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Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 06:16 AM
Of late, I've been thinking thoughts about putting Doug in worlds where his metagifts would be mostly useless in dealing with the kind of plot that might evolve therein.
Worlds like Love Hina and maybe even Sister Princess. (If you haven't seen or heard of Sister Princess, it's a very very low-key shojo series about a guy who gets shuttled off to some high school he's never heard of on an island off the coast of Japan, and discovers that he has a dozen or so half-sisters that he's never known he had waiting for him there. It's 26 hours of slow personal growth and self-discovery, and the biggest conflict is Wataru learning to deal with 12 adoring sisters and feeling guilty because he can't recompense them for all the things they do for him, as well as facing an equally low-key conspiracy that seems determined to tear him from them. This is not a show for adrenaline junkies.)
Anyway, Kodocha is technically in this category, but I was wondering what people thought of forcing Doug to take a far less martial course in some of his stops.
-- Bob
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 07:36 AM
Doug is a clown, in the sense of being a warrior against gloom. That he is also a warrior in a more conventional sense is, in my mind, important but secondary.
As such, he inherently amusing, particularly in circumstances where his particular brand of somewhat sarcastic humor can act as a foil for the native insanity.
Not to say that I don't like watching things go boom, but quiet can be good too.
My favorite manga are OMG and Silent Mobius, if that helps.
Blessed be.
-n
(Hmmm. Sudden twisted and sickly fanboish thought - what would Doug make of the Shining Spiral? Talk about having a lot to assimilate!)
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 11:48 AM
Are you sure you want to do Sister Princess, after Fred Heriott and Eternal Lost Lurker's efforts -- maybe more Fred's -- with it. It should be something to avoid, or maybe do as a one-shot.
Sailor Moon might be an interesting step, Doug gets to see where Lisa pulled Sailor Loon from. Then there's fun of working out what part of their timeline to do it in or even what version of it.
Ranma 1/2, er no thanks, I'd think the possiblity of a anti-matter like explosion of chaos would be too high. Plus there's a surplus of Ramna fics.
As I haven't seen much anime or read a lot of manga/comics (the troubles of living in Australia) I'm limited in suggestions.
--Rod.H (who if he was interested in the Shining Spiral would be rooting for the Vorlons & the Q's)
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 01:56 PM
> Are you sure you want to do Sister Princess, after Fred
> Heriott and Eternal Lost Lurker's efforts -- maybe more
> Fred's -- with it. It should be something to avoid, or maybe
> do as a one-shot.
Actually, it's Fred's "Lonely Souls" (new installment this morning on the FFML, yay!) that got me curious about SisPri. I found myself oddly drawn to the series (Josh can testify as to how I dithered about buying the boxed set at AXNY). Helen "Hexe" Imre has accused me of liking it simply because it's another "teenage guy surrounded by beautiful girls" anime, but that's not really the case; this isn't a guy with Tenchi's disease, and there's no romantic element -- they're his sisters, for god's sake, even if a couple of them do flirt to tease him. Anyway. I think what kept me going with this series is the desire for the kind of idyllic family life and unconditional love the main character gets -- I didn't come from anything close to a broken home, but I do have a few issues about how I was raised, now that I'm in my forties and can look back on my life with some equanimity. And while the one sister I have is a pretty cool person in her own right, I would have given my right arm for almost any of the Sister Princess sisters (except Aria, whose voice and speech patterns I found incredibly irritating -- and after watching the series I just can't see her doing the pseudo-magical girl thing he had her doing in the back end of the first version of Lonely Souls). Even if they do seem more than a little co-dependent.
Um. I think I just said way more about my personal life and issues than anyone was really interested in.
> Sailor Moon might be an interesting step, Doug gets to see
> where Lisa pulled Sailor Loon from. Then there's fun of
> working out what part of their timeline to do it in or even
> what version of it.
It's interesting that you bring this up. For the longest time I was absolutely certain that I wasn't going to do a Sailor Moon Step -- for some relatively minor purposes of the crossover Ed Becerra and I were/are writing for the tenth Step of the Walk, Doug needed to be ignorant of Sailor Moon. But of late I couldn't get the image out of my mind of Doug barking, "You're supposed to be a superteam! Shape up!" and pretty much training them after the model of the Warriors. Then it occurred to me -- what if Doug is ignorant of the Sailor Moon universe because he was caught in one of Usagi's "resets" and doesn't remember anything?
I'm not promising I'm ever going to do a Sailor Moon Step. But at least I've got a way to handle it more or less consistently with the rest of the Walk as planned.
