Post Your Concept

So the setting is a post WW3/Nuclear holocaust Russia. Entire world got nuked when WW3 starting coming to a close. WW3 itself took place Twenty Minutes into the Future and lasted quite some time. Don't want to politicize it too much so details on how it all started, who dropped the first nuke and who stopped obeying the Geneva convention first are vague and debated on by characters in universe. The main narrative takes place some years after the nuclear apocalypse, nobody has kept track of the exact time but it's been a while.

Story follows a girl who's lived most of her life thus far in an underground nuclear bunker, brought there as a baby but now she's forced to leave and try and survive out in the wasteland. Eventually she meets 4 surviving Russian soldiers and they all wander what's left of the earth in their tank looking for survivors to trade with, supplies to scavenge, animals to hunt etc. They meet several people along the way, some other surviving Russians, some surviving NATO soldiers, some surviving Chinese.

As her travels continue she begins to piece together from stories and what's left of towns and from bodies what the war and what the earth was like before that. Eventually she and her new friends hear stories of there being a city being built by whoever is still left somewhere in wasteland and they make it their goal to find it.

Any thoughts, constructive criticism, advice or anything is really appreciated

@871 My pleasure.

So, is there any villains they encounter? (beside "normal" ones like bank robbers and such) There's a chance that some previously Butt-Monkey mook would got superpowers. Or is it more character and conflict driven? (PS: I like a "mended friendship" storyline)

The Heel Face Turn'd Dark Magical Girl intrigues me, is there any Reformed, but Rejected or Then Let Me Be Evil scenario happening on her? Or she would slowly redeem herself in the eyes of the Good Is Not Nice Hero? I also have a Forced into Evil type II Anti-Villain who later got himself tutored by an Unscrupulous Hero to use his powers as Vigilante Man at best.

Well, it sounds similar to Wasteland and Fallout . But seeing a post apocalyptic society trying to rebuild itself/tear each others' throats would be interesting. As for my current question, where would your story stand on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism ? Since you like Gun Porn , would there be any exotic fictional weapons, or RL based ones?

Also, if there's other survivors in the other bunkers, I have an idea that they're a group of Wasteland's Naive Newcomers that romanticized the post apocalypse world.

edited 22nd Aug '13 8:31:30 AM by Bleedingbreath

There are some optimistic characters, some cynical, some just crazy and others just completely past the Despair Event Horizon. I kind of want it in the middle maybe leaning one way or another depending on the scene. And I loved series' like Fallout, Metro and STALKER.

For weapons since WW3 was set Twenty Minutes in the Future, I'm thinking guys will be carrying AK-12s, SCA Rs, QBZ-95s and so on. She and her group will likely be riding around in a BTR-90 and the like. Real world guns that haven't quite hit full production yet.

And I like the idea for Naive Newcomers. I've got ideas for other characters stuck in the past, like one Russian commander who can't come to terms with the fact that Russia lost along with everyone else and is still trying to fight the war but nothing like what you've suggested, I'll really think about that.

The DMG (16 years old) is more like a Fallen Hero who crossed the Despair Event Horizon due to a really nasty combination of All the Other Reindeer (a very dark take on it) and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished in a world that really seems to hate her guts. She's not evil (more like True Neutral) as much as she's emotionally very hurt, lonely, sad, and angry. Her motivation is simply self-preservation.

The hero's (age 17, alignment is Chaotic Good) actually one of the first people find out the truth and to understand what she's going through, mainly because he figures out that she's a Shadow Archetype of himself, representing what could have easily happened to him if circumstances were different. He acts like a jackass, but its actually a facade, and he has good reasons (in his eyes) for doing so. In truth, he's a Tin Man. After the Heel–Face Turn, she keeps her neutral alignment until late, becomes a type 3 antihero, and is motivated by her bond with her new found friends rather than by altruism due to her losing faith in the concept after her Despair Event Horizon.

She has two main redeeming qualities: her code of conduct (she will never intentionally hurt an innocent and will never harm a child (she infact goes apeshit if she catches someone doing so), and her bond with the heroine's 15 year old younger brother, which is a combination of an Anti Villainous Crush (a rare case of the trope being used as a humanizing factor) and a Morality Pet. The bond is simultaneously the first indication of her inner sweet side and one of her flaws since she is a Yandere. Since the object of her affection is her Morality Pet, he's NEVER in danger from this side of her. Rather, it is those she perceives as a threat to his safety that should be afraid, as she can get VISCIOUS when protecting him. For one Nightmare Fuel grade example, when he gets attacked by a biker gang, after getting him out of the way (and running to shield his eyes from the coming carnage) she strikes one bike's fuel tank with lightning, sends another biker wildly out of control/flying with a high velocity spinning downdraft, then slams the leader into a wall with a high speed gust of wind, impales their chest with a nearby damaged, sopping wet, and sharpened metal pipe via a well controlled gust of wind, drastically lowers the temperature of the pipe, then striking the pipe with lightning. All of this while being deathly silent. Note that her anger is at its apex not when she's yelling or screaming, but when she gets into a deathly silent Tranquil Fury.

