Worldbuilding 2020
Jan. 25th, 2020 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marsdragonIN A.D. 2020
EXCHANGE WAS BEGINNING
Hey. Again, large chunks of this are copy-pasted. My tastes have been set since high school.
I dig unusual formats, so bring your in-universe documents, epistolary fic, posters, social media fics, whatever. I love treating these worlds like they actually exist and have supporting structure, so anything exploring that is good. I'm fine with different morals and cultures and would love to see those get explored. Myths and legends (especially if they change over time), pop culture, explorations of daily life, what normal people think of all the crazy shit that goes down in canon, technology and its relation with culture, and explorations of mechanics in the game canons.
Canons in order of ease of getting into them: Psychic Force > Chrono Trigger > Suikoden > King of Fighters > Lunar.
Chrono Trigger
Any/No Characters, Original Characters
WB: Life in Zeal, WB: 1999 Communications Centre, WB: Day of Lavos and aftermath, WB: Archaeology
Let's Play of SNES version
Let's Play of the DS version
Canon notes: So let's just pretend Chrono Cross never happened, okay? Including the extra ending in the DS version. None of that happened.
Prompts: So...what kind of historical record are we looking at, after our merry band of time travelers runs through history a few times? Between Zeal and the party, Chrono Trigger's world should be a goldmine of out-of-place artifacts, what do people make of them? Are theories about Zeal taken as seriously as theories about Atlantis here? What about the entire Reptile civilization? Does anyone ever perform a scientific investigation on the remains of Tyrano Lair? Do the theories about it change over time? Where the hell did the Rainbow Shell come from, anyway? And what changed in the future after Lavos was destroyed? Were there any changes earlier in the timestream?
What sort of civilization existed in 1999? Did they try to fight Lavos at all? Did they have any sort of space program, and if so, what did the astronauts see? What was the immediate aftermath like for the survivors? Did they have robots to help them, or did Mother Brain immediately rebel? If she didn't, how long did it take her to give up? How did people survive for 300 years? And during the good ending, how do they react to this giant space bug rising from the ground and just kind of dying instantly? Does anyone see the kids? I bet whatever news/media they have would be going nuts.
And then Zeal, which offers a ton of possibilities on its own. What's their culture like? Religious beliefs? Festivals? How many of them are there, and can they actually sustain their population as-is? How long have they been living above the clouds? How do they replace all the water they lose in that pretty waterfall? What are their crops? The cuisine? Writing? What kind of stories did they tell? Was any normal citizen worried about the Queen and the future? If the four magical elements are light/fire/water/shadow, is there any significance to the fire/wind/water books?
And all the cats! Cats through history. Cat to the future.
King of Fighters
Look, just get King of Fighters XIV it's on like everything and covers most of what I'm asking about. And if you're worried about not being able to beat it, set it to the lowest difficulty and press heavy kick. That is literally all you have to do to win. (or there's lots of plays on Youtube)
If you want to go the extra mile/don't want to pay for anything, check out WinKwaks and some cheat codes because these are arcade games and SNK was serious about eating your quarters.
Any Characters, No Characters, Clemance Bellamy
WB: The King of Fighters stages, WB: The King of Fighters rules and regulations, WB: The King of Fighters publicity and reporting, WB: The King of Fighters name rights, WB: The King of Fighters fandom
Prompts:
So there's this big fighting tournament that runs (nearly) every year, and it's usually sponsored by some form of villain trying to use it for their own ends, and it always ends explosively. ...and people still show up, every single year. I love that.
One of the big things that stuck out for everyone in KoFXIV was Antonov bragging about getting the name rights. This is a tournament started by either a mob boss running shit in his backyard or an arms dealer running shit from his private aircraft carrier. What name rights? Did Geese register them? Rugal? Chizuru? How are naming rights even a thing? How do they get passed around? Did no one notice how dang near everyone trying to run one of these is some form of criminal, especially when they're participating in the tournament themselves? How in the hell did Antonov get them, and who did he get them from?
And then who sets the rules? Who enforces them? What kind of rules are there? Is it just one committee that gets passed around to whatever crime lord wants to run a fighting tournament next, or does each boss have their own set of people to run the thing? Did any special incidents cause rule changes? (Feel free to get as comedic as you want here, it's basically a "favourite character causes trouble" free space)
The stages vary between literally holding up traffic by fighting in the street to big productions that must've cost a ton to get going, sometimes both in the same game. Who sets those up? What's location scouting for KoF like? Negotiations? Do they hire teams of people to come and cheer? What happens if the crowd gets hurt? What about property damage? All those Power Waves and Earth Movers gotta be causing some problems.
