On Mon, 28 Jul 1997, Shadow Dancer wrote:
Whee! I just read Undocumented features and it was great! I
also had an idea while reading that for a universe for more
people to play in. While I am sure that this universe will never
ever get to be as large and complex as UF, I do want to do my
best.
Will be difficult to match the wildness that UF released.
If you want to join this universe (I _hope_ you will<looks
vainly for people being interested>) I have a couple of rules for
your initial characters.
I'm Interested, and have an Idea I'd like to play with, but it will
require a certain kind of universe to work.
What sort of world, or worlds, did you have in mind? A UF-style space
opera setting? [The background will need more than a little work] A
mystical series where magic and sorcerors roam? A MegaTokyo/Cyberpunk
setup? 20th century Earth... with "changes", a la Ranma or Urusei
Yatsura? Even with the scope you have in mind, a basic idea will needed
at the start, especially by whoever co-ordinates the effort.
Given your inspiration I am assuming a UF-style space opera is what you
had in mind, but additional clarity would be good.
1. When you make a "good" character, you also have to
make a "foil" character (both ways, regardless, for good being
the eye of the beholder (good is evil, and evil is good. There
confused yet?:)) where the "evil" character will have as many(or
more) powers that your main character.
1 champion of darkness for each upholder of the light. OK.
2. If you are teleporting a character in from another
universe (that includes self-insertion) said character will
receive ONE benefit and TWO liabilities. (benefit being certain
powers, magic, psionics, etc. (each one is seperate), and
liabilities being curses, falling madly in love with someone that
hates their guts, Nabiki chasing them for money(don't hit me,
Nabiki!!!), etc.)
Just how public will these liabilities/advantages be?
And will you do anything to balance characters?
3. If teleproting in your "foil" from another
universe, said character will receive TWO benefits and ONE
liability. (I know that this is unfair, but the main characters
will be getting most of the spotlight, no? I hope that
all the main characters will find each other, anyway, for there
is strength in numbers, no?)
Seems reasonable.
4. You can have up to five "background" characters
under your control, but where they will be assigned is based upon
the roll of a die. (literally, I'm a D&D freak, so I have the
dice to prove it.) I hope to have at least five people join in
on this, to make it more fun.
Does this include anime characters who happen to be running around? And
what will you do if multiple authors want to use the same anime
character, in irreconcilable ways.
5. No characters can be omnipotent, and by that I mean
like "Q" from Star trek, Twister from twisted path, etc. Also no
"instant-kill" powers, and especially no author-powers (by that I
mean killing off the bad guy by writing him out of existance) for
that lessens the fun, as well.
Again, quite reasonable.
You will be able to choose where your main character will
appear, and on which world. Also, "foil" characters need not
necessarily be foils for your main character, but can be a foil
for someone else's character(you ABSOLUTELY _NEED_ that person's
permission to do that, first, though)
Just how tightly integrated will this world be? Will each story have
it's own time and place in the continuity, and will you try to enforce
changes to maintain inter-story continuity?
UF worked because the founding stories of the arc were written by a small
group that could meet face-to-face to settle and discuss plots and story
arcs. The later stories were add-ons to an established storyline, and
can even be considered fanfics of UF itself. This project will lack that
tight-nit starting group and will need some sort of editorial control or
widely understood world or it will diverge and lose coherence really quickly.
Oh, and one final thing. The reason that this is called
"Uni-verse Prime" is because you MUST be able to sum up your main
character in one nineteen to thirty syllable verse. The reason for
that being that I would like to be able to line the characters up in
poem-style (free verse) for the Uni-verse intro.
Well, have fun!
A character description in verse? A ploy to frighten the faint-hearted I
assume. ;-)
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"The Major" | "Funny Games, Strange Cartoons, Confusing
David Bateson | Computers and too many Books! No
| wonder you're weird."
major@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au | - My Sister.
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