The Pub at the Edge of the Multiverse ~ Fanfiction Public Planning Thread

[Catterjune]

Why would I need to get rid of the parents? The fact that there secret should be hidden from them adds to a bit of tension, wouldn't you think so? (And even then, they could always use their mind tricks on their parents to help them accomplish things they themselves would be unable to do, like drive.)

[Eliminate]

I've been working out an idea for a zombie apocalypse story for a while and wanted to know what you guys thought. I'm kinda aiming for a different zombie apocalypse story, instead of the usual survivors fighting off the zombies and crap.

 

Summary: This millionaire hires this psychotic scientist (but the millionaire doesn't know the scientist is psychotic at this point) to form a virus that turns humans into a more advanced, powerful breed of humans. They work on this virus for years and all attempts fail. However, unknown to the millionaire, all those years the scientist has been messing with the virus to turn humans into walking corpses, or zombies. One day, the scientist turns on the millionaire and injects the millionaire with the virus. The scientist then flees. Since the virus was originally going to turn humans into a more advanced breed, the virus turns the millionaire into a more advanced breed of zombies. The millionaire wants only one thing, revenge. He then starts to build a "zombie army" to hunt down the scientist, the only one with the cure to the virus. Throughout the story, the scientist will attempt to flee from the evergrowing army of zombies and the zombies, the millionaire especially, will attempt to get revenge on the man who made them who they were.

 

That's about as far as I got. If you can't tell, I'm trying to make the zombies seem like anti-heroes in this story. Usually they're the antagonists in stories, but I wanted to make them more of a "anti-heroes". Anti-heroes how? Well, the millionaire of course kills innocent people and turns them into zombies who then turn other innocent people into zombies and so on, but at least they're doing it, in their eyes, for a good thing. And the scientist is the main antagonist of the story.

 

Also, if you're wondering about "advanced" breed of zombies. What I mean is instead of the usual dumb, nonsense zombies, the zombies in this story will be stronger, intelligent, and actual have some sense.

 

Any help with this idea is greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure out if the scientist has a group of other psychotic scientists to back him up or if it's only him. Also, trying to figure out where and when this takes place.

 

Also, I'm trying to decide what way to write this story. The first is through the eyes of the scientist trying to fight off the zombies or through the eyes a narrator explaining the envents yet still showing everything, kinda like a witness watching it from the sidewalk.

 

Thanks!

[Sleepy]

I've been working out an idea for a zombie apocalypse story for a while and wanted to know what you guys thought. I'm kinda aiming for a different zombie apocalypse story, instead of the usual survivors fighting off the zombies and crap.

 

Summary: This millionaire hires this psychotic scientist (but the millionaire doesn't know the scientist is psychotic at this point) to form a virus that turns humans into a more advanced, powerful breed of humans. They work on this virus for years and all attempts fail. However, unknown to the millionaire, all those years the scientist has been messing with the virus to turn humans into walking corpses, or zombies. One day, the scientist turns on the millionaire and injects the millionaire with the virus. The scientist then flees. Since the virus was originally going to turn humans into a more advanced breed, the virus turns the millionaire into a more advanced breed of zombies. The millionaire wants only one thing, revenge. He then starts to build a "zombie army" to hunt down the scientist, the only one with the cure to the virus. Throughout the story, the scientist will attempt to flee from the evergrowing army of zombies and the zombies, the millionaire especially, will attempt to get revenge on the man who made them who they were.

 

That's about as far as I got. If you can't tell, I'm trying to make the zombies seem like anti-heroes in this story. Usually they're the antagonists in stories, but I wanted to make them more of a "anti-heroes". Anti-heroes how? Well, the millionaire of course kills innocent people and turns them into zombies who then turn other innocent people into zombies and so on, but at least they're doing it, in their eyes, for a good thing. And the scientist is the main antagonist of the story.

 

Also, if you're wondering about "advanced" breed of zombies. What I mean is instead of the usual dumb, nonsense zombies, the zombies in this story will be stronger, intelligent, and actual have some sense.

