Character Crossover Thread?

[Mindfire]

Has anyone ever done a thread for some kind of interdimensional crossover with characters created by members of the site? It could be an interesting writing exercise, and I've been curious to see how characters I've invented might compare or interact with others's.

 

[Caged Maiden]

if you want to, we're still running Shenoka. That is a perfect world to do it in if you want to give it a go

 

[Mindfire]

What's Shenoka?

And to be more clear, I was referring to characters featured in present WiP's rather than characters created specifically for use here.

 

[Ireth]

That sounds like fun, Mindfire.

 

[Mindfire]

That sounds like fun, Mindfire.

I thought so! I'm just wondering if it has been done, and if not, where should it be done?

 

[Caged Maiden]

Oh that would be really fun. Shenoka is a city ripped of from my WIP and anyone can write any character into it they want. I like the idea of writing in our characters from our books though. I'd be down with that. What setting do you propose? I kinda thought it would be fun to do a MFMA with WIP characters, or even a character poll like Steerpike is running with fantasy fighters right now.

Let me know if you need help organizing, I'd definitely be interested in putting some of my characters in it.

 

[Reaver]

Definitely a good idea. Probably work best either here or in the Challenges Section of you have any particular goals for the story.

 

[Mindfire]

Oh that would be really fun. Shenoka is a city ripped of from my WIP and anyone can write any character into it they want. I like the idea of writing in our characters from our books though. I'd be down with that. What setting do you propose? I kinda thought it would be fun to do a MFMA with WIP characters, or even a character poll like Steerpike is running with fantasy fighters right now.

Let me know if you need help organizing, I'd definitely be interested in putting some of my characters in it.

The only trouble with a poll like Steerpike's is that we don't really know enough about each other's characters to decide fairly between them. More than likely everyone would just vote for their own, or if the decision didn't concern a character they'd written, pick one at random. (Or at least I would, I must be honest.) One might as well toss a coin between them. In fact, tossing a coin would be fairer, because then there would be no bias involved at all and it would avoid the second issue a poll might create: a feeling of injury one might get if another character is chosen over their own. I know we're all good people here, but I see no reason to risk offending anyone if it can be reasonably avoided.

That said, battles could work, decided either by coin toss or by the two people involved working something out. And even aside from that, a story about characters from radically different backgrounds popping into another world would be entertaining.

Would we be going with the "Where am I and how did I get here?" approach, or are we skipping travel-shock altogether in favor of being somewhat more productive? Also, obviously this is non-canon, but should we have some kind of rule about character deaths?

 

[Amanita]

This sounds like fun indeed.
Two years ago, the German sub-section of NaNoWriMo had a sort of little role-playing game with various characters meeting in an inn. Maybe cliched but less violent than battles. If someone likes this and would point me to the right forum, I can open something like that here.
I'm not quite sure if I want to inflict my characters' offensive skills upon other people's beloved characters.

 

[Mindfire]

We could stage the thread in some kind of interdimensional cantina. Our characters can meet, talk about their adventures or their personal opinions. Obviously some will get along better than others and if a fight breaks out, so much the better. As long as there's no godmodding or thread jacking. Conflicts should feel natural, and we should avoid killing if possible.

 

[Amanita]

Sounds good. Time to do something fun here after all this trouble during the last few days.

Edit: Did it. I hope you don't mind me using your suggestion.

 

[Ireth]

Hm... now the question is, which of my characters should I bring in, and how? XDD There's quite a list...

 

[Amanita]

For me too.

 

[Ireth]

Maybe we can post our lists here and help each other choose! XD

 

[Ireth]

Pardon the double-post. I'm still having lots of trouble deciding on a character or two to bring into the Cantina, so I'm letting you help me. XD Here's a list of all the options I like best, in alphabetical order. When choosing a character who is in multiple canons (shown in square brackets beside each name, and detailed below where applicable), please specify which canon version you prefer, eg. "Conall from Dunehelden". No more than two characters per vote, please.

