Free Idea Dumping Ground

After messing with makehuman to make a character [[Parody that whould make]] Rob Liefeldt [[Parody happy]], I spotted a fedora in the materials, so I came up with Menz Rightz Aktivist, who's part of the organisation called Menz Going to be Br00tal. They're supposed to fight against an evil feminist organisation, but it turns out that the said organisation does nothing bad.

About the character: he has as many muscles as I could put on him with makehuman, probably he became a bit anathomically incorrect. I wanted to gave him a ponytail and a neckbread, but these weren't an option in the software, I just messed up with the controls.

A seemingly Low Fantasy medieval world enters a period of feudal upheaval and turmoil, Martin style. However, it's really not fantasy but planetary romance, the planet is a Lost Colony of Earth, and a group of spacefaring Earthlings is trying to reintroduce the planet to progress as non-invasively as possible. Basically, A So Ia F meets Hard to Be a God.

Bonus plot bunnies for this one:

• This planet also has some "ancient evil" apocalyptic phenomena inexplicable to locals and seemingly magical; the Earthlings, however, know what that really is and can stop it, but they can't do it covertly and non-invasively, it needs something like nuclear carpet-bombing;
• There is a faction among the Earthlings that wants none of that non-invasive bullcrap, it has space opera level armed forces and tries to wrestle themselves a permission for a quick and dirty military assimilation of those medieval morons.
• The non-invasive progressor faction of the Earthlings was present on the planet for several generations, maybe a century, and has already managed to help a civilization on another continent reach XIX century technology levels and social progress. Using this civilization as proxy for intervention will not violate the non-interference directive.

edited 15th Apr '14 1:44:49 PM by aurora369

I would actually read that

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

In a world far removed from our own, legends talk of The Chosen One, a man who is an unmatched as a tactician and a warrior. Once before, when the chosen one walked among the living, he single-handedly swung the tide of Great War in favor of the King X. Now, finding his kingdom at the brink of war again, King X's descendant who now sits on the throne asks his court magician to summon forth The Chosen One once more. And that is how Bob, a simple man from our world, ended up as the chosen one in a low fantasy world...

...Or so the story is told. You see, there never was any Chosen One. The legend was a fabrication made when the war ended, to discourage any nearby kingdoms from attacking King X's weakened forces. And now, they must use Bob to strike fear in the hearts of the kingdom's enemies.

Details on the legend: -The Great War was won by the efforts of many tacticians and soldiers, most sacrificing themselves for the plans to come to fruition. When King X took the throne he realized that if the world found out that the people responsible for his victory were all gone, it would only be a matter of time before he would lose his throne. So, he came up with this solution, pick a soldier and pretend he was the one responsible for all the victories. Plant fake stories to make his presence seem mystical.

---

Now, that I write it down, it doesn't seem that good. Still, if you can salvage something out of this, that would be great.

If I knew how I know everything I know, I'd only be able to know half as much because my brain would be clogged up with where I know it from

'Everyone has the potential to be the Special. I know that sounds like something off a cat poster, but it's true. OOOoooooOOOOOOoooooooohhhh!'

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

— Anthology about people who happen upon identical artifacts. Once each person finds the artifact, they get a roller-coaster of fortune: things get worse for struggling people, and then they get much better; things get better for well-off people, but then everything crashes around them. As the stories continue, it becomes clear that the artifacts are more important (and dangerous) than they seem.

— "Knights of a New Age" — Medieval Historical Fantasy set in late 1400s/early 1500s Europe. Features an ex-knight, a highwayman, a wizard, and a monk. Kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean, but with a Sword and Sorcery flavor. One story could feature the Gutenberg printing press. Or Lutherans. Or both.

— A dying alien race observes humanity as a simulation. Other simulations (planets) banded together because of an outside threat, often another race. Instead, the observers are amazed that our isolated planet banded together through "friendly rivalries" (European imperialism, USA and USSR, USA and China...) and globalized interconnection (the internet).

— A man wakes up in the middle of nowhere with no possessions and no memories. He finds out he was a notorious criminal, but he can't imagine being one. Over the course of the story, the man proves he's a different person than before. He also uncovers his lost memories and a dangerous new thing that manipulates people by altering their memories. The story could revolve around the removal of memories and how it affects a person's soul. Or not, your choice.

