Where to begin. . .
POSTED BY: Cybersnark
UPDATED: Sunday, November 18, 2007 03:18
VIEWED: 3066
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*struggles free of unforseen work-flood*
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Originally posted by BlueBomber:
Well, first we need to know more about the universe in which Alex exists. It's modern fantasy, sure, but just what does that mean? Are there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose? (Heh, just a little "Train Job" joke, there...) What is the purpose of The Game - and more importantly, its nature?
It's kinda a cross between The Lost Room, Dungeons & Dragons (the 80s cartoon, not the regrettable movie), Fight Club (with added magic), and a little bit of Fear Factor (as Lost has a bit of Survivor, and Drive had a bit of The Amazing Race). Also a dash of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. . .
The Game has been going on for centuries, if not longer. Underneath the surface world, in the hidden places, lies an Underground world. Huge and ancient structures, called Dungeons, are hidden under modern cities, scattered all over the world.
Inside the Dungeons, you can find various items and treasure, most of which confer some minor magical abilities (remember Jack's compass in Pirates, or Sting, Frodo's Orc-detecting sword?). The magic only works inside the Dungeons (or at least, it's supposed to only work there), which is how items can be lost, stolen, or destroyed (and why the Game has remained secret for centuries). New items are constantly appearing inside the Dungeons, but who makes them and who places them there is still a mystery.
There's an international community of collectors, and some of these items can be sold for millions of dollars. You don't think Donald Trump got all his money from sheer business savvy, did you? One good find, and you could be set for life.
Or you could die. To some, it's worth the risk.
Of course, avarice is only one aspect of the Game's allure. The modern world (especially the Western world) is civilized, sterilized, and politically corrected. Ruled by science (that exists mainly to suck all the mystery out of everything), it's as safe as we can make it. There are people who have lived their whole lives without ever experiencing mortal peril. As a certain blond vampire (or a psychotic brunette Slayer) woud point out, once you do experience that kind of terror, it can be a real rush. Addictive, even.
The Game is the ultimate extreme sport. Where else do civilized people --high school students to housewives to businessmen-- get to wield swords, swing across chasms, duel on hanging catwalks, and survive on nothing more than their own skill, wits, and luck?
There are other things in the Dungeons as well, things that can't emerge into the light. Most of them seem like robots (golems, constructs), animals (hell-hounds, wyverns, giant bats, rodents-of-unusual-size), or insects (giant spiders, death-worms), but there are rumours of things living in the deeper levels. Things that were once human, but have since forgotten how to be. This is the fate of players who get lost; many who enter the labyrinths never return.
Who started the game, who created the Dungeons, and who keeps hiding new and more powerful items, is a mystery that has yet to be fully revealed (that's what the rest of the series is for).
Select to view spoiler:
The Dungeons aren't treasure hoards or temples. They're traps, and the treasure is bait.
Magic is a lot like radiation. When you handle mystical artifacts, it gets into you. The Dungeons reek of it. Spend enough time down there, and it begins to change you. Mutate you. This will make you more powerful, but less able to leave, until you forget that you ever were human.
The deepest Dungeons are portals, places where non-corporeal beings can emerge into the physical world (or where physical beings can cross bodily into the Astral plane). Of course, the emerging astral beings need spirits to feed upon, and bodies to inhabit.
Of course, there's another aspect to the Game, one that defines the script; it brings people together. Outside, teenagers never in
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Originally posted by Cybersnark:
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So, what are some of your favourite "outsider becomes insider" moments from other shows/movies?
Joel Fleishman's introduction to Cicely Alaska in Northern Exposure. Of course with that show he spent most of his time being an outsider and never quite becoming an insider. However his introduction to Adam was very clever.
Adam was a shadowy bigfoot type character that lived in the woods of Cicely. The locals bestowed beast like qualities upon him, giving him a mythical persona, which both scared Joel and intrigued him. So much so that when more and more evidence arose that Adam might well be a real 'thing' in the woods Joel finds himself powerless to resist trying to find out more about him. Even if his life is in danger.
So that is one angle. Curiosity. Amazing what curiosity will allow you to do with a character and the audience. It's a little like having a person look beyond the camera and react. It makes the audience want to see what the character is seeing also.
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Curiousity is not necessary to start. I would suggest avarice instead. How about something like this:
Start at an estate auction. As part of the "saving enough for marriage" plan, Alex and his girlfriend attend the auction looking for bargains they can sell for more on ebay. There's a good crowd, and a lot of boxes of "miscellaneous items" for participants to bid on. In the bustle, Alex accidentally knocks over two boxes. He apologizes and places the items back, not really paying attention to what was originally where (often in auctions like this, cheap items aren't even catalogued). He does notice one has a couple nice things, so bids on that. He doesn't even pay attention to the somewhat...out of place couple bidding on the other box. He wins his, the auction ends, everyone gone home happy.
Damn shame he put a couple of items into his box from the other. You can include everything from really interested messages via ebay, to business meetings, to muggings, break-ins, and espionage. Eventually, some player will try for a home field advantage and lure him into a Dungeon, figuring he won't believe of survive the experience.
I'm sure something like that's happened before, but does it sound like something that'd hook interest?
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