Primetime Adventures (setting finished, dead thread)

[Argent Silvermage]

Hey O Canine Cranium. How's the ganglia?

Spirits would be a cool concept. I was thinking more along the lines of Lovecraft. A new invasion comes to earth but they have weapons and magic based outside our known reality.

Allows for some very dark tones as well as more basic sci-fi and comic book action.

The best part is it would be like each "episode" was done by a different writer and director. one season is more horror based while the next may be more sci-like.

This concept has so much going for it.

 

[doghead]

Hey O Canine Cranium. How's the ganglia?

Those, assuming that I understood the dictionary entry correctly, I do not need to worry about.

I'm not that familier with Lovecraft, but the dark tones as well as more basic sci-fi and comic book action sounds like a good mix.

thotd.

 

[anonystu]

Hey O Canine Cranium. How's the ganglia?

Spirits would be a cool concept. I was thinking more along the lines of Lovecraft. A new invasion comes to earth but they have weapons and magic based outside our known reality.

Allows for some very dark tones as well as more basic sci-fi and comic book action.

The best part is it would be like each "episode" was done by a different writer and director. one season is more horror based while the next may be more sci-like.

This concept has so much going for it.

It does, I like it. I note that it is not only possible, but very viable to have a different producer each episode: the system is simple enough that doing rules mechanicing is very simple.

We have a lot of worthwhile ideas on this thread: we need to coalesce into one idea, and then flesh it out a bit.

Here's my take on the spirits idea:

A modern or very-near-future world has been 'invaded' by creatures and spirits that man was not meant to know. 'Invaded' is the key word: some of the encounters have gone horribly, and some have gone well, but overall the climate is one of fear.

You play a group of people who deal with these issues. What's the right way to deal with these creatures? Very few people have a good idea what that is yet.

I think this allows varying tone and pacing and issues to be brought up. I think a key next question in this direction is: who are these people, and who brings them together? If the answer is: this is an independent group of wealthy/well-funded people, then the game is very different from: this is a military response team.

I think that if people like this, thinking of a name for the show would be very nice, so I can retitle/start a new thread.

Lame name #1: The Spirit Wars


I am not saying this is the idea that we have to go with, but we should start heading right now towards: "this is the game that people want to play."

 

[Argent Silvermage]

I like the spirit invasion concept a lot. I say we go with that and the group should be funded by a non-millitary source. I say we call these heros the Astralnauts It's thier duty to cross from the world we know into the spirit world in order to combat rogue humans and spirits alike who are using the "death gates"* for thier own uses.


*Death gates are the way the spirits are coming to the physical plane.

The name Astralnauts evocs a lot of the campy names from old pulp comics as well as the more cheese ridden 50s and 60s tv shows. yet it's still kind of cool.

 

[Tonguez]

The Astralnauts are funded by a private foundation (NGO) established way back during the Crimean war which was in fact responsible for first opening the Deathgates as part of old experiments in Mysticism. It has tenuous (but extant) connections with the military (just in case we want an espidose with Big Guns).
Astralnauts might include Mystics (magic users), Psychics, Suits (ie normal humans in Astral powersuits), and maybe a view more unusual beings (spirits?)

 

[Argent Silvermage]

The Astralnauts are funded by a private foundation (NGO) established way back during the Crimean war which was in fact responsible for first opening the Deathgates as part of old experiments in Mysticism. It has tenuous (but extant) connections with the military (just in case we want an espidose with Big Guns).
Astralnauts might include Mystics (magic users), Psychics, Suits (ie normal humans in Astral powersuits), and maybe a view more unusual beings (spirits?)

Ooohhh! Me likey. That gets every concept involved. I can see it now one episode it's super stealth the next it's giant robot mechas in the astral plane. YUM!

 

[anonystu]

Ooohhh! Me likey. That gets every concept involved. I can see it now one episode it's super stealth the next it's giant robot mechas in the astral plane. YUM!

Hmm. So I like, and Astralnauts is a much better name, but I worry slightly about the humans have magic users and psychics and all that, because now, instead of a 'normal' humanity dealing with a 'weird' spiritual invasion, it's weird humans and weird spirits.

How about this twist? We're very-near-future, so people who want more tech can have more tech. Magic users and psychics are replaced by that some of the more benevolent spirits work with the humans, allowing them to travel freely in the astral plane, and granting all sorts of neat trinkets.

Of course, not all the spirits who work (or in darker terms, possess) humans, work quite so benevolently all the time. Some just have a little shard of a spirit, just enough to travel back and forth, and some, it's hard to tell where the spirit ends and the human begins.

 

[doghead]

I agree that a private foundation backing gives the game greater scope than a military backed group. And giving it covert military ties allows for a dose of Big Guns at times.

Astralnauts, yeah kinda cool in a 50's TV series sort of way.

Another idea, but perhaps a little more controversial would be backing by a covert religious group along the lines of the Hellsing organisation in the anime/manga series. The appeal of this lies in the possible development of conflict between the beliefs of the organisations controllers and what the character's expiences reveal. I don't believe that the organisation need be wrong, either. The possibilty of either outcome, or perhaps even some other truth altogether, would be the frision that would drive the overall series story arch. Of course, the devil is in the details (no wordplay intended). Given the aformentioned series, (the similar Van Helsing movie and the PS2 game, Devil May Cry also come to mind), this approach tends to suggest a more flamboyant visual style.

Humm.

thotd.

 

[anonystu]

By the way, barring any sudden shifts in opinion, tonight, we're going to move to Astralnauts (or whatever it ends up as) as the show, and start with protagonist creation.

 

[doghead]

Hmm. So I like, and Astralnauts is a much better name, but I worry slightly about the humans have magic users and psychics and all that, because now, instead of a 'normal' humanity dealing with a 'weird' spiritual invasion, it's weird humans and weird spirits.

How about this twist? We're very-near-future, so people who want more tech can have more tech. Magic users and psychics are replaced by that some of the more benevolent spirits work with the humans, allowing them to travel freely in the astral plane, and granting all sorts of neat trinkets.

Of course, not all the spirits who work (or in darker terms, possess) humans, work quite so benevolently all the time. Some just have a little shard of a spirit, just enough to travel back and forth, and some, it's hard to tell where the spirit ends and the human begins.

I missed this one while I was posting. I tend to agree with it as well, although I now have to try and work out if that is consistant with my last post.

Tomorrow, I'll get back to it tomorrow. Right now its bedtime for this little black dog.

Cheers all

thotd.