A mild caution

Subject: A mild caution
Author: Neshomeh
Posted on: 2014-01-20 16:45:00 UTC

The more characters you have, the more difficult it is to balance the story and keep things moving. Two agents is standard because it allows for personalities to bounce off each other, providing opportunities for storytelling, humor, and exposition that are hard to come by with just one agent. With three, though, you've got one more person who needs lines, one more person who needs description, one more person who needs a chance to do something significant, etc. Each additional person increases your wordcount—and they should, because if they aren't doing anything worth writing about, what's the point of them even being there? But the risk is that the inflated wordcount will drag the mission out longer than it needs to be and kill the pacing without necessarily adding anything that couldn't be accomplished with just two characters.

I'm not saying don't do it. I am recommending that you be sure you can handle the potential pitfalls.

~Neshomeh

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My Agents by DrMarble on 2014-01-17 21:06:00 UTC Reply

When I eventually request permission, these are the agents I plan on using. So I was wondering what people thought of them, and if anyone would be willing to give some pointers.

Ezekiel Browne
Brief Description:
Ezekiel joined the PPC on a dare, not thinking the Organization would actually accept him. He has a wide knowledge of various canons, serving as the team’s provider of canon info. Ezekiel very rarely gets exicted about anything, causing people to sometimes think he is a stoner. The only time when he does get excited is when he gets mad. He has a temper unmatched by anyone, and will mostly come out when a canon that is very dear to him is violated.

The Looker
Brief Description:
A Time Lord who has preferred to be an observer in the past, malfunction in his TARDIS has prompted him to join the PPC. Currently in his second incarnation, he displays the Time Lord’s trademark intelligence, but he has very little patience with other people. He can be extremely snarky, cynical, and sarcastic. Spends most of his free time trying to repair his TARDIS.

Erik Long
Brief Description:
Inspired to join the PPC after reading The Death of Nick, Erik desperately wants to become the best that he possibly can at everything he does. But he is held back only by his own incompetence. He is rather slow to fully understand things, and prefers for things to be simple. He takes great enjoyment in acting silly, much to The Looker’s annoyance. Despite his short comings, he is very determined to get the job done, and holds his friends highly (even The Looker).

Please tell me what you think.

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@_@ by Antimapler on 2014-01-20 07:53:00 UTC Reply

Don't tempt me to post my prospective agents too!

*Resisting temptation... or at least trying to*
I'd like to put my agents under here too. by Beekeeper Klein on 2014-01-20 01:36:00 UTC Reply

Just like DrMarble, I would like for some criticism on my would-be agents. Would that be alright?

Agent Catharsis

Home continuum: Fire Emblem 8

Species: Human

Personality: Catharsis is intelligent and kind (a bit too kind for a PPC agent), with a large number of neuroses and a rather weak stomach. He is the saner half of the duo. He is easily nauseated, disgusted and disturbed by badfic shenanigans, and has a paranoid fear of humanoid abominations. In spite of this, he is determined to do what he considers the right thing.

Backstory: Catharsis was a random badfic mook who had the fortune of not being slaughtered by monsters. He fell into a plothole straight into the Cafeteria floor face-first and no one took notice. He wandered about until he ended up in one of the Flowers' offices, where he was assigned to RC#7149 without even the slightest of PPC training.

Skills/Traits: As a FE8 Druid, he is capable of using Dark magic and Anima, or Element magic along with the ability to use staves. He also has an absurd magic resistance. However, due to lack of training, he is nearly clueless on modern technology.

--

Agent Jackets

Home continuum: World 1 - Yugioh GX

Species: Human

Personality: Jackets is a jumpy, temperamental, absent-minded introvert with a nigh-insatiable thirst for knowledge and a fondness for body horror. She is not easily disgusted by badfic biology due to said fondness for body horror. However, she is easily annoyed by other badfic shenanigans, especially if they involved her Lust Object. She also has self-esteem issues and apologizes a lot.

Backstory: Jackets was a college student who has found herself walking straight into the middle of a YGO GX badfic. There, she spent most of her time trying to help her Lust Object find his real students and avoid getting herself killed by PPC agents.

She was rescued by the PPC, but instead of returning to World 1, she joined the PPC as a chance to save the Yugioh GX Word World from badfic mayhem (and learn something along the way).

Skills: Jackets has a good grasp of Yugioh GX canon, especially that of the first two seasons, and knows a number of other canons too. She uses a Different Dimension deck when she duels - usually to distract the target. Also, her devotion to her Lust Object has made her well-versed in RL alchemy and obscure references. She has absolutely no sense of direction though.

