General Discussion

Actually yes, we kind of do. The thing about Microscope is that you always know what’s going to happen, you just fill in the blanks. We don’t exactly need to state specifics of super heroes’ disappearance but we need to set the tone of it.

Ok. Interesting. Well, then I suppose my gut says to end it Dark with the fall of superhero culture. Not that we have to keep going but then we have the opening for a triumphant return, like Incredibles 2 or Return of the Jedi.

I agree with you. Since aphelion suggested it, it's safe to assume he has no problem with it. I've updated the website and added the starting and ending periods. If you have a better idea for wording etc. please go along and change it. You should be able to edit the page but notify me if you can't, I'll look it up.

Now it's for the palette. For the palette, we will decide the things we'll ban from the game or allow in the game. These are divded into two categories: Yes and No. In the Yes category, we add things that is not usually expected in this kind of a setting and in the No category, we add things that are expected to exist but don't. For example, we can add "sorcerers" to Yes column in a sic-fi setup, but not to No column because in a sci-fi setup sorcerers are already expected to not exist. Likewise, if we are playing in a mediavel setting, we can write "knights" to No column but not to Yes column.

There is no certain limitations as to how many entries there should be in the palette but we are supposed to take turns and one person can at most add one more thing than the others.

And to that point, I was thinking yesterday how it doesn't have to mean, like... all superheroes end up murdered. That's the really fun part about the game, you sort of creatively discover how things end up the way they do. I remember a friend and I were doing one where a war took place between AI consciousnesses, but it took place entirely in subspace and there weren't actually any physical deaths or collateral damage. So the war happened, but it wasn't guns blazin', fleets of spaceships turned into a zero-G graveyard, etc. It's a game where things you come up with can kind of surprise you, which I obviously love!

In terms of the Palette, I have one I want to run by the group which ireneofunyes kind of brought up. Magic in a superhero universe a la Scarlet Witch, Wiccan, Dr. Strange, Tilda Swinton, etc. It used to really bug me that they plopped witches and wizards into superhero land, but the MCU stories (especially WandaVision) brought me around on it. I think I just need a little internal consistency, but wanted to bring that one to the group, I could go either way.

So... superhero magic, thoughts?

I don't mind superhero magic, but I prefer when it has a system. I dislike how Scarlet Witch (for example) can "alter luck" in one book, and rewrite all of reality in another.

Now if a character has a specific set of abilities that happen to be magic fueled, that's great. Like Cloak from Cloak & Dagger. He has teleportation, or dimensional travel, and in some versions summoning od Darkforce creatures. Loki has illusion magic and the writers do a pretty good job of limiting him to that power.

So I guess I'd rather leave magic as a power source but not a power in and of itself...if that makes sense?

I agree with dream. Magic having a system and internal consistency does not mean that it will just going to be an advanced science, though. I like, for example, when there is a source of the magic, something its wielders tap into to access those powers (think about Wheel of Time, I believe it was called the True Source?), rather than people just have those abilities by themselves or by bloodline. This can also pave the way for people who does not have an innate ability for magic to study and improve themselves. I’m thinking about Dresden universe now, where even though one can certainly innately be a talented wizard, the key to successful magic lies in the strength of a person’s will and knowledge, practice. What do you think?

So we’re adding "Magic" to the Yes category. How about something to put in No? Some kind of a ban? Do you have any suggestions?

I've been rolling ideas around in my head all day. There isn't a lot I would want to say No to...but maybe Time Travel? In the real world we obviously havent figured it out. And it always complicates things in fiction. Since we sort of have a story end in mind, perhaps locking out time travel would be a good thing. If there is any such attempt it can use the Alternate Timeline model where all you can do is travel to a dimension that reflects a change but you can't actually change your timeline.

That's actually an excellent idea. I agree with you, time travel is even hard to portray in an organized, well-thought fiction. Here we sort of make up things as we go and time travel can make things pretty complex without adding any fun. If aphelion has no objection I'll add these to the Palette.

Sorry for the slow response, work's kicking my ass this week.

Definitely agree wholeheartedly to the no on time travel, and the yes on alternate timelines. That will actually be SUPER fun to play with. And I can 100% get behind all the points on magic.

How do we feel about immortality and/or invincibility? That's the only other one that comes to mind for me. For me, I think similar to the points made on magic, if there's some internal consistency and narrative complications, and it's not just like, "SuperJoe can survive anything always."

Okay, actually one more thought of I think I'd like to discuss both in terms of palette and overall game. What kind of tone are we writing towards? Leaning towards the gritty, violent-type superhero stories? More campy comic book-type? Again, I think we can tackle either depending on the tone of the period/event/scene, but just curious what kind of superhero stories you gravitate towards.

Otherwise I don't have any other thoughts to palette, I like what we've come up with!

As much as I like the idea of Superman, I think we should ban that kind of invincibility. We have allowed for aliens, yes, but the idea that there is a race that looks exactly like us but also is super strong etc is a bit too simple.

The tone would change with periods, probably, but to my taste tackling with the potential effects of super heroes is a nice thought exercise. Not in a gritty, "what if Superman went mad and became a tyrant" kind of way but more like "how does it affect the society that there are some individuals with extraordinary powers? How would governments react to that? Would it increase the chaos in the world?". That can be light or dark, depending on what our answers are to those questions, but that's my take.

Okay I'm adding "magic" and "alternate timelines" to Yes and "time travel" to no for the moment.

I realized that I forgot to add the next step. Of course if you want you can still suggest additional Palette entries. The next step is individual now. Up until now we were discussing and deciding everything together. Now, we are on our own. Everybody will make their own suggestion and unless it is something the other two sees as utterly unreasonable (which I don't expect to happen), everybody will make their individual suggestion. The others can ask for clarification if there some blind spots.

Now, we will in turn add either one Period or one Event (no Scenes yet). Anybody can start if they have something in their mind. I don't have anything right now, I'll write when I think of something.

@aphelion, @Dreamblade are you still up for the game? Noticed you haven't posted for some days now.

Ridiculous week of work, settling down a little now so I'm going to post a period!

EDIT: YES! Sorry, I've been freelance running social media for a brand at a big event and basically been tweeting from dawn to dusk since last Monday, but I'm done now, just really ate away my brainpower.

Posted! Do either of you use Discord or Whatsapp? Might be nice to be able to chat things out off a message board? And the occasional poke would also be very much appreciated. Totally fine if you'd prefer to keep it on here, just thought I'd ask!

Discord is fine by me. I can open a server and invite you right away if Dream is okay with it.

I’m closing the game due to unreported inactivity. Thanks for your contribution thus far.