 

Any help with this idea is greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure out if the scientist has a group of other psychotic scientists to back him up or if it's only him. Also, trying to figure out where and when this takes place.

 

Also, I'm trying to decide what way to write this story. The first is through the eyes of the scientist trying to fight off the zombies or through the eyes a narrator explaining the envents yet still showing everything, kinda like a witness watching it from the sidewalk.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Question: If the Zombies here are kind of super awesome human beings that keep their self-consciousness and pretty much everything else that is usually lost when becoming a mindless walking corpse from conventional Zombie Apocalypse stories. Then why is the millionaire so vengeful against the scientist? After all, the millionaire was the one that started the project in the first place. If he did, how come he was ambitious enough to start such project but did not want to try it on himself as its original purpose? He doesn't sound like the kind of people that just plainly want to benefit humanity out of the blue.

I mean, there is that little thing that the experiment could have gone wrong considering how their scientist didn't get consistent results, but he seemed to turn out well enough.

 

Also, what happened with that scientist? Do you have any idea of what the argument was about to make him loose control and attack his boss? It sounds more like he planned it beforehand and it was no spontaneous rage at all. I mean he was able to escape from being in front of the now infected millionaire boss with super-human abilities, on top of being a millionaire to begin with so there must have been really tight security for in-and-out access to the place where they stood, and not only regular high security, but high security regarding a place where they were performing a secret project that they should not be doing to the eyes of the world. With all that, the scientist provably knew multiple secret routes and wasn't alone. Description give the feel that the scientist is only desperately running for his life aimlessly but that might not be the case.

 

As for your question regarding the point of view to which the story is being narrated. I'd say do it with the eyes of the millionaire. My only stand on that is that if you do it through the eyes of the scientist, you will be doing it from the eyes of the victim? that is running away. Turning your millionaire into the bad guy and making the story into a regular Zombie Apocalypse one. Which is what you want to prevent for what I heard.

 

EDIT:

Almost forgot. I'm curious on how will the scientist be just running away all the time. Not sure how you will make it work but if you have a concrete plan for that, good luck.

 

I'm not a big fan of Zombie Apocalypse stuff though...

[Eliminate]

Maybe I went overboard explaining how these zombies are more "advanced" than ones commonly known. When I was planning this out, I pictured the zombies (in appearance) like the Titans from Batman: Arkham Asylum. (If you haven't played that game, look up some images/videos of the Titans to get what I'm saying.) Tall (or taller than normal zombies at least), bodybuilder-like body, and strong. I personally don't know why I said these zombies will be more intelligent than commonly known ones; I want to keep it so these are still walking corpses, just stronger. The only thing the zombies even think is revenge.

The millionaire wanted to "evolve" humans in a way. His goal was to make humans stronger and do stuff that they couldn't do before, like maybe reading minds or something. He didn't want humans to become walking corpses, no matter how strong they were. That's why he wants revenge on the scientist.

 

On the subject of the scientist, well he's crazy; he's a mad scientist. The attack was planned beforehand and there wasn't any type of argument before the attack. How he escaped? Well, it was only him and the millionaire doing the experiments in a underground cellar. When he injected the millionaire, the millionaire fainted (I'm considering that the transformation took a few hours or days) and when he awoke, now a zombie, the scientist was gone. Thinking about it now, I'm thinking the scientist is part of this secret organization who's goal was to bring the world into chaos. I guess a organization full of crazy scientists and the like.

 

I'll experiment with all three styles and decide which I like best.

 

Thanks for the comments.

[Sleepy]

Oh I see... Will look up for those titans

Sounds a bit like Detective Conan though.

In the sense that the main character was forcibly given some chemical that ended up changing his appearance. Although that chemical was supposed to kill him instead, now he is perfectly disguised by the looks of a 6 (or less) year old and his main purpose is to track down the organization that did that to him. Much like your character is tracking down that scientist.

 

I'm not too fond of the idea of putting the world into chaos due to pure madness. It would be better if you can think of a mobile for his actions instead.

