Thinking purely in terms of how many people we have at our disposal for the actual roleplaying itself, I think it would be significantly easier to stick with one character that travels to all five. They don't have to drop into each world in chronological order though, the rifts could potentially spit them out at different times in each world as well, meaning that for the Traveller themselves, they see it as going from point A to B and they cause the room plots as they interact with each world, but for the people that exist in each world (room), they'd see the traveller's appearance as the start of the plot for that room.
I like the idea of the Traveller having a limited time frame to escape(?) from Gaia, perhaps they are persecuted and the group chasing after them will arrive in three days?
(Perhaps this Traveller escaped from a world that also colonised yours?)
Inter-dimensional Police trying to get the traveler because they ignore the court order of not messing with dimensional technology?
Yessssss. But perhaps instead of police (because police are a bit of a touchy subject in america atm) like, the Council of Ricks. Some ealdor group with super strict laws that sends their delegates after the traveller.
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 10:18 pm
troubled-pasta
Yessssss. But perhaps instead of police (because police are a bit of a touchy subject in america atm) like, the Council of Ricks. Some ealdor group with super strict laws that sends their delegates after the traveller.
A Council can work. We can have a bunch of different dimensional beings going after the traveler or just a bunch of different versions of the traveler going after a particular one( Traveler from world (whatever our ball date is).)
Yessssss. But perhaps instead of police (because police are a bit of a touchy subject in america atm) like, the Council of Ricks. Some ealdor group with super strict laws that sends their delegates after the traveller.
A Council can work. We can have a bunch of different dimensional beings going after the traveler or just a bunch of different versions of the traveler going after a particular one( Traveler from world (whatever our ball date is).)
I like the idea of different ones. We don't want it to be too similar to Rick and Morty.
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:04 am
I had a couple ideas for the plot that involved tearing holes in between worlds for the greater good.
1. Maybe the reason the scientist needs the machine is because after doing research, they were able to find the cause of the chaos that lead to end times in all the worlds. After having to collect the pieces to fix the machine, the scientist can then go where ever and set things right.
2. This is sort of differs a bit, but maybe the objects in the worlds are what are causing the problems there. The scientist figured this out and had to open the worlds to retrieve the objects. Maybe they got to the worlds through some accident and their unnaturalness is causing all the problems?
I hope that makes sense, I don't know why I keep posting so late ;c
Edit: a plus about the objects causing the problems is that if the room likes the new state of things, they could possibly choose to not have their world fixed. I know in the global warming room we were leaning towards the idea of people liking things the way they are in the end.
I had a couple ideas for the plot that involved tearing holes in between worlds for the greater good.
1. Maybe the reason the scientist needs the machine is because after doing research, they were able to find the cause of the chaos that lead to end times in all the worlds. After having to collect the pieces to fix the machine, the scientist can then go where ever and set things right.
2. This is sort of differs a bit, but maybe the objects in the worlds are what are causing the problems there. The scientist figured this out and had to open the worlds to retrieve the objects. Maybe they got to the worlds through some accident and their unnaturalness is causing all the problems?
I hope that makes sense, I don't know why I keep posting so late ;c
Edit: a plus about the objects causing the problems is that if the room likes the new state of things, they could possibly choose to not have their world fixed. I know in the global warming room we were leaning towards the idea of people liking things the way they are in the end.
Hmm... I think a lot of how we spin this is going to rely on what the dramatic question at the core of our story is. I like the idea of keeping the Traveller's true identity and motives secret, because it gives us greater freedom in regards to what we can and can't do. For example the dramatic question in that case would be something like "Is the mysterious scientist/traveller going to escape whatever they are fleeing from?", but for Gaians, it would be "Will the scientist/traveller help save Gaia and these five worlds from their fate, or do they merely see them as the means to an end?". If we tell people the Traveller's intentions off the bat, they'll be less likely to stick around because they can already make an educated guess as to what will happen (good will always triumph over evil, right?).
The latter question is more likely to leave everyone in suspense right up until the end of Day 3, which is what we want. We want them, if nothing else, to stick around to see the resolution of the plot, because then it is just up to the room hosts to make sure everyone that does stick around, has fun while doing so.
I like the idea of the objects being crystals or crystal shards. The traveller's device could work with crystals as a kind of focusing mechanism, much the same way they work in a lightsaber. Opening holes in space-time would (in theory) require large amounts of energy, so needing five crystals could make sense. Perhaps the machine is damaged while they flee from the people chasing them, and the crystals break, so they need to rely on Gaian science and technology to Macgyver together something that can send them to places that have more crystal deposits. Maybe every world has them, but Gaia has already depleted theirs.
Ultimately with something like Global Warming, once it's done, it can't really be un-done, so I think you'd probably keep your watery apocalypse either way. The fact that the people of that world are happy with it is just a bonus (and a nice, lighthearted way of pointing out that the end of the world isn't always the end of the world lmao).
