Post Your Concept

The concept alone made me chuckle a bit, so I think it's worth developing.

I've come up with something; I wanted to do a story that's kind of like Slayers, a fantasy setting that's overall very light hearted but still verges into more serious territory when the time comes. I've had a few different thing in mind for the plot, but here are the details I've settled on;

At some point in the future, human kind discovered how to harness magic. In this setting, casting spells is like entering a cheat code that can either bend or break the laws of physics. I got this idea from TRON and TRON Legacy; in those films, the Users are basically the gods of the digital worlds and they construct and reshape the reality within the computer world by altering code and data. That's what magic spells do in this setting; chanting a spell or drawing magic circles are kind of like inputting a code.

Anyway, humans started overusing magic, corrupting reality with what you could call bugs and glitches until the fabric of reality eventually broke and threw everything into chaos for an unspecific amount of time. Eventually, reality settled back down, but things were altered; the world turned into basically a mish mash of fantasy tropes and became populated with magical creatures like dragons and unicorns and such. It reshaped the continents and wiped out a good deal of the human race, but now reality can much more easily handle magic use.

Pieces of the old world survived though, like technology, books, architecture, etc., but not much, and overall the human race began anew, forgetting much of the old world. Kingdoms rose and the practice of magic began to flourish. In an isolated mountain village there is an ancient archive few people know of, taken care of by an order of scholars who wish to preserve the last remnants of knowledge of the Old World and its history. It is here where the main character was born and raised. He has studied the material in the library most of his life, gaining vast knowledge of science and some of the history of the Old World. However, he wishes to leave his hidden village and see the rest of the world. He also does not know any magic and has not seen any before.

The main character is a bit like Flynn Rider from Tangled; he read a lot of adventure stories and heroic tales both old and modenr, and tries to evoke that heroic image with the way he dresses and acts, but he's really kind of childish. Still, he knows a lot about science, and has also read enough mystery novels and other stories to be somewhat Genre Savvy, so he isn't a naive fool who's easily manipulated, at least not totally. I originally thought of him being like a warrior, with a broadsword and armor, but I think he may work better as Loveable Rogue (or at least that's what he tries to be) who dresses in leather and uses a Royal Rapier. So, think Flynn Rider's personality with the look of Raphael from Soul Calibur. He's generally quite practical, but one of his major flaws is that he tries to live by Rule of Cool even when it might be a bad idea. For example, he'll wear armor when he needs to, but not the Boring, but Practical armor if given a choice, and he may decide not to wear a helmet if his enemies can't see his face.

Now, what I need to figure out is exactly how the plot gets kicked off, and I have some ideas; first idea, is that something from the archive is stolen, and the main character is tasked to get is back. Second, the main character's parents see how much he wants to see the world, and so give him a task to find an old relic that they want added to the archive, or something that was missing from it. This may or may not be a Snipe Quest. Last idea is that the main character just decides to leave just for the sake of exploring the world, with no real goal other than that, and the story proper would start after he's been exploring for a few years.

Anyway, while the hero goes go exploring and searching, he encounters a sorceress who is looking for the MacGuffin; she is either a princess of the matriarchy which rules the land the hero is currently in, or she is a high ranking member or the sorcerer's guild who rose very quickly in the ranks, or both. She was given this quest by her superiors/royal family in what is very likely a Snipe Hunt; she acts so haughty and arrogant because of her skill in magic (in a world where magic users are somewhat venerated) and her noble/royal upbringing. Her rise in the ranks of the sorcerer's guild may have caused some of the older members to feel threatened by her, and/or some of the royal family see her as a nuisance, so they send her on this quest to get rid of her.

I'm not going to lie, I'm heavily basing the sorceress character on Naga from Slayers (I'm just really into Slayers right now), but I am trying to be somewhat original. To contrast the hero, she's an expert in magic and knows a great deal about the New World, including its history and cultures. However, like the hero, she is mostly just Book Smart, and has terrible social skills; she is frequently rather bossy and pushy towards commoners, and often accidentally blows her cover when she's supposed to be traveling in secret. She also tends to be too confident for her own good, thinking she can magic her way out of any situation. While the hero is really a down to earth guy trying to be cool, the sorceress is kind of a Ted Baxter who sometimes needs a harsh reminder that she isn't as cool as she thinks she is. So, they're meant to balance each other out, in a way.