 

 

Its my very first time giving critique to a fanfic though (and I mean actual critique and not just "good/bad fanfic" comments), so I might not know what I'm talking about here =0

[Eliminate]

Oh I see... Will look up for those titans

Sounds a bit like Detective Conan though.

In the sense that the main character was forcibly given some chemical that ended up changing his appearance. Although that chemical was supposed to kill him instead, now he is perfectly disguised by the looks of a 6 (or less) year old and his main purpose is to track down the organization that did that to him. Much like your character is tracking down that scientist.

 

I'm not too fond of the idea of putting the world into chaos due to pure madness. It would be better if you can think of a mobile for his actions instead.

 

 

Its my very first time giving critique to a fanfic though (and I mean actual critique and not just "good/bad fanfic" comments), so I might not know what I'm talking about here =0

 

I never heard of Detective Conan so I didn't intend for it to sound the same.

 

Don't worry, the mad scientist organization will have a reason, I just haven't thought of it yet. I usually do that when I'm designing the characters for the story (notice I never referred to anyone by their name).

[Merci]

I suddenly had a brilliant fanfic idea while playing Disgaea DS for the fourth time.

 

In Yu-Gi-Oh DM, during the Battle City arc, a random girl, prototype name Alice, challenges Yugi Mutou (And unknowingly Yami) to a duel. And accidentally wins, taking all but one of Yugi's locator cards, leaving her only two more to qualify for the finals. She takes his Summoned Skull (He hasn't obtained Slifer yet). Since she accidentally won against Yami Yugi, Marik Ishtar decides to try and turn her into a Steve mindless slave, and then use her to defeat Yami again, so she becomes Marik's target. Hilarity ensues.

 

I want it to be really funny, not just slapstick humor. . . . . . any advice?

[Catterjune]

I've been working out an idea for a zombie apocalypse story for a while and wanted to know what you guys thought. I'm kinda aiming for a different zombie apocalypse story, instead of the usual survivors fighting off the zombies and crap.

 

In my opinion, one way to do it would be that it does make you super strong and super intelligent, but it also makes you hideously, monstrously ugly. The millionaire is a rich, handsome dude who gets all the super models, so looking like the elephant man and goddess bunny had a baby would be terrible for him.

 

The scientist just did exactly what the millionaire asked, made a thing that would make humans super strong and super intelligent. Millionaire never asked to make him handsome as well. Because of this "silly misunderstanding" the scientist is forced to flee.

 

I suddenly had a brilliant fanfic idea while playing Disgaea DS for the fourth time.

 

Sounds god awful but... I think it might be able to work...

 

I think the best way this would work would be to have "Alice" be completely aware of what's going on in the story,dangerously genre savvy. I mean, not to frequently break the forth wall and speak directly to the audience or something, but sarcastic comments and one liners.

 

Kaiba: "I've got 6 locator cards!

Alice: "Really? Seto Kaiba, the main sponsor of the Battle City tournament is one of the finalist for the Battle City tournament? Color me surprised."

 

And of course the rest of the characters either ignore what she has to say or don't realize she's being sarcastic. And Alice shouldn't be annoyed by this or act cocky or something. She should just treat it like 'this has been happening for as long as I've been alive', like she's just gotten used to it.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Regarding PikaPerson and Eliminate/Manzo Ishikawa: Daria in Battle City. I would read that.

 

 

 

Collab story idea. It would be an all-girl sci-fi dating sim with an actual plot and social relevance. Or, if you prefer, Star Trek, except a yuri harem comedy.

 

...why yes, I have lost it.

 

Thoughts (other than "You've finally snapped, eh?")? Anyone else crazy enough to sign up now? Reckon it'll work here, or do I find another forum? For that matter, reckon it'll work anywhere? No, I'm not doing it all myself, so don't ask.

[spoiler=A bit more detail. Look at your own risk.]So I had this idea for a really big project.

 

It would be an all-girl sci-fi dating sim with an actual plot and social relevance. Or, if you prefer, Star Trek, except a yuri harem comedy.

 

Yes, I've gone mad.