And KoF keeps getting reported on like it's a legit thing. It mostly kicked in for 96, so were there any reports beforehand? Why is it getting reported on through the news in XIV and not a pay-per-view? How did Clemance Bellamy not know what a shitshow KoF inevitably turns into? I'd love to read an interview with the fighters, or an article on the tournament, or something treating KoF like a legitimate sporting event, fireballs and ancient gods and all.
And then there are enough fans to fill a stadium. I'd love to read about them. What stupid arguments do they get into? Bragging about how long they've been fans? ("You got in during 98? Ha! I remember back in 94 it was completely underground and I followed it anyway!") Do some fans just show up for the crazy final battles? I'd also love to see Clemance or another reporter doing an interview with a fan. Is there RPF? How weird and different is the in-universe fandom from the out-of-universe fandom? (and how stupidly similar?)
Lunar
So you're going to have to emulate. For the first game, you can pick Silver Star Story Complete or Harmony. Harmony is probably the better option, considering that PSX emulation is still a pain in the ass and Harmony wasn't done by Working Designs. PPSSPP is the PSP emulator of choice.
Unfortunately, for Eternal Blue you're stuck breaking out ePSXe (or a real copy). If you don't already know how to ePSXe then this letter isn't going to help, so maybe just concentrate on Harmony? Let's face it, if you're looking at the long RPGs section you've probably already played them.
Any Characters, No Characters
WB: The world of Lunar post-Eternal Blue, WB: The Frontier, WB: The discovery and/or invention of magic, WB: The Church of Althena, WB: Return to the Blue Star
Prompts:
Lunar is one of those games with so much room for worldbuilding I don't know where to start. Anything expanding on Althena, Lucia, and the Blue Star would be aces. I really like the idea of Althena as a scientist and magic as super-advanced technology, but don't feel like you have to follow that. What if the Blue Star was an advanced fantasy world, with magic standing in for technology instead? What would that look like, and how would they get to Lunar? What's waiting for the inhabitants of Lunar once they get back to the Blue Star? Will Lucia still be there, waiting for them? What about Hiro? Will anyone want to stay on Lunar instead of going back? Will they even be able to?
Where did magic come from? How did it give rise to Zophar? Something about the Blue Star before everything went to hell would be great. I have a thing for glorious past civilizations on the brink of a ruin no one knows is coming. What sort of rules did they figure out about magic, and how much trial and error did it take?
After Eternal Blue, does anyone outside the party know that Althena is dead? How does not having a goddess effect the world? What did she do for all those years, anyway? How does the Althena Cult affect the religion? Heck, how did it arise, and what kind of conflicts does it cause in the church/populace? Does it cause distrust for Althena in the long-term? Do any new religions arise in the long term? ...how are the Althena statues still working? Will they ever stop? How long does belief in Althena persist afterwards?
The Frontier! Why does it exist? Did Althena not have the strength to terraform it, or did she leave it on purpose? Did she ever have plans to extend her power there? What's it like living there, and how does the Vile Tribe survive? Does Phacia ever try to make life easier on the Frontier, after Silver Star Story?
Psychic Force
Links to playthroughs, the OVA, etc
Any Characters, No Characters
WB: Psychic powers, WB: Human-Psychic relations, WB: Governments
Prompts:
I love Psychic Force so much. If you know it, do whatever. I'll love it. The games themselves are incredibly vague and don't care about the world outside, which just means more room to mess around.
Psychic powers in general are just kind of...there. Everyone can make a cube. Why can everyone make a cube? Is the cube even real, in-universe? I would honestly believe either take on that, the cube being real or fake. Psychic powers also seem to be really new, with the oldest character at 36 (the magic users don't count...except then why can they fly and make cubes?), so when and why did they start? When did everyone realise that psychic powers were real, and who took James Randi's money? You have to admit, flying in and shooting a fireball would be a hell of a way to win. Or mess around with what it feels like to use the powers, or what powers are good for besides killing other psychics. Grab any game mechanic and play with it. Go nuts.
And then there's all these humans that presumably fill up the world. I imagine there are a bunch of families that weren't too happy about their kids getting dragged off to the labs, so something exploring that would be neat. Any groups that try to get humans and psychics to live in harmony? What do they think about NOA? Basically, how are regular folks reacting to all the insanity going on in the games? I would absolutely love to read an internet thread between people arguing about the psychic problem. A ground-view of famous public psychics like Keith and Wong would also be fun.
