This is the pitch thread, for pitching threads and occurrences. A Zero Session thread.

So...I will start with welcome and thank you. Thank you for taking a risk. I will be honest and tell you that this, itself, is quite a task. I will be working up a game statement, a game structure, and a true RTJ in the next few days. If you decide to bring over an existing character from Marvel Survival, you really won't need to change anything unless you plan on using the option resolution mechanics. I will also be getting information up on how that works so people can make informed decisions.

A little on the game structure. Marvel Survival was basic Freeform, we wright, GMs direct. I would like to incorporate a Co-Operative Writing Structure. While this sounds like a different way to say Basic Freeform, it is actually a little bit more. In Co-Op, players in a scene plan out and formulate their scene WITHOUT a GM oversight. They manage themselves.

Sounds more dangerous than it is. AS the current GM, I will set out a broad occurrence. A framework if you will, that will be what you use as the setting guidelines. It will be up to the writers to fill in the details. Again, sounds daunting. But I assure you, it isn't. All of you are creative writers...very creative. I want to turn you loose and have you build those stories.

Now, my main reason for this structure is actually very selfish to be truthful. I want to write also...I want to get my character into scenes and interactions...not just NPCs. I have been a part of something like this on another site that utilizes this very setup and I have seen it work. I believe we have the writers capable of doing the same thing here.

Thoughts? Counterpoints? Arguments?
Once again, Thanks for taking the risk.

One thing I would suggest if this is going to be a player guided game with little GM intervention in the conflicts is some type of die roll to determine success/failure in an encounter/conflict. this could be a single roll of the dice for the whole encounter to determine who wins or loses then the players can write out the encounter in as much detail as they wish detailing what happens. I suggest this to prevent "The Cosmic Nose Boop of DOOM!". While that can be funny in some situations it gets old pretty quickly when it happens time after time. There may need to be some modifiers figured out to prevent things like Joe the garbage man from One shotting Galactus but I am sure something could be worked out.

I don't like the idea of a good story being decided by the roll of a die. If someone his hogging the glory or simply can't give and take, then address that person and make sure they understand that they aren't acting like they want to be a part of the game and that they may be treat to the consequences of that behavior.

There will be an optional resolution system. Keyword is optional. It must be agreed by all in the scene. Otherwise, this is a FREEFORM game. The point is to escape a mechanic and rely upon the writing...storytelling.

The primary intention was to offer a new game for the characters that existed in the Marvel Survival Game. The Original Concept characters, ones who weren't cannon to Marvel. However, I do realize that people also like change and might want to create something new. Which is also fine. Just look back at these characters for guidelines. If nothing else, you have your own previous character as a framework to use as benchmark and acceptability.

Droplet Resolution System is in its own thread for perusal.

System seems interesting and simple enough.

In reply to Tabitha (msg # 4):

Social contracts really can't protect us from people acting in bad faith, from people who agree to them with no intention of abiding by them. Nothing can, except isolating and excluding people who abuse our good faith and undermine our shared goals. The purpose of a system like the droplet system is for people playing in good faith, who disagree in good faith about which outcome is going to be most satisfying for everyone, to agree to let other people win sometimes in exchange for not having to fight over it all the time.

If the answer to whoever wins in a fight between the Hulk and the Juggernaut is based on who's writing it, the dice just tell us that the author of the story isn't one of the authors whose been writing their solo book for the last five years.

In reply to Shroompunk (msg # 8):

A good example of what you are talking about is there was an issue of Thor where he casually shredds Celestial armor with his bare hands as if he never had a doubt he could do it, yet there was an issue wher the Hulk, fully enraged couldn't even dent the stuff, yet these two have fought each other to a standstill how many times?

I understand that as a writer you want your hero to win but if you always win whats the point of the story?

So...I assume that those here are still aware of Marvel Survival and its pending resurrection. With that, I, myself will still be active over there when it rises from its ashes.

What does that mean here?

I will still be developing this, though at a slower pace as I do not feel the desperate need to get this launched immediately. If you are still interested, keep posting...keep the input coming.


NOW...

Writers will always have their heroes succeed. Even in the source material for this, aka Marvel universe, the stories end in success 99% of the time. Sure, there will be setbacks, sure there will be losses, all within the framework of succeeding as the final outcome. Otherwise, what is the point of reading the stories and even more importantly, what is the point of telling the stories? The only stories that don't follow that framework are Horror and Cautionary Tales style stories, something this setting is not.

My personal experience with this in Freeform has been relatively positive with almost everyone writing in those small losses and injuries. The setbacks that make the comeback that much more impactful. IF a writer cannot or will not abide writing in these things and only writes their impossible achievements, they will quickly find that partners needed to write with will dry up and become non-existent. Without partners, in this system, the capability to write and post become impossible. In a way, this becomes self-governing through consensus.

It is easy to say that victories are meaningless without defeats, that if your characters don't struggle and get their teeth kicked in on the way to their eventual triumph that said triumph will be cheap and hollow-- literary candyfloss with no real emotional payoff.

Easy enough. True enough.

But something to consider... that's just saying you won't enjoy your ice cream if you don't eat your vegetables first. If you want to enjoy your whole dinner, you have to learn to consider the vegetables part of your enjoyment, part of your fun. The best part. Losing is fun. Letting your hero get their ass handed to them is fun. Giving someone else a chance to stunt and flex at your hero's expense... is fun.

I was playing an elfin archer one time, I plowed every weapons point I had into bow specialization. First combat, I shot 2 members of the party for critical hits. Never hit a single monster. Second combat, almost the same as the first. third, wash rinse repeat. That night he sat at the fire and burned his bow and all of his arrows, borrowed a sword, Zero Skill. next combat he's hiding behind a door muttering 'its a member of the party, its a member of the party, its a member of the party. Jumps out swings, surprise attack, critical hit, max damage. Danced around yelling 'I knew he was a member of the Party!' got smashed by an orc war hammer.

So what exactly is the setting?

You said they're basically the opposite of the TVA. Would they be something similar to the Exiles working for the Timebreakers except without any analogous copies of our characters in other realities?

What will characters be doing in the setting?

That’s sorta my question too. I have an idea for how Kitty might show up in the setting but it requires Adrian’s cooperation and he’s not as excited about the idea as I am, lol

(I’ve also got a couple fresh characters I’m thinking up but I’m waiting on him to come up with a couple too)

To answer Tabitha.

Yes...I am taking a lot of inspiration from Exiles. In fact, the leaning is towards an After Exiles setting. The Timebreakers are gone. The Crystal Palace isn't. There are still broken realities out there. They still need fixed...or they need defended.

Sounds fun. I never followed the exiles comics, but I'm familiar with the concept.