occultatio

I've rediscovered in the past few days how staggeringly much easier it is to come up with good ideas, especially for roleplaying games, while talking with someone else than just sitting on your own and thinking. Michael and I planned out a CotG episode, Ada and I fleshed out a plot for an entire season, and Chris and I together solved the problem of how one might make a Monkey Island LARP that is both playable and retains the fun flavor of that series.

So yeah, much productivity. But there's one other game that I really want to take a stab at: the Dance and the Dawn sequel.

I had been wrestling with this in my head for a while, unable to come up with a way to do the sequel that wouldn't simply feel like a rehash. Then, Kaitlin overheard me mention the possibility of a sequel, and said, "What, like, 'The Song and the Sunrise'?"

And it clicked: a new setting to put the game in, that wouldn't just feel like a cheap knock-off (a la "The Dance and the Dawn... In SPACE!"):

Wushu.

Ancient China, as depicted by modern filmmakers. A dance of swordsmen and swordswomen. A distinctly different power balance and flavor from the original... something that wouldn't simply be "TD&tD 2."

I even have a set of character molds in mind, in the way the first game used Utena. My problem is, I'm not sure how to faithfully adapt the characters to the setting, precisely. Because I don't want the game to become an offensive stereotype of China.

So: would anybody be interested in helping me plan this thing? You wouldn't be able to play in it, of course, but it could be really fun. If nothing else, I would love someone who's happy to simply have ideas bounced off of them. I need to talk this out with someone.

Let me know?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com

There is an anime you need to watch. Like, now. Saiunkoku Monogatari, currently running, is set in a very slightly alternate-universe Ancient China, and it will give you court architecture, costumes, ranks, clan structure, ideas of how romance, courtship and marriage were conducted, details of the bureaucracy, and a very small bit of martial arts.

Also it's just plain a good series, if you like shoujo.

I can burn it for you. We have I think eighteen episodes, of a projected thirty-six.

occultatio.livejournal.com

argh more anime?

it does sound cool and helpful. it's just that, i need to crack down on my thesis, and i'm now watching anime with people three separate, scheduled times a week. i don't know how much more i can fit in for a good while.

(a friend and i are finally going to watch Rose of Versailles)