And governments. What are they doing about the whole psychic problem, especially once NOA and the army get going? Hell, what is even the army trying to do? Someone's probably dealing with them, so what's up with that? And if all else fails, follow some peon around as they try to deal with all the unrest and trouble that's going on in the games.
And that one guy, in the beginning of the OVA! He's apparently a NOA psychic, but he's just hanging out bartending in New York for some reason. What was his deal
Suikoden
No Characters, Original Characters
WB: World Politics, WB: Runes, WB: Academic Writing, WB: Technology
Let's Plays for I-V
Canon notes: I've only ever actually played I and II, though I more or less know what happens in the other three. I'm fine with referencing all of them if that's what you need, but if you're going to specifically focus on one I'd rather it be the ones I've played. YEAH SORRY I'M A BAD FAN
Prompts:
What does history have to say about all these wars and revolutions? What do future historians argue about? Are there camps that refuse to acknowledge any influence of the True Runes, or are destiny and the 108 stars accepted thing in the Suikoden world? How about some discussion of the fallout of the wars, or trying to fit the games into a larger narrative? Do people argue over Silverburg strategies?
Or political analysis, either current or historical. Highland entirely predictably rebels later, does anyone lay the blame on Jowy's terrible, terrible decisions? Barbarossa's backstory is remarkably like the story of a Suikoden game, what do people make of him getting overthrown within a generation? What does that mean for the Toran Republic? And actually, how does the transition from Scarlet Moon Empire to Toran Republic go? Are there even any major differences?
Or how about a treatise on runes? I'm really curious about how the Vancian magic system works in-universe - it always seems like such a game thing. How can you tell how many spell charges you have left? What does it feel like to have an affinity for a class of runes? Are there any runemasters besides Jeanne? Are runes used for anything besides battle? Do hospitals eventually just start buying Water and Flowing runes by the dozen and handing them out to nurses? Can regular, non-True runes influence their masters in any way?
How does technology evolve in the Suikoden world? Every game has an elevator, but does anyone ever get beyond that? Rune-powered technology? (it's entirely possible other games have that and I just missed it) Does any one country get an industrial revolution before the others, and how does that tilt the balance of power?
EXCHANGE WAS BEGINNING
Hey. Again, large chunks of this are copy-pasted. My tastes have been set since high school.
I dig unusual formats, so bring your in-universe documents, epistolary fic, posters, social media fics, whatever. I love treating these worlds like they actually exist and have supporting structure, so anything exploring that is good. I'm fine with different morals and cultures and would love to see those get explored. Myths and legends (especially if they change over time), pop culture, explorations of daily life, what normal people think of all the crazy shit that goes down in canon, technology and its relation with culture, and explorations of mechanics in the game canons.
Canons in order of ease of getting into them: Psychic Force > Chrono Trigger > Suikoden > King of Fighters > Lunar.
Chrono Trigger
Any/No Characters, Original Characters
WB: Life in Zeal, WB: 1999 Communications Centre, WB: Day of Lavos and aftermath, WB: Archaeology
Let's Play of SNES version
Let's Play of the DS version
Canon notes: So let's just pretend Chrono Cross never happened, okay? Including the extra ending in the DS version. None of that happened.
Prompts: So...what kind of historical record are we looking at, after our merry band of time travelers runs through history a few times? Between Zeal and the party, Chrono Trigger's world should be a goldmine of out-of-place artifacts, what do people make of them? Are theories about Zeal taken as seriously as theories about Atlantis here? What about the entire Reptile civilization? Does anyone ever perform a scientific investigation on the remains of Tyrano Lair? Do the theories about it change over time? Where the hell did the Rainbow Shell come from, anyway? And what changed in the future after Lavos was destroyed? Were there any changes earlier in the timestream?
What sort of civilization existed in 1999? Did they try to fight Lavos at all? Did they have any sort of space program, and if so, what did the astronauts see? What was the immediate aftermath like for the survivors? Did they have robots to help them, or did Mother Brain immediately rebel? If she didn't, how long did it take her to give up? How did people survive for 300 years? And during the good ending, how do they react to this giant space bug rising from the ground and just kind of dying instantly? Does anyone see the kids? I bet whatever news/media they have would be going nuts.
