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.
Extremely.
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.
I will be setting up the universe as I see the characters come in.
There will probably be some that require certain worlds, and some
that will require space scenes. I will, in effect, be assigning
people who want the same background together. The best way that I
see to get the ideas flowing would require a chat group, which will
only require timing and entrances and time together to bring about.
I (as I see myself) am a horrible writer, but what I'm suggesting is
for a group of people of unknown writing potential to write something
and make the whole work better than on your own.
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.
I believe that if the people who get involved are interested enough,
they will be able to co-ordinate themselves among themselves. The
setting that I had envisioned for my character would be like an
alternate earth, where gods roam with the mortals and magic (like
Jusenkyou) actually work.
Given your inspiration I am assuming a UF-style space opera is what you
had in mind, but additional clarity would be good.
Ask and I shall reply.
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.
Good and evil are relative. You could choose your "good" character
to plot world domination and your "evil" character would be trying to
stop him/her. You could have the "evil" characters outnumber the
"good" ones, but try to keep them on a 1 to 1 basis.
Also, because I forgot to put this in in my first post (which was
written 3 months ago, go figure) you can have as many
protagonists/foils as you feel that you can handle at one point, just
be wary that it is possible to bite off more than you can chew. (I've
done it before, believe me.)
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?
The person who writes the characters, the characters themselves
(although you could have it that the characters don't know...that's
your decision) and what the other characters figure out in time.
And will you do anything to balance characters?
Balancing characters is one of the things that should be attended to
at the very start. That, and putting them with people/groups that
would make them excell to their utmost of potential.
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.
Anime characters are allowed. No if's, and's or buts. They are
allowed. Also, they aren't considered "background" characters, as
anime tends to be worldwide as it is. If two or more authors want to
have interaction with the same anime character, I'll see if I can get
those groups to merge at one point to make the dual-interaction
possible. (Two people having sex with one character, although, will
mean that one has to wait their turn.)
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?
How tightly integrated it gets is dependant on the writers. Each
story is assumed to be starting at the same time, but it could be
happening at a different time, allowing for authors who want a more
advanced background or a less advanced background to get their wishes
complied with.
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.
What I hope to happen is that all the story segments will converge at
one point to become a single continuous story. I will be trying to
lightly nudge that into happening, but authors usually do what they
will. When I see something, however, that would make the entire plot
of one segment fly off in another direction, or kill that story
altogether, I'll intervene and "rewind" back to the part where the
problem is happening and point it out to the authors, hopefully
removing the danger from that plot. (danger being to the plot, not in
the plot)
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. ;-)
No, more like something to get the authors to get their minds up to
speed, describing their character before they even start. It may, or
may not work. But if it does work, the verses will also mesh into a
poem for each segment, hopefully pointing out that this CAN work.
Thank you for asking these questions. As I said before, I wrote this
about 3 months ago and didn't have the time or inclination to flesh
it out. Hopefully I answered all your questions.
Shadow Dancer
danceshadows@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/6418
**************************************
Love is in the air, you just need to see it...
Cans't not see it? You have to believe it...
Look out, it's after you... Only you can find it...
Love is in the air, I know, I've found it...
Maybe you can find yours, too.
(c)Shadow Dancer, June 27th, 1997