Ideas Are Easy

[SionEwig]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Magehunt


When a mage dies, Young children in the surrounding 15 to 30 miles begin to manifest magery. The more powerful the mage, the more children are effected. Most mages don't spawn more than one or two more mages, but archmages can result in dozens of new casters. These new mages are of course precious, and taken and raised in comfort so they can study and become powerful servants and allies of their benefactors.



The archmage Marcenius just died in the streets of Felimona, and the rush to find the mages is on. The competition is especially brutal, with several high Lords, The outlaw bands, Foreign Agents, two existing circles of spell-casters, and what looks like the temple priesthood all getting involved.



There is a lot of money to be made in the chase. And a lot of kids who need protecting.

Yeah, this one. Fascinating idea. It needs to be run.

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by RyanW

The Bad Guys

A group of former super villains (all carefully vetted by psychologists) are given conditional clemency to work for a newly formed government super team.

Yes, this basic concept has been done a bajillion times. The new part is the "carefully vetted by psychologists" part. Unlike similar teams, this one is made up of people who genuinely desire redemption, working for people who want them to succeed. The growth of the "heroes" is a big part of the idea. This isn't Suicide Squad. It's Super Vocational Therapy.

Oh, that could be brilliant, with the right group of players. A possible criminal lifetime conflicting with an actual desire for positive growth mixed with similarly stressed teammates.

The opportunity for witty and sarcastic banter literally knows no bounds!

"You're here because your court-mandate psychiatrists indicates you have a real desire to make amends. They're not fools, so we are giving you a chance. At the same time, you are still a criminal and trust must be earned.

"We could fit you with an explosive device, but that defeats the purpose. Instead you will be fitted with a Behavioral Inhibitor Device. This only has a stun setting; it is intended to make you...BIDdable.

"Someone in R&D thinks they're being funny.

"This is a voluntary procedure. There is no sanction for refusing, as you will simply be returned to your sentence. Upon completion of the procedure, there will be one demonstration of the device. It is unpleasant, and yes, painful. But it is not punishment. It is familiarization, exactly as recruits go through for tear gas training. It a deterrent only, not a behavior modification device.

"Regardless of if your decision, I wish you the best of luck. If you do sign-up, welcome to the program."

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Yeah, this one. Fascinating idea. It needs to be run.

Are you volunteering? I essentially use this thread as a slush-pile. glad you like it. This one has the drawback of requiring a fair amount of groundwork to really work.

Originally Posted by RyanW

The Bad Guys

A group of former super villains (all carefully vetted by psychologists) are given conditional clemency to work for a newly formed government super team.

Yes, this basic concept has been done a bajillion times. The new part is the "carefully vetted by psychologists" part. Unlike similar teams, this one is made up of people who genuinely desire redemption, working for people who want them to succeed. The growth of the "heroes" is a big part of the idea. This isn't Suicide Squad. It's Super Vocational Therapy.

So is your old buddy from before you tried to reform an ally or an enemy? What about your Parole officer?



I like this idea. It'd be interesting to have one guy in the group just trying to play the system. It'd also be a great time to explore just what a super-villian's relationship with their mother looks like.

[SionEwig]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Are you volunteering? I essentially use this thread as a slush-pile. glad you like it. This one has the drawback of requiring a fair amount of groundwork to really work.

I am thinking about it. Though I'm more likely to throw it out on one of the PbP sites to see who might be interested in running it (with your permission of course). This one does need some world building to flesh it out. Though I'd love to play it, already thought of a character.

[David Johnston2]

In the spirit of Abydos, a "college town" for each of the Dungeon Magic styles with enchantments associated with the style.

[RyanW]

I was just thinking of a group of independent bodies that identifies as a single individual and insists on she/her pronouns to refer to the entire collective, becoming annoyed if treated plurally (or if any one body is treated as the "real" individual).

I had considered this at first as a duplication superpower that the super simply left on all the time, but it could also be a cybernetic or psychic gestalt, an AI running instances on multiple frames, a true hive-mind alien, or completely normal people aside from her extreme dedication to the commune.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I was just thinking of a group of independent bodies that identifies as a single individual and insists on she/her pronouns to refer to the entire collective, becoming annoyed if treated plurally (or if any one body is treated as the "real" individual).

I had considered this at first as a duplication superpower that the super simply left on all the time, but it could also be a cybernetic or psychic gestalt, an AI running instances on multiple frames, a true hive-mind alien, or completely normal people aside from her extreme dedication to the commune.

See also John Varley's "The Barbie Murders" about a cult that uses advanced surgery tech to become identical.

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

See also John Varley's "The Barbie Murders" about a cult that uses advanced surgery tech to become identical.

Also David Brin's Kiln People for a tangential exploration of the topic, where people can make copies of themselves that only a one-day life expectancy. The copies can be reuploaded to the progenitor, but there's no real limit except wealth on how many copies can exist at a time.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I was just thinking of a group of independent bodies that identifies as a single individual and insists on she/her pronouns to refer to the entire collective, becoming annoyed if treated plurally (or if any one body is treated as the "real" individual).

I had considered this at first as a duplication superpower that the super simply left on all the time, but it could also be a cybernetic or psychic gestalt, an AI running instances on multiple frames, a true hive-mind alien, or completely normal people aside from her extreme dedication to the commune.

In Cyberpunk 2077, one of the early missions you get is a series of bare-knuckle fights, and in fact I believe the earliest one you can do (most of the city is blocked off at the start of the game) is against a pair of twin brothers who have used cybernetics to completely link themselves together, wirelessly. They think of themselves as a single person, and get angry with you if you refer to them as separate individuals. It's an... interesting experience. For having two bodies to work with, they sure do stink at boxing, though. The webcomic Schlock Mercenary also had a species where each individual had two bodies, which communicated via natural radio (with technological assistance, they could stay synched up over long distances; the one who was in Tagon's Toughs piloted two grav-tanks at once).

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Varyon

In Cyberpunk 2077, one of the early missions you get is a series of bare-knuckle fights, and in fact I believe the earliest one you can do (most of the city is blocked off at the start of the game) is against a pair of twin brothers who have used cybernetics to completely link themselves together, wirelessly. They think of themselves as a single person, and get angry with you if you refer to them as separate individuals. It's an... interesting experience. For having two bodies to work with, they sure do stink at boxing, though. The webcomic Schlock Mercenary also had a species where each individual had two bodies, which communicated via natural radio (with technological assistance, they could stay synched up over long distances; the one who was in Tagon's Toughs piloted two grav-tanks at once).

I just remembered what probably put the idea in my head, to reappear all this time later: Harem from Grrl Power. She can project duplicates, but she has grown attached to the five bodies she has now and thus doesn't usually switch them off. I haven't followed it in a long time, and I can't recall (or whether it was ever established) if she can duplicate one of her existing bodies or whether a new body would be "factory default" - and thus reprojecting (five is her limit) would mean losing all the effort she's put into making each one unique, with its own hairstyle, tattoos, etc.