Quoted from mcornetto Nothing wrong with learning (or dreaming as Sandra would tell you).  And thanks for the support guys and girls.  But you know, it doesn't happen without you all participating so thanks for that too.   I'm leaning toward the survival story at the moment because it lends itself nicely toward a game.  But rather than zombies - which are overused - we might pick some other foe. Not sure what yet.  Any suggestions? And also since we are very near the end of Killer.  I'd like to ask you all: What sort of information helped on your turn? What information didn't you use?   What extra information would you have liked to use if it was available? Is there any particular rules you would like to see added in the next game? Cheers, Michael

For the first question: I used a lot of Character background and things that caught my eye in the posts.

Some notes:

Michael, I grabbed hold of your dialogue, "Bermuda Triangle… Ha ha, what nonsense.
Nothing bad ever happens out here.

Yes indeedee, nothing happens-- I thought it was perfect.

My mind was immediately drawn to the idea of "The Philadelphia Experiment" with Bert as a scientist on a cutting edge, but that was frowned upon by his collegues (according to the backstory in the intros).

From our trusty Wikipedia:

"The experiment has been claimed to have been conducted by Dr. Franklin Reno (or Franklin Rinehart) as a military application of a Unified Field Theory, a term coined by Einstein. The Unified Field Theory aims to describe the interrelated nature of the forces that comprise electromagnetic radiation and gravity; although to date no single theory has emerged with a viable mathematical expression."

The time overlaps entered my mind courtesy of the weird and wonderful "Groundhog Day" and that's why I recreated Gabriel coming to the elevator "AGAIN", but with a different scenario playing out.

As I mentioned before, I was asking myself, "What is the connection between these people?" I imagined them as kind of a family- with roots and ties that go way back. So I was playing with a fictitious "The Agency" with Elders that control destiny and keep the balance between order and chaos.

The turn to hilarity was not planned, it just happened and I went with it. My imagination went wild with the characters perhaps holding "subtle" super powers. Not Xmen type, but very subtle, like clarolfacation, but there's only so much space and I just decided to work with Gabriel's appa rent ability to make people laugh.

Because I really do want to die laughing, I wrote that into this killer game. The goal for me was to have fun with Gabriel in the gymnasium, intoxicated by his power that was being affected by the Bermuda's effects.

Bert's entry with: Alffy punching in 666 on the Pyramid Portal Opener made me think that whatever was going on, it was messing with things and I was thinking that perhaps "an energy" or indeed even part of Cornetto's soul was "corrupted and entered Alffy here". I loved the scene with him trapped in the elevator and the remnants of this were written in by someone as "Claw marks" and that stuck in my mind also.

Regarding my character, I needed a way to explain why I came on the ship, apparently terribly afraid and I thought it to be part of a great tradition in spiritual growth- to overcome the greatest fears: Death is a big one- hence it ties in with the "laughing" idea. Die laughing. That was my personal mission. I thought that each character had their own personal mission and demons to deal with. Like Nic's voices.

I loved Nic's work with the camera. This really stuck with me throughout and I felt compelled to work with "The Room".

I really felt drawn to juxtapose the elements of horror with complete craziness and love-- hence the Alffy song.

For me, a lot of character work was going through my head- Ste, boozing and with the girls. Bush, knee caves and all, but wanting to enjoy life nonetheless. Dana, the gal who I thought needed to have her day in the sun; so I gave her the Alffy song.

I actually had written a whole bunch of scenes that I couldn't post. Steamy romantic scenes with you and Morgon. Scenes with Zadora's history. But I had to choose and I chose.

When you wrote in the idea of The Star Book, I wanted to work with it as some kind of "Book of Destiny".

It's always a bit of a tightrope we walk between wanting to know and not wanting to know.?" Hence: "Do I dare open it?"

When Dana had taken part of your soul and put it in the crystal, that was a key point I thought.

The romance between you and Morgan was a strong part. You, in a terribly ugly state, and I thought this was an excellent scene!

In the next game I think we need more parameters: ie: No ghosts. No Vampires. Or: A defined genre patterned after a pre existing movie.

