Behold the amazing number of things that changed, and the things that didn't. Poirot was considered for the Cabal? WHAT? Mr. A was originally LESS of a jerk, and more of a klutz? Interesting.
Everything up through Stage Four is basically set up. Once we have the website establishes, the real interactive parts of the game begin.
Also, note that we've added antagonists. At this point, the Cabal (actual name pending) includes Moriarty, Don Juan, and the Wicked Witch. We're debating between a few others, including Frankenstein's monster, Hercule Poirot, Perseus, and Dr. Faustus. We can have that decided in the next couple of days.
Stage One: Joe starts to post some videos on his youtube channel about characters running around town. Maybe some footage from his shaky cam, maybe some from news clips.
Stage Two: Mr. Administrator posts a video about the characters, saying that something should be done. He posts it on TV Tropes and to the youtube channel.
Stage Three: Mr. Administrator sends out books that redirect people to Joe's youtube channel.
Stage Three 1/2: Joe receives a book, realizes that what he's doing is important, and goes into hiding (he's a paranoid fellow).
Stage Three 3/4: Joe establishes his website.
Stage Four: Joe reports on various characters as they move through the real world, linking to blogs and whatnot. People can interact with them via comments or retweets or whatnot; character responses to these player interactions give out clues as to where the characters are physically.
Stage Five: Joe's website hosts a newsclip where it is expressly said that the fourth wall has been partially demolished. Joe urges people to try to find out how to fix it.
Stage Six: The Cabal (name pending) hijacks Joe's website and delivers their message of "Some of us don't want to leave." They are in shadow, do not discuss or reveal their identities.
Stage Seven: Joe (perhaps backed by Mr. Administrator) releases the app in order to locate the characters. The players must use the clues in the character blogs in order to track down the characters. Joe and the players have to analyze the information contained within the stills to figure out that they are tropes.
Stage Seven 1/2: The Cabal hijacks a video or two from the app, releasing a puzzle that leads to a date, time, and Skype name.
Stage Eight: Joe releases something about the refictionalization - the trope displayed in the video or whatever piece of information that the app gave is what sends that character back.
Stage Eight 1/2: The Cabal meets on Skype, discusses how they've taken pieces of the wall and hidden them. They also bring up that they plan on having an anti-refictionalization rally.
Stage Nine: Characters start to get sent back, one by one, based on the stories that people are writing. Joe releases books (or PDF files) of the characters who've been sent back as a sort of "Yay we did it!", except there are certain characters who are not mentioned - the Cabal.
Stage Ten: The Cabal releases a video where they, hidden, decry the sending back of characters as it is potentially against their will.
Stage Eleven: Joe posts a newsclip saying that the wall has been partially restructured from the original fallout, but that there are pieces missing. They show a picture of the chunk missing.
Stage Twelve: The people who have been refictionalizing characters are sent a note from the Cabal, angered at their actions, containing clues as to where the wall pieces are hidden.
Stage Thirteen: A puzzle on Joe's site (one that wasn't put there by Joe) leads to a video detailing what tropes will take out the Cabal without saying which trope takes out who. It's released by Mr. Administrator, though he doesn't clam it yet.
Stage Thirteen: The Rally and the Wall Closing ceremony take place at the same time. During the Rally speeches, the members of the Cabal publicly introduce themselves, each speech containing a hint about which trope lines up with which character.
Stage Fourteen: The Cabal is refictionalized, the Wall is closed, everyone celebrates.
End: Mr. Administrator thanks everyone, it was an amusing distraction. He reveals it was he who broke the wall in the first place, though accidentally.
Maybe we should dig up other outlines, showing how the progressed over time.
EDIT: Note about State 3.5: Originally our opener was that books featuring these characters were turning up blank -- not just for them, for everyone. But we changed that as a result of the comics, and I think it's better we did.
