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MediArtisansUnited
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 19
Location: USA - PA
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 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:59 am Post subject: A new approach? |
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I've always run into one thing being a core factor in RPs I see. Racism. Race wars, hate between races, you know...that. I want to have a new kind of approach for a RP i plan on opening. I don't know the setting, or my timeline. Probably Victorian, maybe medieval with a bunch of leniency. But as for a way to create background conflict...what would you do that isn't race against race or supernatural against non-supernatural.
(Or if it must be such, provide a clever twist.)
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Celyng 
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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Alternate history. Politics. Hold elections. Military vs. Bureaucracy. Coups. Assassinations. Technological wars. Industrial espionage.
Just a few idea off the top of my head.
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 8151
Location: USA - NY
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:39 pm Post subject: Re: A new approach? |
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| Guest_Sii0bhan wrote: | I've always run into one thing being a core factor in RPs I see. Racism. Race wars, hate between races, you know...that. I want to have a new kind of approach for a RP i plan on opening. I don't know the setting, or my timeline. Probably Victorian, maybe medieval with a bunch of leniency. But as for a way to create background conflict...what would you do that isn't race against race or supernatural against non-supernatural.
(Or if it must be such, provide a clever twist.) |
Oh, thank God! You have no idea how boring it is for me, how tired I am of the allegories for racism. Every dhampir who enters my rooms expects to be hated by Dracula for only being a half-breed or portray themselves as vampire hunters because "all dhampirs are vampire hunters."
And then there are the werewolves. "Lycans and vampires have always been at war." Not really... Dracula loves wolves. To be honest I find the metaphorical racism kind of dull. And I don't see the appeal of the x-men style universes where the supernatural is exposed as real but persecuted by humans. |
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MediArtisansUnited
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 19
Location: USA - PA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:02 pm Post subject: Re: A new approach? |
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| IamCountDracula wrote: | | Cut. |
Then whats your ideas for something new? 
@Celying- Oh nice ones. I may have to try one out. 
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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Location: USA - NY
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I can't be the one to do it because I'm already stretching myself too thin in the IMVU RP universe but I saw an old made for TV movie a few months ago called Cast a Deadly Spell. It was made in 1991 and set in the 1940s in a sort of "What if" alternate history situation on What if the supernatural was real and everyone knew about it? It wasn't some new discovery like n X-men or The Breed. It was a world where humans and the supernatural had co-existed for a while and were already used to each other. But it was noir. The supernatural creatures had to follow the same rules as everyone else and there were police procedures and equipment for every type of creature. The main plot was sort of a reverse on Harry Dresden, a Sam Spade style detective but with the twist that he refused to rely on any supernatural tools or methods. It was really interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing an RP set in that type of world.
As I have also said I find the vampire vs. Dhampir and Vampire vs. werewolf thing to be done to death. People seem to think it's always been there in all the folklore and always has to be used. It's not from the original folklore, its' fairly recent in the grand scheme of things (less than forty years old) and you aren't obligated to use the racism allegory. |
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Celyng
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 3846
Location: USA - CA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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You would probably enjoy Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove then.
He is also a pretty good alternate history writer if you are looking for ideas on that.
I particularly enjoyed his Ruled Britannia novel which featured Shakespeare.
Hubby also enjoys Eric Flint's series beginning with '1632'.
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I've been meaning to read Anno Dracula. It's supposed to be an alternate Victorian era if Dracula had succeeded in his plan of taking over London and even taking Queen Victoria as his mate. And The Supernatural is common knowledge. Apparently Dracula himself isn't much of a character for most of the series but a sometimes talked about political figure. |
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GibbertjeDeWolf
Joined: 12 Jan 2012
Posts: 431
Location: USA - NY
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:22 pm Post subject: Re: A new approach? |
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| Guest_Sii0bhan wrote: | | But as for a way to create background conflict...what would you do that isn't race against race or supernatural against non-supernatural. |
You could do class vs. class or, say, subculture vs mainstream. Something like Brecht's Dreigroschenoper might be interesting 
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: A new approach? |
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| Guest_Sii0bhan wrote: | | But as for a way to create background conflict...what would you do that isn't race against race or supernatural against non-supernatural. |
It doesn't always have to be a large numbered group against another large numbered group of "them vs. us" It could be a secret organization out to destroy the current political power. Or the current political power could be the antagonist.
Or it can be more personal, direct conflict with individual antagonists, criminals, rivals, conspiritors, things like that. Like the villains of old Noir detective stories.
Think if soap opera villains or villains from novels, they're very rarely an entire race against another entire race. In Dark Shadows the main antagonist was the manipulative witch Angelique. In Gargoyles it was usually David Xanatos and those that worked for him. Sherlock Holmes had Moriarty, Dr. Van Helsing had Dracula.
