[Possible game] Jonestown Blues

[AdamLeisemann]

I'm looking at possibly doing a campaign on Hero Central for Dark Champions that explores a somewhat unusual subgenre.

 

It is a particularily grim look at the "Toon Noir" genre created by Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Disney's Bonkers. By "Grim Look," I mean that this is going to be for mature audiences and not be about corny jokes or silly slapstick like the Disney series cited in the source material.

 

Setting: Modern day, in the fictional city of Jonestown, California; an algamation of elements from a number of large cities. There are Humans and living cartoons, called "toons."

 

Tone: Much darker than the source material, this game is definitely for mature gamers. The following content is involved:

 

Violence can potentially get nasty. We’ll be looking at the occasional firefight, although getting too violent can result in problems. Occasionally, cartoon violence can also occur, but the results then are not nearly as deadly.

 

Offensive Language occurs in real life. It can also occur here as well. This includes cussing, sexist terms, sexual terms, racist terms, and pretty much anything else that people use when speaking in the real world. However, it helps not to go overboard. Think: Would your character talk like that in that situation?

 

Sexual Themes can also occur. The limit here is nothing explicit. Things can happen “off-screen,” and oftentimes they do. Also, be mature about it. Juvenile sex jokes are not allowed here. This isn’t FATAL. When sexual elements become a part of the adventure, it will exist in a mature manner. They might either occur as a natural part of one’s condition (albeit a poorly perceived natural part, like many forms of “alternate lifestyles.”) or in some cases (like rape or other forms of sexual abuse) as a horrible act.

 

Drug Content includes scenes where drugs are used or the occasional drug bust. This is standard cop-show faire.

 

So, who's interested?

 

PS: Jonestown Blues is based on the setting for a game I am actually working on. The actual purpose of the game is to be a fun way to get some interested folks to help out with fleshing out said setting and to see if such a setting would catch any interest. I have a Document with setting material, but it is still incomplete.

 

PPS: The game is not up yet. I want to first see if there is any interest.

[Zed-F]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

I would want to know more about how toons and humans interact, lethality, what one can do to an annoying toon, and so forth. Why would I want to be a human in this game? Why would I want to be a toon?

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

Well, Humans and toons, unfortunately, do not interact on the most even of grounds. Humans are higher in the social hierarchy. Toons, however, have to deal with a number of legal factors that are against them. In summary:

 

1: For every toon employed, five humans must be employed. The exceptions to this are show-business (like many places in Hollywood), and toon-owned businesses (like Acme, a company that exclusively makes props for cartoons).

 

2: While not explicitly stated anywhere in any law-books, toons cannot effectively file lawsuits pertaining to abuse. The reason is that because toons recover so quickly, they cannot prove any signs of actually being abused in any way, especially not physically or sexually. A witness may report the abuse to the police, but even then it is difficult to prove without direct evidence (like video footage or a photograph). The same is true of assaults as well.

 

3: Many places, particularily those associated with high society, may forbid toons from entering. This is because of a common stereotype that toons are natural troublemakers (and cartoons are somewhat known to purpertuate this stereotype, just like how many old films stereotyped African Americans in a number of ways).

 

4: Toons do not have any recourse when it comes to racial discrimination. Humans who do not want a toon living near them (generally because of property values) can generally get the nearby toon evicted for any reason, or they can have friends harass the toon until s/he leaves. There is no real legal recourse for this.

 

5: While this also applies to humans as well, many states forbid humans and toons to marry, considering such a union unnatural. Many claim these kinds of unions to be akin to pedophilia, despite the fact that adult toons are actually just as mature as adult humans (only, they are generally known to keep their sense of humor).The following states have allowed human/toon marriage as of 2000: California (since 1979), Florida (since 1981), Hawaii (since 1984) and Virginia (since 1990).

 

6: Toon cannot use normal weapons. They can use special weapons that are non-lethal however.

 

7: While not exactly illegal, toon police officers arresting human suspects is considered a very bad move for one’s law-enforcement career. While there is no well-known precedent for it yet, many police departments are concerned about what humans will think. As such, the police department may pull a toon off of a case for such political reasons and assign a human to finish things up.

 

Many toons believe that these laws are in place because the humans somehow fear toons. Of course, there is officially no known explanation as of yet.