— A lot of recent movies are focused on how the world is in danger. So: A small character-driven story that follows someone who hits bottom and rebuilds himself (maybe more than once; maybe a Cosmic Plaything). Tagline: "The fate of his world is at stake." Not the whole world; just his.

(EDIT October 2016: I managed to salvage something from it.)

edited 16th Oct '16 3:04:29 AM by AwSamWeston

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

The Producers updated for Kickstarter.

edited 3rd May '14 12:24:34 PM by AwSamWeston

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

How about a Reverse Avatar? Wherein modern humans are treated as Noble Savage s to be saved by a great green warrior: Aliens come to planet earth to strip mine it for a resource we're too technologically backward to harness properly. They set up mining camps in the middle of our cities forcing entire populations to relocate to more rural areas. A few skirmishes and unfair treaties keep them from wiping us out (which would be bad publicity on their home planet) but its understood that if they wanted to they could pretty much destroy us.

Then one of the aliens, while out on patrol, crashes in a farm field somewhere. He's found by a young woman who has mercy on him, despite his alien heritage. She takes him to the refugee camp and tends to his wounds. Gradually he's introduced to our culture and learns how to -I don't know- ride motorcycles or something. He turns out to be far more skilled than the human warriors, who begin to resent him. It turns out the young woman is actually the presidents daughter. Eventually she declares her love for him and he decides to join the humans once and for all. Cue a supposed betrayal, misunderstandings, and an epic battle of the technologically deficient but spunky humans vs. the imperialist alien forces where our protagonist uses his motorcycle riding skills (or whatever) to claim victory against his former mentor and comrades, while the president and all other potential male suitor characters die heroically so he can have the presidency of the earth and the girl after its all over.

edited 4th May '14 7:41:30 AM by LittleBillyHaggardy

Nobody wants to be a pawn in the game of life. What they don't realize is the game of life is Minesweeper.

A few of the plot bunnies that I give back to my fellow tropers:

• A character is an average teen until he discovers that All Myths Are True. Worse, the town's mayor has discovered that his parents are on to his corruption. She sicks a werewolf, a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, and a vampire on him and his family. That's bad. But his parents are lawyers and are farie nobles in exile, that's good. But the villains are Dirty Cops during the day and the Big Bad is a demon. Think Supernatural meets Mangum Force.

• Life after Superhero School: Okay so the heroes used their Stock Superpowers and other abilites to beat the Big Bad and earn their diplomas. Now what? It's ten years latter. The team's broken up. Some are now regular "normal" adults with families. Others are training future heroes. Some have married reformed villains and others are burn outs reliving the "glory days" of "high school". Growing Up Sucks and there are new villains and new threats. Heroes become villains, villains become heroes. How do they pay the bills and save the world?

• A studio is given an old franchise from The '60s: a mini-skirted heroine with an animal theme. It's cheesy and sexist and dated. And thanks to nostalgia and internet buzz is now worth millions in movie rights alone. They have to navigate the fans, PromotedFanboys, blogs and the original creator. Studio execs want an action pic, the actors have their ideas, the origional actors are divided and the media is all over the drama on set. Can they make this movie or will development hell claim the studio?

edited 8th May '14 4:10:53 PM by TairaMai

All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be a case on The First 48

Low fantasy class warfare in close-future Russia with minor magical references.

Two stories that unfold simultaneously in the same setting. They're aware of each other as Mutually Fictional media (In-Universe). Maybe part of an Ontological Mystery story.

Story where the protagonist runs into several different versions of himself, all from different points-of-departure in his life that created alternate timelines. Chaos ensues.

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

Here's something for a scene. Some people are planning The Caper:

• "We can't just waltz in!"
• "That's exactly what we'll do."
• Cue orchestral music in 3/4 time as they literally waltz into the building.

edited 28th May '14 7:31:43 AM by AwSamWeston

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

@ aurora 369's post. No kidding - that would make an awesome anime. Seems like a High Concept kind of anime feel, like Maoyuu Yuusha and for some reason it made me think of Mouretsu Pirates too. it sounds like the kind of show that can be serious or funny, but also has a lot of geeking out on how this developing thing works.