Ironically, her bond with her Morality Pet is what actually starts her conflict with the heroes. Due to a combination of bad luck and unflattering shadows, it looks like she was trying to kill him, which sets off the heroine (Neutral Good age 18), who while normally being a cheerful, energetic gad fly, is also a Knight Templar Big Sister. In truth, she was actually using a well controlled application of her powers to recharge the batteries of her "pet's" devices. Unfortunately, the sheer noise of her magic startles him, causing him to trip in such a way that makes the shadows look like attempted murder.

On a side note, the concept while quite dark, is in the middle in terms of idealism vs cynicism. This is inpart due to the Reconstruction aspects going for a World Half Full attitude, best shown by the hero's actions and words trying to comfort a crying child, spoken in his usual cold tone of voice. "There are plenty of horrible, awful things in the world. But there are also plenty of things and people worth fighting for. Keep yourself focused on those things and remember that You Are Not Alone. This world is not going to hell, not going to en, not so long as those like me still draw breath."

edited 22nd Aug '13 2:10:38 PM by magnum12

Some mythopoeic stuff I just wrote as a possible backstory for a fantasy setting:

The Age of Gods

Exactly whence in the ethereal depths the gods first appeared remains shrouded in mystery, as does the precise nature of the substance composing them. What appears certain is that they came from far beyond the known world. Their peculiar properties and powers defy so many of our native physical laws that they most probably came from a fundamentally different universe altogether. Whatever their ultimate origin, the gods arrived into the world six thousand years ago at earliest. By then the planet had already spun around the sun almost five billion times and supported a vast and still evolving diversity of organic life. Thus, despite what the gods themselves would have claimed, they did not create the world they would come to dominate.

If anything they entered it with their power diminished far below its potential. Much like organisms, gods need energy in order to perform, and they must absorb this energy from living things. They are predatory beings by nature. These incoming gods somehow lost so much of their power that they could barely extract the energy they needed themselves, so they could only compel one of the world’s native species to gather living energy for them. Of all the creatures that foraged in this new world, none were better suited for that task than the bipedal apes known as humanity.

At that prehistoric date humans still lived as nomads in small bands, obtaining their sustenance from hunting and gathering, yet they already possessed the peculiar intelligence that set them apart even from other primates. This gave them a unique talent at adapting to different habitats throughout the world, but it required careful cultivation over their lifespans, best of all from other humans. Cooperative and malleable by nature, humans would prove the ideal subjects for the gods’ manipulations.

By exploiting primitive humanity’s trust and generosity, the gods could persuade them into providing regular incomes of energy through sacrificing other lifeforms in exchange for divine blessings. As the gods grew stronger and amassed expanding populations of human disciples, they organized their followers into larger and more complex societies which evolved into the first civilizations. Over time these rising empires would collide with one another, and both their divine overlords’ power-hungry natures and competing needs for sacrificial victims would bring them into conflict.

Thus war broke out and ravaged the world. Fanatical human armies clashed and massacred each other, razing each others’ cities to the ground and soaking the earth with blood. With devastating miracles and monsters of their own creation, each of the gods backed this relentless carnage in a contest to suppress their rivals and control the world. All this took a toll on nature itself by clearing the forests, slaughtering herds of wildlife, and scarring the land with disasters. In their zeal to obey their cutthroat divine masters, humanity brought the world to the brink of destruction.

Yet the apocalypse did not come to pass. Two thousand years ago, a beacon of hope shone through the human race’s darkest hour in the form of an enigmatic vagabond henceforth remembered as the Godslayer. Said to hail from one of the world’s last few godless enclaves, this individual of ambiguous gender recruited a following of people disillusioned with the gods’ warmongering and preached messages of peace and love for their fellow humans. This originally clandestine movement spread across the world with the Godslayer’s travels and won so many hearts over the years that not even the imperial rulers who served the gods directly found their former loyalties eroding. After all, even the most tyrannical emperors cannot ignore their masses’ dissent for long.

This revolution against divinity culminated with the Shattering, a worldwide event so named because all the human rulers simultaneously broke their traditional sacrificial weapons to symbolize their rejection of godly authority. Every one of the gods grew so outraged with this defiance that they exploded into oblivion, bleeding out the last wisps of their energy. The dark age of divinity had ended at last.