 

As far as lethality, there are toon versions of many weapons, but they only inflict Stun damage (so they're effective, but not lethal.) They lack the power to penetrate human skin (I still don't have a sufficient explanation) or break any bones, but they can still hurt. To quote the document:

 

"As far as weapons are concerned, toon weapons are assumed Stun Only by default. A real anvil can kill a human if dropped, but a toon anvil glances off and simply hurts, only flattening toons. (Basically, Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit used real safes and pianos.)"

 

Why Play a Human?

Humans are not nearly as versatile as toons, but they do have a social upper-hand. Humans have a better chance of being employed, they are better trusted in most situations, and they are not as wierd as those toony freaks.

 

Why Play a Toon?

Sure, you're the lowest rung on the social ladder. Sure humans don't appreciate what you do. But guess what? Those humans are not nearly as capable of enduring a hit as you are. They're out for weeks with a broken leg, but it's only a matter of minutes before you're back in action after being so riddled with bullets you look like swiss cheese on a bad day. And don't underestimate this little ability inherent to all toons: Fuzzy Logic. This is the ability to perform irregular stunts that humans can only dream of doing.

 

This is the package deal for a toon:

 

TOON

Points Skill/Power

3 Fuzzy Logic (INT)

21 Cartoon Regeneration: Healing 1d6 (1 BODY Regeneration), Can Heal

Limbs, Ressurection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Persistent

(+½) (70 Active points), Extra Time (1 Turn; -1 ¼), does not work

against some damage (Paint thinners and Arare weapons; -½), Self

Only (-½)

17 Cartoon Life Support: Life Support; Self Contained Breathing, Safe

Environments, (Low pressure/Vacuum, High pressure, Intense heat,

Intense cold)

Total Skills and powers cost: 41

 

Points Disadvantages

15 Social Limitation: Minority (Very Frequent, Minor)

30 Susceptibility: Paint thinners (common, 3d6 per phase)

Total Disadvantages Cost: 45

 

Fuzzy Logic is basically a power skill. If you perform a given stunt too often, you'll have to pay points for it.

 

And since I mentioned Arare weapons, here's a word on Arare

 

Arare are a strange people, and most humans know next to nothing about them. What is known is that the arare are the reason why toons are on Earth today. What is also known is that arare are somehow capable of creating weapons that can kill toons. Some humans have even intuited that arare look very much like anime characters, but they have not been confirmed yet in America.

 

At this point, the arare are a mystery, and cannot be played as characters. Arare weapons are available, but ONLY on the black market, and at a massive expense as they don’t come cheap (and they are generally not available to PCs).

 

At this point, arare are not believed to exist in America.

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

I'm looking at possibly doing a campaign on Hero Central for Dark Champions that explores a somewhat unusual subgenre.

 

It is a particularily grim look at the "Toon Noir" genre created by Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Disney's Bonkers. By "Grim Look," I mean that this is going to be for mature audiences and not be about corny jokes or silly slapstick like the Disney series cited in the source material.

 

Setting: Modern day, in the fictional city of Jonestown, California; an algamation of elements from a number of large cities. There are Humans and living cartoons, called "toons."

 

Tone: Much darker than the source material, this game is definitely for mature gamers. The following content is involved:

 

Violence can potentially get nasty. We’ll be looking at the occasional firefight, although getting too violent can result in problems. Occasionally, cartoon violence can also occur, but the results then are not nearly as deadly.

 

Offensive Language occurs in real life. It can also occur here as well. This includes cussing, sexist terms, sexual terms, racist terms, and pretty much anything else that people use when speaking in the real world. However, it helps not to go overboard. Think: Would your character talk like that in that situation?

 

Sexual Themes can also occur. The limit here is nothing explicit. Things can happen “off-screen,” and oftentimes they do. Also, be mature about it. Juvenile sex jokes are not allowed here. This isn’t FATAL. When sexual elements become a part of the adventure, it will exist in a mature manner. They might either occur as a natural part of one’s condition (albeit a poorly perceived natural part, like many forms of “alternate lifestyles.”) or in some cases (like rape or other forms of sexual abuse) as a horrible act.

 

Drug Content includes scenes where drugs are used or the occasional drug bust. This is standard cop-show faire.

 

So, who's interested?

 

PS: Jonestown Blues is based on the setting for a game I am actually working on. The actual purpose of the game is to be a fun way to get some interested folks to help out with fleshing out said setting and to see if such a setting would catch any interest. I have a Document with setting material, but it is still incomplete.

