Story Ideas

[zHellas]

I've got a story idea of a fellow who is getting paid to play an NPC in a futuristic VR MMO. He goes in to get "plugged in" to the network for the first time and has a character that he plays, reacting to the actions of that world as the character. I'm thinking sortof like characters at a ren fair or something (but this doesn't have to be a historical or fantasy MMO, I haven't made up my mind.)

As he goes along, he realizes that he doesn't know how to get out of the thing. The place they told him to go to leave after his 8 hour shift doesn't exist. Everyone he asks just tells him to settle down and live his life, and he is totally flipping his shit. Eventually he finds a resistance movement of NPCs in the game that are trying to escape.

Turns out, he actually did leave. In fact, he never entered. They just scanned him and dropped a totally virtual version of him in the game. When the real version of him gets out he asks about it, they tell him what happened, tell him they are buying his silence and pay him handsomely.

The rest of the story consists of the real guy struggling with the morality of the situation, the virtual guy trying to escape (a real exercise in futility). Eventually the real guy buys the game and starts to play. Hijinks ensue.

Any comments? Also, what genre of MMO should I choose? Fantasy? Sci-fi? I was going to do something like WoW just to be like "WoW will steal your soul."

For some reason, a Post-Apocalyptic World like Fallout comes to mind...But other than that, Fantasy.

 

[Trivun]

The Snip to end all Snips!

Seems like alot of work. I suggest you start off small, first.

True... Right now though I'm focusing on the main story series, I already have two done and just in need of editing. Then of course the ideas for parts 3 and 4. I have a screenplay for the first part but can't do anything with it until my friends in my university film-making society have finished our latest project (currently in post-production), and I can't do anything about the music or comic aspects until I have people interested and ready to help out. So I'm taking things pretty slowly at the moment...

Do you mind sending me the stuff too? Or at least posting it(or most of it) online? 'Cause I'm quite interested in looking at your project.

Well, the screenplay won't be posted online at any point, since it's something that I do intend to film at some point in the near future. If it does get filmed then I may post the short film on Youtube, but the screenplay will only be viewed by close friends and family, for editing reasons, and by my future production team when we come to work on the project.

As for the stories themselves, they're posted on this site on the following pages:

Red Riding Hood:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread?page=9
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.160850-Twisted-Fairy-Tales?page=1

Hansel and Gretel:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread?page=10
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.160850-Twisted-Fairy-Tales?page=2

They're also both on my Deviant Art page. [http://trivun.deviantart.com/] The DA page and the Short Story Thread also have some more of my older stories, if you're interested, though in the SS Thread you'll need to dig deep for them...

 

[lwm3398]

I had an idea for a modern-fantasy (Think Artemis Fowl) in which Death loses his cloak and scythe, his source of power, and then has to try to both blend in to normal life and get them back. Along the way, he encounters supernatural-hunters, humans who worship him, and people who get sucked into his adventures. Not sure who the villain is or if there will be one.

"I can kill you, six ways, with this thumb alone, but I'd prefer not to exert myself and just cut off your head." is a quote that's floating through my head. I'm thinking of just calling him Thanatos, who is the Greek reaper. I just think it sounds cooler.

Another one, this for a game:

Spoiler: Really long game-plot description

There's a family of thieves, and generation to generation, as a rite of passage, this half-staff has to be stolen by the next generation. Each year, the family children get a chance to steal it. If they can get in and out of the house with it, they keep it for their children. You start the game as one of the people trying to steal it (You don't know this, you get a seemingly unrelated cutscene first). You get the tutorial and are given the objective "Steal staff". You get it, jump out the open window, and fail. Your father, a middle-aged man, tells you "Better luck next year," and then sends you on an errand to town. You go do whatever and then return, plotting to steal the stick from right under the old fool's nose and skip town. You do so, but he catches you again. He then tells you the staff's story, which explains at least partially the first cutscene.

Spoiler: First Cutscene Description

A man is standing in the middle of some random dead bodies, all of which are dressed in black. In one hand he holds a thinner staff, the other is thick. "You shall not stand. I will end you once and for all!" He puts the two sticks together and they fit perfectly. They unite, and in a flash of light all the bodies disappear. There is a hiss, and a tower in front of the man (Shown by an angle change) crumbles into nothing. He pulls up his hood and walks away.

