From: Auberon [fskln1@uaf.edu] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 2:07 AM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Story: Desperation and Futility Tun Kai Poh wrote: > > The ironic thing is that Baum started out as a generic Incorporate > official who's supposed to perform only one plot function in the whole > story... The flip side of which is that even completely inconsequential characters are infinitely more believable if they have a few details: a personal life, a personal phone call in the middle of a scene (remember Hill Street Blues); a nervous tic; whatever. It takes them from being a PR flack that you don't even remember to "that Hanover PR lady with really big 'purple files'" -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= "I never get involved in my own life. It's too much trouble" - Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: The Wilke Wills Family [wilkewills@home.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 11:32 PM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Forgotten Fusion Well, I just got the CORPS Vehicle Design System, and I'm trying to design a 100 ton boat. I know there were some posts about fusion a while back, but I've forgotten what they were about. My question is, is it practical to put a fusion powerplant in a 100 ton boat? Otherwise, the fuel requirements are too high to get a good range (which is a must in a ship designed to operate independantly for long periods of time). -Andy *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Auberon [fskln1@uaf.edu] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 2:12 AM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Story: Desperation and Futility Tun Kai Poh wrote: > > Well, to each their own. I really liked the constructive critique about > the personal life simply because it means I have a new direction to > concentrate on which I'd forgotten about. And one of the major themes of > the upcoming story will be family. Plus, you brought it in with the mention of the son, and with her "extracirricular activities". Once you open the door, you have to show the room. -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= "I never get involved in my own life. It's too much trouble" - Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Tun Kai Poh [t_poh@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 3:39 AM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Story: Desperation and Futility Auberon said: >Plus, you brought it in with the mention of the son, and with her >"extracirricular activities". Once you open the door, you have to show >the room. Ahhh, are you a follower of the J. Michael Straczinski school of screenwriting, by any chance? To paraphrase Chekov, "If you show a gun hanging on the wall in Act One, the gun has to go off during Act Two..." Well, in my school of storytelling, the gun gets waved around a lot, and then, at the most inopportune moment, the gun jams. Or, to put it another way, once you open the door, I have to either show the room, or have it blow up in your face. Now don't ask me what that means, because I have no idea myself. Kai Poh, Malaysian Lagomorph Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Auberon [fskln1@uaf.edu] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 1:06 PM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Storytelling & writing Tun Kai Poh wrote: > > Ahhh, are you a follower of the J. Michael Straczinski school of > screenwriting, by any chance? > > To paraphrase Chekov, "If you show a gun hanging on the wall in Act One, > the gun has to go off during Act Two..." At the very least, if someone's going to yank the gun down off the wall, it has to be there first. Actually, one thing I do love to do is set something up, like a gun on the wall. Keep mentioning it in subtle ways. Maybe even have a fight in the room. And never use the gun. In games, it just spends the whole time as an implied threat. If a player grabs it, it's unloaded/nonfunctional. > Well, in my school of storytelling, the gun gets waved around a lot, and > then, at the most inopportune moment, the gun jams. This works too. > Or, to put it another way, once you open the door, I have to either show > the room, or have it blow up in your face. Now don't ask me what that > means, because I have no idea myself. The only problem with blowing it up is that it's pretty melodramatic, so you can't do it very often. -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= "I never get involved in my own life. It's too much trouble" - Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: The Wilke Wills Family [wilkewills@home.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 11:37 PM To: blue_planet@mpgn.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Storytelling & writing Auberon wrote: > Actually, one thing I do love to do is set something up, like a gun on > the wall. Keep mentioning it in subtle ways. Maybe even have a fight > in the room. And never use the gun. In games, it just spends the whole > time as an implied threat. If a player grabs it, it's unloaded/nonfunctional. I love this approach. It often happens with minor NPCs for me. I'll make up some descriptive characteristic, and the players will think the NPC is a major character. So I'll add other details to the NPC, until the players are waiting for the NPC to tie into the overall plot. Of course, they never do. -Andy *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.