RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block You Say You Want a New [Hero] Institution?

I think the last story has showed that the team needs a leader (and Kristogar is the perfect leader) and the role playing needs a master (and Kristogar is a perfect master).

(Eurostar ducks and disappears into a hole in the ground)

[ 04-21-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

Anyways...

I introduced a new character called Kit Walker in the story, someone who I DON'T want anyone to kill off or anything like that. I see him as a shyster-kind of character, but basically an honest person. Sort of like a poor Maxwell Lord.

My idea for this story (and perhaps if we like the idea enough we might consider having it an ongoing part of the group) is that our little team starts up a company headed by Kit Piper and financed with Pete's money from the food company and lottery winnings. It'll be a sort of "mercenary for hire" company, except it's not so much for military or heroic purposes as it is to do things that are too dangerous for the ordinary man to do. Sort of an adventurers organization, of sorts, that charges money for each adventure. I see the team using the island as a base for cases nearby and abroad. This has a potential for MANY kinds of stories, if you really think about it. Think PLANETARY or CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN (or even the company in FUTURAMA). We could investigate the mysterious and take a proactive role this way rather than always getting caught in difficult positions not of our own making, such as the Mandelovian case. This way as we go into something we'd be more prepared and PROFESSIONAL about it, at least in theory...

Anyways, we should use this thread for brainstorming about this idea and its possibilities. If enough of us like it, it could be a worthwhile thing to carry on in future stories.

For now, don't do anything else with Kit Piper until I write in that meeting for the next morning with Pete (along with Kristogar and maybe someone else). I'll let you guys write in the scene where they go check out the apartment building in Puerta Mibela (I got those MBL initials in SOMEWHERE... heh-heh-heh) and I'll write in the scene for the next morning at the appropriate time. I see the current time as being in the afternoon, and all of the crew is dead tired and most probably want to go straight to bed after the Mandelovian ordeal.

[ 04-21-2002: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

Much more than a leader for the team, I am very concerned to have someone that assumes master role for the roleplaying. I have done it for the first stories, and many player felt that I was writing the story.
Probably that's true, but I think what Kristogar has done in the last story was very important. He has kept track of every bits of the story, even obscure ones, like the twenty-six agents*, and has tried (succeding, I think) to have them forming a cohesive story.
I dion't think the master have to be the same for all the stories, but for each one there is need of one person that takes care nfor it from the beginning to the end, working to have every bit introduced by everyone fitting in the whole scheme.

* The twenty-six agents I introduced, referred to the Agent A and Agent B created by T5 in the previous story. I figured there was an elithe corps of secret agents of Mandelovia, each one marked by a letter of the alphabeth.

GREAT!

I was planning to introducing a Mafia family into our universe! And TTT has just hinted at it!

As I was saying before, I'd REALLY REALLY REALLY like to see how the team handles itself under different leadership. Before, with the MBL and TOMB we had static leaders, which was more like a monarchy than a democracy, and it worked back then, since the leaders tended to be the veterans of the teams. That doesn't apply to the New Universe, however, where we're ALL rookies and veterans at the same time, and the world (and our characters to a certain extent) are still relatively a blank slate, so it's stupid to think that we can run it the same way as before.

What I'm proposing is that the leader of the team changes at the beginning of each story, so that no one character is dominant over the others, and that each character's strengths and weaknesses can be worked out under a role of leadership. I see it sort of like the reality show NO BOUNDARIES, where a new leader is picked for each mission they go on (apologies to those who cannot see it due to it not being on TV in your country). It works out beautifully to see each of these individuals apply their own style of leadership, and I think it could work equally well for the team. Why? Because each of the members, though they have their faults, are exceptional individuals with their own gifts to offer in the role of leader.

What we really need are mission leaders, anyways, we don't really need a corporate leader who's the leader at all times, since all major decisions for the group could be done by committee. The leaders only come into use during the course of the mission when they're needed, then. I just don't want to see an Employer-Employees kind of deferment relationship develop in the story. I don't think that's what the revolution is about.

Pete "the Chimp" Glover, AKA The Monkey's Paw
Sam, AKA Shift
Kristogar Velo
Sonja
LLance
Mick/Mxy
Naecken
Danny
Tobias Christopher

I don't know the status of Shirley, as yet, but it might be nice to keep her with the team as a secretary.

And then there's Kit Piper, who's going into business with Pete and the team. More on him later, but as I said, I see him as a poor man's Maxwell Lord.

