fhplotterywheel | Brainstorming brainstorming brainstorming!

I dunno. I had a weird idea the other night where Fandom was suddenly very Edenic. No violence, no anger, no clothing...I think it was a spell so that someone else could take over the island, but as people ate apples, they realized that a) everyone else was naked, and b) hey, maybe we should do something about this not-really-hostile takeover of the island.

It's vague, it's weird, I'm blaming real NyQuil. But there you go.

"The Elysian Fields? But only heroes end up here! Dead heroes.

. . . dead, naked heroes."

This is not contributing to your idea at all, but man, I couldn't resist.

OMG! CONTRIBUTE TO MY CRACKED OUT IDEA.

CONTRIBUTE! CONTRIIIIIIIIIIIIIBUTE.

Now I sound like some kind of Den-Mother Dalek. Which would make an awesome band name.

I think that would have to be done very very carefully as that could get incredibly skeevy very fast considering the age range we have even just amongst the students.

IDEK about anyone else but, for instance, a twenty/twenty-one year old seeing a fourteen/fifteen year old naked would creep me out on several levels as a plot/event.

It's not to say that it couldn't be done, of course, but. My two cents, let me show you them.

Edited 2010-10-13 17:29 (UTC)

No, that's toooooooooooooootally a fair crit. Even if it could be handwaved away in the beginning with people not actually noticing, after some folks start waking up, it could get pretty creepy pretty fast.

As kind of a distillation of the original idea, perhaps people are just wrapped in a happy, dream-like state where they don't notice/comprehend the danger until people started waking up out of it? Kind of a cross between the lotus-eaters and (I think, as I've only read synopses) the Jasmine arc from Angel?

Ooooo. I like the happy unaware state a lot better that way--for me, personally, it has a lot less AHHH in it while being fascinating to play in at the same time.

*contemplates*

There's how many people with mind powers around at the moment? They'd either be the least snared or the most snared depending on the details of it, I would think--if they're the least, it gives reason for why they'd wake up and be able to rouse the others. But if they're the most...

I actually like the idea of them being the most ensnared; there's so many possibilities there.

Me too, actually. Especially since they could then be used to keep ensnaring the others. Like...I dunno...mind-control vectors.

The way they react alters other people's situation, maybe?

(Randomly/unpredictably, though in game terms it'd have to be prearranged and such, of course.)

I was thinking more that they could go around trying to re-ensnare folks what have already been un-ensnared, but, really, at this point anything goes.

Chiming in very late to say I like this idea a lot, and that I'd rather not have any one group be designated as either immune or more affected from the start -- I'd rather we do the sign-ups and let people who want to play with either extreme self-select, and then work backwards to justify why that group.

I think the difference I see is that "the fighters save the day" is defined and opted into by each player -- no one is going to tell a player that their character is not a fighter and can't help. (Okay, some of us might roll our eyes, but still.) On the other hand, being psychic is something that was defined for our characters long ago.

/ramble

I don't like that idea, I admit, but that's almost got to be coloured by the fact that I play a telepath who generally keeps her powers v. v. undercover so that's totally influencing it, yeah, when coupled with Ino's general issues on the island about her mentally being ~different~.

But that's a personal problem and I freely admit there are plenty of other possiblities in them being the most ensnared. So. IDEK. This is just a comment.

A nicely useless one. Awesome!

I'm just thinking that, in meta-terms, having them be the most ensnared will be an easy way for this not defaulting to 'telepaths save the day.'

From an Ino-POV (and one that doesn't even touch your objections, so take this for what it's worth), I can just see a ghostly voice or something whispering in her ear, "You'll never be alone again. Just bring them in and they'll be your own group/crew/team/proper term here. They'll never turn their back on you, never walk away from you...They'll be with you and love you forever..."

That's not to say she couldn't free herself or whatever, but I just love the idea of the Big Bad using the telepaths' own weaknesses against them to get them to help with 'recruitment.'

We're going to have problems with no matter who it defaults to saving the day, honestly, in my understanding. It's not fair to anyone. If not the telepaths, who? The fighters? The researchers? The magic users? The totally normal folks? It's kind of a--no-win situation, really, if we want to avoid defaulting to a group in general.

Unless the pets save the day. I vote for that. That'd be adorable. I have no idea how it would work, but yes.

And that is an interesting suggestion for Ino, though one that would have to--work a bit--to take hold as she really and honestly doesn't believe that in person when told to her face. Definitely something to think about though, thank you.

I seem to recall that eons and eons ago, there was a pets save the day plot in the works, but it got dropped. Having just read Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockjaw_and_the_Pet_Avengers), I say DO IT.