 

What I'd really like to do is make it so multiple people author this. It's in a very episodic format, so I figure each author can take a number of episodes. Anyone feel mad enough to join me?

This is what I have so far. All names subject to change by coauthors.[spoiler=World-building first.]Three sentient species have formed an uneasy triumvirate in the galaxy: the Natineo, the Karsies, and the Komattz. The Natineo are indistinguishable from humans except for their odd hair colours and enhanced agility (go slightly larger gravitational pull!); a member of the Natineo is called a Natineol, plural Natineol. Of course, the Natineo comprise most of the potential love interests. The Karsies are more vaguely humanoid, with scales, tails, claws, fangs, the works; members of the Karsies are called Karsiesin, singular Karsiesi. The Komattz are basically flying jellyfish with arms and a nervous system; a member of the Komattz is called, well, a Komattz, plural Kommatz.

Each species really only has one planet to themselves; they have colonies scattered all over various moons and rocky planets. Also note that they've barely made it to space themselves; the humans on Earth aren't too far behind, and are more advanced in some ways.

[spoiler=Now for the setup at the start of the game.]WARNING: The idea of a bunch of teenage lesbians running the Enterprise is so absurd, it needs one helluva setup to even begin to make sense, so be warned.

 

Marsis Catura is a Natineol prodigy who's earned a license to pilot starcraft at the age of eighteen. Her father pulled a few strings to get her an actual job and put her on something called a "reform ship." A reform ship requires very little skill to actually fly, so it makes for an ideal first job, though Marsis is rather uncomfortable with the idea of a reform ship.

A reform ship is basically a rather inhumane straight camp IN SPACE! Wealthier Natineol, Karsiesin, and Komattz send their "broken" (read: LGBTetc) children to reform ships to straighten out. The only job Mr. Catura could land his daughter was on a girls-only reform ship. He reasoned that the pilot wouldn't actually have to interact with the broken girls. (It actually hurts to write a phrase like "broken girls" in that context, so I guess I've done my job semantically.)

The reform ship is blown up by a protest group on the day of launch, though, so the girls are all moved to an old survey vessel and sent into the deep. Only they forgot to turn off the autopilot, so they all go hyperspacing off to the Sol system.

Survey ships do pretty much the same thing as the Enterprise: go into the far reaches of space via hyperspace drives and gather and analyse data. Marsis's dream in life is to pilot a survey ships, so upon finding that she's in charge of one, she's not exactly complaining.

When they arrive, Marsis realizes that the ship was scrapped because of the import its findings might have: it was supposed to go and sample Earth's environment in an urban area to better isolate the effects of industrialization on planets. A pro-industrialization government shut the project down (see what I mean about social relevance? We have straight camps, DSCOVR, and government corruption already!). Marsis excitedly scans for population density and obviously turns up Tokyo as the most urban area on Earth. She then finds a really out-of-the-way, uninhabited part of Tokyo and starts collecting samples.

 

This all takes place before the game starts and will be revealed in flashbacks. Yeah, that was the setup.

 

We actually start with out main character, codenamed Kishino Haruna, biking aimlessly in a conveniently deserted edge of Tokyo. (I haven't developed Haruna's personality yet, so she could be doing that for a number of reasons.) Naturally, she bikes straight into the middle of Marsis's operation and winds up beamed aboard the survey ship. Only Haruna is a girl magnet, and in case you forgot, she's on a ship full of lesbians. (And obviously, our captain isn't immune to her charms.)

Hilarity ensues.

 

Now for the game's flow: The ship isn't in the best condition and wasn't supposed to be going FTL, so Marsis and co are kind of stuck in the Sol system until they can fix their ship. Mission control gets in contact with Marsis and is annoyed. After they collect quite a bit of data about Earth and thwart at least one alien invasion, however, mission control decides "oh, what the hell, they're doing a good job" and decide to let the survey ship keep doing its job in secret. Haruna assists the girls with their various missions to exotic worlds and eventually falls for one of them. At the end, they'll a) save the universe from grave peril, B) put an end to reform vessels and start setting LGBTetc rights in place, c) foil an evil government conspiracy, d) something else, or e) all of the above.