Now, as for the central conflict, there will of course be an antagonist after the same relic as the two protagonists. Taking a page from Thunder Cats 2011, I'd like the relic to eventually be revealed to be a piece of modern technology, like an iPad or a laptop, or a desktop computer, or something like that. Either way, it contains a great deal of the knowledge that was lost during the magic chaos apocalypse, including some highly powerful forbidden spells which, if used, could be enough to break reality again and cause another apocalypse (and yes, I'm aware of the similarities to Slayers). One possible antagonist is a race from another dimension that has been watching humanity for a while. They weren't affected by the magic apocalypse, but they can more easily enter the New World now. They're treated kind of like demons, more or less, but aren't exactly, being more akin to aliens. Maybe kind of like Cthulu in some ways.

Another big thing is that there's a lot of treasure hunting and digging through ruins; the hero is kind of like an Adventurer Archaeologist, and he explores whatever old ruins he can find in hopes that he'll discover what he's looking for, but mostly just because he loves exploring and finding treasure. A second big thing is that there are a lot of magic stones and amulets that are used to enchant mundane items. The sword the main character uses has a gem which basically keeps the blade strong and sharp so he doesn't have to give it too much maintenance.

I know all that isn't very original, but I've only been thinking about this for a couple of days now. The general tone of the story would be light hearted and episodic as the protagonists travel, because those are the kinds of stories I like, until of course Cerebus Syndrom kicks in par the course.

edited 30th Jul '13 10:40:48 AM by StarOutlaw

Does your female lead have any likeable personality characteristics? You seem to emphasize her negative attributes more than anything else.

Anyway, I have as my heroine a benevolent but arrogant queen whose progressive economic policies get blamed for a drought, and she goes on some kind of quest to find out what's really behind it. Ultimately she discovers that the very priests that blame her for the drought are the ones who magically induced it in the first place so they can drive her out of power.

Yeah, I still need to think that through. Your idea sounds good though. What kind of tone are you going for? Is the populace divided over supporting the queen? is there rebellion growing?

As for my heroine, I think her greatest virtue is that while she can seem really haughty and kind of arrogant, she's also very generous and honest to the point of bluntness. She hates lying and liars in general, hates it when people try to play tricks (which is one big reason why she doesn't quite fit in in royalty; she dislikes the whole political intrigue game and scheming, which has gotten her in trouble before). She gets a little irritated when the hero tries to act cool, because she knows he isn't being himself. The heroine will get extremely pissed off when she finds out her quest was just a Snipe Hunt.

The heroine's generosity comes from the fact that she has a lot to give and never tries to short change anyone, because you should give honest work an honest pay. This can be sort of a problem on the road when supplies are limited, however. She's borderline Good is Not Nice, but she's definitely not mean to anyone who doesn't deserve it, and does have a strong sense of justice. The heroine does not put up with anyone's BS whatsoever, as opposed to the hero, who is more likely to to try and work the system to his advantage and avoid conflict. The hero does have his limits though, and hates when people show any kind of bigotry. They are both good people, and will work together towards a common good.

edited 30th Jul '13 10:36:45 AM by StarOutlaw

I haven't really decided on a tone yet, but probably something along the lines of an action-packed fantasy quest story. And yes, the commoner population might rebel once the queen's away and the priesthood installs their leader in her place. The disagreement would be split along class lines, with lower-class people such as peasantry having a higher opinion of the queen than the wealthy elites.

And I like how you've characterized your heroine now.

In the future, intelligence agencies like the CIA will use a combination of cloning and telepresence technologies to create what will be known as sleepwalkers; the ultimate undercover agents. Agents will pilot specially created bodies in order to complete missions that require complete immersion while maintaining a normal life

Sounds good. I can see a number of plots to come out of that concept. Any you had in mind? First thing I can think of is the usual "clone becomes sentient and rebels" or the agent becomes stuck in his clone body.

There were a few I had in mind, one being an agent who starts to slowly develop a Jekyll and Hyde mentality while undercover as an arms dealer, another who purposefully allows themselves to be taken hostage and tortured by terrorists in order to give false information. One developes an addiction while investigating a drug cartel. Just ideas at the moment.

edited 31st Jul '13 6:23:58 AM by AtomJames

An Alternate History novel about an African nation in a world where the Cold War turned pretty heat pretty fast, and after a nuclear conflict, it became one of the few remaining "stable" nations.