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:27 pm
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
I had a couple ideas for the plot that involved tearing holes in between worlds for the greater good.
1. Maybe the reason the scientist needs the machine is because after doing research, they were able to find the cause of the chaos that lead to end times in all the worlds. After having to collect the pieces to fix the machine, the scientist can then go where ever and set things right.
2. This is sort of differs a bit, but maybe the objects in the worlds are what are causing the problems there. The scientist figured this out and had to open the worlds to retrieve the objects. Maybe they got to the worlds through some accident and their unnaturalness is causing all the problems?
I hope that makes sense, I don't know why I keep posting so late ;c
Edit: a plus about the objects causing the problems is that if the room likes the new state of things, they could possibly choose to not have their world fixed. I know in the global warming room we were leaning towards the idea of people liking things the way they are in the end.
Hmm... I think a lot of how we spin this is going to rely on what the dramatic question at the core of our story is. I like the idea of keeping the Traveller's true identity and motives secret, because it gives us greater freedom in regards to what we can and can't do. For example the dramatic question in that case would be something like "Is the mysterious scientist/traveller going to escape whatever they are fleeing from?", but for Gaians, it would be "Will the scientist/traveller help save Gaia and these five worlds from their fate, or do they merely see them as the means to an end?". If we tell people the Traveller's intentions off the bat, they'll be less likely to stick around because they can already make an educated guess as to what will happen (good will always triumph over evil, right?).
The latter question is more likely to leave everyone in suspense right up until the end of Day 3, which is what we want. We want them, if nothing else, to stick around to see the resolution of the plot, because then it is just up to the room hosts to make sure everyone that does stick around, has fun while doing so.
I like the idea of the objects being crystals or crystal shards. The traveller's device could work with crystals as a kind of focusing mechanism, much the same way they work in a lightsaber. Opening holes in space-time would (in theory) require large amounts of energy, so needing five crystals could make sense. Perhaps the machine is damaged while they flee from the people chasing them, and the crystals break, so they need to rely on Gaian science and technology to Macgyver together something that can send them to places that have more crystal deposits. Maybe every world has them, but Gaia has already depleted theirs.
Ultimately with something like Global Warming, once it's done, it can't really be un-done, so I think you'd probably keep your watery apocalypse either way. The fact that the people of that world are happy with it is just a bonus (and a nice, lighthearted way of pointing out that the end of the world isn't always the end of the world lmao).
You are right, the mystery is what makes everything exciting to the guests. It also gives the rooms something to work towards and helps the guests feel involved.
So are we now trying to figure out what the traveler is running from? I was going to write something about the council idea reminding me of magic man on adventure time, but it is not very applicable. Maybe the traveler was framed and is currently unable to defend them self and needs to run until they can prove their innocence? Because they are afraid of being caught, maybe they hide their identity when asking for help, and we find out after the holes are opened about what their supposed crime is, but not the innocence until later.
I had a couple ideas for the plot that involved tearing holes in between worlds for the greater good.
1. Maybe the reason the scientist needs the machine is because after doing research, they were able to find the cause of the chaos that lead to end times in all the worlds. After having to collect the pieces to fix the machine, the scientist can then go where ever and set things right.
2. This is sort of differs a bit, but maybe the objects in the worlds are what are causing the problems there. The scientist figured this out and had to open the worlds to retrieve the objects. Maybe they got to the worlds through some accident and their unnaturalness is causing all the problems?
I hope that makes sense, I don't know why I keep posting so late ;c
Edit: a plus about the objects causing the problems is that if the room likes the new state of things, they could possibly choose to not have their world fixed. I know in the global warming room we were leaning towards the idea of people liking things the way they are in the end.
Hmm... I think a lot of how we spin this is going to rely on what the dramatic question at the core of our story is. I like the idea of keeping the Traveller's true identity and motives secret, because it gives us greater freedom in regards to what we can and can't do. For example the dramatic question in that case would be something like "Is the mysterious scientist/traveller going to escape whatever they are fleeing from?", but for Gaians, it would be "Will the scientist/traveller help save Gaia and these five worlds from their fate, or do they merely see them as the means to an end?". If we tell people the Traveller's intentions off the bat, they'll be less likely to stick around because they can already make an educated guess as to what will happen (good will always triumph over evil, right?).
The latter question is more likely to leave everyone in suspense right up until the end of Day 3, which is what we want. We want them, if nothing else, to stick around to see the resolution of the plot, because then it is just up to the room hosts to make sure everyone that does stick around, has fun while doing so.
I like the idea of the objects being crystals or crystal shards. The traveller's device could work with crystals as a kind of focusing mechanism, much the same way they work in a lightsaber. Opening holes in space-time would (in theory) require large amounts of energy, so needing five crystals could make sense. Perhaps the machine is damaged while they flee from the people chasing them, and the crystals break, so they need to rely on Gaian science and technology to Macgyver together something that can send them to places that have more crystal deposits. Maybe every world has them, but Gaia has already depleted theirs.