Ariel Hawk [Dunehelden]
Ariel is a human. Currently 19 years old, she is a freshman in the upper level at Dunehelden Academy, a boarding school in Faerie for supernatural creatures and a few mortals. Her father, stepmother and uncle (Vincent Hawk, Diana Hawk and Dominic Hawk) are all professors at the school. She is friends with many vampires, shapeshifters and even some Fae, as well as mages and non-magical humans, called "mortals". Her canon has crossed over with Middle-earth on more than one occasion; she herself has been to Arda twice.

Casper Hiller [Dunehelden]
Casper was born a mortal, but was very recently bitten by a lycanthrope and is now one himself. His animal form is a black wolf. Currently 49 years old, he has a wife, two daughters and a son. He lives at Dunehelden, learning about his lycanthropy and how to keep himself safe until he can return home for the summer. He has befriended some vampires and other supernaturals.

Conall mac Nechtan [A Dangerous Game, Low Road, Dunehelden/An Altered Past]
ADG: Conall was born a human, but was turned into a vampire by an evil goddess at the age of 46, and is the first of his bloodline. Currently roughly 56 years of age, he lives in the wilds of eleventh-century Scotland with his brother-in-arms, Lùthais mac Brannan. Conall is in love with a human woman named Sheona, who does not yet return her affections. He has fed from one human, whom he turned into another vampire. This act has triggered his lust for more human blood, which he wrestles with.
LR: Same story as ADG, but a few hundred years in the future. Now Conall resides and rules in an underground city of his own design, which is populated by vampires of his bloodline. He has grown insane and corrupt due to a) addiction to human blood and lack of conscience about killing; and b) insanity brought on by the slaughter of two consecutive wives, both by his own fangs.
Dunehelden: Conall, still young (for a vampire) and sane (ADG canon), is transported through time and space to Dunehelden Academy, over a thousand years in his future (Dunehelden canon). While there, he befriends the Hawk family and others; he dies protecting a friend from an Unseelie Fae, and is resurrected as a human, then returned to his own time and place shortly after by some Seelie Fae. (His storyline is continued in the spinoff An Altered Past.)

Diana Hawk [Dunehelden]
Diana Hawk (née Harrows) was born a mortal, but bitten by a lycanthrope at the age of 28. Her animal form is a grey wolf. Currently 32 years old, she is a professor of English Literature and Basic Shapeshifting at Dunehelden; she is married to Vincent Hawk as of summer 2010, and they have an infant son named Elkan, born in June of 2012.

Dominic "Dom" Hawk [Dunehelden]
Dominic Hawk was born a mortal, but bitten by a lycanthrope at the age of 43. His animal form is a brown bear. Currently 46 years old, he is a professor of Physical Education at Dunehelden; he is married to Laeriel, a woman formerly of Minas Tirith, whom he met and fell in love with during an unexpected journey into Middle-earth with Ariel and Vincent; Laeriel returned to Earth with him after a year of courting, and they married the following year.

Jason Hiller [Dunehelden]
Jason Hiller was born a mortal, but bitten by a lycanthrope at the age of 16. His animal form is a grey, brown and white wolf. He is Casper Hiller's youngest child and only son. Currently 23 years old, he is a senior in the upper levels at Dunehelden University, and is friends with the Hawk family and several others.

Lóegaire mac Lorcan [Dunehelden]
Lóegaire is a Daoine Sidhe of the Unseelie Court. His age is unknown; he resides in the woods of Faerie, preferring to linger close to Dunehelden Academy because of his friendship with the Hawk family.

Lùthais mac Brannan [A Dangerous Game, Low Road, Dunehelden, An Altered Past]
ADG: Lùthais was born human, but was bitten by Conall at the age of 46. Currently about 53 years of age, he lives with Conall in the wilds of Scotland, and is friends with Sheona and her young son Aodhán. He has not tasted human blood, and takes great pains not to. He knows of Conall's love for Sheona, and is against it.
LR: Same story as ADG, but a few hundred years in the future. Lùthais lives with Conall in the underground city, trying at all times to get Conall to turn from his murderous ways and to stop other vampires from following Conall's instructions in feeding from humans. He has tasted human blood more than once, but by force rather than willingly.
Dunehelden: AU continuation of ADG and LR. Currently between 900 and 1000 years old, Lùthais left the underground city after its destruction many years prior, and now lives at Dunehelden; he is friends with the Hawks and several others.
AAP: spinoff Dunehelden/ADG hybrid. After his brief stint in the 21st century, Conall rejoins Lùthais in the 11th century. Lùthais is a vampire, as in ADG, but during the plot he dies to protect Conall from a bandit, and is restored to human life, just as Conall was at Dunehelden.