You are perplexed by this cutscene leading to the game.

The staff you have is the "Staff of Wisdom", a half of a whole staff which has immense power. At first, it's explained, the family line was nobility because an ancestor had united the two parts and kept some evil at bay. Soon, the real king kind of forgot why he kept these strangers so high up in the political structure and kicked them out. They became a line of thieves.

The one ancestor had kept half of the staff as a souvenir. It was kept as a family heirloom for an occasion when the evil it had once battled regrew. Your father tells you to leave with it, as you are the one who will finish the battle with the evil your ancestors fought. You pack up and go.

-Gameplay Start-

You get attacked by dark beings as you are walking and can't fight with the Wisdom Staff, as the other half is the one used for combat in the game. It's a puzzle-platformer, and you use the Wisdom Staff to solve these puzzle (It shapeshifts, so you can use it in any situation). You find an opening and shove the stick in it, and it opens a door. You run through, and find the enemies can't follow you. You run through the corridor and get to a pit and unexpectedly fall in.

The other half is the Club of Strength, for fighting off enemies. You get various other weapons through the game, and lose and obtain the different halves until you get both and fight the final boss.

What do you think?

 

[zHellas]

Another one, this for a game:

Spoiler: Really long game-plot description

There's a family of thieves, and generation to generation, as a rite of passage, this half-staff has to be stolen by the next generation. Each year, the family children get a chance to steal it. If they can get in and out of the house with it, they keep it for their children. You start the game as one of the people trying to steal it (You don't know this, you get a seemingly unrelated cutscene first). You get the tutorial and are given the objective "Steal staff". You get it, jump out the open window, and fail. Your father, a middle-aged man, tells you "Better luck next year," and then sends you on an errand to town. You go do whatever and then return, plotting to steal the stick from right under the old fool's nose and skip town. You do so, but he catches you again. He then tells you the staff's story, which explains at least partially the first cutscene.

Spoiler: First Cutscene Description

A man is standing in the middle of some random dead bodies, all of which are dressed in black. In one hand he holds a thinner staff, the other is thick. "You shall not stand. I will end you once and for all!" He puts the two sticks together and they fit perfectly. They unite, and in a flash of light all the bodies disappear. There is a hiss, and a tower in front of the man (Shown by an angle change) crumbles into nothing. He pulls up his hood and walks away.

You are perplexed by this cutscene leading to the game.

The staff you have is the "Staff of Wisdom", a half of a whole staff which has immense power. At first, it's explained, the family line was nobility because an ancestor had united the two parts and kept some evil at bay. Soon, the real king kind of forgot why he kept these strangers so high up in the political structure and kicked them out. They became a line of thieves.

The one ancestor had kept half of the staff as a souvenir. It was kept as a family heirloom for an occasion when the evil it had once battled regrew. Your father tells you to leave with it, as you are the one who will finish the battle with the evil your ancestors fought. You pack up and go.

-Gameplay Start-

You get attacked by dark beings as you are walking and can't fight with the Wisdom Staff, as the other half is the one used for combat in the game. It's a puzzle-platformer, and you use the Wisdom Staff to solve these puzzle (It shapeshifts, so you can use it in any situation). You find an opening and shove the stick in it, and it opens a door. You run through, and find the enemies can't follow you. You run through the corridor and get to a pit and unexpectedly fall in.

The other half is the Club of Strength, for fighting off enemies. You get various other weapons through the game, and lose and obtain the different halves until you get both and fight the final boss.

What do you think?

The game sounds great!

 

[Velvo]

Don't you think it's a little done to death? I mean, yeah, pretty interesting and all for a fantasy/stealth game but it's just the same old "you are a special dude who is gonna save the world and you gotta take this seemingly useless thing and do something not at all useless with it." It's Tolkien and everything it influenced (all of fantasy, basically).

I mean, it's not original, but it's not like it's copy-written, so more power to ya! I mean, unless they can copy-write the hero myth... Oh wait, John Campbell...