Ultimately with something like Global Warming, once it's done, it can't really be un-done, so I think you'd probably keep your watery apocalypse either way. The fact that the people of that world are happy with it is just a bonus (and a nice, lighthearted way of pointing out that the end of the world isn't always the end of the world lmao).
You are right, the mystery is what makes everything exciting to the guests. It also gives the rooms something to work towards and helps the guests feel involved.
So are we now trying to figure out what the traveler is running from? I was going to write something about the council idea reminding me of magic man on adventure time, but it is not very applicable. Maybe the traveler was framed and is currently unable to defend them self and needs to run until they can prove their innocence? Because they are afraid of being caught, maybe they hide their identity when asking for help, and we find out after the holes are opened about what their supposed crime is, but not the innocence until later.
I like this. This would be perfect. I definitely like the idea of having one bit of exposition about their character from the council delegates' point of view, and then the true exposition from the character's position at the end. Perhaps they were framed for an assassination in their home world?
Regicide could work pretty well here (particularly if we run with a theme of magic and tech intertwined. It could look something like Titansgrave - high fantasy cyberpunk), especially if the general sentiment towards the king is positive. Grief and anger clouding the kingdom's judgements makes for a pretty difficult court to plead innocence in.
(whOOPS, my bad, I accidentally clicked edit instead of quote before)
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 1:15 am
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
I had a couple ideas for the plot that involved tearing holes in between worlds for the greater good.
1. Maybe the reason the scientist needs the machine is because after doing research, they were able to find the cause of the chaos that lead to end times in all the worlds. After having to collect the pieces to fix the machine, the scientist can then go where ever and set things right.
2. This is sort of differs a bit, but maybe the objects in the worlds are what are causing the problems there. The scientist figured this out and had to open the worlds to retrieve the objects. Maybe they got to the worlds through some accident and their unnaturalness is causing all the problems?
I hope that makes sense, I don't know why I keep posting so late ;c
Edit: a plus about the objects causing the problems is that if the room likes the new state of things, they could possibly choose to not have their world fixed. I know in the global warming room we were leaning towards the idea of people liking things the way they are in the end.
Hmm... I think a lot of how we spin this is going to rely on what the dramatic question at the core of our story is. I like the idea of keeping the Traveller's true identity and motives secret, because it gives us greater freedom in regards to what we can and can't do. For example the dramatic question in that case would be something like "Is the mysterious scientist/traveller going to escape whatever they are fleeing from?", but for Gaians, it would be "Will the scientist/traveller help save Gaia and these five worlds from their fate, or do they merely see them as the means to an end?". If we tell people the Traveller's intentions off the bat, they'll be less likely to stick around because they can already make an educated guess as to what will happen (good will always triumph over evil, right?).
The latter question is more likely to leave everyone in suspense right up until the end of Day 3, which is what we want. We want them, if nothing else, to stick around to see the resolution of the plot, because then it is just up to the room hosts to make sure everyone that does stick around, has fun while doing so.
I like the idea of the objects being crystals or crystal shards. The traveller's device could work with crystals as a kind of focusing mechanism, much the same way they work in a lightsaber. Opening holes in space-time would (in theory) require large amounts of energy, so needing five crystals could make sense. Perhaps the machine is damaged while they flee from the people chasing them, and the crystals break, so they need to rely on Gaian science and technology to Macgyver together something that can send them to places that have more crystal deposits. Maybe every world has them, but Gaia has already depleted theirs.
Ultimately with something like Global Warming, once it's done, it can't really be un-done, so I think you'd probably keep your watery apocalypse either way. The fact that the people of that world are happy with it is just a bonus (and a nice, lighthearted way of pointing out that the end of the world isn't always the end of the world lmao).
You are right, the mystery is what makes everything exciting to the guests. It also gives the rooms something to work towards and helps the guests feel involved.
So are we now trying to figure out what the traveler is running from? I was going to write something about the council idea reminding me of magic man on adventure time, but it is not very applicable. Maybe the traveler was framed and is currently unable to defend them self and needs to run until they can prove their innocence? Because they are afraid of being caught, maybe they hide their identity when asking for help, and we find out after the holes are opened about what their supposed crime is, but not the innocence until later.
I like this. This would be perfect. I definitely like the idea of having one bit of exposition about their character from the council delegates' point of view, and then the true exposition from the character's position at the end. Perhaps they were framed for an assassination in their home world?
Regicide could work pretty well here (particularly if we run with a theme of magic and tech intertwined. It could look something like Titansgrave - high fantasy cyberpunk), especially if the general sentiment towards the king is positive. Grief and anger clouding the kingdom's judgements makes for a pretty difficult court to plead innocence in.
