Author by Author

Subject: Author by Author
Author: gattsuru
Posted on: 2010-03-08 00:54:00 UTC

Most spin-offs tend to follow the plot lines of a couple major characters, perhaps intersecting with other spin-offs but typically focusing on the growth of their own characters. You might miss some of the smaller jokes if you jump into more recently started spin-offs, but they've always got enough in common with The Original Series to be easy to follow.

There are some big events that really shake things up -- the Reorganization, Crashing Down, and the 2008 Macrovirus Epidemic are probably the ones you'll see the most referenced. These sort of Emergencies are starting to be reduced, and not everyone follows them to the letter. DOGA and related works ~~including those that of Departments that don't exist~~ may also be worthwhile, although most of the times you see these they are only glossed over. PPC: The Lost Tales, run by Neshomeh, is probably the biggest collection of things from the Geocities and Oddlots crunch, but it is incomplete.

Dandelion fizz just a random thing. I'd probably think it something along the lines of the various Redwall, but it's just random. It's considered polite to include virtual items, bumper stickers, or assault during newbie greetings. Lembas, for example, seems a common one, or offers of a barrel to put your sanity in while visiting.

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Hi, very confused newbie here looking for help? by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-07 22:31:00 UTC Reply

So, uh, hi. I found the PPC through TvTropes, did some research via the PPC wiki, and as you may have gathered, got really, really lost. So... everyone said the Boarders were welcoming, so I figured I'd show up, ask for help, and cross my fingers against screwing up, ruining a topic, or anything else. I've finished what's available of The Original Series, and I'm kind of wondering what I should read next, and where to find it, and how best to navigate the ever-growing PPC, and... all of that.

Oh, and should I be using this as an introductory post, to avoid multiple-thread disorder? New, easily confused person with a stupid username, fond of Pratchett (but haven't read all things Discworld yet, I'm working on it), ditto Tamora Pierce, Good Omens, Ender's Game, the Attolia books, Graceling and the Hunger Games, and I have an embarrassing weakness for very guilty pleasures. I tend to outgrow them, though. Mostly. I also like slash, but hate when people defame a canon female love interest to do it. Oh yeah, something of an anime newbie-fan; ditto Kingdom Hearts, and a writer of (in my opinion) mediocrefic.(Also, confession time - I have never been able to finish the Honored Tolkien Trilogy. It's too sad and depressing and the pretty world that's dying and why does the magic have to be going away and WHY IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND A COPY WHERE THE TEXT IS MORE THAN A MILLIMETER HIGH and - yeah, you get the picture.)

Welcome, Newbie! by OpinionedAngel on 2010-03-11 22:40:00 UTC Reply

Hello and Welcome to the PPC Posting Board! Please have some chocolate and enjoy your stay!

Re: Welcome, Newbie! by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-12 20:00:00 UTC Reply

Chocolate? You are indeed an angel.

(Late) Welcome! by doctorlit on 2010-03-10 15:59:00 UTC Reply

Have a venomous arthropod! Sorry for the late welcome; my hard drive done died on me.

Re: (Late) Welcome! by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-10 23:41:00 UTC Reply

A venomous arthropod? Aww, it's cute in an ugly way... and any and all welcomes are delightful and unexpected, and I'm very grateful for them.

Hello there! by Piph on 2010-03-08 21:14:00 UTC Reply

Have a softnose laser and a flaming bodysuit. Enjoy!
First poke! by Neshomeh on 2010-03-08 17:53:00 UTC Reply

*poke*

And... hm. Gattsuru linked you to the PPC Lost Tales, and Dann gave you a bumper sticker, so... that's pretty much it. ^_^;

I will add that I don't recall anything about Middle-earth dying, or magic going away. I mean, yes, eventually all the elves do depart to Valinor, but they'll be the first to tell you that what they do isn't magic as we humans think of it. But the world is certainly not dying. It's under attack, and the whole point of the story is that everyone is fighting to save it. A lesson we all could do with in our world, really.