After all is said and done, I liked what happened here because it was completely unexpected:

The naked idea brought on by Dreamscale and Nic's Room were fabulous additions to the Vampiric element in the beginning. We've even got explanations for the nakedness- and although I'm finished my portions of the writing I think it's excellent and am completely entertained by it.

As far as "what information would I have used if it were available?" it would have been Bert's experiments. That's why I made up a kind of Philadelphia experiment paradigm in my head.

I thought an important plot point was "Cornetto remembering" thus, I worked with the Regression therapy. There was an apparent connection between Cornetto and Bert, but it didn't really come to light in the script.

Finally, "The Alice in Wonderland" analogy is a good one. It's interesting to note that Lewis Carroll was a mathematician and logician and yet he wrote this kind of story. I really like that idea as well. Reversals in mirrors fascinate me.

These were how some of the wild ideas that were running through my mind got started.

Sandra

In response to your post Sandra...I love your creativity, your ability to completely let things fly.  Sad to say my mind doesn't work like that

In life I swing from being practical and then completely free spirited.  I love working independantly in my professional life...but I'm a HUGE "people" person...so go figure! lol

I appreciate your explanation for why you wrote certain things...but here in lies one of the problems...and it would happen, no matter who was writing...myself included.  None of the other writers in this game were privy to those toughts, so when they appeared in the screenplay...while I loved many of those parts...I couldn't follow it.

I felt disconnected at that point.   That's where collaboration between us would be helpful...as Cornetto mentioned - we are certainly welcome to do that...and that would help a lot.

The mere fact that you have to explain what you were thinking...would make it way too hard for another writer...or take it to the next level...the "viewer" to follow...not that a movie or story can't include things that leave us "thinking"

Part of the discipline of this exercise is to help us learn to write together, work together, fit together....for the good of the bigger picture.

Again...please know that I am not dishing you...my comments are not personal...in so many ways I think you are brilliant...you think so far beyond the norm...I wish I had just a quarter cup of that!

Write away sister!  

Quoted from mcornetto I'm leaning toward the survival story at the moment because it lends itself nicely toward a game.  But rather than zombies - which are overused - we might pick some other foe. Not sure what yet.  Any suggestions? Cheers, Michael

How about vice? How about people trapped in a cabin in the woods (my brother has such cabin) and they have to deal with each others vices that are getting wildly intensified for some reason.

One is perhaps an alcoholic. Another is a workaholic. One chain smokes to beat the band and no one can breath inside because of it. Another is hell-bent on power- trying to control the rest and have it his way. One is more subtle- "a manipulator", controlling using different methods. One likes to gorge, and there's little food that comes in at a time. Another is a hoarder, stealing food, drying it and tucking it away... You get the idea.

So in this case, we'd be fighting against something that isn't so much a "who" but a "what".

Sandra

The problem with vice as an enemy is that there really isn't any way to score it.  Perhaps someday we will drop the game idea and be able to write things of that nature or we may find a way to score it.  But I think for now the fact that this is a game helps motivate people to write.

Good brainstorming though.

And Orange said dog and Mike said monkeys (but I think he was monkey shining).  And Jeff suggested the outdoors. What about all animals?  This has been done before I think in a movie called Day of the Animals - probably elsewhere as well, but it hasn't been over done.  Plus it will give us a variety of attacks to play with.  How's that? Any other suggestions? Anything to add?    

Quoted from mcornetto The problem with vice as an enemy is that there really isn't any way to score it.  Perhaps someday we will drop the game idea and be able to write things of that nature or we may find a way to score it.  But I think for now the fact that this is a game helps motivate people to write. Good brainstorming though.

That's something that I feel very troubled by: How to score it. It takes time to assimilate the concept and then try to figure out "the angle". But at least our wheels are turning.

Sandra

What about a sickness like the flu in Stephen King's The Stand, which I'm currently reading. We could be trying to survive some sort of disease. Just a thought.

I like the idea that we should try to follow the previous scene's intent and follow it. That's a challenge in itself. I like that.

Michael's questions:
What sort of information helped on your turn? What you provided Michael and what I got from reading the previous scenes.