(whOOPS, my bad, I accidentally clicked edit instead of quote before)
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
Mm, opposing the use of magic in tech would be like opposing electricity in tech, it'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face really. Given how reliant our world is on electricity, you can imagine how a group that wants to oppose that might not gain any traction.
Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff we are talking about right now is world-building. It's crucial to making a strong plot, but a lot of it won't end up in the Ball. It doesn't have to be super dark, but if it is it won't matter too much because realistically the traveller isn't going to spit out a ream of exposition at every person that walks by. It's important we know the details, but attendees? Not so much.
Regarding keeping the character's background from becoming too dark though, it's fairly simple. This kingdom survives and thrives on a mix of both magic and technology, it obviously has a healthy respect for the scientific arts - royal scientists would be a given. This particular character could have been the lead scientist and and advisor of sorts to the King when it comes to technology.
Following on from this logic, I will point out that a stable kingdom wouldn't rely on one crystal to power their world; it's simply too risky, and power grabs and assassinations would happen every other week as a result. It'd end up like Lord of the Flies with everyone fighting over the conch shell. Crystals would need to be in abundance for them to be a good resource to exploit. We could even go so far as to say that these are extremely fast growing crystals, like bamboo, and that even a small chunk in the right conditions can spawn new growths - maybe that's how they ended up in other worlds, the people of this world discovered how to open rifts and travel to other worlds, and decided to leave deposits in every world they visited as a kind of security measure in case someone gets stranded there (or some similar reason idk).
Now, just because the kingdom is healthy and the King is well loved, doesn't mean there couldn't be others vying for the throne; it happens. We don't really need to go into detail about who it is that's pulling the strings - leaving that a mystery would reflect how much the Traveller knows about the situation. Instead we simply need to focus on the ramifications of this.
(It gets a bit more prose-y as I go on, so I've put this under a spoiler so that it's a bit more separate from me just talking about the plot. This isn't the way I would word the plot in the final version, but it's a bit of a segue into a less conversational tone)
The King is assassinated, throwing the kingdom into mourning and disarray. Someone needs to be blamed for this, and given that the weapon was a blade created by the royal scientist, the blame falls on them. Perhaps the council was payed off, perhaps they're more concerned in keeping the peace than actually protecting the innocent, whatever the reason, our guy ended up the scapegoat.
There's no chance of a fair trial; when a kingdom loves their king that much, nobody really cares about being methodical, they just want someone to hate. So, the scientist does what any sane person would do, grabs their interdimensional portal device, and makes a break for it.
They flee for their life, mourning the loss of their king, their livelihood and their homeworld, lamenting the future that awaits them in their newly imposed exile, and hoping that they can put as many dimensions between them and their inevitable pursuers as possible. A few years pass and they believe they are finally free to roam the multiverse, but just when they thought they'd finally managed to shake them, the royal enforcers come tearing out of a rift, and open fire on the scientist.
Fleeing through a hastily made portal, the now traveller manages to escape unscathed, but their device is damaged in the process, effectively stranding them in this new world (which they come to learn is called 'Gaia' in the native tongue). They soon come to learn that Gaia is beyond the reach of their homeworld, and as such, has no crystal deposits. After a brief moment of panic, they realise Gaian tech isn't as primitive as they first thought, and enlist the help of the local populace to open a rift to a nearby dimension that does.
The traveller promises to show Gaians a whole new world (quite literally), and begins work with the local mages to open the rift. However, their limited knowledge of the world of Gaia and the magic it is imbued with leads to a miscalculation, and rather than opening just one rift, thousands of rifts are torn open simultaneously thanks to particularly strong magical ley lines connecting them. The traveller's mistake is costly and many Gaians are sucked into the rifts, dumped without warning into these strange new worlds.
(fwiw, you don't need to worry if you're being coherent or not, your ideas are great and they come across just fine)
[edit] Sorry for all the inevitable notifications, I'm a horrendous abuser of Shatner commas and I keep finding more to edit out.
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:38 am
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
Mm, opposing the use of magic in tech would be like opposing electricity in tech, it'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face really. Given how reliant our world is on electricity, you can imagine how a group that wants to oppose that might not gain any traction.
Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff we are talking about right now is world-building. It's crucial to making a strong plot, but a lot of it won't end up in the Ball. It doesn't have to be super dark, but if it is it won't matter too much because realistically the traveller isn't going to spit out a ream of exposition at every person that walks by. It's important we know the details, but attendees? Not so much.
Regarding keeping the character's background from becoming too dark though, it's fairly simple. This kingdom survives and thrives on a mix of both magic and technology, it obviously has a healthy respect for the scientific arts - royal scientists would be a given. This particular character could have been the lead scientist and and advisor of sorts to the King when it comes to technology.