----

Sorry for hijacking your thread, DrMarble. I don't want to start a new thread, and I have no idea where to put it.

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Some miscellaneous questions. by Outhra on 2014-01-20 04:41:00 UTC Reply

What exactly would these two be doing? You didn't mention a department or specialization, which would have been fine in most cases, but some of the pieces of information, without that context, just made me wonder how significant they were or would be. Details like the sort of Yu-Gi-Oh deck Jackets uses, for example. Is she going to be using that deck a lot in the missions? Is she planning on setting up a competitive card-playing league in the PPC? Her section mentioned that she was specifically wanting to protect the Yu-Gi-Oh continuum, which might have indicated that her dueling proficiency was due to a role in the All-Purpose Department, but since Catharsis apparently was assigned to her from a non-card-game-based continuum with no training or conditioning, which is in itself a little confusing because a PPC Agent would normally at least have a little time in conditioning to pick up fandoms and see what sorts of people they will be incapable of working with, that can't be the case.

Does Jackets have a second name? "Jackets" could be a first name, a last name, a nickname, a codename, or an assumed name, but it doesn't look like it's a full given name, at least for a human from Earth. Is there another name we're missing? And if so, what is it, if you've decided on it?

Would Catharsis see Mary Sues and the higher-level wraiths as "humanoid abominations"? They can warp time and space to their whims, they possess impossible powers, and they alter the minds of anyone around them, and yet oftentimes look more or less human. That seems pretty aberrant to me.
If he wouldn't, what sort of creatures is he afraid of?

What is RL alchemy? Is it something within the Yu-Gi-Oh continuum, or something connected to Jackets's time on World One, or something connected to avoiding what seems to have been a number of character replacements in the badfic? (I was never very good with acronyms.)

Would Catharsis's magic resistance only apply to Fire Emblem magic sources, or would it work in other continua as well? What's the extent of his resistance, or to put it differently, what exactly can his resistance do? Can it only absorb attacks, can it only penetrate defenses, is he invisible to magical detection, is it cumulative or does his resistance calculate the magical resistance new after each new magical source it encounters, etcetera. Magical resilience can either be incredibly overpowered or almost useless depending on its limits.
Actually, this could combine with the potential fear of Mary Sues, if he's powerful enough to soak the sparkly attacks of an oppressor, but he's too terrified of getting near a live Sue to try. That would need work, though... and I'm rambling. That's probably a good enough number of questions for now.

Postscript: Thread-hijacking is fine, especially when it's an extension of the topic the thread was already discussing, which this is. Don't feel bad about it. It's always best to keep potential redundancies down, since it keeps the older threads on the front page longer.

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Re: Some miscellaneous questions. by Beekeeper Klein on 2014-01-20 06:27:00 UTC Reply

Ah, sorry about that.

I was planning to create a badly understaffed and mis-matched Yugioh All-Purpose Department. Catharsis is there as an outsider unfamiliar to the Yugioh continua to Lampshade (sorry about the term) just how ridiculous the some of its tropes and trends can be. I'll probably change the untrained part to trained, but still adjusting to everything. Thanks for pointing that out.

She is not a professional duelist, and is rather mediocre at best. She duels for the fun of it, and may or may not nag other Agents for a game or two. She will often challenge the target to a duel to stall, distract and list charges while Catharsis takes the kill.

Jackets owns a lot of jackets. She does not want to use her old name anymore, so she uses that ridiculous nickname instead.

Catharsis is afraid of Sues, wraiths and some non-human humanoid Agents. He's also afraid of zombies. He's probably afraid of Wobbles the Clown too. He just sucks it up and carries on.

RL alchemy is real life alchemy (sorry about the acronym), seeing that there are lots of continua that have different forms of alchemy. Fullmetal Alchemist comes strongly to mind here. Yugioh GX, her specialty, is chock-full of alchemy references and other obscure references if one squints hard enough. Whether or not her knowledge may be relevant would still be known.

As for Catharsis' magic resistance, it's absurd by FE standards. He can withstand fireballs and lightning strikes to the face, but the stronger spells may do some damage to him. It's something I added in case the mission they wind up in goes awry, since a lot of Yugioh badfics I encounter have overpowered magic in them. In fact, I added Catharsis simply because of Yugioh's magic.