In the centuries that were to pass, humanity would break down their former empires and cast away their hatreds, reverting to the peace their primitive ancestors enjoyed. The cities and temples of civilization would crumble, the wilderness would reclaim the fields, and the land’s scars would fade with erosion. As the world restored itself, generations of storytellers would sing to their children the message that the love of humanity is stronger than the wrath of gods.

Yet there are whispers that the gods may not be as dead as it seems...

edited 22nd Aug '13 12:47:04 PM by Jabrosky

I'm rather on the fence about actually doing this concept or not, so if anyone is willing to offer criticisms or suggestions, feel free.

Concept: In the near future, with the increasing number of Superheros, giant monsters, Magical Girls, Sentai teams, Kamen Rider style cyborgs, vicious fighting pets and their owners, giant battle robots and evil-doers who try to rob banks and sh*t like that, an organization is formed in an attempt to regulate all of them, with the general public's best interest in mind.

The story primarily follows a young Badass Normal protagonist who serves as a supervisor to two superheros, a (good) kaiju, a team of four magical girls, a three-person sentai team, one Kamen Rider style cyborg, the owner of three Mons, and the pilot of a mecha, tracking the interactions between him and them, their lives and his own.

So...Agent Phil Coulson as a probations officer for Gamera, The Powerpuff girls, The Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, Ash Katchem and Shingi Ikari?

I'm going to be honest with you. If you don't write this - I will hunt you down, kidnap you and force you to do so in my basement. You write this now!

More than enough motivation for me to start working on it!

Remember kids: If you want an artist or writer to make something you think you'll like, you can always threaten to kidnap them.

The more you know!◊

edited 26th Aug '13 7:00:29 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

I... can't say I'd read that. It does sound great in concept, but it also sounds like you'd lose focus with a quickness. You already have a huge starting cast without even mentioning villains. Also, making a non-super a handler of supers is an absurdly tricky business, because you'll have to jump through an insane amount of hoops to make sure he can still be competent and able to stand up to them if need be without making the supers as dumb as bricks. Not to mention the question of why he isn't using a mech or mons to counter them when he apparently manages mecha pilots and mons users.

edited 27th Aug '13 3:02:39 PM by DeviousRecital

"Handling" doesn't need to mean "can take them in a fight." There are ways to handle and deal with individuals with powers far greater than your own aside from beating them up, and if it was written well I think a Badass Normal could work just fine as a handler to the various supers. It might not be easy to write believably, but I think it's doable.

I do agree that the cast sounds unreasonably large, or at least too large to start with. Maybe trim the roster a little to get things going and add more supers (and possibly other handlers) as time goes on.

I really like the core concept here, I just think it could be a bit unwieldy if you try to include all that at once.

I figure I can whittle the cast down if I remove one super, one magical girl and one of the mons, putting it down to fourteen for a starting cast, since my original count was seventeen.

Oh, I'm aware of that, but a lot of them would probably make a Badass Normal come off as cruel. The ways I can think of have to do with emotional manipulation, possession of their various weaknesses, and control over their finances. And the second wouldn't work if he got ganged up on anyway. I could see a guy like this being a part of the main cast, but probably not the protagonist.

edited 27th Aug '13 3:21:23 PM by DeviousRecital

See the way I saw the idea (which is probably the last thing Darkblood had in mind, and for that I apologize) is that the story itself would focus on the life of the Handler. His work colleagues, his boss, family they were the focus and all the heroes and stuff were essentially ancillary characters, people who were basically there to show how big the world is and how little the actions of one ordinary man doing his job really were in the grand scheme of things.

Thats what my mind went to and what got me so excited. That being said its still a great concept.

As neat as the whole idea of depicting that kind of thing is, I'm not the kind of person to write those kinds of stories. Plus, it isn't as exciting as this:

Concept: A story about a character with a literal Story-Breaker Power, who comes from another dimension. He has the ability to erase any target or event from reality without fail. The target/event will be completely erased from the timeline, affecting everything they/it had done since their origin until the present.

Of course, this comes about with massive repercussions. Erase a horrifyingly evil Big Bad? He stopped a massive Horde of Alien Locusts in the past, so they now overrun the place. Erase the Eldritch Abomination to save a world? Too bad, that abomination was one of the creators of the world, so the world no longer exists!

Thanks to being extradimensional, the MC's immune to most effects in our universe. Due to this, he's also the only one who can remember the people and events that get erased due to his actions.

