Character Would-haves

[Guyshane]

Would have loved to have written a character from the Three Musketeers

[Rick Healey]

Would have loved to have written a character from the Three Musketeers

... Damn it, now you have me thinking on how to do it.

[Pixelmage]

Reading the Female Characters thread's latest posts, I was thinking about some recent stuff... There are two characters I'd enjoy immensely writing: Kitai, from Butcher's Codex Alera. And Karrin Murphy from Butcher's Dresden Files.

Amara and Molly would be really interesting to write as well, but I feel that the two above would shine a lot more.

Kitai's understanding of moralities would make for a very nice ride as a whole.
And Murphy is one badass pocket sized woman who's made of purely distilled awesome, I think she'd blend really well with this world and our investigations, I personally imagine she'd be the first character to actually stand up to question Mr. A if she saw us all working for him obediently without seeking other options on our own. And she'd be the first in line to face off with Cthulhu if she was still around for it.

[Connor Fallon]

Okay, so I was thinking, and setting the arbitrary limit on Modern Characters to 4, here are the four characters I would have added to the ARG, trying to stick somewhat with the "classics" theme, though twisting it to geek classics. I'd like to try to come up with the best possible four characters we could select, so if you guys want to riff of these and suggest others and how they would have tied into the themes of the ARG, we should do it.

I'll start with the one I feel is strongest:

Jean Luc-Picard (Star Trek)
At first he might believe he had just gone back in time... again... but little inaccuracies in what is happening and what he believes happens at that time would begin to cue him in. After this, there would be plenty to deal with -- the fact that "science" doesn't quite work the way he expects it too and isn't actually an easy solution to everything, and the fact that the world may never progress to being like the utopian society he came from. I'm not really sure if he would want to go back -- I think he might actually join the Cabal, for entirely altruistic reasons of wanting to be able to stay to make the world better. There would be a lot to explore here.

(Really, most protagonists from Star Trek could have worked.)

The others, I'm less certain of, and may replace later:

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Buffy had an entire episode about "Maybe she's just crazy. Maybe there are not really vampires." And it would be interesting to see how that would play out, in a world where every supernatural threat is gone. What would she do with herself? And can she be happy being normal? There would also be the interesting element about the potential threat she might pose to OTHER fictional characters, especially if she was desperate.

Rorschach (Watchmen)
Probably would wind up in Seattle and get mixed up in the Rain City superhero movement... and of course, take things way too far. To be honest, I think the main reason I'd want to work with him was that writing his blog posts would be amazing. Rorschach's Journal... Lots of opportunity to super cynically comment on things from a... unique perspective. And imagine if he and Holmes wound up getting together.

Voldemort (Harry Potter)
Would lose his magic. You think that was bad for the Witch, but her main problem was the nature of evil. Voldemort's issues would come elsewhere -- think about what losing your magic means for someone who based his entire life on looking down on those without magic.

[Pixelmage]

Honestly? I applaud that selection. It just fits so well that I wouldn't change it.
Of course, one bout of Pokemon Syndrome and I'd probably want to ADD MOAR CHARACTERS! But these four stay for sure. Perhaps save for Buffy. I'm not really sure. She'd be really interesting, but if I was forced to kick someone off that list, I'd take her off.
Don't know who to replace her with though.

[SuperKing93]

Voldemort (Harry Potter)
Would lose his magic. You think that was bad for the Witch, but her main problem was the nature of evil. Voldemort's issues would come elsewhere -- think about what losing your magic means for someone who based his entire life on looking down on those without magic.

I would love to see what his interactions with Mr. A (or even better, Prime) would have been like...

[JackAlsworth]

I made a joke somewhere about Quixote being Rorschach (I can't remember where). He would have been a lot of fun. My favorite characters were Quixote, Cheshie, and Sweeney, though, so maybe the crazy ones just appeal to me. >.>

[Rick Healey]

Hmm... if I had a bridge table's worth of non-public domain characters...

The Red Right Hand

Music has plenty of underappreciated characters. If we had a huge, sprawling ARG (one that would have developed more slowly, to give folks an easier time keeping up), I think it would have been interesting to have a third faction led by the title character of this song. I could see him trying to play both Moriarty and Mr. A against each other: "...one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan, designed and directed by his red right hand."