I'm also thinking about recruiting Dr. Henry Quantos as a scientific advisor and company physician once the company gets started. Quantos would then be a good reason for Bibbo's character Bibbo to eventually join up (should he ever get his act together )! Of course, Quantos is a normal man, not a superhero, and he's not a "super-genius" as he was in the MBL Universe, but a rather ordinary scientist/doctor. Think of the old scientist from FUTURAMA, except not so old or decrepit.

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[ 04-21-2002: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

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Supposedly posted by The Eurostar:
I am back after having quickly browsed the start of the new stoy.

GREAT!

I was planning to introducing a Mafia family into our universe! And TTT has just hinted at it!

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Great minds think alike, I guess. I also made sure to add that idea about the volcano and a tribe of natives, as well as a pirate history, all of which is very Caribbean. These may all help to provide a rich tapestry from which to come up with plots of pirates' treasure, lost kingdoms, et cetera, although of course our team's cases would not be confined to the island.

About the leader, if they are a group of friends living in an island, obviously there is no need of a leader.
If they are “professionals”, they need a president and a board of administrators (plus a secretary, yes). The president is actually a leader for the team, at last regarding the “outside” world, and it can change, trough elections, each year or so. For me, the only one suited, at the moment, for the task, is Kristogar. He seems to know the metahuman world, he is/was involved with the researches about the metagene, with TriVex and the USA Government, and maybe also with aliens (see his first post). In time, the others will gain much more knowledge/confidence, and someone other could take the role of president.
Field leaders, on the other hand, can change with every story, accordingly with the “theme” of the story. If they fight demons, Naecken will lead; if they travel to other dimension, Mxy is the obvious choice, while in the slums of a big city, Pete is the best suited, and so on.
And it is not only the skills to claim for a particular person to lead, but also chance (if Kristogar has been captured, someone other have to take his place.

Anyway, just because they are rookies, they need the only experienced one, Kristogar, to act as a leading figure. If not leader, call him babysitter, but the last story, for me, has proven it, in term of play and storytelling.

BUT, I am not on the team anymore, at last for the moment, so I don’t think to have the right to say how the “Revolutionaries” should behave…

I think we've done just fine so far without a leader, and I really don't see any need for one now, except of course for field team leader, that that will change each mission.

Also, the team as far as the new company thing goes will always be a field team. The administrative work will be done by civilians, and any decisions done at that level will basically be financial -- this is why I introduced Kit Piper to be the President of the company (Pete as a multimillionaire would thus be the CEO as chief stockholder and investor, though this would mean completely nothing to him). No need for a leader in the traditional sense of the word. Again, all we need are temporary field team leaders while out on missions.

Also, the company isn't intended to be an employer-employee thing at all. Each member of the group will own shares of the stock of the company, and the success of the company thus benefits all of them equally.

I think we need to get out of this mindset of having a static leader. It just doesn't need to be done.

And I think you may be putting too much stock in the gamemaster thing, too. Stories don't necessarily have to be planned out in detail, and I've found that some of the most fun ones HAVEN'T been planned out in detail. Oh sure, there might be some suggestions as to how it may go, but we all need the freedom to take the story in new directions whenever it's appropriate to do so (for instance, I added the plot thread about the caverns and such in the last story and hinted at a lot of things that the other writers picked up on and it worked out beautifully). This isn't a formal RPG (if it was I would've left LONG ago).

Sometimes it is necessary for one of us to wrap up a bunch of plotlines and get the story moving in a new direction or finish it, but as soon as we start saying that things have to be done a certain formal way each time, it takes the fun and spontaneity out of the story. Let's let it happen how it happens, okay? Personally, I really like seeing the creativity of each of our members play off on one another freely. I think we've got some really talented people here, and I'd hate to see that stifled by saying "this person is the gamemaster" over all the others. It's just not kosher.

One thing I would like to see more of is posters who are used to writing only their own characters take on writing more of the other members. I've been doing that in the last couple of posts I've done in the stories, and I've found that it helps me get a feeling for the dynamic of the team. This is probably why I created Pete as he is in the first place, because he's only interesting insofar as he interacts with the others. I'd find him boring as hell if I wrote some introspective pieces with him, since all he'd be doing is picking his nose or something like that. It forces me to rely on Pete's interaction with the other members of the team to bring out his personality. I'd like to see the rest of you guys and girl try using the other members of the team more often, either by partnering them up (such as Danny did with Pete in the last story) or writing a group conversation as I've done in the last story and at the beginning of this one.