LOCKJAW IS COOL WITH THIS.

Mr. Winkles is totally NOT BEST PLEASED by someone other than him using Zack to destroy the world. IT IS ON!

...I will stop talking for other people's NPC pets now.

The other groups, especially the researchers/totally normals will at least have a larger pool to draw from when it comes to saving the day. If it does come down to one 'group' to do it (and I'm certainly not trying to say that's the only way it has to play out, not at all), my preference is to let it be the group that has the most people in it, so that more people are involved.

But again, there's no reason it has to default to that, especially if other folks come up with brilliant ideas otherwise.

As for the Ino thing, I don't think it would be as simple as someone coming up and telling her that? More a traitorous little voice in the back of her mind, one that sounds eminently reasonable. I don't think anyone would fall for someone bumping into to them at the Perk, say, and just mentioning that for kicks.

That being said, I'm mentioning that more for clarification, NOT because I'm married to the idea of it happening. This is still in the vague, planning stages, so for all we know, maybe it'll end up that there are flowers blooming that make everyone more liable to just chill out and relax, a la Lotus Eaters, you know?

Yei would think it is the BEST ADVENTURE EVER. And Kusanagi would go along in the hopes of getting to eat SOMETHING that wasn't a dead mouse someone gave him.

I see your points, I do, though I also counter with the fact that the normals/researchers far more frequently have hand in saving the day and would it really be so bad to do plots where smaller groups of people are instrumental in beginning the saving the day part: for this plot, for all we know, the telepaths could wake up first and then have to wake up other people and those other people are the ones who get rid of the evil because the telepaths are busy keeping people from falling asleep again, you know?

But I'm just rambling as well, SO.

...I will have a cogent response once I stop being mesmerized by your icon.

Please hold.

*cackles*

Though Genesis isn't best pleased about the sweater around his waist. That's not really his style, no...

Edited 2010-10-13 19:39 (UTC)

Re: General Ideas

glacial_queen - 2010-10-13 20:03 (UTC) - Expand

Re: General Ideas

apples-n-poetry.livejournal.com - 2010-10-13 20:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: General Ideas

glacial_queen - 2010-10-13 20:21 (UTC) - Expand

I just want to make a quick note that 'telepaths' isn't an exclusive (or at least, mostly exclusive) group, and neither do fighters/researchers/magic users tend to be, you know? In the venn diagram of those groups, most characters tend to overlap at least two. We're singling out those with psionic/telepathic/et al abilities the way we'd be like "And this affects everyone with super-strength!" and I'm not sure that's fair to do, since I think nearly all our telepathy types have at least one secondary ability (if not a tertiary one, and so on) and thus can also be fighters/researchers/healers/etc.

So really, there's no reason the telepaths - or those with psychic sensitivity - can't be affected by this and not save the day, because odds are that those guys have been part of (or could conceivably have been part of in the past) the rescueeeee! because they're also researchers, fighters, healers, magic users, etc.

I have no idea if that makes sense, but I guess what I'm saying is that odds are even as far as making them the most affected group/the least affected group, as far as fairness goes. And I say that as someone who thinks putting Sook in either group sounds awesome.

And many of our fighters can heal/use magic, etc etc etc.

I still do not believe it is wrong to consider and suggest doing a plot that focuses more on one group than another in some facet of the planning.

Because, honestly, from my point of view: nothing is fair anyway. Which is not particularly a happy thing to say but speaking as someone who is used to their ideas getting shot down and who is used to being disagreed with and who is used to having their character passed over because someone else can do yadda-yadda-yadda better? I fully admit that I am not being entirely fair either.

But then, I honestly haven't noticed people being fair back in my direction. Which is my two honest cents that people probably don't want to hear about anyway. (Which is not meant as bitter and/or disruptive or anything else, merely fact-as-I-see which may or may not be fact-as-it-is, but we all have our own biases.)

And besides, this is all suggestion anyway, so I'm--kinda hurt that you felt the need to spell that all out to me like I didn't already know it because it seems very--'let's say something for the sake of it' and that's kinda mehy.

Fairness or not of the prior situation aside, I'd venture that it isn't very fair to assign intention to someone else's comment, and that I don't know that yours is particularly constructive. I had a longer comment, but at this point, I feel like anything I say is going to run the risk of having intent assigned to it no matter what I say.

So I'll just say I'm honestly sorry you read my comment that way, and that's not how I meant it to come across.

Your comment is kinda coming across as a passive-aggressive "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna go eat worms."

And *that* is unfair.

Erin and I settled our discussion about this on AIM.

Thank you for your input.