What Are Jumpchains?
Hi there!
If you're here before you read this story and you don't know what a jumpchain is... It'd probably be good for you to read this little auxiliary chapter. If you're here and you've started reading the story but don't know what jumpchains are, this will definitely help you understand what you're reading. Heck, even if you do know what jumpchains are, it COULD be good for you to read this story.
Regardless of the circumstances of your arrival here, the purpose of this chapter is to get a bit meta and talk about jumpchains. Before we go any further you should know that this IS a jumpchain story. There is a "Jumpchan" (of sorts), a "Jumper", "Companions", and other different things that one might expect to find in a Jumpchain.
If you've never heard of "Jumpchains", I'll explain what all of the terms I just mentioned mean one by one.
A "Jumpchain" refers to a series of "Jumps" undertaken by a "Jumper" on their way to attain some goal of some sort. Usually, this goal is to "Spark", but that is not always the case. Basically, a "Jumpchain" is a journey undertaken by the aforementioned "Jumper". "Jumps" along a "Jumpchain" are the different places a "Jumper" visits throughout their journey.
"Jumpchains" are a kind of Choose Your Own Adventure where you create characters and lead them on epic journeys that you invent in your mind. These journeys lead across universes, taking characters like Finn the Dog and Jake the Human and leading them into battle against antagonists like N'Zoth, one of four members of the infamous quartet known as the Old Gods. These are not video games that you can play a Playstation 5 or an Xbox 1, they are prompts for creative self-expression, that rely on you to choose how they manifest. Some jumpchain admirers create jumpers and track them on Google Sheets or create minis with them, or doing things like text-based RPGs with them. Some people, like me, write jumpchain fiction and share our jumpers with the world.
A "Jumper" is the protagonist of the "Jumpchain". Oftentimes they are an author's self-inserts, but there are a range of jumpers, and it is not unknown for even existing fictional characters to be the subjects of thought experiments and taken along journeys as jumpers.
Normally (though certainly not always) a "Jumper" has a "Jumpchan" or "Benefactor" who is often some sort of random omnipotent being (sometimes referred to as a ROB). These "Benefactors" are often the ones responsible for a jumper's journey in the first place, having either spotted someone with some sort of potential or just utilizing their powers to send someone from setting to setting. It is not impossible for a jumper to be their own jumpchan but those are rare and often involve a character being innately and bizarrely powerful on their own. The protagonist in this story does have a benefactor.
A "Jump" is a setting that a jumper can visit that has a "Jumpdoc" created for it. One popular example is the world of Pokemon, which was the subject of the very first "Jumpdoc" (the actual documents where you can find the perks, origins, drawbacks, companions, items, and more from each setting) created by the person who created jumpchains, a 4chan user who created jumpchains over on the /CYOA/ thread on the /tg/ subforum on 4chan.
"Pokemon" is also the default first jump, though the "Generic First Jump" also exists. There's no hard rule about "Pokemon" or "Generic First Jump" being the mandatory first jumps, those two are just the most commonly accepted first jumps that most jumpers go through.
Normally "Jumpers" are sent to a setting for 10 years, but there are a vast number of exceptions to this, and there are ways to make it so that a jumper only visits a jump for as little as a few days if they complete the "plot" or some other clear condition of a jump and then want to leave, but the more probable exception to the "One jump lasts ten years" rule is actually a jump taking LONGER than 10 years. Many settings have a "Drawback" (a mechanism that adds extra challenges to a setting in exchange for giving a jumper more points to purchase things) that extends the duration of one's visit. This drawback can usually be taken more than once. Some jumps also just last longer than ten years by default.
Typically, and by default, one can assume that a jumper's end goal is to "Spark", which refers to the completion of the process by which a jumper gets a planeswalkers (from Magic the Gathering) spark, which allows them to travel the multiverse of their own power. This is very far from the only possible end-goal for a jumper, but it's a handy way to mark an end to one character's story (or at least their time as a protagonist) and pass the torch to a new set of characters.
The way this is done, usually, is by completing an "End-Jump" which is an especially difficult jump that explicitly awards them a walker's spark. For the curious this is reference to oldwalker sparks, not new walker sparks. These sparks grant their wielders incredibly vast power, and the ability to travel the multiverse with their own power (though a handful of jumps have perks that allow traveling to past jumps, which is a fairly rare and incredibly powerful power) and thus grant those who complete them something that is, effectively (and for the purpose of jumpchaining), omnipotence.
There are a few different... "types" of jumps, other than "End-jumps". The two biggest "types" are the default jumps, and gauntlets. A default jump is a destination for your jumper where all of their perks, powers, companions, and items, can be inserted and used without restriction (so long as you do stuff like pay for your companions, using "Choice Points"). Unless a jump specifies otherwise, it's fair to assume that the majority of jumps are this kind of jump.