 

(Incidentally, if I were playing this, I wouldn't pick Marsis's path, though it would probably be my second choice. I have another path in mind of a kuudere deadpan snarker, the kind that's usually an non-path character [cwutididthar?] in these games; that's the one I'd play.)

[spoiler=Sheesh, that was long! How does that leave other authors any creative freedom?]

There's a lot of critical (and I do mean critical) details I overlooked, since they'd be best to coordinate with (a) collaborator(s). Such details include:

>What's Haruna's personality?

>How is Haruna going to react to advances by these girls?

>What about Haruna's friends and family? Do they know about the aliens?

>Will they play a role in the story?

>Does Haruna return to Earth when not on missions, or is her life on Earth over?

>In the former case, should Haruna have a human love interest?

>In the latter case, how do we write believable, non-obtrusive angst?

>What are her various love interests like? So far I only have adorkable Marsis, a Covert Pervert, and that unnamed kuudere. It'd be nice to have at least three more.

>How about the people that were supposed to staff the reform ship -- the guards to the prison, if you will? Are they antagonists or non-path characters? Should there be a joke path with one of the guards?

>What kinds of endings should be available? Just good, good/bad, golden/good/bad/School Days... Should there be a no-love-interest ending? How esoteric should the golden and School Days endings be?

>What kinds of absurd alien cultures will the girls encounter on their missions?

>What stigmas exist against interspecies romance for each species? There will be at least one Karsies path and at least one Komattz path, so that's a very important question.

>Should I shanghai some people into drawing us some pictures, or should we skip the illustrations?

>The dreaded question: How ecchi do we make this?

>How militarized are the survey ship's missions? Are they more scientific, lending to a slice-of-life genre, or are they Star Trek-esque? Or, can we vary the genres, so that one writer can write militarized episodes and another can write more peaceful missions?

>For that matter, how many collaborators should we have? Should it be a forum-wide project where anyone can contribute a mission, or should this be limited to one or two coauthors?

>AND SO MUCH MORE!!!11!!1!!1!!1!

 

 

EDIT: Yeah, mentioning that everyone but the player is an alien probably would have helped. Sorry, everyone. >_>

 

Yeah. I may or may not have spent all of yesterday working on this.

 

So, who's with me?!?!?!?!?1/11?!/1/1!?!?!

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Well...

 

This is a first for me. Maybe I'll try and do it, but since my writing ability isn't exactly good or bad(It could be slightly more good or bad than average, but who can tell?), I'm not sure.

 

Ah, what the hell? I'd like to do this, and maybe, you can try and make this kind of stuff into a book series one day.

 

I'll join you.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

If that was to me, EFF YEAH LET'S DO THIS THING.

 

So. Can you weigh in on all those collaborator's-choice things I mentioned in a PM? Thanks kindly. (I probably should have said that in the proposal. :/)

 

Here's to having some fun and hopefully making something nice.

[Catterjune]

I haven't written anything in a long time, so I think my writing "skills" have atrophied. ;_;

 

... I suppose the best way to fix this would to dive right in, but I don't want it to be on my own things. I suppose I could help on your whore lesbian thing.

[Hydra of Ages]

 

Collab story idea. It would be an all-girl sci-fi dating sim with an actual plo-

 

 

I'm in.

 

I'll weigh in via PM in a little bit.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Okay, like I said a while back, since it would take so long for me to do my Fan Fic of what would've happened after Dragon Age Origins(In which someone did the story for me already. I just need to ask if it is okay to use it at all), I would do a few projects along the way. For example, my Dragon Claw Chronicles Fic is now put on standby for something bigger, although not as big as the Dragon Age Origins sequel Fic. It is Dragon Ball AF done MY way.