As for Ranma 1/2, I never intended to send Doug there. For precisely the reasons you delineate.
> As I haven't seen much anime or read a lot of manga/comics
> (the troubles of living in Australia) I'm limited in suggestions.
Oh, it doesn't have to be anime/manga, even if I might have made it sound that way. After all, about half the original planned Steps were in American TV shows and movies.
-- Bob
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 01:58 PM
> My favorite manga are OMG and Silent Mobius, if that helps.
It does answer a lot of questions, yes.
> Hmmm. Sudden twisted and sickly fanboish thought - what
> would Doug make of the Shining Spiral?
I don't know. I don't get the reference.
-- Bob
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 03:09 PM
>> Hmmm. Sudden twisted and sickly fanboish thought - what
>> would Doug make of the Shining Spiral?
>I don't know. I don't get the reference.
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/206346
also
http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum- ... 1/394.html
Biiiiiiig universe.
Blessed be.
-YOLE
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 03:19 PM
Quote:
(Josh can testify as to how I dithered about buying the boxed set at AXNY)
Bob, you didn't dither, you just had to talk yourself into spending the money (the fact tht the guy got haggled down to a better price didn't hurt either ![[Image: smile.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/smile.gif) ).
I personaly think that if you can make the character interaction work, the rest of the story will flow from there (assuming there's t least a bit of plot under it). Don't force the issue, but if you've got a good idea and want to run with it, that's what us pre-readers are for
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 03:46 PM
Quote:
But of late I couldn't get the image out of my mind of Doug barking, "You're supposed to be a superteam! Shape up!" and pretty much training them after the model of the Warriors.
Well they need the training Quote:
Then it occurred to me -- what if Doug is ignorant of the Sailor Moon universe because he was caught in one of Usagi's "resets" and doesn't remember anything?
That would put him arriving just as Queen Beryl is defeated leading into the Doom Tree arc
Quote:
> As I haven't seen much anime or read a lot of manga/comics
> (the troubles of living in Australia) I'm limited in suggestions.
Oh, it doesn't have to be anime/manga, even if I might have made it sound that way. After all, about half the original planned Steps were in American TV shows and movies.
That's where the comic bit came from, considereing that the major US publishers seem to be trying to emulate their japanese counterparts, or trigger a Crisis-like revamp and I've only followed a few titles anyway.
Ah Area-52, (it's a recent four issue mini-series). Doug gets to play with the stuff that Warehouse 28 and it's ilk hold with a bunch of MASH-ish guards in the Antarctic. Deadpool? nah, Wade is... more violent than Doug even if his sense of humour is about the same.
As to TV shows I think I've seen a few of the doozies/rare gem that gets put out by the studios ( Gargoyles, Viper, Vr5, Legend, Brisco County, Star Trek, Farscape, B5, Brimstone) it's been awhile since I've seen most of them though.
Quote:
> Hmmm. Sudden twisted and sickly fanboish thought - what
> would Doug make of the Shining Spiral?
I don't know. I don't get the reference.
The Shining Spiral is Nathan's little UF-ish universe with bits taken from places I haven't seen before.
--Rod.H
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-07-2002, 05:18 PM
Quote:
Warehouse 28
That would be Warehouse 23. Trust me
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American Comics Steps
10-07-2002, 10:44 PM
>>That's where the comic bit came from, considereing that the major US publishers seem to be trying to emulate their japanese counterparts, or trigger a Crisis-like revamp and I've only followed a few titles anyway. Ah Area-52, (it's a recent four issue mini-series). Doug gets to play with the stuff that Warehouse 28 and it's ilk hold with a bunch of MASH-ish guards in the Antarctic. Deadpool? nah, Wade is... more violent than Doug even if his sense of humour is about the same. no question. I think Doug and the Big Red Guy would get along famously. 
Um.. I suppose most of the classic spandex series are out, although I'd be interested to see what Doug made of some of the more FUBAR'd superhero universes out there. (The Wildstorm continuity comes close to mind as pretty messed up, or maybe the Marvel Mangaverse.)
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Lonely Souls
10-08-2002, 12:20 AM
> Actually, it's Fred's "Lonely Souls" (new installment this
> morning on the FFML, yay!) that got me curious about
> SisPri.
This is also basically the only ncounter I have had with the show, although now that I know it, I'm tempted - if I make it to Anime Boston I'll have to keep an eye out for it. (Mind you, last time I went to a good sized convention it took some fast talking to get through customs without decimating what was left of my wallet - and a little trolley for all the videos).