Following on from this logic, I will point out that a stable kingdom wouldn't rely on one crystal to power their world; it's simply too risky, and power grabs and assassinations would happen every other week as a result. It'd end up like Lord of the Flies with everyone fighting over the conch shell. Crystals would need to be in abundance for them to be a good resource to exploit. We could even go so far as to say that these are extremely fast growing crystals, like bamboo, and that even a small chunk in the right conditions can spawn new growths - maybe that's how they ended up in other worlds, the people of this world discovered how to open rifts and travel to other worlds, and decided to leave deposits in every world they visited as a kind of security measure in case someone gets stranded there (or some similar reason idk).
Now, just because the kingdom is healthy and the King is well loved, doesn't mean there couldn't be others vying for the throne; it happens. We don't really need to go into detail about who it is that's pulling the strings - leaving that a mystery would reflect how much the Traveller knows about the situation. Instead we simply need to focus on the ramifications of this.
(It gets a bit more prose-y as I go on, so I've put this under a spoiler so that it's a bit more separate from me just talking about the plot. This isn't the way I would word the plot in the final version, but it's a bit of a segue into a less conversational tone)
The King is assassinated, throwing the kingdom into mourning and disarray. Someone needs to be blamed for this, and given that the weapon was a blade created by the royal scientist, the blame falls on them. Perhaps the council was payed off, perhaps they're more concerned in keeping the peace than actually protecting the innocent, whatever the reason, our guy ended up the scapegoat.
There's no chance of a fair trial; when a kingdom loves their king that much, nobody really cares about being methodical, they just want someone to hate. So, the scientist does what any sane person would do, grabs their interdimensional portal device, and makes a break for it.
They flee for their life, mourning the loss of their king, their livelihood and their homeworld, lamenting the future that awaits them in their newly imposed exile, and hoping that they can put as many dimensions between them and their inevitable pursuers as possible. A few years pass and they believe they are finally free to roam the multiverse, but just when they thought they'd finally managed to shake them, the royal enforcers come tearing out of a rift, and open fire on the scientist.
Fleeing through a hastily made portal, the now traveller manages to escape unscathed, but their device is damaged in the process, effectively stranding them in this new world (which they come to learn is called 'Gaia' in the native tongue). They soon come to learn that Gaia is beyond the reach of their homeworld, and as such, has no crystal deposits. After a brief moment of panic, they realise Gaian tech isn't as primitive as they first thought, and enlist the help of the local populace to open a rift to a nearby dimension that does.
The traveller promises to show Gaians a whole new world (quite literally), and begins work with the local mages to open the rift. However, their limited knowledge of the world of Gaia and the magic it is imbued with leads to a miscalculation, and rather than opening just one rift, thousands of rifts are torn open simultaneously thanks to particularly strong magical ley lines connecting them. The traveller's mistake is costly and many Gaians are sucked into the rifts, dumped without warning into these strange new worlds.
(fwiw, you don't need to worry if you're being coherent or not, your ideas are great and they come across just fine)
[edit] Sorry for all the inevitable notifications, I'm a horrendous abuser of Shatner commas and I keep finding more to edit out.
Very well written! Looks like a solid plot to me c:
Just to make things interesting, should the traveler be human or some other type of being? If it is scary, it might negatively effect the willingness of Gaians to help them.
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
Mm, opposing the use of magic in tech would be like opposing electricity in tech, it'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face really. Given how reliant our world is on electricity, you can imagine how a group that wants to oppose that might not gain any traction.
Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff we are talking about right now is world-building. It's crucial to making a strong plot, but a lot of it won't end up in the Ball. It doesn't have to be super dark, but if it is it won't matter too much because realistically the traveller isn't going to spit out a ream of exposition at every person that walks by. It's important we know the details, but attendees? Not so much.
Regarding keeping the character's background from becoming too dark though, it's fairly simple. This kingdom survives and thrives on a mix of both magic and technology, it obviously has a healthy respect for the scientific arts - royal scientists would be a given. This particular character could have been the lead scientist and and advisor of sorts to the King when it comes to technology.
Following on from this logic, I will point out that a stable kingdom wouldn't rely on one crystal to power their world; it's simply too risky, and power grabs and assassinations would happen every other week as a result. It'd end up like Lord of the Flies with everyone fighting over the conch shell. Crystals would need to be in abundance for them to be a good resource to exploit. We could even go so far as to say that these are extremely fast growing crystals, like bamboo, and that even a small chunk in the right conditions can spawn new growths - maybe that's how they ended up in other worlds, the people of this world discovered how to open rifts and travel to other worlds, and decided to leave deposits in every world they visited as a kind of security measure in case someone gets stranded there (or some similar reason idk).
Now, just because the kingdom is healthy and the King is well loved, doesn't mean there couldn't be others vying for the throne; it happens. We don't really need to go into detail about who it is that's pulling the strings - leaving that a mystery would reflect how much the Traveller knows about the situation. Instead we simply need to focus on the ramifications of this.
