Talk:Rebuilding

An interesting concept, but you should know one of the things which led to the deterioration of the Blind Pig setting was people pushing the 'powers' concept too far, especially in regards to inanimorphs. While a power like the one your character has can be canon if it at least has a seemingly plausible explanation, it is best to impose some sort of limit such as energy expenditure/conditions/time required. In Allan's case it could be linked to his heartbeat, requiring either complete calm or hyperactivity. This is, of course, just an example, but consequences or costs should be considered. --Lloyd

Thank you Lloyd. I was trying to figure out a way to say this and you managed to do it for me.

Yes - there needs to be a real, physically measurable limit. You CAN have things like this power - it just needs to have some limits. As it says on the setting page there are certain caveats to the really funky powers. For instance, my character 'Scott' can toss around balls of superheated plasma - but the number and/or power of them is strictly limited and if he uses too many of them or ones of too high a power, the requirements could kill him.

I like the idea of this power, but just want to ask you to be careful with how you use it so that the setting doesn't get into the territory of the "super-powerful beings that do nothing" that has happened to the Blind Pig setting. Yes - I probably contributed to that with my character "Max Grant" - but that story was done to try and point out that the "great power, great responsibility" bit from Spiderman isn't something the average joe would think about. (In truth, it had its genesis from a line of Sue Carters in the "One Small Step" epic by Bard and Cubist, but I'm allowed to put multiple levels of meaning into a story, right?)

Anyway... You seem to be doing well with this first attempt at weaving a narrative. When you've finished with it, I will try to give you some good, constructive criticism and advice on how to make it better (if you want it). -- ShadowWolf 19:28, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Which is why the "no Mary Sues" rule exists, right? When writing it, I had the PAW guide open in another tab for quick reference. It's in a very early stage right now. As in, what you see on the page there is whatever I could crap out from 11:00 to 3:40 that night. I'm just now getting a full idea for what Allan can and can't do. After reading through it once again, I realize that I need to fix a few things. I'm hoping to build a story arc based out of the Republic of Texas. Specifically a small town that gets bombed when a fighter pilot decides that dropping his surplus bombs would be a great idea. Allan will have to choose to help rebuild the town, or Enlist with the rangers to go after the party responsible. The setting, If my timeline is correct, is about 2020ish, when the fighting should be nearing it's end. I don't know what faction the pilot belongs to, but that will be an important choice. Anyways, I don't want to accidentally wreck your carefully crafted world with my bad fanfiction.

Speaking of "One Small Step," was that ever finished? It feels like Several of the Jubatus storylines just kinda frayed off at the ends. I really enjoyed that piece, as well as most everything else Bard and Cubist have written. That's the main reason I found this website. I was searching for more of Cubists work, and it led me here. Both of their writings on world building and character development have helped me a lot. Cubist even has an editorial on Power characters.

I'll come up with a complete history for Allan soon enough, almost like a D&D character sheet. Complete with sudophysics to explain powers and limitations. Right now I need to fix the "Block of Text" syndrome that plagues my work. That, and my unnatural affinity for commas, is going to be the end of me. I gladly accept any form of criticism that you wish to hand out. Constructive, Destructive, Obstructive. Anything to make a better story. Thanks to both of you for reading and responding to this so soon.

I'm also trying to create a PAW quick reference guide from the full PAW guidebook and stories that are currently in production. Hopefully It'll help keep everything straight between stories, as well as help starting authors like me delve into the universe. --Concerned Reader 21:56, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

I've never been able to get a straight answer out of Cubist or Bard about "One Small Step". Bard says that Cubist is the one holding up the story, Cubist says that it is Bard. Who really knows ?

And yes, the "No May Sues" rule as it exists was codified to stop the "powers progression" and several other types of stories that really wouldn't fit into the PAW setting well. But really, every rule in the guide has its roots in one or more of the facets of the setting that we have opted not to reveal so people cannot try to game the system. If you had access to all of the details of the setting, well... You'd see where each and every restriction fits into the setting :)

The "Block of Text" syndrome is actually a good one. It means that you know what you want to write and are not doing any real "self-censure" before letting the words hit the page. The solution is to perform a follow-up editing and formatting pass or two before calling the story "finished". And... An affinity for commas ? Have you seen any of the non-fiction I've written ? :)

Finally... A PAW Quick Reference guide will be handy. I've thought about doing it myself and decided not to - so I could focus on other projects (Like all of my works that are "on hiatus"). Go for it - if you've got questions about characters, well, most of the authors are available on IRC. Oberon, Felix and myself are on irc.lapinia.org (the TFNet IRC Network) in #transformations regularly. Cubist and Devin are also regulars in #transformations, but have no fixed pattern to whether they will be there or not. And Bard and Mr. Peaches are regulars on irc.anthrochat.net (the AnthroChat IRC network) in #TheZoo, but I couldn't tell you if you'll actually see them there without spending a good span of time there and waiting for them. -- ShadowWolf 23:21, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

A refrence guide would probably be something like the one for the Paradise settings, with the rules, important events, and character bios in seperate sections. Probably an addition to the current setting rules page. --Lloyd

As the setting seems to cross a wide range of years, It would also be nice to chronicle changes to things over time. subsections including characters, settings, politics, and technology. Each page would have subsections for Established facts, and proposed advancements. That way any story in any time frame will fit in with the others, and the facts will be constant across the universe. I'll whip up a quick one soon. --Concerned Reader 04:01, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

I'll give you a hand where I can. But for now we ask that people not go past about 2075... Speculation is allowed, but there are some plans by some of the people that created the setting for stories in the years after 2075. Personally... I am having problems of my own with both my part in the collaboration and in writing Scott's back-story. So any plans for stories I may have that far into the future are... well... nebulous at best.

As to your planned time-frame... If it is after 2015 then there are two groups that could be behind the "bomb drop" you are thinking about including. The "New Confederacy" and whatever government/governments have sprung up south of the Rio Grande. The NAR was formed in 2015 and has very strict rules about things like dropping bombs on neighbors and strategic allies.

Other than that... Go for it. Your idea for the power sounds good, your idea for the story sounds good and your idea about setting up a "setting bible" for PAW is excellent. -- ShadowWolf 07:04, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Rough general timeline done-ish

Just finished up the rough general timeline. I don't want to add it to the settings page until someone who knows the universe better has had a look at it. PAW_General_TimeLine. --Concerned Reader 20:37, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Heart rate

I'm stealing your heart rate idea. It's mentioned in chapter 2, which is now up. --Concerned Reader 07:08, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Category: fox???

Any particular reason this was categorized as fox? So far, I haven't introduced any foxes. This isn't to say I won't, but at the moment it is very foxless. I'll remove the tag for now, until foxes make an appearance. Thanks for the tagging and templating. I'll figure it out eventually.--Concerned Reader 04:52, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Confusion on my part, likely. I recall another new PAW author who was writing a story and the character was a fox. Not even my memory is perfect :) -- ShadowWolf 13:11, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

No worries, that was probably Lloyd. My short term memory is pretty much shot as well. I've got about three different outlines for Allan so I can remember what I'm writing about. --Concerned Reader 16:29, 8 June 2009 (UTC)