Hammer,from Xenogears

Now, the logistics of this character would be a nightmare - anthropomorphic rats could not easily get around in this world (I don't think the "I'm cosplaying" excuse would have worked for three months). But his plot arc in the game was so tragic, I would have loved giving him a shot at a better life... and also, the possibility of him wanting to go back in part because life here was somehow worse, and in part because he missed his true love. Slightly related, one of the other issues that wasn't brought up, but also forced on us by necessity, was the lack of homosexual characters (since homosexual characters generally didn't appear in public domain works, and most of those that do have a host of unfortunate tropes attached to them). In a world where copyright concerns didn't exist, I would have liked a gay character to have crossed.

Iroh of the Fire Nation, from Avatar: the Last Airbender

You know what would have been one hell of a plot twist? Right as things were getting bleak, and folks didn't know if they could win... BAM, an anti-Cabal featuring Holmes, Poirot, and Adam Frankenstein, secretly in cahoots for months and led by Iroh. Bricks would have been shat.

Jimmy Olsen, from Superman

I think all of the merits of selecting Alice (from Alice In Wonderland) apply to Jimmy Olsen as well, except that he's actually an adult and doesn't have nearly the same number of drawbacks. Also, given that one of the tropes attached to him would pretty much have to be Weirdness Magnet, he probably would be the easiest character EVER to put into situations and thus write for.

[Val Reznitskaya]

Iroh of the Fire Nation, from Avatar: the Last Airbender

You know what would have been one hell of a plot twist? Right as things were getting bleak, and folks didn't know if they could win... BAM, an anti-Cabal featuring Holmes, Poirot, and Adam Frankenstein, secretly in cahoots for months and led by Iroh. Bricks would have been shat.

This kind of just made my day. XD

[Connor Fallon]

Iroh of the Fire Nation, from Avatar: the Last Airbender

You know what would have been one hell of a plot twist? Right as things were getting bleak, and folks didn't know if they could win... BAM, an anti-Cabal featuring Holmes, Poirot, and Adam Frankenstein, secretly in cahoots for months and led by Iroh. Bricks would have been shat.

This kind of just made my day. XD

I think it would have been funnier if the Cabal were talking about their mysterious and wise leader, and no other non-public domain characters are present. The theories would be going crazy, and then suddenly Iroh is like YEP. BEHIND IT ALL. Also I'm clearly a good guy.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

In terms of public-domain, I'm kind of surprised nobody's mentioned Jane Austen. Because personally, I think Emma Woodhouse would have been a hell of a lot of fun, both to write and to interact with. For one thing, she'd start shipping all the Metaguards... XD

I was talking about this concept with my family recently, and my dad was saying how he'd like to see Gussie Fink-Nottle or something, but personally I can't really imagine any Wodehouse characters making for an engaging storyline in this context... more's the pity.

As for non-public-domain characters...

It's kind of intimidating to think of writing stuff about characters whose writers are actually around, and some of whom I've actually interacted with, but...
It would be AWESOME to see Sassy from Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' works ("Empire of Dirt" and Persistence of Memory)-- he'd be as much a Wild Card as Metaneko. I could see him pretending to join the Cabal while totally playing them, and totally playing us, too, with no more agenda than "It Amused Me".
Or Ben, from Poison Tree, but for personal-meta-reasons, I would probably explode if that happened.

Tamora Pierce's Tris Chandler (Circle of Magic) could work... She'd want to stay because her powers don't work here... actually, Tris being here would probably make me sympathize with the Cabal a lot more than I ever did. Plus she'd go to a university and totally own all science ever.

I wish I could suggest a Pratchett or Gaiman character to cross over, but the idea of anyone but them writing their characters is just so... wrong. Sort of.

Somewhere in a different thread someone mentioned the idea of Dr. Horrible or River Tam crossing. This would be awesome. (Though I think it would be kind of cooler if Simon crossed than River; he'd get a job as a doctor, but meanwhile he'd be desperate to return so he could go back to looking after his sister.)

Also, Kryten from Red Dwarf would be hilarious. I'd say 'kind of hard to conceal', but then, Adam and the Witch seemed to blend in fine...

[Tom]

Kryten did have to blend in on Earth a few times. He wore a Reagan mask from a halloween shop.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Kryten only managed to blend in because everyone ever in the Red Dwarf verse is INSANE.
Also, it's not just his looks that would, uh, stick out.
"Ketchup?" *head explodes*

[Genndy Oda C.O.G.]