(It gets a bit more prose-y as I go on, so I've put this under a spoiler so that it's a bit more separate from me just talking about the plot. This isn't the way I would word the plot in the final version, but it's a bit of a segue into a less conversational tone)
The King is assassinated, throwing the kingdom into mourning and disarray. Someone needs to be blamed for this, and given that the weapon was a blade created by the royal scientist, the blame falls on them. Perhaps the council was payed off, perhaps they're more concerned in keeping the peace than actually protecting the innocent, whatever the reason, our guy ended up the scapegoat.
There's no chance of a fair trial; when a kingdom loves their king that much, nobody really cares about being methodical, they just want someone to hate. So, the scientist does what any sane person would do, grabs their interdimensional portal device, and makes a break for it.
They flee for their life, mourning the loss of their king, their livelihood and their homeworld, lamenting the future that awaits them in their newly imposed exile, and hoping that they can put as many dimensions between them and their inevitable pursuers as possible. A few years pass and they believe they are finally free to roam the multiverse, but just when they thought they'd finally managed to shake them, the royal enforcers come tearing out of a rift, and open fire on the scientist.
Fleeing through a hastily made portal, the now traveller manages to escape unscathed, but their device is damaged in the process, effectively stranding them in this new world (which they come to learn is called 'Gaia' in the native tongue). They soon come to learn that Gaia is beyond the reach of their homeworld, and as such, has no crystal deposits. After a brief moment of panic, they realise Gaian tech isn't as primitive as they first thought, and enlist the help of the local populace to open a rift to a nearby dimension that does.
The traveller promises to show Gaians a whole new world (quite literally), and begins work with the local mages to open the rift. However, their limited knowledge of the world of Gaia and the magic it is imbued with leads to a miscalculation, and rather than opening just one rift, thousands of rifts are torn open simultaneously thanks to particularly strong magical ley lines connecting them. The traveller's mistake is costly and many Gaians are sucked into the rifts, dumped without warning into these strange new worlds.
(fwiw, you don't need to worry if you're being coherent or not, your ideas are great and they come across just fine)
[edit] Sorry for all the inevitable notifications, I'm a horrendous abuser of Shatner commas and I keep finding more to edit out.
Very well written! Looks like a solid plot to me c:
Just to make things interesting, should the traveler be human or some other type of being? If it is scary, it might negatively effect the willingness of Gaians to help them.
N'aw shucks, thank you.
I would say keep them humanoid, makes them easier to relate to. They could have some kind of alien-ish traits like different eyes or horns or something, but I'd want to keep it fairly simple so the whole 'charming stranger' thing still works. Like, Gaians are pretty diverse themselves, so there's a fair few things we can get away with that Gaians wouldn't bat an eyelid to, but I'd prefer to keep it simple. I'm thinking like, maybe something akin to the sun elves of DnD (Wiki Page) but with fully black eyes.
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 10:56 pm
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
troubled-pasta
Madame Mae
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
Mm, opposing the use of magic in tech would be like opposing electricity in tech, it'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face really. Given how reliant our world is on electricity, you can imagine how a group that wants to oppose that might not gain any traction.
Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff we are talking about right now is world-building. It's crucial to making a strong plot, but a lot of it won't end up in the Ball. It doesn't have to be super dark, but if it is it won't matter too much because realistically the traveller isn't going to spit out a ream of exposition at every person that walks by. It's important we know the details, but attendees? Not so much.
Regarding keeping the character's background from becoming too dark though, it's fairly simple. This kingdom survives and thrives on a mix of both magic and technology, it obviously has a healthy respect for the scientific arts - royal scientists would be a given. This particular character could have been the lead scientist and and advisor of sorts to the King when it comes to technology.
Following on from this logic, I will point out that a stable kingdom wouldn't rely on one crystal to power their world; it's simply too risky, and power grabs and assassinations would happen every other week as a result. It'd end up like Lord of the Flies with everyone fighting over the conch shell. Crystals would need to be in abundance for them to be a good resource to exploit. We could even go so far as to say that these are extremely fast growing crystals, like bamboo, and that even a small chunk in the right conditions can spawn new growths - maybe that's how they ended up in other worlds, the people of this world discovered how to open rifts and travel to other worlds, and decided to leave deposits in every world they visited as a kind of security measure in case someone gets stranded there (or some similar reason idk).
Now, just because the kingdom is healthy and the King is well loved, doesn't mean there couldn't be others vying for the throne; it happens. We don't really need to go into detail about who it is that's pulling the strings - leaving that a mystery would reflect how much the Traveller knows about the situation. Instead we simply need to focus on the ramifications of this.