 

I know it may seem a bit ridiculous because of the fact there is already a manga for it released, but it's unlike what you have seen before. So here's the story:

 

This takes place at the end of Dragon Ball GT, but things take a sudden turn when the match between Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. in the Martial Arts Tournament was interrupted as the two began to go all out. An unknown figure caused the match to end due to her interrupting. It was the West Supreme Kai, a corrupted Kai who had dark intentions. She used her own cells and Goku's cells to create a new being, Xicor. His power was so great, that when he was born, he was born a Super Saiyan 3, immediately showing just how powerful he is. The West Supreme Kai, named Myra, challenged Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. to a test of strength. The two merely laughed at challenging Myra, since they'd wipe the floor with her. However, she wasn't talking about herself. She was talking about her son Xicor. The two accepted and were brought to Xicor in the desert.

 

From there that's where Chapter 1 would begin. I have my own ideas towards everything, but it will still follow some of the same sagas that DBAF is intended to follow.

 

What do you think?

[Dr. Cakey]

It would be an all-girl sci-fi dating sim with an actual plot and social relevance. Or, if you prefer, Star Trek, except a yuri harem comedy.

Original series, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, or Voyager or Enterprise?

 

I'm not sure right now, but once it gets off the ground I might have a better idea of if I'm interested/what I'd want to write.

[Ｄｈａｒｃ]

Hey, all. I'm planning on writing a Pokémon fanfic...But I have a couple problems that I'd like some input on.

 

1. The primary cast. The protagonist is a guy named Rose (yes, you red right), the primary rival for Rose is Kreuz (German for "Cross"), and Rose's best friend/sidekick is named Aidan. I need a love interest for Rose and Aidan (shared), and the primary antagonists (leaders of Team Ceres and Umbris).

 

2. The region name. All I need is the name. For a little help, the region is very diverse in design. The western end is tropical, the eastern end is mountainous, the center and north are temperate, the western half of the southern end is a lush-subtropical area, and the eastern half of the southern end is a desert.

 

3. A question that I REALLY need opinions on. Should I include Cloned Pokémon and/or original Pokémon?

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

1) Don't make roles. Make characters. If no character fills the role, don't include a character in that role. A good character will write his- or herself. Create a character, a normal character, and think, "What circumstances placed this person in such a role?" The backstory should fill itself out.

Definitely don't make a character for the sake of being a love interest. If one character falls in love with another, let it be so. If not, don't force it. Even a character designed to be a love interest will just wind up being a flat character loathed by the fans. Romance can add to a story, but if it's forced, it will only detract from it.

 

2) Seventh Sanctum is always an option, but think of how the real regions were named. Either derive it from the real life place your region is based on, or choose an overarching theme that covers your region politically and/or geographically, reduce it to a few words, and cleverly portmanteau them.

 

3) No. Just no.

[Ｄｈａｒｃ]

Actually, scratch all of that. I actually don't need help anymore. Thanks, though. Sorry for taking your time.

[Aesirson]

I was thinking about writing a story called The Book of Elements.

 

It's about a 16-year-old boy who somehow gets his hands on a book that appears to be full of gibberish. Since he has this book he is mistaken for someone else and is transported to another dimension where everything is controled by the four elements and everyone is an elementalist who specialize in one of the four elements. Things happen, and soon both the Elemental world and the "Real" world are threatened.

 

I will update on the plot soon. Just wanna see your thoughts on this very short info first.

[bury the year]

I was thinking about writing a story called The Book of Elements.

 

It's about a 16-year-old boy who somehow gets his hands on a book that appears to be full of gibberish. Since he has this book he is mistaken for someone else and is transported to another dimension where everything is controled by the four elements and everyone is an elementalist who specialize in one of the four elements. Things happen, and soon both the Elemental world and the "Real" world are threatened.

 

I will update on the plot soon. Just wanna see your thoughts on this very short info first.

 

Avatar: The Last Airbender + Fushigi Yugi = eeeeeeh. Way too derivative for my tastes, especially if I can sum up your plot with an arbitrary equation. Use different elements, like the Wu Xing. I'm surprised series don't use them as much.

[Aesirson]

I've only watched a few episodes of AtLA, but I don't think that the idea I have of the Elementalists would be very similar to bending, and I've never heard of the other thing you mentioned.