I talked to my family for random public-domian characters, and my sister (later found to be inaccurate) suggested Annie. I quickly thought up a plot with the usual Temporal Fish Out of Water and Values Dissonance, then went to sleep.

[Endless Sea]

If I had to bear in mind copyright and suchlike, essentially tying myself to the same "public domain character" rules as you guys, (EDIT: just re-read and realized I didn't have to do that. Smeg). I would probably pick a mythic figure. While my preference is for the mythology of the Norsemen, someone like Sigurd or Thor, I feel Herakles/Hercules would be my pick.

He's abnormally strong, abnormally handsome, and as a result very prideful and anyway prone to berserk rages. His arc would be him needing to come to grips with his anger and asshatery in a world where killing something isn't a viable solution to every problem. However, since the pleasures of the modern world are so many times greater than those of ancient Greece, he'd rather learn from his mistakes and stay than be sent back to Bronze Age Greece, so side with the Cabal.

An alternate would by Odysseus. He's also very strong, but he's also clever. He'd adapt to the real world quickly and easily build himself a significant political power base. However, as one of his central traits is his desire to return home he would want to be sent back as soon as his tasks are done (but him being a heroic type he would probably stick around until late in the game, to try to help fix what he would perceive as a godless, degenerate world remember it's duty). In fact, I have this vision of him, soon after appearing half-naked and injured in a gutter somewhere, asking for "guest protection" at a wealthy home only to be beaten up and brought to the drunk tank, sparking his rage and desire to "fix" our culture.

I'll try some non-public domain guys in a bit.

What he said. ^^ Ever since my senior year creative writing class, I've always been interested in seeing serious character development in stories, not to mention my general preference for more fantastic/mythic settings over relatively mundane ones. IMO, wacky fish-out-of-water escapades and "How would X react if put in a normal, modern setting?" stuff in general doesn't really get me hooked if there isn't a good plot or character arc behind everything.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

I had an idea some time ago of Ebeneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.

He'd arrive in this world and get a job at a bank or something similar. He'd quickly rise up to a management position. At this point, he may start up a business blog, in which he'd complain about all the unusual business practices in this world and how he'd do things differently. He'd be surprised at the concept of minimum wage. He'd chortle at the concept of paid holidays, sick days and maternity leave. And he'd make personal enemies with officials from OSHA. However, he learns to adapt and eventually starts up a business of his own.

He opens up a store, and it becomes mildly successful, though he still has trouble getting along with people, though begins to feel an urge to make at least one friend. About this time, Christmas comes around. Of course, he begins to hate it, but then he discovers how commercial Christmas has become, and has begun to embrace Christmas as a way to increase business.

That's as far as I got.

[Tom]

I had an idea some time ago of Ebeneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.

He'd arrive in this world and get a job at a bank or something similar. He'd quickly rise up to a management position. At this point, he may start up a business blog, in which he'd complain about all the unusual business practices in this world and how he'd do things differently. He'd be surprised at the concept of minimum wage. He'd chortle at the concept of paid holidays, sick days and maternity leave. And he'd make personal enemies with officials from OSHA. However, he learns to adapt and eventually starts up a business of his own.

He opens up a store, and it becomes mildly successful, though he still has trouble getting along with people, though begins to feel an urge to make at least one friend. About this time, Christmas comes around. Of course, he begins to hate it, but then he discovers how commercial Christmas has become, and has begun to embrace Christmas as a way to increase business.

That's as far as I got.

This is flawless and I hate you for suggesting it after there is nothing I can do about it.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

I had an idea some time ago of Ebeneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.

He'd arrive in this world and get a job at a bank or something similar. He'd quickly rise up to a management position. At this point, he may start up a business blog, in which he'd complain about all the unusual business practices in this world and how he'd do things differently. He'd be surprised at the concept of minimum wage. He'd chortle at the concept of paid holidays, sick days and maternity leave. And he'd make personal enemies with officials from OSHA. However, he learns to adapt and eventually starts up a business of his own.

He opens up a store, and it becomes mildly successful, though he still has trouble getting along with people, though begins to feel an urge to make at least one friend. About this time, Christmas comes around. Of course, he begins to hate it, but then he discovers how commercial Christmas has become, and has begun to embrace Christmas as a way to increase business.

That's as far as I got.

