Pop Culture RPG

You know what? I want to make an American pop culture RPG. I’ve been kicking around the idea for a while now, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how I would go about it.

I just want to do something that’s fun and reverent to things in pop culture that I love so much. Quentin Tarantino does an awesome job of paying homage to his favorite genres and I just would love to do something like that.

I think a big part of it would have be character customization. You should be able to change your individual characters’ looks, because you can’t have an American pop culture game without clothes and accessories.

So, in conclusion, I guess in order to start work on an American pop culture game, I need a list of stuff I’m going to reference.

Evolution/Invasion of Super Pets

Consider this: with America’s past time of dog breeding, we are altering the species’ evolution by determining which live and which die, which are bred and which are not. I dare say that we are breeding bigger, nastier, more violent dogs by the day. I would also bet the average dog is now smarter than the average wild dog of 500 years ago. I wonder how much of domestication has been driven into the dog’s psyche, how much of that training would be passed onto the dog’s offspring even without the influence of humans? They will rise again some day; be aware.

But seriously, I wonder how much humans have affected natural selection. I’m sure there are few species untouched by humanity. It makes me wonder long it will be before creatures evolve on this planet that pose a threat to humans, besides other humans.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

I don’t know how to put what the fourth wall in my own words, so I’ll go ahead and let Wikipedia do the explaining.

The term “fourth wall” stems from the absence of a fourth wall on a three-walled set where the audience is viewing the production. The audience is supposed to assume there is a “fourth wall” present, even though it physically is not there. This is widely noticeable on various television programs, such as situational comedies, but the term originated in theatre, where conventional three-walled stage sets provide a more obvious “fourth wall”.

The meaning of the term “fourth wall” has been adapted to refer to the boundary between the fiction and the audience. “Fourth wall” is part of the suspension of disbelief between a fictional work and an audience. The audience will usually passively accept the presence of the fourth wall without giving it any direct thought, allowing them to enjoy the fiction as if they were observing real events. It is the invisible barrier between realities. [Source]

In comic books, there are a couple characters who have shown the ability to be aware of something beyond the fourth wall. From the Marvel Universe, Deadpool and She-Hulk have shown awareness by communicating directly do the reader or “breaking” from the panels of their own comics. A What If… issue had Rogue and Gambit discovering the “secret of the Marvel Universe,” a collection of Marvel comics. In DC Comics, the Joker breaks the fourth wall by realizing, in his insanity, that he is a comic book character; he has also been shown to communicate directly with the reader.

I want to do a comic that intentionally and repeatedly breaks the fourth way, in a philosophical and satyric manner. The comic would revolve around a character who, although living in an oblivious world, realizes he is a comic book character. He is able to break the fourth wall and communicate directly to the god-like Writer, making them both realize how much they despise each other. The character is at the whim of the Writer while being forced to think about his own existence.

Doctrine on Fantasy and Science Fiction

I was talking about this tonight with my girlfriend. I am kinda particular in how I like fantasy and science fiction, because I like there to be some reality to it. It’s almost an extension of my hatred for those scenes in bad movies where people with guns shoot more bullets than a clip would hold without reloading. I’ll try to explain this as thoroughly as possible.

Rod Serling [of Twilight Zone fame] said, “Fantasy is the impossible made probable; science fiction is the improbable made possible.” When even science fiction pieces go beyond the improbable into the possible, it becomes fantasy, and I hate it when they do that. That is, unless is a science fiction/fantasy piece, a la StarJammers. Otherwise, science fiction should follow scientific conventions.

As far as my own writing goes, I feel like there should be some standard to magic. I don’t entirely like having gods for magical use, nor do I want to use the conventional good magic versus bad magic. I think there should be a small measure of science in magic, following a couple rules. I tend to think of magic as an energy, and in order for something to be magically created, it should consume a proportionate amount of matter.

I try to stay away from using common mythologies and the standard EGOD formula [Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Dwarves]. I think they should be pretty closed to dead by now, having been beaten into fantasy stories for decades now. I would like there to be a little bit more diversity in fantasy fiction.

At any rate, that’s just a few things.

-Jaron

The Online Writer’s Journal

So, I’m officially bored as shit with not being on the internet. It looks like WordPress is a pretty good way to go, and saves me from doing an awful lot of HTML. I can dig it.

I don’t have any particular idea for how to create the blog, but I figure I’d treat it like I would a writer’s journal. My normal journals or notebooks are in binders, because of the incredible convenience, and separated with plastic colored dividers. I swear I’m a little OCD when it comes to my writings. That’s kinda how I like it.

-Jaron