 

As for the Wu Xing, it would be interesting to use it, but I wanted the story to have more of a "western" feel. (Which also makes it less like AtLA)

 

Some chapters will also take place in the human world while most will take place in the elemental world, which makes it a bit more modern.

[Catterjune]

I don't remember if I wrote this down before, but since plays are allowed now...

 

It's a play, and it's a "comedy".

 

 

Some slacker college guy is looking for a job on craigslist. He sees a "time traveler wanted" ad and decides it might be worth a laugh.

 

The fact that it's supposed to be a stage play is also very important to the story, but more on that later.

 

College slacker meets Dr. Grendel, a senile "Professor Farnsworth from Futurama"-type character who's brilliance is only outclassed by his senility. He also meets his 3 research associates; Lucy, the cunning and conniving "brains behind the operation", Jacob, the butt monkey who frequently gets accused of things he never did and gets blamed when things go wrong, and Polly who seems to be the useless naive airhead ditz who no one really knows why they keep her around.

 

They lead the College Slacker to the next scene and unveil the time machine, just a plain looking wooden box and coffin style thing (since it's a stage play). College slacker remarks that it looks just like exactly what the audience is seeing, a box spray painted silver and with what looks like bottlecaps glued on them. Duct tape and other cheap material as well. Really blurring the line on where the play ends and where real life begins.

 

In any case, they tell him to get in the box and/or force him in and duct tape it or something.

 

Curtains don't go down between scenes. It grows dark and with whatever little light that remains you can see Dr. Grendel and the 3 researchers setting up the next scene. They also whisper casually, completely in character while doing so.

 

The backdrops they set up are old west buildings. They remove their lab coats and are dressed in wild west gear. Lights go on and they let College Slacker out of the time machine.

 

The people who played Dr. Grendel, Lucy, Jacob, and Polly are now playing the Villain, the (male) Saloon Owner, the Sheriff, and the Town Prostitute in an old west style set up. They also very heavily imply (and poorly act out) that they're the ancestors of Grendel, Lucy, Jacob and Polly. ("You're Lucy Trumain, aren't you?" "No! I'm her great great grandpa... or uhh... at least I will be, once I suggest that name to my great grandson! That sounds like a wonderful name.")

 

The "old west" setting is where the majority of a very cliched plot that I haven't quite thought up yet takes place.

 

The ultimate joke at the end of this is the willful suspension of disbelief, or moreso, the lack of it. College Slacker doesn't believe for a second that he really stepped back in time and yet Grendel and co seem to be putting on an elaborate ruse just to screw with him for no well explained reason.

 

So like... yeah. =\

[bury the year]

I've only watched a few episodes of AtLA, but I don't think that the idea I have of the Elementalists would be very similar to bending, and I've never heard of the other thing you mentioned.

 

As for the Wu Xing, it would be interesting to use it, but I wanted the story to have more of a "western" feel. (Which also makes it less like AtLA)

 

Some chapters will also take place in the human world while most will take place in the elemental world, which makes it a bit more modern.

 

You can easily give it a Western feel while using non-Western elements. The two aren't mutually inclusive(?). As for the two worlds idea, your mentioning of them gives me no idea on how you'll implement it. More information plz?

[Quiksilver]

I've only watched a few episodes of AtLA, but I don't think that the idea I have of the Elementalists would be very similar to bending, and I've never heard of the other thing you mentioned.

 

As for the Wu Xing, it would be interesting to use it, but I wanted the story to have more of a "western" feel. (Which also makes it less like AtLA)

 

Some chapters will also take place in the human world while most will take place in the elemental world, which makes it a bit more modern.

 

So it's like one of those Dreamworld-esque places, huh? Does the main character jump back and forth between the human and elemental world, or what.

 

These "Elementalists" still seem a lot like benders to me. Perhaps if you explained in a bit more detail...?

 

I don't remember if I wrote this down before, but since plays are allowed now...

 

It's a play, and it's a "comedy".

