• ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and some guy who’s name is harder to remember.

    An inventor uploads a schematic to the Internet for a cheap, easy-to-assemble device that lets anyone (or almost anyone) “step” into parallel earths. A nearly infinite stretch of untamed wilderness sees people abandoning the polluted, crowded, government-run Old Earth in search of new opportunities. The catch: No iron or iron alloys can “step” across, sending these new earths back to the bronze age.

    Also: Zeppelins that are also reincarnated Buddhists that are also the first true machine intelligence; robot cats; libertarian communes; sapient nonhuman primates; sapient nonhuman non-primates; radioactive ziggurats; space programs to parallel moons; and grumpy survival chicks.

    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Stephen Baxter

      The premise was better than the execution, but I’ve definitely been curious if you could use the world stepping premise in an RPG in a compelling way.