And then Zeal, which offers a ton of possibilities on its own. What's their culture like? Religious beliefs? Festivals? How many of them are there, and can they actually sustain their population as-is? How long have they been living above the clouds? How do they replace all the water they lose in that pretty waterfall? What are their crops? The cuisine? Writing? What kind of stories did they tell? Was any normal citizen worried about the Queen and the future? If the four magical elements are light/fire/water/shadow, is there any significance to the fire/wind/water books?
And all the cats! Cats through history. Cat to the future.
King of Fighters
Look, just get King of Fighters XIV it's on like everything and covers most of what I'm asking about. And if you're worried about not being able to beat it, set it to the lowest difficulty and press heavy kick. That is literally all you have to do to win. (or there's lots of plays on Youtube)
If you want to go the extra mile/don't want to pay for anything, check out WinKwaks and some cheat codes because these are arcade games and SNK was serious about eating your quarters.
Any Characters, No Characters, Clemance Bellamy
WB: The King of Fighters stages, WB: The King of Fighters rules and regulations, WB: The King of Fighters publicity and reporting, WB: The King of Fighters name rights, WB: The King of Fighters fandom
Prompts:
So there's this big fighting tournament that runs (nearly) every year, and it's usually sponsored by some form of villain trying to use it for their own ends, and it always ends explosively. ...and people still show up, every single year. I love that.
One of the big things that stuck out for everyone in KoFXIV was Antonov bragging about getting the name rights. This is a tournament started by either a mob boss running shit in his backyard or an arms dealer running shit from his private aircraft carrier. What name rights? Did Geese register them? Rugal? Chizuru? How are naming rights even a thing? How do they get passed around? Did no one notice how dang near everyone trying to run one of these is some form of criminal, especially when they're participating in the tournament themselves? How in the hell did Antonov get them, and who did he get them from?
And then who sets the rules? Who enforces them? What kind of rules are there? Is it just one committee that gets passed around to whatever crime lord wants to run a fighting tournament next, or does each boss have their own set of people to run the thing? Did any special incidents cause rule changes? (Feel free to get as comedic as you want here, it's basically a "favourite character causes trouble" free space)
The stages vary between literally holding up traffic by fighting in the street to big productions that must've cost a ton to get going, sometimes both in the same game. Who sets those up? What's location scouting for KoF like? Negotiations? Do they hire teams of people to come and cheer? What happens if the crowd gets hurt? What about property damage? All those Power Waves and Earth Movers gotta be causing some problems.
And KoF keeps getting reported on like it's a legit thing. It mostly kicked in for 96, so were there any reports beforehand? Why is it getting reported on through the news in XIV and not a pay-per-view? How did Clemance Bellamy not know what a shitshow KoF inevitably turns into? I'd love to read an interview with the fighters, or an article on the tournament, or something treating KoF like a legitimate sporting event, fireballs and ancient gods and all.
And then there are enough fans to fill a stadium. I'd love to read about them. What stupid arguments do they get into? Bragging about how long they've been fans? ("You got in during 98? Ha! I remember back in 94 it was completely underground and I followed it anyway!") Do some fans just show up for the crazy final battles? I'd also love to see Clemance or another reporter doing an interview with a fan. Is there RPF? How weird and different is the in-universe fandom from the out-of-universe fandom? (and how stupidly similar?)
Lunar
So you're going to have to emulate. For the first game, you can pick Silver Star Story Complete or Harmony. Harmony is probably the better option, considering that PSX emulation is still a pain in the ass and Harmony wasn't done by Working Designs. PPSSPP is the PSP emulator of choice.
Unfortunately, for Eternal Blue you're stuck breaking out ePSXe (or a real copy). If you don't already know how to ePSXe then this letter isn't going to help, so maybe just concentrate on Harmony? Let's face it, if you're looking at the long RPGs section you've probably already played them.
Any Characters, No Characters
WB: The world of Lunar post-Eternal Blue, WB: The Frontier, WB: The discovery and/or invention of magic, WB: The Church of Althena, WB: Return to the Blue Star
Prompts:
Lunar is one of those games with so much room for worldbuilding I don't know where to start. Anything expanding on Althena, Lucia, and the Blue Star would be aces. I really like the idea of Althena as a scientist and magic as super-advanced technology, but don't feel like you have to follow that. What if the Blue Star was an advanced fantasy world, with magic standing in for technology instead? What would that look like, and how would they get to Lunar? What's waiting for the inhabitants of Lunar once they get back to the Blue Star? Will Lucia still be there, waiting for them? What about Hiro? Will anyone want to stay on Lunar instead of going back? Will they even be able to?