(It gets a bit more prose-y as I go on, so I've put this under a spoiler so that it's a bit more separate from me just talking about the plot. This isn't the way I would word the plot in the final version, but it's a bit of a segue into a less conversational tone)
The King is assassinated, throwing the kingdom into mourning and disarray. Someone needs to be blamed for this, and given that the weapon was a blade created by the royal scientist, the blame falls on them. Perhaps the council was payed off, perhaps they're more concerned in keeping the peace than actually protecting the innocent, whatever the reason, our guy ended up the scapegoat.
There's no chance of a fair trial; when a kingdom loves their king that much, nobody really cares about being methodical, they just want someone to hate. So, the scientist does what any sane person would do, grabs their interdimensional portal device, and makes a break for it.
They flee for their life, mourning the loss of their king, their livelihood and their homeworld, lamenting the future that awaits them in their newly imposed exile, and hoping that they can put as many dimensions between them and their inevitable pursuers as possible. A few years pass and they believe they are finally free to roam the multiverse, but just when they thought they'd finally managed to shake them, the royal enforcers come tearing out of a rift, and open fire on the scientist.
Fleeing through a hastily made portal, the now traveller manages to escape unscathed, but their device is damaged in the process, effectively stranding them in this new world (which they come to learn is called 'Gaia' in the native tongue). They soon come to learn that Gaia is beyond the reach of their homeworld, and as such, has no crystal deposits. After a brief moment of panic, they realise Gaian tech isn't as primitive as they first thought, and enlist the help of the local populace to open a rift to a nearby dimension that does.
The traveller promises to show Gaians a whole new world (quite literally), and begins work with the local mages to open the rift. However, their limited knowledge of the world of Gaia and the magic it is imbued with leads to a miscalculation, and rather than opening just one rift, thousands of rifts are torn open simultaneously thanks to particularly strong magical ley lines connecting them. The traveller's mistake is costly and many Gaians are sucked into the rifts, dumped without warning into these strange new worlds.
(fwiw, you don't need to worry if you're being coherent or not, your ideas are great and they come across just fine)
[edit] Sorry for all the inevitable notifications, I'm a horrendous abuser of Shatner commas and I keep finding more to edit out.
Very well written! Looks like a solid plot to me c:
Just to make things interesting, should the traveler be human or some other type of being? If it is scary, it might negatively effect the willingness of Gaians to help them.
N'aw shucks, thank you.
I would say keep them humanoid, makes them easier to relate to. They could have some kind of alien-ish traits like different eyes or horns or something, but I'd want to keep it fairly simple so the whole 'charming stranger' thing still works. Like, Gaians are pretty diverse themselves, so there's a fair few things we can get away with that Gaians wouldn't bat an eyelid to, but I'd prefer to keep it simple. I'm thinking like, maybe something akin to the sun elves of DnD (Wiki Page) but with fully black eyes.
That sounds good to me, I know I would never say no to elves.
On a side note, I was surprised to see in the link that the elves were so short. I think I have been too influenced by Tolkien and Final Fantasy.
I had not heard of Titansgrave, so I watched chapter 0. I know a bit of Wil Wheaton, mostly because of him appearing on @Midnight, and I love Hank Green. Anyways, the world seems very detailed and interesting. Would a group that opposed magic and technology being used together assassinate the king and frame the traveler? I guess the traveler would have to be someone important, maybe related to the king? Maybe the crystal that ends up in our rooms was important because it maintained a balance with magic and tech, and by breaking up the crystal, the group adds to the chaos while having more to blame on the traveler. Possibly putting the crystal back together can save the kingdom and prove the travelers's innocence.
In the rooms at the start, everyone could be super focused on their own problems and how to fix them. Later maybe everyone could sort of become vested in helping the traveler and saving this other kingdom. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try to defeat the evil group, maybe whoever is in charge of the kingdom after saving it will deal with them. Maybe the council is really the group and being all two faced! They take advantage of fact that the traveler is super charming, smart, and related to the king as reasons the traveler would assassinate the king.
I'm a little bit worried that the story might end up bit dark for some of the guests, with kings being killed and such. Some creative writing could probably downplay the violence a bit to keep it from getting too dark. Once again I hope this makes sense, my thoughts are not organized at all :c
Mm, opposing the use of magic in tech would be like opposing electricity in tech, it'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face really. Given how reliant our world is on electricity, you can imagine how a group that wants to oppose that might not gain any traction.
Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff we are talking about right now is world-building. It's crucial to making a strong plot, but a lot of it won't end up in the Ball. It doesn't have to be super dark, but if it is it won't matter too much because realistically the traveller isn't going to spit out a ream of exposition at every person that walks by. It's important we know the details, but attendees? Not so much.
Regarding keeping the character's background from becoming too dark though, it's fairly simple. This kingdom survives and thrives on a mix of both magic and technology, it obviously has a healthy respect for the scientific arts - royal scientists would be a given. This particular character could have been the lead scientist and and advisor of sorts to the King when it comes to technology.