What information didn't you use? I used whatever was available to me. I tried to find a pattern. If it didn't flow with the previous scenes, I dropped it.
  
What extra information would you have liked to use if it was available? Maybe a small paragraph of the previous author's intent of what he or she tried to do in the scene, written by the previous author.

Is there any particular rules you would like to see added in the next game? Keeping the story in order as suggested above.  

I like the all animals idea. It does definitely give us a host of deaths and situations to work around. Especially if it is in a city or something, one with a zoo....

Something like the Stand could easily work, with it's good vs evil plot.  Some characters could be good, some evil and we could see which triumph.

How's this?

A virulent airborne form of rabies decimates the human population and leaves the animals mad. Some people band together and try to survive in this strange new world, but they are plagued by visions and dreams of a creature both frightening and comforting.  It wants them to come to it and they have no choice but to obey -- no matter how dangerous the journey may be.

EDIT: And I think we'll give Sandra a special role in this one and let her be in charge of the dreams.

Quoted from Mr.Ripley I like the idea that we should try to follow the previous scene's intent and follow it. That's a challenge in itself. I like that. Michael's questions: What extra information would you have liked to use if it was available? Maybe a small paragraph of the previous author's intent of what he or she tried to do in the scene, written by the previous author. Is there any particular rules you would like to see added in the next game? Keeping the story in order as suggested above.

I really like your idea Ripley...if we provided the next writer with a paragraph about what our intent was, it will make it easier for us to tie things in...then when people get super creative, we will have some understanding of where they were going with it.

Quoted from mcornetto How's this? A virulent airborne form of rabies decimates the human population and leaves the animals mad. Some people band together and try to survive in this strange new world, but they are plagued by visions and dreams of a creature both frightening and comforting.  It wants them to come to it and they have no choice but to obey -- no matter how dangerous the journey may be.

Now we're getting there!  I like the use of varied animals...I like it calling to us...drawing us to the danger...

~m~

Yeah, "Day of the Animals" was an old flcik with all sorts of animals attacking everyone.  BoinT actually did a script in here a few months back called "Beasts of the Earth", that was alot like "Day of the Animals".  There weren't really many attacks though in his script.

I like the idea of being outdoors and away from help with killer animals all around.  Just think...a killer skunk could torment the group, while a killer chipmunk creeps in for the kill...

Lots of possibilities for different settings, which would obviously set our posibilities of animals.  I persoanlly like the idea of an island, so we'd have both land ans sea creatures.

Quoted from mcornetto Something like the Stand could easily work, with it's good vs evil plot.  Some characters could be good, some evil and we could see which triumph. How's this? A virulent airborne form of rabies decimates the human population and leaves the animals mad. Some people band together and try to survive in this strange new world, but they are plagued by visions and dreams of a creature both frightening and comforting.  It wants them to come to it and they have no choice but to obey -- no matter how dangerous the journey may be. EDIT: And I think we'll give Sandra a special role in this one and let her be in charge of the dreams.

Do you have a vision for what this creature might be? It sounds like we're working with an interesting premise.

Sandra

Quoted from mcornetto A virulent airborne form of rabies decimates the human population and leaves the animals mad. Some people band together and try to survive in this strange new world, but they are plagued by visions and dreams of a creature both frightening and comforting.  It wants them to come to it and they have no choice but to obey -- no matter how dangerous the journey may be.

This is the next game and I'm really excited about it.  

Two or three groups of people, each heading from a different location: New York (New York), Detroit (Michigan) and/or Ottawa(Canada). Heading for a startling climax at Niagara Falls where they meet up with the creature from their dreams: some want to kill it, some want to worship it.  Whoever survives will write the ending.

It will be called 'Shiva'.

We will start taking characters on the 16th and will play mid December.

Cheers.        

I'd love to take part in this one unless I'm too busy, but I think I might be able to.  

And Sandra should absolutely be in charge of everyone's dreams!!  

wounds fun, I'd love to participate if  there aren't enough people (which i dont think will be an issue). Want to give others a chance to participate and get a spot on the fun train, if you know what i Mean.

I will begin preparing now, covering myself in ashes and wearing a Rudraksha mala.

Sandra