The MC learns about the horrific repercussions of his ability. He's erased all his love interests by accident, and doomed many others unintentionally, leaving him emotionally and morally scarred, In the end, he decides that he really should never have done all this, so he erases himself for the greater good, restoring everything back to normal.

Another concept that I might work on alongside my previously mentioned concept. Criticisms or suggestions appreciated.

Concept: A fantasy story which would start off following different characters in different alternate fantasy worlds, but eventually merge into a single world. Trick is, each different reality is largely the same, just different individuals and different circumstances.

I also have another concept, but it's for a fanfic, so I'm not likely to work on it.

Concept: A Cthulhu Mythos/Touhou crossover, where Nyarlathotep enters Gensokyo in the form of a corrupting oily substance, transforming anyone and anything that it touches.

[DELETED]

edited 7th Sep '13 12:13:19 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

JACKED

In the future, everyone is connected. Through cybernetic neural implants, the internet is only a thought away. Transactions can be made online inside your head. You can chat with your friends with just a glance. Everyone; everything is connected...and a new kind of criminal has emerged.

Called Jackers, these men and women can effortlessly take over these implants, "jacking" into your brain, accessing the information within your mind. Even taking over your body.

Most are simple thieves, but for those with enough skill, it can be quite lucrative. Those with such skills (and with the morals to match) become Fixers or Assassins, committing their crimes with total anonymity as long as the price is right. Thus we enter the life of a Jacker named Cash, a successful Fixer who one day wakes up to find that he himself was Jacked and was used to murder another man.

Escaping from the authorities, Cash finds himself in a deadly game of cat and mouse trying to find who set him up and for what purpose.

edited 2nd Sep '13 5:08:00 AM by AtomJames

Sounds like an interesting story. Cyberpunk-ish and kind of reminds me of Ghost in the Shell in it's own way.

Concept: The Sheep Mythos

I still don't now how I made this concept or why I'm working on it at all, but it's essentially the Cthulhu Mythos, but with monstrous sheep.

That sounds hilarious!

It's a generally non-serious set of stories. It would tell the tales of the powerful Baazathoth, the infamous Baathulhu and the museum horror Rhan-Tebaa. (Not all of them have 'Baa' as part of their name though.)

EDIT: Hell, for fun, I might even add Sheeple to the mix

I had an idea for another concept, this time for a Touhou fanfic.

In the future, a popular card game has evolved from a simple past time to a hardcore sporting competition.

Instead of focusing on an Ash-like protagonist, the story takes the perspective of the Anti-Hero Donovan, who instead of using protagonist Touhou characters (Like Reimu or Marisa), uses deadly Ex Stage bosses (Like Flandre Scarlet) in his deck.

It mostly follows his journey in the competition to crush the spirits of other competitors, rather than to be an ultimate champion.

edited 2nd Sep '13 1:15:18 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

And before you ask if this is based on something.. yes, in a way.

edited 7th Sep '13 2:26:04 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

That will depend heavily on what kind of protagonist that you are going to use. I suggest that you use an anti hero instead of a villain protagonist.

By the way, here's my concept: The author of a fantasy & sci-fi series somehow end up in the world of said series by dropping into a mansion and becoming the master of it while under care of a maid. Next, he discovered an underground battle arena where he has to fight against battle data of characters he had written or thought out.

@murazrai: Sounds good.

Anyone have comments on mine?

@Morwen Edhelwen Read your post apocalyptic concept and it sounds interesting mixing bio-punk, steampunk and Icelandic culture though you'll have to be pretty creative with using Elves as a race to make them feel original and you should also be careful to try and not overpower the protagonist with them being "half-elven, genetically modified, steam and magic powered".

My idea which I have called Apotheosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis) a tragic high fantasy that takes place in Oikoumene: a world of seven continents with a north pole that is the location of a world tree named Ecirdras whose roots stretch to every land, whose bark can be crafted into the strongest materials, whose tree sap can give magic power and whose energy is used a source of electricity for the Oikoumene people. Two twin brothers: Folkvar and Moroiki, were born into a Theocracy who used the brothers in a ritual which would make both magic able and immortal liches who would be unable to die until they took each other's lives. The two brothers were used as both weapons and propaganda in a religious conflict that the Theocracy were involved in. A hundred years later, Folkvar who's guilt over his usage as a seer in the conflict's atrocities has broken him, hunts for Moroiki (who meanwhile has amassed a cult of followers to follow him in his violent uprising against the theocracy) to reconcile, talk about their trauma and hopefully persuade him to end both of their lives.

In the idea I wish to explore subjects such as subjective morality and Post Traumatic Stress as well deconstruct the Knight-Errant and Chosen One Tropes.

edited 7th Sep '13 3:57:48 AM by ndf27