Where did magic come from? How did it give rise to Zophar? Something about the Blue Star before everything went to hell would be great. I have a thing for glorious past civilizations on the brink of a ruin no one knows is coming. What sort of rules did they figure out about magic, and how much trial and error did it take?
After Eternal Blue, does anyone outside the party know that Althena is dead? How does not having a goddess effect the world? What did she do for all those years, anyway? How does the Althena Cult affect the religion? Heck, how did it arise, and what kind of conflicts does it cause in the church/populace? Does it cause distrust for Althena in the long-term? Do any new religions arise in the long term? ...how are the Althena statues still working? Will they ever stop? How long does belief in Althena persist afterwards?
The Frontier! Why does it exist? Did Althena not have the strength to terraform it, or did she leave it on purpose? Did she ever have plans to extend her power there? What's it like living there, and how does the Vile Tribe survive? Does Phacia ever try to make life easier on the Frontier, after Silver Star Story?
Psychic Force
Links to playthroughs, the OVA, etc
Any Characters, No Characters
WB: Psychic powers, WB: Human-Psychic relations, WB: Governments
Prompts:
I love Psychic Force so much. If you know it, do whatever. I'll love it. The games themselves are incredibly vague and don't care about the world outside, which just means more room to mess around.
Psychic powers in general are just kind of...there. Everyone can make a cube. Why can everyone make a cube? Is the cube even real, in-universe? I would honestly believe either take on that, the cube being real or fake. Psychic powers also seem to be really new, with the oldest character at 36 (the magic users don't count...except then why can they fly and make cubes?), so when and why did they start? When did everyone realise that psychic powers were real, and who took James Randi's money? You have to admit, flying in and shooting a fireball would be a hell of a way to win. Or mess around with what it feels like to use the powers, or what powers are good for besides killing other psychics. Grab any game mechanic and play with it. Go nuts.
And then there's all these humans that presumably fill up the world. I imagine there are a bunch of families that weren't too happy about their kids getting dragged off to the labs, so something exploring that would be neat. Any groups that try to get humans and psychics to live in harmony? What do they think about NOA? Basically, how are regular folks reacting to all the insanity going on in the games? I would absolutely love to read an internet thread between people arguing about the psychic problem. A ground-view of famous public psychics like Keith and Wong would also be fun.
And governments. What are they doing about the whole psychic problem, especially once NOA and the army get going? Hell, what is even the army trying to do? Someone's probably dealing with them, so what's up with that? And if all else fails, follow some peon around as they try to deal with all the unrest and trouble that's going on in the games.
And that one guy, in the beginning of the OVA! He's apparently a NOA psychic, but he's just hanging out bartending in New York for some reason. What was his deal
Suikoden
No Characters, Original Characters
WB: World Politics, WB: Runes, WB: Academic Writing, WB: Technology
Let's Plays for I-V
Canon notes: I've only ever actually played I and II, though I more or less know what happens in the other three. I'm fine with referencing all of them if that's what you need, but if you're going to specifically focus on one I'd rather it be the ones I've played. YEAH SORRY I'M A BAD FAN
Prompts:
What does history have to say about all these wars and revolutions? What do future historians argue about? Are there camps that refuse to acknowledge any influence of the True Runes, or are destiny and the 108 stars accepted thing in the Suikoden world? How about some discussion of the fallout of the wars, or trying to fit the games into a larger narrative? Do people argue over Silverburg strategies?
Or political analysis, either current or historical. Highland entirely predictably rebels later, does anyone lay the blame on Jowy's terrible, terrible decisions? Barbarossa's backstory is remarkably like the story of a Suikoden game, what do people make of him getting overthrown within a generation? What does that mean for the Toran Republic? And actually, how does the transition from Scarlet Moon Empire to Toran Republic go? Are there even any major differences?
Or how about a treatise on runes? I'm really curious about how the Vancian magic system works in-universe - it always seems like such a game thing. How can you tell how many spell charges you have left? What does it feel like to have an affinity for a class of runes? Are there any runemasters besides Jeanne? Are runes used for anything besides battle? Do hospitals eventually just start buying Water and Flowing runes by the dozen and handing them out to nurses? Can regular, non-True runes influence their masters in any way?
How does technology evolve in the Suikoden world? Every game has an elevator, but does anyone ever get beyond that? Rune-powered technology? (it's entirely possible other games have that and I just missed it) Does any one country get an industrial revolution before the others, and how does that tilt the balance of power?