In a Gauntlet you are stripped to your "Body mod" (Your jumper's base body, BEFORE they began to jump, barring modifications from things like the "Essential Body Modifier" and other body modifers, which are usually stand alone documents that are not jumps but provide modifications to your base form that will always be accessible to you but requires great investment on the part of the jumper) and any perks you gained from the "Generic First" jumps (Generic First Jump, Generic Virgin Jump, and Generic First Gauntlet), and stripped of all of your perks (but not your knowledge, barring certain drawbacks). Additionally you start out with zero "Choice Points" and have to earn them by taking drawbacks. Fortunately, in exchange for taking on and overcoming these challenges you get rewards, and even if you lose the gauntlet you usually only lose that specific jump and not your chain.
"Losing your chain" can be done by failing a normal jump, which itself is normally only done by death in a jump without any "1-Up" perks remaining (1-Up perks are perks that either ensure your resurrection or protect you from death once per jump but then need a whole jump, or a decade depending on the length of the jump to recharge and be usable again). Some jumps also have special failing conditions, but usually failing such a condition only ends the jump and doesn't allow you to keep what you purchased in the jump you just lost. Oftentimes "Losing your chain" results in your jumper being sent home with none of their perks, items, and companions.
Anytime you complete a jump (exceptions not withstanding, such as an end-jump or a part of a special set of chained jumps that force you to go from one to the next) you are given three options and must choose one. The first option is usually to go home. This option ends your chain and lets you go back to your home world or setting with your items, companions, and perks. The next is to stay in the setting you are currently in, forever. This will end your chain as well, and you are (sometimes but not always) given 1000 extra choice points to purchase new things. The third option, and probably the one most of us would choose is to continue on your chain, visiting new settings, acquiring new companions, and purchasing new items and perks.
"Companions" are characters who accompany you across your chain that you recruited or created and who can be "Imported" into jumps alongside you. If you "Import" them you pay "Choice Points" which are the currency with which you buy things before you "Enter" a jump that are themed to that jump and will help you survive the jump.
If you "Import" a companion they will almost always gain the ability to pick an "Origin" and purchase "Perks" and "Items" themselves. "Companions" are unique, often canon characters from a setting that have their free will. In order to recruit "Companions" you normally have to pay a number of "Choice Points" before you meet them, but if you do you are often guaranteed to make a good impression, or at least have the chance to do so, on them. From there it's up to you to persuade them to join you.
Companions are not the only kind of ally you can have, though they are almost invariably the strongest. A Jumper can recruit countless "Followers" which can range from robotic creations to worshipers, and are "Generic" "NPCs" (though you can usually elevate them to "Companion" level if you select one and like them).
"Perks" are the handiest parts of any jump. These are the special powers, abilities, and traits you gain over the course of your adventures, and are "Fiat-backed" to work across settings. "Fiat-backed" means they are guaranteed to operate across the different worlds you go too, like someone who goes to Naruto still being able to use chakra in WW2 Earth.
Every jump either flat out offers you Choice Points (or some thematic variation of that term) or gives you a way to get Choice Points (such as a gauntlet demanding you take drawbacks to acquire Choice Points before you buy any perks). These are the points with which you buy things from the jumpdoc you are using for your jump. This is almost always done before you enter a setting, but it is your chain and it is up to you how you play.
Most jumps offer different "Origins" which affect your memories, your abilities, and your in-jump background. "Origins" also have "perk-lines"/"perk-trees" and perks in the line of your background usually have a 50% discount due to these being skills, memories, habits, abilities, and powers, having already been inserted into your body via rigorous practice.
There are all sorts of different settings one can visit for a jump, from movies such as "Disney's Snow White" to television shows like "Once Upon A Time" and "Supernatural". There are also "Generic" jumps which don't themselves specify a setting and instead are based on general genres or troupes and can be used in two ways. The first way is as a "Supplement" to an existing jump, which allows you to edit a jump's settings and contents and then go through and purchase stuff from both jumpdocs.
The second way a generic jump can be used is to send you to a wholly generic world revolving around that particular idea, such as the "Generic Pirate" jump sending you to a version of Earth, or some other watery world with lots of opportunity for plundering and pillaging. You'll go through this jump like it were its own setting, and then be presented with the same three options that other jumps offer those who survive them.
While there is a lot more to know, if you want to understand jumpchains in their full complexity, this is enough of a thorough guide for now. Ultimately if you want to get involved with jumpchaining I hope you do, and I hope that you have as wonderful a time as I have with these awesome communities of very cool people. If you can think of anything major I missed, it'd be rad if you could tell me, so I can add it in..
If jumpchains sound interesting to you, maybe consider reading ahead! Hopefully I'll see you in Panem.
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