel of similar physical size.
Myst series and/or Infinite Worlds GURPS
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