Anyway. If you'd like to try a different medium, I highly recommend the BBC radio adaptation by Brian Sibley. You can listen to the first episode here, in six parts. Some things are cut due to time limitations, but unlike the travesties perpetrated by Peter Jackson, nothing drastic is added or changed here.

So, altogether, welcome!

~Neshomeh
Have some Anti-Lustin ballons! by WikiMaster on 2010-03-08 11:38:00 UTC Reply

Have you gottten to the article about Anti-Lustin yet?

Re: Have some Anti-Lustin ballons! by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-09 02:28:00 UTC Reply

No, but I'll look it up as soon as I have time. Wow, PPCers are generous!

Hallo! by Data Junkie on 2010-03-08 10:44:00 UTC Reply

Have some bamboo. Be careful, though, it bites.

I would also like to recommend reading stuff by Trojanhorse and her various partners (especially Pads)over at rc45, which I believe that someone has already linked. If I'm wrong, I'll try and provide a link later, once I figure out what this board uses in place of BBCode.

It uses HTML by Khajidu on 2010-03-08 11:01:00 UTC Reply

This text is This text without the spaces.

While we're at it.... by Elcalion on 2010-03-08 13:04:00 UTC Reply

(All without the spaces):
Bold
Underline
~~Strikethrough~~

Links are done by going Text to display

Please, please, please remember the closing tag e.g. , otherwise it will bold/underline/strikethrough everything following down the page until it sees a closing tag.

Elcalion, html-ing

Re: While we're at it.... by Data Junkie on 2010-03-08 22:58:00 UTC Reply

Ah, danke. I'll keep those in mind.

Welcome. Here's a tall ship. by Khajidu on 2010-03-08 09:09:00 UTC Reply

Fair winds!

Re: Welcome. Here's a tall ship. by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-09 02:29:00 UTC Reply

Totally. Freaking. Awesome (I love sailing).

Welcome by Miah on 2010-03-08 08:16:00 UTC Reply

Here have a 17 foot long, multi-colored wool knit scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.

Whew! my agents knitting needles are smoking with all these scarves for new folks!

I'm pretty new, too. Do you have any tv shows you read for? Not that I'm not able to read novels, just that for some reason almost all of my fanfic reading focuses on the tv I watch. Perhaps it is that the episodic nature inherent to tv series lends itself to my favorite fanfic style.

Re: Welcome by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-09 02:34:00 UTC Reply

Woot! Scarf and lifesaving device in one, plus...SUGAR! (Do you have a six-armed agent or something?) As to TV shows... Avatar: The Last Airbender and a couple of animes; Black Lagoon, Death Note, and... bugger all, I think that may be it that I can beta honestly.

Hello! by Cinnia Aine on 2010-03-08 02:15:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the PPC! Here's a dagger set from the Raven Armory and a bottle of bleeprin! (Yay! You like the Tamora Pierce books! I also like Pratchett, too, but I'm also not finished with reading them all, like you. Enjoy the loss of your sanity here!)

Re: Hello! by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 02:33:00 UTC Reply

Raven Armory? SWEET! *glomp* And I'm gonna need that bleeprin. I needn't fear for my sanity, however, as my borderline-kleptomaniac best friends ran off with it a while ago.

Hello hello! by Techno-Dann on 2010-03-08 01:33:00 UTC Reply

You've found the right place! The wiki is a useful compendium of information, but the real home of the PPC is here. Gattsuru already posted the big bag o' links, so I won't bother you with even more of the same.

*gives WEI a PPC bumper sticker*

Welcome to the board!

Re: Hello hello! by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 01:37:00 UTC Reply

Why, thank you! Hm, WEI... sounds like an actual name.

I may not capitalize it all all the time, though... by Techno-Dann on 2010-03-08 02:08:00 UTC Reply

The perils of long names... they tend to get abbreviated often. (Mine shortens to Dann, by the way. I have no clue why people would call me Techno, but it keeps happening...)