The problem? We're talking about an Apartheid aproving country here. In order to look more humanitarian, though, they start the "Good Will Plan", where mixed raced and black young kids would be tested if they're "civilized" enough to join the mainstream society.

This book is partially inspired by the real life "quadroon balls", where young slave ladies that could pass as "white" were taken to see if they could be considered white-enough to be accepted by the rest of the community.

A Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits (AKA A group of Highschool seniors) get pulled into the world of The Fair Folk. Along their journey home they must contend with each other, the fae, and The Wild Hunt.

A bunch of Alternate History stories following various points in human history, except with Mons.

Two fraternal twins, brother and sister, move into an old apartment building after their father's business falls through.

Among the residents of the building are a wannabe occulist who performs sloppy seances in her spare time, and a heavily scarred, cat loving recluse.

At school, the twins quickly befriends a germaphobic, obsessive-compulsive loner who is so glad to actually have people who want to hang out with her. Until she finds out wherw they live, that is.

Turns out, something is waiting inside their new home and it is just waiting to be let loose.

I have an idea for a harem anime focusing on Zeus and his many, many Love Interests. You could even justify over-the-top comedic slapstick and abuse because all the characters are immortal.

A children's chapter book series about an autistic boy (Scott Gimbs) who, after bouncing on a trampoline too many times, transforms at random times into his favorite cartoon character: a bouncing ball named Spot. He gets into all sorts of wacky adventures thanks to products from Weird Co and the general weirdness that he attracts. Recurring characters include Albert Centaurus, the cheerful Cashier of the local Weird Co store.

Four unconnected people wake up to discover that they were abducted some time during their sleep and are now in a strange place. They must overcome their differences in outlook and find out how and why they came to be there.

Not a big fan of Harem anime...but a really big fan of mythology. I would at least check that series

edited 7th Aug '13 12:44:58 PM by Anthony_H

Beware the Tiger Mom

The story is told from the POV of an Chinese-American actress playing the lead role of an Action Girl tv show. The little twist is that both actress and character have Tiger Moms, but of considerably different characters. The big twist is that Real Life Writes the Plot as in the life of the fictional actress has a big impact on the show.

My outline for the plot is in terms of seasons. I don't have the final names now so let's go with Tiger Kitten as the staring role, Tiger Mom as her in-show mom and actor of X where needed.

The first half of the first season simply introduces the concepts at play. Tiger Mom is constantly supporting, mentoring, criticizing, belittling, and denying all knowledge of her daughter's crime fighting career. The title of the show (and it's intentionally vague if "Beware the Tiger Mom" is the real title of the show, the fan name for it, or just in the head of the actress) comes from a line where Tiger Mom puts on a tiger mask to hide her identity as she coaches Tiger Kitten through a tough fight and the thug says "What's this, your tiger mom?"

There's a break in filming as the actress starts her senior year of high school while the show begins to air. Suddenly she's famous and the paparazzi and other trash press starts to dig into her background.

Then during the filming of the second half of the first season the bad news breaks in the form of a college application rejection. The birth certificate of the actress is fake. She wasn't born in America, but was brought into the country when she was six months old and is an illegal alien. This is then written into the script and a massive fan reaction begins. The in-show explanation of Tiger Kitten's reprieve comes in the form of an intervention by a powerful Chinese-American politician.

During the second season Tiger Mom gets less screen time because her actress is ailing. The narrator is at first thrilled at the extra screen time, but later she feels bad about taking the limelight from the other actress. When the elder actress passes away this is written into the script as a death caused by Tiger Kitten messing up. During the second season Tiger Kitten will start to have a romantic attraction to the son of the man who arranged her green card and the narrator will admit that the actor who plays him is a hunk. Let's call him Lion Son for the moment.

The third season finds Tiger Kitten living with her new host family "the Lions", who seem at first to be turning a blind eye towards her crime fighting career, which isn't doing very well as she no longer has her mentor. Then when it looks like she's doomed she's saved by Lion Son in a mask. (The narrator thinks that her character must be holding the Idiot Ball to not spot this instantly.) This big reveal comes when Lion Dad explains that he's been grooming Tiger Kitten for some devious scheme. There's a big fight and Tiger Kitten finally gets Lion Dad outed to the cops, but this means that she no longer has a green card sponsor and so will be deported.

