fhplotterywheel | Noir Weekend!

Entry tags:

random events

Noir Weekend!

We all know and love Soap Opera Weekend, so we thought we would riff on that idea, but with a twist!

Yes, on the weekend of July 12-13th, Fandom Island (and those hanging around on Ingvar, if the stolp bug menace hasn't vacated the dorms by then) will be experiencing its very first Noir Weekend!

What does Noir Weekend consist of? If you opt in to playing along, you'll get to poke at copious noir tropes, black and white/period icons, shenanigans with private dicks and speakeasies (as dirty as you want to interpret that) and plenty of dangerous dames, skirts, birds, and molls. Prohibition is going strong, which means that the bars can only legally be serving soft drinks and sarsaparilla, though there may be rumors of secret rooms where something a little harder can be bought--for a price. Monologuing runs rampant. And if there aren't antics involving tommyguns before the end of the weekend, someone is doing something wrong somewhere. But no worries, any and all damage caused will revert back to normal again on Monday morning!

Picture this! (all characters mentioned being used w/out permission just for illustrative and brainstorming purposes) Please listen to this while reading to get into the mood:

Fandom Island. A seedier hive of scum and villainy you won't find this side of NYC. The air is always hazy with fog and cigarette smoke and the streets run with rainwater, illegal booze, and sometimes even blood. At the aptly-named Devil's Nest, a man known to associates and enemies alike only as 'the Viking' runs girls, games, and gin. When it comes to having dirty hands, no one's are much dirtier than his boy, Lips, who does brisk business in records and "violin cases," if you know what we mean. Most of the cops are on the take and the ones that ain't have a hard time keeping their backs free of lead. Not that they ain't got problems of their own. The Baltimore Bay Butcher's killed seven ~~NPC~~ people and counting and even though times are tough, Satriale's shop has always got plenty of pork. Every heart's got a secret, every business has got a backdoor, and every one has to pay the piper in the end.

This is...Fandom Noir.

It'll be structured very much the same way Soap Opera Weekend is, with OCD neatly tucked into this very post for you to all noodle about your characters' backstories, and what's becoming of the bits of the island you all know and love.

Brainstorming and question threads are all neatly posted within for your convenience!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey punk. Wanna be a private eye? The leggy dame who walks into his (or her!) office with eyes full of tears and a past full of secrets? The bartender who's seen too much and knows enough to get herself killed? A maker of bathtub whiskey? No idea at all? You can find the Noir TV Tropes page here.

Use this thread for coming up with your characters and backgrounds, making connections, and asking for suggestions.

Two elements are needed for a good Noir setting. The first is darkness. Dark clouds, constant rain, no daylight--all necessary for those distinctive chiaroscuro shadows. Somehow for this event, it will never be daylight. Like Sin City, it's just somehow always nighttime. Nighttime and raining. This doesn't strike anyone as strange or weird, it's just How Things Are--unless, of course, your character remains untouched by Fandom whimsy. Then they can feel free to be as confused by the omnipresent darkness as you'd like!

The second is the city. Streetlamps to illuminate our anti-heroes as they walk in the rain. Alleys for our anti-heroes to be dragged down. Bars and speakeasies, warehouses, seedy offices, gambling casinos, all of these and more are backdrops for whatever our characters are going to get up to. As such, Fandom Town will be undergoing some changes, too.

Folks who currently own or manage a business can ping in here and decide what changes, if any, are going to affect their shops. They may end up becoming something completely different, staying the same, or keeping up a similar front for all kinds of nefarious activities. NPC stores are moddable as usual, though any active PC employees should have the final say. A list of businesses can be found at

ft_directory.

Ideas, thoughts, plans, suggestions? Maybe you think there should be a raid on the secret gin distillery in one of the warehouses or that there should be rival gangsters fighting for Fandom's … diamond mines. (Okay, sometimes these things are a constant on genre-themed event weekends.) Whatever your ideas, put them here for all to share!

Have a background that needs a hitman but no hitman chosen yet? Or are you a hitman who's been killing for years but needs a boss to report to or a body to lug? Are you a private dick (probably not dirty, but who knows with Noir) looking for some clients? If you're in need, you can ping in here and see if there's anyone else with the skills or resources you need to complete your Noir weekend experience.

Have we missed something? Is something unclear? Here's the place to poke us with those burning questions you might have!
Question 1: What about the supernatural? I'm a witch/mage/mutant/alien/whatever! How will this affect my character?
Answer: However you want! While the stereotypical Noir movie doesn't have any supernatural elements in it, there's no hard or fast rule against it (and some excellent stories that combine the two). We're leaving powers and the like up to your discretion. Whatever you think works best for your character is A-okay.