 

 

Some slacker college guy is looking for a job on craigslist. He sees a "time traveler wanted" ad and decides it might be worth a laugh.

 

The fact that it's supposed to be a stage play is also very important to the story, but more on that later.

 

College slacker meets Dr. Grendel, a senile "Professor Farnsworth from Futurama"-type character who's brilliance is only outclassed by his senility. He also meets his 3 research associates; Lucy, the cunning and conniving "brains behind the operation", Jacob, the butt monkey who frequently gets accused of things he never did and gets blamed when things go wrong, and Polly who seems to be the useless naive airhead ditz who no one really knows why they keep her around.

 

They lead the College Slacker to the next scene and unveil the time machine, just a plain looking wooden box and coffin style thing (since it's a stage play). College slacker remarks that it looks just like exactly what the audience is seeing, a box spray painted silver and with what looks like bottlecaps glued on them. Duct tape and other cheap material as well. Really blurring the line on where the play ends and where real life begins.

 

In any case, they tell him to get in the box and/or force him in and duct tape it or something.

 

Curtains don't go down between scenes. It grows dark and with whatever little light that remains you can see Dr. Grendel and the 3 researchers setting up the next scene. They also whisper casually, completely in character while doing so.

 

The backdrops they set up are old west buildings. They remove their lab coats and are dressed in wild west gear. Lights go on and they let College Slacker out of the time machine.

 

The people who played Dr. Grendel, Lucy, Jacob, and Polly are now playing the Villain, the (male) Saloon Owner, the Sheriff, and the Town Prostitute in an old west style set up. They also very heavily imply (and poorly act out) that they're the ancestors of Grendel, Lucy, Jacob and Polly. ("You're Lucy Trumain, aren't you?" "No! I'm her great great grandpa... or uhh... at least I will be, once I suggest that name to my great grandson! That sounds like a wonderful name.")

 

The "old west" setting is where the majority of a very cliched plot that I haven't quite thought up yet takes place.

 

The ultimate joke at the end of this is the willful suspension of disbelief, or moreso, the lack of it. College Slacker doesn't believe for a second that he really stepped back in time and yet Grendel and co seem to be putting on an elaborate ruse just to screw with him for no well explained reason.

 

So like... yeah. =\

 

I remember you writing this down before, but I don't think it was a play at the time. Anyways, sounds great; you could also have one of the scientists (the one playing the Villain, perhaps) be killed and come back at the end (when College Slacker goes back to our timeframe, if he ever does) and have the scientist reappear for more mind-screwing shenanigans.

 

Wouldn't there be other people there in the Old West, though? Though, that could probably be part of the joke...perhaps there is a ghost town with only 4 residents, who happen to look exactly like Grendel and co.

 

Anyways...I would see that play.

[Aesirson]

Okay, so this is the basic idea of the first few chapters:

 

The main protagonist gets his hands on the Book of Elements. (probably by "borrowing", and with that I mean stealing) The book, however, is meant to be placed in a real elementalist's hands, and the protagonist is thus mistaken by a Teacher (going to change the name to something more original) as an elementalist, and is taken to the elemental world together with two other teenagers. (who are real elementalists) Not wanting to admit that he stole the book, the protagonist puts on the act and pretends to be an elementalist. (with some help from one of the other teenagers)

 

It is soon revealed that he isn't a true elementalist, but since he was able to read the Book the Teacher is not sure what to do with him, so he is allowed to stay until the <Whatever the government is called> decides what to do with him.

 

As for the world that it takes place in; there are actually three worlds: the real world, the elementalists' world and the elemental world. Think of the elementalists' world as a kind of cross between Middle-Earth and the magic world from Harry Potter. It looks very similar to the real world and the most prominent race is humans (with elemental powers) but there are other races like elves and goblins. The elemental world, however, is a world divided in four parts (one for each of the four elements) It's a broken world inhabited by elementals and other dangerous monsters. I don't know if the elemental world will be visited at all, actually.

 

When the threat arises both the real world and the elementalists' world will be under siege, so there will be battles in the real world too.