The narrator has her first semester in college and then returns to find that a movie based on the series has been green lighted, but set in Hong Kong, so they're all off to there for the summer.

And so on.

My question is would this all be too racially insensitive, or is it acceptable? That's what's blocking me.

I actually conceived of this idea quite a while ago, but have only started revisiting and refining it now. It's my personal adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, one which I hope to be much more multicultural than most. In it Robin is a Germanic warrior who teams up with Nubians to liberate his people from a Roman invasion.

Let's begin with a little plot summary of my idea, tentatively titled The Legend of Robin:

The Romans have invaded the Germanic country of Angeln. After they slaughter his father Chief Locksley and their village, young Robin escapes to the Sudanese kingdom of Kush where he trains to become a warrior alongside the wise and beautiful Meritamun. With the help of a wise-cracking priest and a band of redeemed rogues, Robin and Meritamun must liberate the Anglic people from Roman oppression. But first he must face his fears and ask himself whether vengeance is always the right path.

And now for a cast of major characters!

Robin: The protagonist of our story, Robin is an Anglic warrior whose special affinity for archery goes back to his childhood. After his father Chief Locksley dies at the hands of Roman general Gaius, Robin travels to Kush to train and prepare himself for revenge. For all his proficiency with the bow and arrow, Robin struggles with hand-to-hand combat and fears getting to close to his enemies. Though he suffers from a short temper and vindictive personality, Robin does have strong empathy for the less fortunate.

Meritamun: Robin’s faithful companion and love interest, Meritamun is a Kushite martial artist whose beauty belies her lethal agility and skill with the spear. Smarter and more even-tempered than Robin, she resents having to help him get out of his own trouble all the time, but nonetheless believes she can steer him back onto the right path. Later generations will remember her as Maid Marian.

Djehuti: Remembered in the Robin Hood mythos as Little John, Djehuti is the ringleader of the desert brigands known euphemistically as the Merry Men. He cultives a ruthless and ambitious persona on the outside, but he does have a sensitive and honorable side and only got into the bandit profession out of economic desperation. At first he gets into conflict with Robin and Meritamun but then joins his cause to liberate the Angles from Roman tyranny. Djehuti is most skilled with the sword and military strategy.

Tahar: This is my Friar Tuck figure. He started out a priest of Amun but got kicked out for his hedonistic gluttony and lechery. Nonetheless he is a brilliant mage, healer, and scholar who joins Robin et al after they rescue him from an enraged brothel owner. He lugs around a papyrus encyclopedia which he peruses when not chasing food, drink, or ladies.

Iohannes: A Roman governor who takes control of Robin’s homeland Angeln, Iohannes leads the story’s major antagonizing forces. He is a vain and calculating man with a ravenous appetite for luxury and prestige. His charisma and manipulation of legions of henchmen more than compensate for his personal cowardice (or “pragmatism” as he would prefer to call it). He is of course the conceptual progenitor of the mythos’s Prince John figure.

Gaius: Conceptual ancestor of the Sheriff of Nottinghamm, Gaius is a zealous and brutal general who fights on behalf of the governor Iohannes. His hatred of Northern Europeans stems in part from a traumatic loss of his father to a German sacrificial ritual. Gaius is the man who slays Robin’s father and the man he vows to slay in the beginning.

A polite yet rather jaded medical student is approached by a mild-mannered senior citizen to help run some errands. Things turn out to be not quite as they seem, and they must work together, step by step, to figure out who's been pulling the strings.

Originally thought up as a fairly dark urban fantasy tale in vein of Neverwhere, but then the story decided to turn into a rather less serious, Tintin-inspired adventure series based on lead chemistry and set against The Fair Folk's struggle for existence in a new era of thrift-store fashion, smartphone activism and frivolous lawsuits. Still needs some development time before it matures enough as a concept.

edited 12th Aug '13 8:55:30 PM by eagleoftheninth

edited 12th Aug '13 11:45:36 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Isn't that Steam Boy?

@hcobb: Don't think so. Steamboy is not at all like OT from the trope description.

edited 12th Aug '13 10:30:19 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

A story that follows the life of a teenager and their family after a popular video game company releases an MMO version of one of their franchises, leading to the collapse of society.

Sword Art Online?

The people aren't inside the MMO, they're just too busy playing it to do anything.

I take real history and add fictional people and events in to make it cooler.