And... I don't have anything to drop here myself. Sorry.

edited 28th May '14 7:49:06 AM by Nadir

Working on a manga. With pictures! All feedback welcome!

Here's one:

A 707 that "disappeared" in The '60s reappears in 2014. The passangers are a cross section of people from The '60s. They land at a major airport and are now celebrities. As the Men In Black try and figure out what happened, the passengers and crew have to deal with over fifty years of cultural and political changes.

And something has followed the plane. Something hungry.

edited 7th Jul '14 8:59:08 PM by TairaMai

All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be a case on The First 48

A story told from the perspective of an inanimate object. Possibly some kind of recording device. If the device doesn't see it, it isn't shown in the story. Could work for an Apocalyptic Log.

edited 4th Jun '14 10:57:51 AM by AwSamWeston

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

I have thought about writing a Boarding Party from the POV of the abanoned Sapient Ship getting borded. Don't really know how to do that so I guess that's now another free idea.

and another idea. A story set in a point-and-click adventure world. The Protagonist goes around stealing everything that's not bolted down, talks with everyone repeatedly until they have nothing more to say and just start repeating themself, try to do weird stuff the 'found' stuff (Goldfish + Hamburger Press = Fishy Gold Medalion...), and so on...

edited 11th Jun '14 12:27:54 AM by m8e

Got a few settings that might have some potential.

London 2024: on the one side, a bunch of new individuals with superpowers. On the other, and very much breaking the cliche of police being useless, a thoroughly modernized police force that has had the time and the resources to deal with the new reality. Crimefighting with Cash meets near-future technology meets the deep pockets of the nation-state (also a deconstruction of sorts of that idea: individuals and companies can make a lot of money, but governments are even better at concentrating force.)

So, superheroes/villains in a setting where the law enforcement side is somewhere between the cops of Halting State and Section Nine, both sides adjusting to the new reality.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

Bouncing off your point-and-click-based story, that could make a great Scrapbook Story of townspeople who complain about the adventurer being a public nuisance — maybe one sequence could be about a court summons, which the adventurer promptly ignores to go slaughter a farmer's sheep.

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

Breaking out of jail (or something equalent) is pretty much an obligatory part of these games. So the character end up in jail and get a court date. (S)he then finds some pills hidden in the cell(hole in the wall or something), eats them and wakes up in a hospital. In the hospital (s)he find some way to sneak out the window, through the ventilation ducts, incapacitate the guarding policeman or something. Then straight back to the farm to slaughter another sheep. (S)he really needs those sheep offals for some weired and punny reason...

edited 12th Jun '14 11:08:39 AM by m8e

Here's a general prompt for a short story: "You find a glowing rock on the side of the road. You pick it up. What does it do?"

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

Speculative Documentary meets any Punk Punk Alternate History setting.

Or, in other words, Steampunk (for example) examined as a real historical period.

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

A medieval princess switches places with a peasant girl, and they each deal with the hard life the other leads, showing the good and bad aspects of each perspective.

Award-winning screenwriter. Directed some movies. Trying to earn a Creator page. I do feedback here.

S'been done.

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

In fact, that's Prince and Pauper. Yeah, it's a trope.

edited 21st Jul '14 7:37:12 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

x9 That idea about the boarding party and the Sapient Ship sounds awesome. I imagine you'd start off like a normal story; everything written with a third person narrator ( just making sure not to narrate what people are thinking or feeling, only what they say and do ). Until the narrator starts commenting on the boarding party's actions. And the boarding party starts to reactivate parts of the ship and it slowly becomes clearer that the narrator is the ship.

To take it a litter further, then the ship might manage to coerce the boarding party into some scan-machine and notes that the people share a sequence of genetic code that marks them as being part of a biological weapon that was used to seed life on planets and, in doing so, work as a form of terraforming area-of-denial. The weapon being designed by the ship's race/creators.

So it freaks out, locking the party inside. Thinking that it all it has to do is get rid of these things before they destroy anything else, and happens upon more ships designed by the people, and, being disgusted by the resemblance of the ships to its own kind, the Sapient Ship wages war on the people. With the people struck with the moral quandary of killing the potentially last of it's kind ship.