Mind you, getting onto the FFML mailing list is my one great failure on the internet. Can anyone tell me how to do this? Previously I could rely on the Mini-Archive but this is now inconveniently dead...
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FFML mailing list
10-08-2002, 05:48 AM
Quote:
Mind you, getting onto the FFML mailing list is my one great failure on the internet. Can anyone tell me how to do this? Previously I could rely on the Mini-Archive but this is now inconveniently dead...
Hmm that is at odds with the people that are saying that it's alive and kicking. While I'm one of the ones that's thinking its deader than a Norwegian Blue Parrot.
To get my fix of the FFML I've been using ffml.anifics.com namely the archive directory, getting a bulk hit of the FFML in one shot C&C and all that jazz, off course you lose the user friendly mini-archive interface and have to remember where you're up to but it works.
--Rod.H
Currently listening on Discman: U2 - Achtung Baby
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-08-2002, 06:03 AM
Quote:
Quote: Rod.H
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Warehouse 28
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That would be Warehouse 23. Trust me
Trust you, why of course I'll trust you....
I knew it was a twenty-something, I must have grabbed Hanger 18 turned it into a warehouse and added ten.
--Rod.H
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-08-2002, 01:54 PM
Quote:
Bob, you didn't dither, you just had to talk yourself into spending the money
I thought that was the very definition of dithering...
-- Bob
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-08-2002, 01:58 PM
Quote:
That would put him arriving just as Queen Beryl is defeated leading into the Doom Tree arc.
Actually, I meant that at the end of the time he spends with them, he gets caught in the reset, finds a gate song soon after that, and has no memories of anything he did with the senshi.
Anyway, I think we should move the rest of this thread into a new topic -- it's clearly the complete opposite of what I wanted to discuss in this]/i] one, which was worlds that [i] di[/i] lend themselves to military or paramilitary solutions...
-- Bob
(Edited to fix some wonky EZBoard interpretation problems. I hope.)
-- Bob
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-08-2002, 02:00 PM
Weird, weird, weird. I just tried to edit the above message to fix the quoting and the mistyped close-italics, and what showed up in the edit box was just wrong... real HTML, missing text and odd embedded EZBoard comments. I guess I'll have to leave it for now.
-- Bob
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Re: American Comics Steps
10-08-2002, 02:10 PM
Quote:
For American comics Doug should visit, I say Hellboy, no question. I think Doug and the Big Red Guy would get along famously.
I guess this means I should buy the new Hellboy RPG from Steve Jackson Games now...
Quote:
Um.. I suppose most of the classic spandex series are out, although I'd be interested to see what Doug made of some of the more FUBAR'd superhero universes out there. (The Wildstorm continuity comes close to mind as pretty messed up, or maybe the Marvel Mangaverse.)
I've heard the Wildstorm world has a lot of similarities to Warriors World -- is that the one Vince Russell worked on? We knew him when he was a local high school kid with dreams of getting into comics, back in the late 80s, and he did a whole sheaf of artwork for us.
I've never even heard of the Marvel Mangaverse. The very idea boggles the mind... ( Stan Lee Presents... The Amazing Ranmahalf! )
-- Bob
(Edited to actually reply to more than half the original message)
-- Bob
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Re: Lonely Souls
10-08-2002, 02:15 PM
Quote:
Mind you, getting onto the FFML mailing list is my one great failure on the internet. Can anyone tell me how to do this? Previously I could rely on the Mini-Archive but this is now inconveniently dead...
When I get home from work tonight, I'll check the latest copy of the FAQ, which was just sent a couple days ago, and get back to you, okay?
The FFML is certainly alive and kicking -- on most days I get more FFML mail than I get spam, which is saying a lot!
-- Bob
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Re: American Comics Steps
10-08-2002, 06:57 PM
Quote:
I guess this means I should buy the new Hellboy RPG from Steve Jackson Games now...
That would be a good start... 
Quote:
I've heard the Wildstorm world has a lot of similarities to Warriors World -- is that the one Vince Russell worked on? We knew him when he was a local high school kid with dreams of getting into comics, back in the late 80s, and he did a whole sheaf of artwork for us.
Don't know the name, but Wildstorm's the one that has Gen-13, The Authority, Stormwatch (which is sorta like the Warriors, only completely useless -- well, the orginal was, the latest reboot is... different. But that's another story altogether.), Planetary,[i] [i] [/i][/i]... you get the idea.
Quote:
I've never even heard of the Marvel Mangaverse. The very idea boggles the mind... ( Stan Lee Presents... The Amazing Ranmahalf! )
Oh no, this is worse.