One other link you might not have - there's a PPC IRC channel, #PPC on Blitzed, if you're familiar with IRC. Or, you can click here and let Mibbit take care of it for you.

Re: I may not capitalize it all all the time, though... by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 02:35:00 UTC Reply

I'm used to nicknames, and because Techno sounds cooler than Dann. IRC?

IRC = Chat by gattsuru on 2010-03-08 03:09:00 UTC Reply

It's a chat room messaging system, using the Internet Relay Chat concept, used to allow multiple individuals to act as though they were in one conference message system. If you want, you can use a client like mIRC or any other IRC client with a server name of irc.blitzed.org and a channel of #PPC.

Or you can just use the Mibbit web client and not need to install anything.

Oh, we're all mad here. by Maudlin Hart on 2010-03-08 01:16:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the Board! Please deposit your sanity in the provided receptacle. *indicates bucket marked "Warg Fodder"* You shan't be needing it here. Also, here's some tea. Tea of Doom.

Re: Oh, we're all mad here. by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 01:37:00 UTC Reply

My sanity? It'll go in the Warg Fodder as soon as my friends give it back. I've gotten quite used to functioning without it.

Mmm, tea of doom; thank you! Doom doom doom doom doom. I wonder what it will taste like if I mix it with the dandelion fizz? (I figured out what it is, yes.)

Some spots to look by gattsuru on 2010-03-07 23:41:00 UTC Reply

The PPC wiki's a great place to start, and it'll eventually get you everywhere. Neshomeh's page has a lot on both the in-universe guide side, links, and missions, and thus is highly recommended. There's also The Big List of Everything PPC if you've got a lot of time to devote. I'd recommend the Board FAQ. If you plan to write PPC mission some day, take a look at the Permission article and the Manual -- it's a good guide on what we do, and the humor we try to do it with. Eventually, the Mission Writing Guide is a big help as well.

You've mentioned the wiki, so I'll assume you've already see the article on Legendary Badfic. Either way: before forewarned that they really are that bad and you don't (and if you want to keep whatever good taste you had, maybe shouldn't) feel like it's a test. Reading normal badfic is enough of a masochistic thing; we'd prefer you at stabbing insanity rather than brain-breakingly flamethrower crazy.

For things I enjoyed reading : Agent Trojanhorse and Paddlebrains have their missions posted at RC45, and are the expert Bad Slashers, so be forewarned. Laburnum has most of her completed mission logs and sporks here, although you'll need to dig through her LiveJournal to find everything. Some Mary Sues, mostly Bad Slash with Sue toppings. Sedri is quite worth reading. JulyFlame is worth reading, especially for the horror that is a 1984!Sue. The Department of Technical Errors haven't updated in a long time, but they have some incredible work with viewpoint writing in there. Indemaat has a boatload of missions done.

Anyway, that's a couple of the things I found interesting when I started.

Ah, and before I forget... *rummages through stuff*... Here's a thermos of dandelion fizz.

Re: Some spots to look by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 00:26:00 UTC Reply

Okay, thanks! It doesn't really matter what order I read it in? I've heard about a lot of huge events like the Reorganisation and some kind of attempted takeover (or was it two, or were they connected?) and I sort of figured I might not understand things written after that - how much of a continuity is there? And is there any way I can track down everything that got lost in Geocities?

Also, what's dandelion fizz? Same as dandelion fuzz?

And lastly, much though I might like to write with you guys, I doubt I'm good enough. (In fact, I'm scared of the Department of Implausible Crossovers, because I tried/am trying something really stupid.)

Re: Some spots to look by Elcalion on 2010-03-08 12:58:00 UTC Reply

Welcome, by the way. Have a platter of chocolate-covered profiteroles and a pet mongoose (available from the PPC Mongoose Shelter in RC 2816).