Following on from this logic, I will point out that a stable kingdom wouldn't rely on one crystal to power their world; it's simply too risky, and power grabs and assassinations would happen every other week as a result. It'd end up like Lord of the Flies with everyone fighting over the conch shell. Crystals would need to be in abundance for them to be a good resource to exploit. We could even go so far as to say that these are extremely fast growing crystals, like bamboo, and that even a small chunk in the right conditions can spawn new growths - maybe that's how they ended up in other worlds, the people of this world discovered how to open rifts and travel to other worlds, and decided to leave deposits in every world they visited as a kind of security measure in case someone gets stranded there (or some similar reason idk).
Now, just because the kingdom is healthy and the King is well loved, doesn't mean there couldn't be others vying for the throne; it happens. We don't really need to go into detail about who it is that's pulling the strings - leaving that a mystery would reflect how much the Traveller knows about the situation. Instead we simply need to focus on the ramifications of this.
(It gets a bit more prose-y as I go on, so I've put this under a spoiler so that it's a bit more separate from me just talking about the plot. This isn't the way I would word the plot in the final version, but it's a bit of a segue into a less conversational tone)
The King is assassinated, throwing the kingdom into mourning and disarray. Someone needs to be blamed for this, and given that the weapon was a blade created by the royal scientist, the blame falls on them. Perhaps the council was payed off, perhaps they're more concerned in keeping the peace than actually protecting the innocent, whatever the reason, our guy ended up the scapegoat.
There's no chance of a fair trial; when a kingdom loves their king that much, nobody really cares about being methodical, they just want someone to hate. So, the scientist does what any sane person would do, grabs their interdimensional portal device, and makes a break for it.
They flee for their life, mourning the loss of their king, their livelihood and their homeworld, lamenting the future that awaits them in their newly imposed exile, and hoping that they can put as many dimensions between them and their inevitable pursuers as possible. A few years pass and they believe they are finally free to roam the multiverse, but just when they thought they'd finally managed to shake them, the royal enforcers come tearing out of a rift, and open fire on the scientist.
Fleeing through a hastily made portal, the now traveller manages to escape unscathed, but their device is damaged in the process, effectively stranding them in this new world (which they come to learn is called 'Gaia' in the native tongue). They soon come to learn that Gaia is beyond the reach of their homeworld, and as such, has no crystal deposits. After a brief moment of panic, they realise Gaian tech isn't as primitive as they first thought, and enlist the help of the local populace to open a rift to a nearby dimension that does.
The traveller promises to show Gaians a whole new world (quite literally), and begins work with the local mages to open the rift. However, their limited knowledge of the world of Gaia and the magic it is imbued with leads to a miscalculation, and rather than opening just one rift, thousands of rifts are torn open simultaneously thanks to particularly strong magical ley lines connecting them. The traveller's mistake is costly and many Gaians are sucked into the rifts, dumped without warning into these strange new worlds.
(fwiw, you don't need to worry if you're being coherent or not, your ideas are great and they come across just fine)
[edit] Sorry for all the inevitable notifications, I'm a horrendous abuser of Shatner commas and I keep finding more to edit out.
Very well written! Looks like a solid plot to me c:
Just to make things interesting, should the traveler be human or some other type of being? If it is scary, it might negatively effect the willingness of Gaians to help them.
N'aw shucks, thank you.
I would say keep them humanoid, makes them easier to relate to. They could have some kind of alien-ish traits like different eyes or horns or something, but I'd want to keep it fairly simple so the whole 'charming stranger' thing still works. Like, Gaians are pretty diverse themselves, so there's a fair few things we can get away with that Gaians wouldn't bat an eyelid to, but I'd prefer to keep it simple. I'm thinking like, maybe something akin to the sun elves of DnD (Wiki Page) but with fully black eyes.
That sounds good to me, I know I would never say no to elves.
On a side note, I was surprised to see in the link that the elves were so short. I think I have been too influenced by Tolkien and Final Fantasy.
Ah, someone after my own heart (elves are the best man, like, I'm getting ear pointing done later this year don't even gET ME STARTED ON ELVES) <3
Yeah, DnD has always been like that with it's elves, I think it's only after the LOTR movies came out that people's idea of elves culturally changed (m'not gonna complain tho).
Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:20 pm
I've made a google document for people to start working on the finalised plot. Link is here.
While also relying on the morals of the guests and hosts, why not also add the possibility of the world ending if the traveller doesn't help fix whatever is wrong in their own realm?
So taking the Superheros room in example, lets say a super villain has a power that could potentially destroy the entire world, and is planning to use it for evil. The traveller comes and the hosts and guests could help the traveller (thus saving this world from their apocalypse) or ignore the traveller which the realm will get destroyed (of course the traveler would find someway out along side the guests/hosts, etc) on the last day.
Maybe this is too dark and more harder to control haha.
And could someone explain how one traveller is able to be in 5ish rooms at one time because I can't wrap my head around it. Help my head hurts lmao.
