Commence Project Journal
Note: this thread is my project journal; I will have things I want input or feedback on.
I'm in a building kind of mood. I've started working on an amalgam universe. Its my favorite Marvel and DC characters in one continuity. Not all of them, however - only the ones that fit neatly into the package. I'm not writing a megilla on it, however. Instead, with a nod to the bunnyverse, I'm taking a minimalist approach in terms of inclusion. I'm not putting on a straight-jacket and deciding everything outright. The rough super-structure will be included in the timeline, but if something isn't on the timeline "I can neither confirm nor deny its existence" until it shows up in a a character write-up or short story about this universe.
This was inspired by a desire to write some legacy oriented super-hero fiction, but I thought: it might be nice to run a game using it one day. However, with the legacy notion in play, its assumed that characters have normal life-cycles and don't constitute temporal exceptions. They will have aged with the timeline, and some will have retired. Who? Unknown unless its on the timeline or shows up in a story. The central theme will probably be "The New Fantastic Four" or just "The 4" [I have a general notion of the line-up].
To simplify and streamline this I've made the following decisions about editorial philosophy up front:
- Limit the timeline: No references before "Year 1"; the timeline extends 25 years; characters tied into historical events are excluded unless they can be decoupled from said events.
- Discriminate: Only heroes go on the timeline; references to villians must be hero tie ins; rogues galleries fall into "I can neither confirm nor deny" land; villians: plumb when needed, avoid as hand-cuffs.
- Set a tone: exclude characters who don't hit the bronze age superhero tone; no fangs, gun-toting assassins, or slashy things; the punisher is right out - let that be a lesson to you.
- Exclude extraneous themes: boil it down to super-hero essentials; don't admit themes that don't jive with the overall verse; no X-Men mutant angst in a world where the fantastic four, superman, and many other heroes are embraced.
- Stick to essentials: only major characters or teams who have had their own titles; in terms of iconics only one gets in (aquaman or namor; green arrow or hawkeye; superman or thor; Avengers or JLA; hydra or cobra or asp); minor characters or teams, even if I love them remain in "I can neither confirm nor deny land" unless they show up in a story or character write up.
- Ignore comic book cosmology: Example, Galactus refers to his power as "the power cosmic," but what it really amounts to is "energy-matter manipulation" on a grand scale; ignore the celestials; ignore the monitors. I can tell "cosmic" storeis without them.
- Give DC cities real world equivalents: Metropolis = Manhattan, Gotham = Newark (though it really comes from Washington Irving's nickname for New York), Bludhaven = Trenton, etc.
- Limit events: most heroes have been out there so long that their history would not only make the timeline brutally intense, but would introduce continuity errors, and serve as a super-big straight-jacket; as such, leave all but the most essential storylines (character or world development ones) in "I can neither confirm nor deny" land
I also made one completely arbitrary decision based on personal preferences:
- Shalom Aleichem, Getchka: Asgardian-Olympian-Roman Pantheon based heroes are out; I've never gotten into them; they don't really jive with the overall social milieu in super-hero comics; if a character is so inconic that they can't go we'll have to make some adjustments; I can only think of one: Wonder Woman. But then, she's easy to pin down that way: a race of reclusive superhuman women who continue to believe in the ancient greek pantheon live on paradise island.
That said, the to do list shapes up like this:
- Nail down who is essential and choose between iconics.
- Identify DC Cities.
- Nail down the 25 year timeline.
- Build some characters.
- Write some stories.
In terms of character builds I have the following guidelines (for myself):
- Build to essential concept: that's concept, not corporate franchise; super-man needs to be the top end flying brick with the classic super-man powers - not silver age comic super-man with every oddball writers notion tacked onto the sheet.
- Build to be playable: they have to hit their concptual niche within the world they are operating in and be playable [at least in a basic sense] without being mary-sue shtick interloping dirt-bags; they will not be built to best ever comic book performance (which are often exceptions to the overall concept) - I'm building superman as the overall toughest brick (and one with a broad array of powers), but not the best at everthing.



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