Unless things have changed while I've been lurking over the last year or so (in which case, apologies), probably the biggest collection of non-Original Series stuff is hosted on the DOGA-plex, which includes all of Huinesoron (hS)'s missions, and links to the Reorginisation and Crashing Down and so on (most/all of which were written by hS).

PPC Continuity is kind of fluid - there are things which aren't quite consistent between the various spin-offs, and some things happened entirely on chat (death of Makes-Things, IIRC). That said, those who have been more active than I over the last couple of years are better placed to fill you in on the more recent developments in the continuum.

Elcalion, welcoming
Author by Author by gattsuru on 2010-03-08 00:54:00 UTC Reply

Most spin-offs tend to follow the plot lines of a couple major characters, perhaps intersecting with other spin-offs but typically focusing on the growth of their own characters. You might miss some of the smaller jokes if you jump into more recently started spin-offs, but they've always got enough in common with The Original Series to be easy to follow.

There are some big events that really shake things up -- the Reorganization, Crashing Down, and the 2008 Macrovirus Epidemic are probably the ones you'll see the most referenced. These sort of Emergencies are starting to be reduced, and not everyone follows them to the letter. DOGA and related works ~~including those that of Departments that don't exist~~ may also be worthwhile, although most of the times you see these they are only glossed over. PPC: The Lost Tales, run by Neshomeh, is probably the biggest collection of things from the Geocities and Oddlots crunch, but it is incomplete.

Dandelion fizz just a random thing. I'd probably think it something along the lines of the various Redwall, but it's just random. It's considered polite to include virtual items, bumper stickers, or assault during newbie greetings. Lembas, for example, seems a common one, or offers of a barrel to put your sanity in while visiting.

Re: Author by Author by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 01:41:00 UTC Reply

Okay, I see; I'll start with those three then and then start checking out everything. And I'm very grateful for the gifts (I Googled the fizz and it sounds yummy)... haven't gotten assaulted yet. I'll remember the tradition for the next newbie. Thank you so very much, I'm much less lost now.

Welcome by Unconquered on 2010-03-07 23:13:00 UTC Reply

It is sad, but beautiful. For as one song ends, another begins, more beautiful for Melkor's discord.
Welcome. Have a complete history of the country of Switzerland, and the Rods of the five Wizards.
As to your problems, as a fellow newbie, allow me to give you some advice: make it up as you go along. As long as everyone enjoys themselves, nobody will question it.

Re: Welcome by Wide Eyed Idealist on 2010-03-08 00:36:00 UTC Reply

*staggers gratefully under the weight of the complete history* Rods of what wizards? And is this the kind with the drinking song? Regardless, my thanks.

Re: Welcome by unconquered on 2010-03-08 01:45:00 UTC Reply

I've been rereading Morgoth's Ring, and have my mind full of things that didn't make it into Tolkien's books.

The 5 Wizards did make it into LoTR by Elcalion on 2010-03-08 12:51:00 UTC Reply

As a passing reference from Saruman to Gandalf: "when you have the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards, and have purchased for yourself a pair of boots several sizes larger than the ones you have now".

But yes, only properly discussed in History of Middle Earth and in Unfinished Tales (which I think is directly referencing the bit expanded in more detail in HoME, in any case, IIRC).

Elcalion, feeling very nerdy

Re: The 5 Wizards did make it into LoTR by Unconquered on 2010-03-08 23:14:00 UTC Reply

I know, but they are never mentioned (the two missing ones, anyway). Even in Unfinished tales they only get a brief mention, and that's only to say they vanished after they went to confront Sauron.

True by Elcalion on 2010-03-09 01:11:00 UTC Reply

Good ol' Alatar and Pallando are never heard of again. I have a vague memory of Tolkien discussing the possibility of them leading resistance to Sauron in the far east of Middle Earth, or whether they too fell from their mission, but nothing definitive is ever mentioned about them.

Hewwo! by MAXinsanity on 2010-03-07 22:38:00 UTC Reply

I also found the PPC through TVtropes.