 

PPS: The game is not up yet. I want to first see if there is any interest.

 

You just must rent out "Cool World"! It is so much like what you have described!

 

But the writing is second rate and sometimes the acting is too, I warn you.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

And I understand that the director himself loathed it. I have it taped somewhere, I just have to find the time to watch it.

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

And I understand that the director himself loathed it. I have it taped somewhere' date=' I just have to find the time to watch it.[/quote']

 

Bakshi was quite please with what he did (reputed to be a good film); the studio executives butchered it. According to rumor, the exect's took out good "takes" of the live actors and put in bad ones, to make the humans as "wooden" as the toons (who aren't wooden at all, really). Another rumor is that the exect's removed much of the scene where Jack Deebs first enters Cool World, and made that herky-jerky loop with what was left.

 

There are even weirder rumors.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

Ah. I read that he had an entirely different plot in mind, that he wanted to create a horror movie where after Jack and Holli copulated, the result was a blend of Human and cartoon which seeked to kill Jack.

 

Warning: Scientific terms for sensitive topic

 

Of course, I kinda ruled for the setting that Humans and toons cannot reproduce in such a manner. Yeah, a human and a toon can copulate (don't ask me how), but their physics are incompatable enough that the sperm of one cannot fertilize the egg of the other. Of course, toon of apparently different species can reproduce and create viable offspring (most of the time, gender determines species: Male=father's species, Female=mother's species. You occasionally get hybrids, but that's a one-in-ten shot at best.

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

Ah. I read that he had an entirely different plot in mind' date=' that he wanted to create a horror movie where after Jack and Holli copulated, the result was a blend of Human and cartoon which seeked to kill Jack.[/quote']

 

Hadn't heard that one. Seems there's lots of rumors floating around that movie.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

IMDb trivia. Also look up Cool World on Wikipedia.

[Cancer]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

You might want to have a different name for the town, or at least be prepared for lots of Kool-aid jokes.

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

You might want to have a different name for the town' date=' or at least be prepared for lots of Kool-aid jokes.[/quote']

 

:slap forehead: I never thought of that. Yeah, that's a prob.

[Vassoom]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

You might want to have a different name for the town' date=' or at least be prepared for lots of Kool-aid jokes.[/quote']An excellent point.

 

May I suggest, perhaps, "Smithtown"?

 

- Vassoom

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

I went with Jonestown as a "subtle" reference to Chuck Jones, one of the more famous animators with a normal-enough name to make something like that subtle. It's hard to have a similar effect with names like Freling, Disney, or Avery. So if you can find such a name that doesn't have that problem but still has a subtle reference to a major figure in animation (but not a cartoon character), feel free to offer up suggestions.

[EvilDrPuma]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

If you like the Chuck Jones homage, why not "Jonesville" or "Jonesburg?" At least you'll have made the wags reach farther than it's probably worth for their Kool-Aid references.

[Vassoom]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

If you like the Chuck Jones homage' date=' why not "Jonesville" or "Jonesburg?" At least you'll have made the wags reach farther than it's probably worth for their Kool-Aid references.[/quote']I agree with the Evil Dr. Puma.

 

"Jonesville" may be the way to go. Although "Jonesburg Blues" does have a nice alliteration to it...

 

- Vassoom

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

I went with Jonestown as a "subtle" reference to Chuck Jones' date=' one of the more famous animators with a normal-enough name to make something like that subtle. It's hard to have a similar effect with names like Freling, Disney, or Avery. So if you can find such a name that doesn't have that problem but still has a subtle reference to a major figure in animation (but not a cartoon character), feel free to offer up suggestions.[/quote']

 

I like "Averyville." Just sounds good. Oh, and you can always throw in "The Averyville Horror" if you want a joke name for an evil bad villain.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

Renamed it Jonesburg. Averyville seemed far too "out" and the Averyville Horror idea, well, I'm ditching that because it's just too silly.

[Ephelides]

Re: [Possible game] Jonestown Blues

 

Renamed it Jonesburg. Averyville seemed far too "out" and the Averyville Horror idea' date=' well, I'm ditching that because it's just too silly.[/quote']

 

OK. Your campaign, you get to (are stuck with ) naming everything.

 

I just want to say I knew nothing more about Chuck Jones than about Tex Avery until this thread. I had to look up both. So I don't think "Averyville" is more obscure than "Jonesburg".

 

If you mean it sounds stranger, that's a different thing.