Anyways, I've seen that a bunch of you guys were online today, and you didn't post anything! I'm shocked! Please chime in, here. It's beginning to become the "TTT and Eurostar Show," here.

more to come...

TTT great intro.

Everyone, check out some quick sketches of headshots of the group which I drew yesterday at the MBL group. It's in the "Hero Revolution Sketchbook" album at the link below:

Message Board League

I didn't really have any guide to what you guys look like, since nobody's uploaded any of the pics that were lost yet (Could someone please upload any pictures saved from the MBL club? They're all gone right now, and we really need everyone to upload whatever they've saved!) I had to draw them based on how I pictured them in the story. I made everyone have dark hair except Kristogar, Pete and Tobias, who have white, tan and blonde hair respectively. I really have no idea what the hair colors are, but this was my best guess.

[ 04-22-2002: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

Suddenly the air in Av's blood became dirt, killing him instantly. During a bout of maniacal laughter Eurostar suffered a fatal heart attack, and both would-be combatants were carted to the morgue.

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Originally posted by TheTimeTrust:
I could give it a try, if I get some descriptions. I don't really know the EPS that well at all, having never written 'em in the stories.

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Was running over the board and deleting old, unnecessary threads when I found
this. That should do you for any descriptions you may need on the EPS, minus Cicciotto, Curie, Richards, and Turner. If you need any help on those, ask the posters that write them (i.e. Euro, myself, Disco, and Gooz - respectively) for any insights and whatnot.

As for Turner, he looks exactly like the pic I-Man made of Gooz (when Gooz lead the MBL). Long black coat and semi-long black hair.

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Somebody post in the story!

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I agree!

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Originally posted by TheTimeTrust:
Somebody post in the story!

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Just finished. Um... would you mind editing out the short second post? We posted at about the same time

Anyways...

I couldn't be a gamemaster of any sort, really. My erratic schedule would prevent me from being able to do something like that(keep in mind I only made about 5 posts in the first 5 stories).

The character Kristogar in my opinion is by far the best suited for the leader role, but he simply doesn't want it, and has shown that before(I might explain why this is one of these years). However, if he feels a situation needs his guidance, he'll step in and take control, democracy be damned. That's one of the cases in which Kristogar can be very condescending.

I like the idea of different leaders for different stories. And the beginning to the current story is pretty sweet.

Okay, I'm going to give you all another day or so to write something that takes place on the first day/evening/night that the group is in La Perdita, and after that time I'm going to write the scene with Kit Piper that takes place in the morning, and then the REAL action-adventure can begin...

Now WRITE something! Get settled in to your new apartment!

(And I really liked your post, Mxy! You've got a flair for that type of writing... I almost considered calling this story: "Formerly Known As the MBL"... )

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Originally posted by TheTimeTrust:
(And I really liked your post, Mxy! You've got a flair for that type of writing... I almost considered calling this story: "Formerly Known As the MBL"... )

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Heh. Thanks.

And I liked Sonja's post, too. Great foreshadowing...

One problem, though: Gooz clearly stated in an earlier post that nobody was allowed to go to the top floor of this 14(!)-story apartment building (which probably doesn't have an attic anyways), so Sonja's apartment will have to be elsewhere, perhaps on the 13th floor (ooo-ooo-oooh)...

Unless there IS no 13th floor... some apartments were built without a 13th floor.

As far as Pete goes, he's going to want a ground-floor or basement apartment. No high-rises for him, no sir...

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Originally posted by TheTimeTrust:
One problem, though: Gooz clearly stated in an earlier post that nobody was allowed to go to the top floor of this 14(!)-story apartment building (which probably doesn't have an attic anyways), so Sonja's apartment will have to be elsewhere, perhaps on the 13th floor (ooo-ooo-oooh)...

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I could see there being a 13th floor, it is a pretty old building anyhow. Sonja would be perfect for the floor, Nic too.

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As far as Pete goes, he's going to want a ground-floor or basement apartment. No high-rises for him, no sir...

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Maybe a ground floor would work better for pete (or second floor), never know when we might want to add a training center or gym/pool in the basement or something like it

It is possible for all the apartments to have kitchens/living rooms, but many might be old, some smaller than others (etc...).

I could so see there being a bar/restaurant type section of the complex, or something of the sort (or the heroes can knock some walls down and make one )

By the by, happy belated birthday, Avvio! (Would've wished you one sooner, but my AIM's mysteriouly been on the fritz all day... not ust mine, but all over campus.)

Hope you all like my latest post...