This is flawless and I hate you for suggesting it after there is nothing I can do about it.

It looks like you just have to get Mr. A to break the wall again.

[Tom]

It looks like you just have to get Mr. A to break the wall again.

I might just have a chat with him...

[Val Reznitskaya]

The thing just got fixed, Tom. Tell Mr. A to put down that hammer.

[Tom]

Sigh. I guess.

[Rick Healey]

I had an idea some time ago of Ebeneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.

He'd arrive in this world and get a job at a bank or something similar. He'd quickly rise up to a management position. At this point, he may start up a business blog, in which he'd complain about all the unusual business practices in this world and how he'd do things differently. He'd be surprised at the concept of minimum wage. He'd chortle at the concept of paid holidays, sick days and maternity leave. And he'd make personal enemies with officials from OSHA. However, he learns to adapt and eventually starts up a business of his own.

He opens up a store, and it becomes mildly successful, though he still has trouble getting along with people, though begins to feel an urge to make at least one friend. About this time, Christmas comes around. Of course, he begins to hate it, but then he discovers how commercial Christmas has become, and has begun to embrace Christmas as a way to increase business.

That's as far as I got.

I would have given dirty looks to the others if this happened.

Stuff like keeping track of laws was also part of my duty, because I'm the one who has the most experience with legal research (yet another ridiculous skill that I didn't know I'd need when I signed up). For the most part, this meant keeping running track of various copyrights and learning what we could do under the rubric of Fair Use. However, if I suddenly had to be aware of the ins and outs of employment law?

Granted, I know quite well the resources to find this information, but I know just how awful it can be to read the ins and outs of employment law.

That said, because you now have me thinking of it (DAMN YOU), we actually wouldn't have to deal with OSHA much. Scrooge himself would quickly learn about venture capital, and that he'd make plenty of money by having others worry about OSHA. There probably would be warnings based on him doing things like not paying for heating in his offices, but OSHA wouldn't crack down on him directly. The most he'd deal with is getting upset that they're threatening to shut down something that he invested in.

On the other hand, because Scrooge would quickly see the value of a diverse portfolio, one area where he could have more legal clashes is with property management. Renting out property is a solid and stable source of income, and Scrooge would naturally jump at it. That said, he'd totally be a slumlord, and the clashes between him and renter's rights would be potentially interesting. Also, I could cull from my own experiences in clashing with landlords, like the proper way to deal when one of your roommates didn't pay rent because she was too busy being strung out on coke, or what a landlord's duties are for when the stove completely falls apart in the kitchen (both true stories!).

Also, Scrooge would have admittedly played well off of the Wicked Witch. Given the intersection of money and politics, he'd end up trying to influence things. To resist actual political arguments, though, we'd have him say that neither political party went far enough, and we might have had a humorous subplot about him considering to support the Witch, with decisions made based on what her campaign team submitted to Scrooge. That would end either with players convincing him that she'd be a waste of money (probably playing similarly to what actually happened) or with him deciding to give her a push... but him being a complete miser about it, which would have resulted in her blaming him for the loss and vice versa, resulting in the two clashing.

For the Cabal... he probably wouldn't care less either way about them. He's quite capable of making money damn near everywhere, thank you. That could be swayed, naturally, depending on how things developed, but he'd have to be given a reason to even bother with them.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

I would've loved to see him and the witch get together. I wonder if something would've formed beyond a mere partnership (if you know what I mean )

As for getting him to side with or against together, the only way I could see him paying them any attention is if you went through with having Tom Sawyer join the game on the Cabal's side and becoming a young entreprenuer as suggested in some other thread. Then Tom Sawyer would request Scrooge when it came to assigning fictionals for each of the Cabal members to recruit. And they could connect over business practices and such. Sawyer may not be able to convince him, but they may be able to form a relationship similar to that of the Phantom and Adam.

[TheJester]

This one's a toughie. Other than the Watchers I never thought of anyone else but if I had to choose it would definitely be.

Beowulf, simply for the fact that I think he would have so many comedic moments with tough guys.

Slender Man, for very obvious reasons.

[Krika]

Tamora Pierce's Tris Chandler (Circle of Magic) could work... She'd want to stay because her powers don't work here... actually, Tris being here would probably make me sympathize with the Cabal a lot more than I ever did. Plus she'd go to a university and totally own all science ever.

I love you for this suggestion.