Imagine you gave Ben Dunn a briefcase full of money and authorization to tweak any and all Marvel characters into his unique image. And then you give him a monthly series in which to do this with.
This is the Marvel Mangaverse. And it hurts. It hurts a lot.
--
Mr. Fnord, who likes Ben Dunn's writing - really! - but has read pretty much everything in Mangaverse in Ninja High School ten years ago, so...
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Re: Random Musings on Future Steps
10-08-2002, 10:09 PM
> I knew it was a twenty-something, I must have grabbed Hanger 18 turned it into a warehouse and added ten.
Just avoid Area 54.
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Re: Lonely Souls
10-09-2002, 12:25 AM
Quote:
Mind you, getting onto the FFML mailing list is my one great failure on the internet. Can anyone tell me how to do this? Previously I could rely on the Mini-Archive but this is now inconveniently dead...
The following is from the FFML FAQ, 9/2/02 version:
* HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE TO/UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE ML? To SUBSCRIBE to the mailing list, send an email message with the words in the body or subject of the message to . You will receive an automatic reply from the server; follow the directions in the reply, and you will be subscribed.
-- Bob
(Edited to dilute spambait)
-- Bob
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Universes
10-09-2002, 12:51 AM
Wildstorm would be interesting, but their are an awful lot of people who could pound Doug into a smear. It in includes several major teams: the Authority are the big leagues, but the Establishment (missing, presumed dead at the chronological end of the universe) were pretty hefty, Monarchy are cataclysmically cool. StormWatch don't seem much like the Warriors, except for being UN-affialated - they were a cross between orbital surveillence and UN Peacekeepers (and about as effective). Still Doug could be interesting if he ran into, say, DV-8 or Gen-13.
Battletech would probably be too big. Babylon 5 could have potential. Shin Getter Robo would be iffy, unless there's a song that would give Doug a giant robot. Buffy the Vampire Slayer could work (Giles and Doug might bounce off each other well). Wars of Light and Shhadow is obscure and the timeline is long enough that Doug could only influence a key moment. Or mess with his head and plant him in Bubblegum Crisis 2040 - evil.
Thanks for the FFML advice, I'll give it another try.
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Re: Universes
10-09-2002, 02:16 PM
Quote:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer could work (Giles and Doug might bounce off each other well).
Back when Peg and I were just starting to get into Buffy via videotapes from the first season, I actually started writing a Buffy Step. And near the end of the Glory season a year and a half back, before the final ep, I wrote a little vignette which either relocated Doug temporally within the Buffy timeline, or suggested he came back to that universe. With help against Glory.
Tell you what. I'll dig those out and post'em as "lost Steps" in a bit.
Quote:
Or mess with his head and plant him in Bubblegum Crisis 2040 - evil.
Oh, yes, evil. I have a vague memory of considering this once, but nothing written ever came of it...
-- Bob
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Gasaraki
10-16-2002, 10:13 AM
If you've never seen this, it might well work as a step. There's a military/political crisis between Wmerican and Japan, but in the background one of the major characters is trying to 'plug' himself into a metaphysical power - which would more or less make him a God.
Obviously, there are a few concepts that come from Evangelion, but the whole feel is very different, mostly because the pilots do rebel against being used as pawns.
Even if you don't use it as a step, I'd recommend the series to watch.
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Re: Gasaraki
10-16-2002, 02:02 PM
Oh yeah, Peg and I are big Gasaraki fans; we were following it avidly (until the series ended, at least). The other thing that makes it interesting is that all the mecha is handled as close to "real world" as possible. For those who haven't seen it, well, in one of their first deployments, they're sent to a generic Middle Eastern country, and they immediately have sand problems with the machinery.
The dub cast is very good for those who care about such things; my only problem with them is that the actress who did Yurika in Nadesico has a small part as a member of the mecha support team. She basically does the same voice as Yurika, which was distracting for me even though she wasn't squealing "Akito!" half a dozen times a minute in this show.
Anyway, you're right, it would be an interesting place to set a Step, except that so much of the action is global in scale, or running in places that he wouldn't be likely to get into except as a corpse or experimental subject... I don't see an immediate obvious hook to tie him in with. Does he help the pilots on the run or the little sister? Or does he somehow get wind of the economic/right-wing conspiracy and try to foul that up, unaware of how it will come out? Or does he somehow get enough fake bona fides to work on the mecha team in the JSDF? Too much of the action takes place in too many places with too many people to slip him in at a point where his presence makes everything more ... interesting.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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