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On the Looker. by Huinesoron on 2014-01-18 08:20:00 UTC Reply

Since I've been thinking a lot about Time Lords of late, some questions:

-Why a Time Lord? There are countless other species with 'trademark intelligence', so why do you want a Time Lord? (I'm not saying you shouldn't - but it's best to have a reason beyond 'Time Lords are cool now')

-Why doesn't he use his name? You say he 'has preferred to be an observer in the past', which ties in very nicely with the Time Lord cultural tendency to sit on Gallifrey and practice non-interference. Most Time Lords still on Gallifrey use either their name (Borusa, Romana, Rassilon, Flavia, etc etc etc), or an actual official title (the Castellan - and even then, two of the three known Castellans used their names too). So what caused your Time Lord to reject his name? It seems to be a fairly common habit for renegades - but yours clearly fits the profile of a non-renegade.

-Which leads to: why does he have a TARDIS? They're not actually handed out left, right, and centre, y'know. Time Lords don't usually leave Gallifrey. When they do, they're either on some sort of mission for the High Council - in which case I assume they get a stock TARDIS from the docks - or they're a renegade, in which case they usually steal one (see: the Doctor). Since your Time Lord's personality isn't that of a renegade - why is he one?

A suggestion/question/theory: what happens when you try to fly a TARDIS out of a time-locked series of events? We know you can't actually escape to the outside universe - otherwise there would be as many 'last of the Time Lords'es as there were TARDISes on Gallifrey. Do you just loop back round? Or is there a chance that you jump continuums entirely - and end up in another universe, a fictional universe, where you attract the attention of the PPC? I can't imagine that would be very good for your TARDIS.

If I'm reading your Time Lord right, the idea of him being on Gallifrey up until the Time War - and then stealing a TARDIS and running for it - would fit well. It still wouldn't explain why he doesn't use his name, though; I'll wait for your answer on that one. And the others, of course: I'm just theorising, not writing your backstory for you.

hS

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That third bit would be pretty interesting... by Ekyl on 2014-01-18 10:16:00 UTC Reply

A Time Lord in trouble or hoping to dodge the Time War nabs a TARDIS and runs for it, but ends up accidentally jumping continua, wrecking the machine and having to explain what happened when some very alarmed PPC agents eventually show up to investigate? Sounds like a story in its own right, and I like how it's less direct than all the folks who just sorta crash in HQ.

And Time Lords seem to have been "cool" for a while now, though I guess it eased off after the brief "everyone's a Time Lord" spree of... I want to say Tawaki's spinoff? Ah well, just some idle thoughts. It'll be interesting to see where the Looker goes though.
Re: On the Looker. by DrMarble on 2014-01-18 08:35:00 UTC Reply

I probably should have alaborated. By "observor" I meant the he was more like a tourist. Drop in, snap a photo, then buzz off. He doesnt interfere, but he is still technacly a renegade. He was wasnt even involved in the Time War.

Him being a Time Lord is because of two reasons; 1. A charecter arc im planning that involves his prevoius incarnation 2. Im a huge Doctor Who fan.

As for you theroy, I have no clue. Its an interesting idea though, and I might explore it a little.

But... why did he leave? by Huinesoron on 2014-01-20 16:55:00 UTC Reply

Given their performance in past stories, I'm pretty sure the Time Lords on Gallifrey are able to remotely view most of the universe. So why'd he abscond with a TARDIS and run off, rather than just watching it all on space-TV or what have you?

(Also, please watch your spelling - 'theroy', 'charecter' - and make sure you put apostrophes and capital letters in, particularly in the word 'I'm'. Ta)

hS

Pretty much the same reason why we visit places in person? by Sergio Turbo on 2014-01-20 17:52:00 UTC Reply

AKA watching something in TV is something, but visiting the real deal is better.

Sure, probably Gallifreyans are probably advanced enough to have entire simulations... but I doubt that they feel the same as the real thing.

That's what I was thinking. by Outhra on 2014-01-20 18:22:00 UTC Reply

Maybe some people might think that important landmarks look the same on television as they do when said landmarks are right in front of them, but others would want to directly experience whatever force it is that leads people to stare appreciatively at large monuments and geological formations in the first place. Maybe the Looker would have observed locations across the universe on the Gallifreyan version of the Discovery Channel, but decided he was tired of watching remote recordings and wanted to see the interesting parts of time and space in person.

Plus, a time-machine tourist would be able to find the most interesting eras of any locale. Why visit the ruins of an old jousting arena when you can go back in time a few centuries and watch people knock each other off of horses in front of you? Why stare at a field that will one day house the world's largest display of underwater art when you can go into the future and appear right before the ticket prices go up?

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That's sort of my point. by Huinesoron on 2014-01-20 18:18:00 UTC Reply

Yes, visiting the real deal is better - but, most of the time, people don't. I'm fascinated by Petra, but am unlikely to ever go there.