An antagonist could be one person or an entire organization, a political movement or current political power, it could be one person with a handful of powers but they don't have to target a specific race or culture and it doesn't have to be a particular culture targeting you.
Has the racism allegory become so over-used in fiction that we simply can't imagine anything else?
Why not a crime drama with criminals in a setting where the supernatural is common place? Cops of various human and non-human races, same with the criminals. NBC was considering a show like that last year to be called 17th Precinct but it never got off the ground and they did Grimm instead. Like a fantasy world Law and Order.
Or how about a magical ER? Or a very dysfunctional family that is just prone to strange trouble? (Dark Shadows). Or what about the world of Terry Pratchett's Discworld? |
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IshikaruTanaka 
Joined: 16 Oct 2006
Posts: 391
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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Here's an idea inspired from a few Jack L. Chalker novels I've read:
The in-game (IG) society is surrounded by some barrier or mist or something, and people have decided there's no point in trying to escape because it may allow evil outside forces a way to get in. But one plucky band of adventurers decide to see what's beyond the mist, so head for the border to see what's out there. A group of radical delusional locals en mass try to stop the adventurers. "If you leave, THEY'LL come, and they'll get us all! We can't let you leave!" or even a society conditioned to believe that an evil overlord will punish them if they try to free themselves, so a group so afraid of the overlord decides to make sure no one tries for freedom, so the overlord won't come down to punish everyone for it. People have been known to kill other people to "save" them or save the group from the consequences of the rogue person's actions.
And don't forget Logan's Run, young versus old.
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| IshikaruTanaka wrote: |
And don't forget Logan's Run, young versus old. |
That's still pretty close to the race thing. And "us" vs. "them." |
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MediArtisansUnited
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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But its not overdone vampires vs. werewolves. I like ishi's ideas. I also want to give a nudge, to ensure my topic stays on the right track. ^-^'
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IshikaruTanaka
Joined: 16 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:33 am Post subject: |
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Every conflict can be boiled down to an "us/them" dynamic, even if it just becomes "me/him" because of number of participants. It's the nature of conflict. It's pretty unavoidable.
I think what the OP was getting at was to help her find a conflict dynamic that isn't as tired as vampires versus werewolves, vampires versus dhampir, vampires versus mortal hunters, vampires versus vampire clans, vampires versus My Little Ponies, and all the other tired vampire stuff out there, some of which you, yourself, mentioned.
You know for a fact that nobody likes to play "old people" on IMVU except a very few rare types of RPer. You said you had trouble just finding middle aged skins for your Dracula to wear, so no, the "old versus young" trope/dynamic has not yet been played to death.
A delightful movie which has a cheeky old vs young subplot is Creator. (I love Peter O'Toole.) I won't ruin the plot but suggest anyone who doesn't mind romance comedies and who likes O'Toole, will enjoy this one. I did, anyway.
P.S. When typing above, I accidentally typoed "vampire clams". I was trying to figure how a clam would bite you, or where it's fangs would go. XD
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CountVladDracula
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| IshikaruTanaka wrote: | | Every conflict can be boiled down to an "us/them" dynamic, even if it just becomes "me/him" because of number of participants. It's the nature of conflict. It's pretty unavoidable. |
When it's a faction against another faction for being "different" over an issue that they cannot change that gets dull to me very fast. I don't like "race war" RP. It's about as appealing to me as Apocalypse RP which is... not.
| Quote: |
You know for a fact that nobody likes to play "old people" on IMVU except a very few rare types of RPer. You said you had trouble just finding middle aged skins for your Dracula to wear, so no, the "old versus young" trope/dynamic has not yet been played to death.
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I admit Logan's Run hasn't been done in many RPs yet but when it's divided factions over an issue like race (and this might as well be about race as it's a biological issue that cannot be helped) that grows dull to me, fast.
I think people have lost sight of creative writing where the antagonist isn't some evil and oppressive group out to get you for being different. Sometimes the villains are after you because they want to use you for some natural talent or gift you possess, or because they see you as being like them. You don't see that very often in RP anymore. And sometimes the villain is one person, not an entire demographic but again, that's become unheard of in a lot of RPs lately.
| Quote: |
A delightful movie which has a cheeky old vs young subplot is Creator. (I love Peter O'Toole.) I won't ruin the plot but suggest anyone who doesn't mind romance comedies and who likes O'Toole, will enjoy this one. I did, anyway.
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I love Peter O'toole too. He was great in Stardust and High spirits. I know he has had bigger and better roles but I liked those.
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P.S. When typing above, I accidentally typoed "vampire clams". I was trying to figure how a clam would bite you, or where it's fangs would go. XD |
 Evil clams.
Last edited by CountVladDracula on Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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MediArtisansUnited
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
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Location: USA - PA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:46 am Post subject: |
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Actually I quite like the old/new idea. it will give me a good reason to use an older lady of mine. Only issue is finding more people to play older people. D'x Most people want to say 22-25 IS old.
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