Question 2: Is there a deadline to get our characters in/sign up?
Answer: No way! This stuff here is to help you come up with ideas and whatnot. If you know what you want to do (or are even just have a few nebulous thoughts), this is a good place to expand and solidify. But it's just here to be helpful. Participation is, as always, voluntary and on your own terms.

Anything else? Ask us here!

Edited 2014-07-01 12:51 (UTC)

Getting flashbacks to my 48 Hour Film project already...

We need some kind of classy joint what our femmes et hommes fatale can work at, all respectable like, what with the torch songs and the big bands.

Heads up for anyone who might need some inspiration, archive.org has a bunch of film noir movies available.

Edited 2014-07-01 13:28 (UTC)

Since there's only one person posting the bar over the weekends, I should probably ask: is the "bars are only allowed to sell non-alcoholic drinks" thing an absolute definite? Like would Caritas automatically be changed over as plot necessity?

Basically I've already done Caritas as a speakeasy IG so I'd like to know what the options are so I'm not just rehashing old material.

Whatever your heart desires! Maybe you've bribed local law enforcement to turn a blind eye, or found some other loophole to poke at. Or you could opt to not change Caritas at all, since participation is entirely optional. So up to you. :)

Luke's is a classy joint, serving food and offering a nightly show, the kinda place that won't let you through the door without a dinner jacket and a tie. It's home to the well-to-dos and the want-to-dos alike, where the piano's always playing and the (non-alcoholic, of course officer!) drinks are always flowing, and all watched over by Grande Dame Pinkamena. She knows just what you like, and she and her girls will know just how to get it for you.

And, yes, Pinkamena will be shocked -- SHOCKED -- to find gambling in this establishment.

(Pinkie will totes be a pony -- this is just the noir-liest icon I have so far.)

It would be an absolute violation of the ever-increasing-angst principle of character development for Eliot not to be a gun toting hitman for this. Preferably with the most despicable boss he can find.

So if anyone wants to get offed (the more the merrier!), or have an NPC'd loved one get offed (past or present), or have a particularly vicious and violent hitman on your books, let me know.

Of course this is also the weekend of the full moon. Which is not only atmospheric, but makes supernatural hijinks available.

Meet Barry "The Brain" Ween. He runs the numbers racket in the warehouse district, you see? He'll cook your books, change the odds and count the cards all to make a profit, buster and don't you forget it.

What I'm thinking is I want to keep Caritas (and Kitty) unchanged, though the laws are different in the town, naturally. So Saturday I can post and people can come in because hey, alcohol!

And then I want the place to get raided by any cops in town.

Would people be up for this?

I almost feel like the cops should raid when Kitty tries to get one of them to settle their tab.

Oh, right, that's still on YouTube.

I would love to volunteer the Magic Box for this. Rinoa's going to be one of those femme fatales singing the torch songs, and she has a bodyguard wrapped around her little finger (waves to Squall).

Plus I have images of her as a hostess-and-or-prostitute from some J-drama soooooooooo

I might say in this reality of noir-land she doesn't own it, exactly, she's just one of its stars. (Anybody want to volunteer to be the shadow owner of the place? Rinoa might be banging you on the side to STAY one of the stars ... )

I also need help potentially renaming it, although I want to keep "Magic" because, see, it's where the magic happens

I dunno. Calling it the Magic Box and making it a home for, err, ladies of the evening strikes me as HILARIOUS.

Ricki's a sweet-as-pie city girl with expensive tastes and a weakness for vodka (and sometimes a little nose candy, but who's telling?) She used to be a back-up dancer at some shady establishment, but is now quite happily a kept woman courtesy of Reno, who got her an apartment and keeps her in mink stoles and fancy jewelry. He's probably in with the mob, and Ricki couldn't care less so much as he keeps the vodka-and-fancy-gifts train rolling. (Also, she carefully doesn't ask questions. Not because she doesn't want to know, but because she knows she's not supposed to. She's here to look good and smile, not ask how mobland is going.)

Anyone want to be a friend from the showgirl days, or another moll she can sip drinks with?

(Reno mentions are totally from Shannon zomg NO MODDING)

I love it.

Oh my goodness yes.

Okay question! Should the Magic Box not be Torchland Express, then, and just a plain old brothel? OR should the stage be a front for what goes on below decks? I.e., all of the singers and waitresses can be had, for a price, if you know who to ask ...

And Tino only pours shots of cheap rotgut whiskey, no matter what people order.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 5

Noir Weekend!

Character Brainstorming

Town Brainstorming

General Noodlings

Classified Ads

Questions

OOC

Re: OOC

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: OOC

Re: Questions

Re: Questions

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Classified Ads

Re: General Noodlings

Re: Character Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: OOC

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Character Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming

Re: Town Brainstorming