And while flying there by TARDIS is about as easy as driving down the road, getting a TARDIS is more difficult. From all we know, you're either given one for official reasons, or you steal one. It would be like... oh... breaking through the Berlin Wall to go and look at Paris. Nice, yes - but it involves breaking the law (and in the case of Gallifrey, it verges on intervention, ie, The Law).

So yes, it's better to see it for yourself - but Gallifreyans, almost to a non-gender-or-species-specific man, don't. So I'm curious: why is the Looker an exception?

hS

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An idea. by World-Jumper on 2014-01-20 18:45:00 UTC Reply

Feel free to use this or not, depending on how you want the character to go.

You say a TARDIS is either given for official reasons or stolen. Seeing as staling a TARDIS would be rather difficult, and not fitting with how I am visualizing the Looker based off of the information given to me, this leaves only one option: make it for an official purpose. Make the Looker a journalist of sorts, an observer.

If the Time Lords are supposed to maintain the flow of Time, then having somebody fly around to assorted locations and eras to have a closer look at the goings-on of the universe may well be a reasonable expense. The Looker is sent as the main explorer, going onto planets and into eras, but not interfering, simply taking notes/letting the TARDIS make scans. That way, Gallifrey has somebody doing micro scans of the Time-Space Continuum, and the Looker gets to travel more or less where he wants.

From there, any assortment of things can happen where the Looker ends up in HQ. Plothole opens up in the Time Vortex; TARDIS crash lands in a badfic; TARDIS materializes in HQ for seemingly no bloody reason; Looker falls into plothole Gallifrey told him to examine, what have you. Again, this is just a suggestion, do with your character what you will.

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Re: An idea. by DrMarble on 2014-01-20 22:31:00 UTC Reply

This is a really good Idea, I think I might use it. But as for his arival, I already have that planned, and its what my writing piece will be about we I request permission.
And only now do I realize the confusing use of 'you.' by World-Jumper on 2014-01-20 18:56:00 UTC Reply

That was even a charge in my mission! Darn it...

Anyway, by 'you,' I am either referring to DrMarble or Huinesoron. Hopefully it is clear enough to see who I am referring to with each usage, but I thought I should just clarify in case there was any confusion.

Erik by Beekeeper Klein on 2014-01-18 07:26:00 UTC Reply

Just how incompetent is he? Bumbling-incompetent with the occasional flashes of competence or hopelessly pathetic at his job kind of incompetent?

Re: Erik by DrMarble on 2014-01-18 07:27:00 UTC Reply

the first one

Your Agents by Storme Hawk on 2014-01-17 21:25:00 UTC Reply

Just a few things. Overall it looks like a good base, but you'll need to give each agent more depth really.

1) what world's/continua are Ezekiel and Erik from, Ezekiel sounds from his description like he's from World one, but his name sounds like something out of Warhammer 40k (actually, just checked, it is the name of a character in 40k).
2) I'd temper down Ezekiel's anger (pun fully intended), rather than it being 'unmatched by anyone' just have him get very angry or something like that, 'unmatched by anyone' sounds a bit OP and maybe Sueish.
3) "The Death of Nick"? Maybe it's for the better but I haven't heard of it.
4) Just a query, but 3 Agents? I assume you'll have them working as one group.

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Re: Your Agents by DrMarble on 2014-01-18 01:15:00 UTC Reply
1. Sorry. Im kicking myself for not mentioning that. Both of them are from World One. And for Ezekiel's name, he is based off of yours truly, including his name.
  
  2. Yeah, poor choice of words on my part.
  
  3. It is better. Its not very well know, but it is TERRIBLE!
  
  4. Yep, a group of three. Originally I only came up with Erik and Ezekiel, but it didnt feel quite right with just the two of them, hence the creation of The Looker.
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A mild caution by Neshomeh on 2014-01-20 16:45:00 UTC Reply

The more characters you have, the more difficult it is to balance the story and keep things moving. Two agents is standard because it allows for personalities to bounce off each other, providing opportunities for storytelling, humor, and exposition that are hard to come by with just one agent. With three, though, you've got one more person who needs lines, one more person who needs description, one more person who needs a chance to do something significant, etc. Each additional person increases your wordcount—and they should, because if they aren't doing anything worth writing about, what's the point of them even being there? But the risk is that the inflated wordcount will drag the mission out longer than it needs to be and kill the pacing without necessarily adding anything that couldn't be accomplished with just two characters.

I'm not saying don't do it. I am recommending that you be sure you can handle the potential pitfalls.

~Neshomeh

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