Vincent Hawk [Dunehelden]
Vincent Hawk was born a mortal, but became a mage at the age of 38. His magic is rooted in song. Currently 42 years old, he is a professor of Music at Dunehelden. He has been in Middle-earth twice, along with his daughter, and once his brother.

 

[Mindfire]

@ Amanita: I'd like to help you set up some kind of rule system for this. Please point me in the direction of the thread you made. Issues to be considered:

Power Level: Obviously it wouldn't do to have a couple godlike beings sitting in a room with mere mortals, be they wizards or warriors. It would cause too many issues. For one thing, some characters might object to the existence of gods other than the ones they know. And for another, if any of the mortals thinks to disagree with one of the gods and a fight starts... well the mortal doesn't stand much of a chance. Using godlike characters should therefore qualify as "godmodding."

How Conflicts will be Resolved: If, as a result of characterization, two people take a disliking to each other, a fight may result. How will these be decided? Will the creators of the characters involved sort it out between them, or will the matter be decided by a third party coin toss? How will different character's skills be taken into account? It would be a travesty if a wizard on level with Gandalf lost to somebody like Robin Hood because he failed the coin toss. I suggest that the first resort is that the authors decide between them which character ought to win. And if they cannot decide because the two are evenly matched, then the coin toss is the next resort.

Subject Matter: How is this "story" going to start and where? What will the characters discuss? There has to be some kind of inciting event. Is it like the guest characters from Soul Calibur where extradimensional visitors stumble onto a conflict in progress? Or is everybody just hanging out in a bar and talking?

General Guidelines: We'll need rules to prevent people from thread jacking or not giving others opportunity to participate. Along with guidelines to prevent unnecessary hostility (between authors that is), to prevent godmodding, and to prevent people from using their characters merely as a guise to advance their own political or moral opinions.

And also, how many characters is a person allowed to have? Only one, or more than one? I'd say we should cap it at 2 or 3 characters, but of course it may be less confusing if each of us only has one. One at a time at least. At some point during the "story" one could have a character leave and have another one take his/her place. But to prevent that from being abused, we'd have to make a rule something like you can only have 2 or 3 "replacements" and that once a character is sent away you either can't bring them back, or bringing them back counts as one of your "replacements."

 

[Ireth]

Good of you to bring up those issues, Mindfire. Definitely stuff we should consider.

The Cantina is here: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/challenges/3669-interdimensional-cantina.html

 

[Mindfire]

Good of you to bring up those issues, Mindfire. Definitely stuff we should consider.

The Cantina is here: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/challenges/3669-interdimensional-cantina.html

Thanks Ireth. I think we should get some kind of rough rule system and then Amanita can add it into her OP. I'd have preferred that we'd gotten the rules settled before she made it, but whatever. What's done is done. Let's have fun with it!

Something else to consider: Can vampires/werewolves from one world "infect" people from other worlds? Or would they have interdimensional immunity? What kind of differences would their be between strains of vampirism or lycanthropy from different worlds? My world doesn't have vampires. Does this mean my characters are immune? Or are they more susceptible due to lack of exposure? Given the supernatural origin of vampires and the nature of my world's cosmology I would argue for immunity.

 

[Mindfire]

@Ireth: I'd need more information on your characters' personalities to give any useful suggestions. Also, how can your WiP include references to Middle-Earth? I think Tolkien's Legendarium is still firmly under copyright and has not (and will never I think) entered the public domain.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Sure I have some characters I could put up. Shall I list them As Ireth did or just their names or what?