Prime time adventures: the writers' room

@WolfeRJ Kunming Brew - what is The Hump? And are you intending a Catch-22 or Buffalo Soldiers* vibe or expecting it to be more Bluestone 42?

*2001 film with Joaquin Phoenix.

The Hump is the logistical operation delivering supplies by air from India into China during the Second World War. Kunming was the primary terminus. I was not familiar with Bluestone 42 before your post but that from what I can tell it looks close to what I had in mind. War story that is not about combat but maintenance and supply and the people involved. Not catch-22 level downbeats. An individual lifting half a delivery of cigarettes for black market purposes would not treated by a script automatically kas a villain or as a total joke for example.

1 Like

Gosh 100 words is hardā€¦

(I say these things and I then find out I havenā€™t thought them through. Iā€™m re-reading ATOMIC ROBO at the moment. I feel a bit like him but less invulnerable and immortal.)

EUPHRANIA!

Somewhere to the East of Switzerland.

1812: a small kingdom goes away when Napoleonā€™s marshal demands its surrender.

Now: Itā€™s back. Why is not clear.

Characters: The Queen (young, beautiful, headstrong), her Chancellor (long suffering), the apprentice magician (whose teacher hasnā€™t woken up yet), the backpacker who stumbled upon the wakening court (may have their own secrets).

Problems: The bright-eyed entrepreneurs coming from the West. The mafiya coming from the East. The Folk In The Wood, who want the favour they did repaid.

All may yet be wellā€¦

Feel: Fairy tale (but not the Disney version) meets modern life.

THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY

An honourable officer, called back from his distant imperial posting. He brings with him his children, his trusted servant and his second wife who is a native of the land he was stationed in.

Appointed to act as guardian of one of the Emperorā€™s many children, he must raise the child and keep them alive.

The court is a viper pit, the Emperor will die soon, the fight over the succession is going to be vicious.
And the fact that lunatic preachers are prophesying the end of days doesnā€™t help either.

Feel: Sword-and-sorcery intrigue.

Further questions are welcomed.

And Iā€™d like to hear more about THE LONGEST FALL pleaseā€¦

I nominate: Kunming Brew.

@RogerBW - S.S. Exile made me think of The Vital Spark book and TV series, but I suspect only BBC Scotland showed it.

100-word version:

The Longest Fall

A hundred years in the future, Earth is expanding into space. Zero-G factories make drugs and superfine metals; lunar mines and asteroid haulers supply cheap minerals. Automated systems can do a lot, but when they go wrong, you need a trained monkey on site to fix them, and an unmanned station is legally just a salvage claim. Operations run under the law of their owning nation, but they have security, not investigators; thatā€™s for the newly formed Space Police, cops from a dozen nations whoā€™ve annoyed their bosses enough to be promoted sideways. No budget, no glory, all the blame.

London, NW

The British army flees from France and Hitler glares across the Channel. On a street somewhere in London, a small factory rubs shoulders with the pub, shops, houses and church; newcomers and old hands look suspiciously at each other. But when the bombs fall, thereā€™s not much help coming from outside, and everyone has to pull together to keep things running, in the face of power cuts, rationing, damage, shortages, and bureaucrats who have to care more about ticking boxes than about individuals. And some of the bodies after that last raid donā€™t look as if theyā€™ve been blown upā€¦

3 Likes

Drabble for Kunming Brew:

The Japanese have overrun Burma. Chang Kai-shek says fly in 12,000 tons of materiel this month. Kunming is known as the city of eternal spring. At least the weather is nice. Men wrestle crates from the narrow cargo doors of C-47s. 14-cylinder radial engines rumble nearby. Everywhere is the reek of sweat and AvGas. A sign near the edge of the concrete runway reads ā€œYou Made It Again ā€“ Good Work!ā€ Black blotches are visible past the edge of the runway. Spots where planes have crashed and burned. Inside a shelter is the laughter of comrades and the warmth of tea.

2 Likes

I nominate The Longest Fall.

Itā€™s already been nominated, so you get to pick something else. :slight_smile:

Ah, right! FIVE CHILDREN & THEM, then.

FIVE CHILDREN AND THEM

If you step through the gate in the Orphan School garden, you stand in the Temple of Choosing in the Land. The worthy are Chosen and in turn choose the Gods they serve. They will be Heroes, living lives of wonder.

Return to the school and no more time has passed than an nightā€™s dreaming.

They will discover legends of children like them who became great heroes, Kings and Queens. If they are curious they may discover why the Gods choose orphan children. why there is always a need for more Chosen.

Will they think the price worth paying?

3 Likes

I emerge from a week of writing up old games for my ALARUMS & EXCURSIONS contribution to discover that this thread has gone a little quiet.

Are people still interested in pressing forward?

If so Iā€™d suggest that you send me (via private e-mail to michael.cule@gmail.com) your ordered list of which games youā€™d prefer to play. This is also a good time to say ā€˜no, nay, never, not that oneā€™ for reasons of triggering or just not feeling any enthusiasm.

Letā€™s see what we get. Iā€™ll only vote to break any ties.

Should this list exclude or include our own games?

(Also we have private messages here, should people want to use 'em.)

I see no reason why people shouldnā€™t say they want to get the thing they suggested in the first place.

(And I should have known that: it may be useful later.)

Iā€™m making this list for my benefit, but it seems fair to share it. Bolded are the ones that have expansions above.

Roger: The Longest Fall, London NW, S. S. Exile, Orion Rising, Too Meta For Words, I Truffatori
JGD: Fiends
WolfeRJ: Kunming Brew, Should Have Been Done Long Ago, An Examination of Secrets
DrBob: The Wall, The Retirement Home, Zooquest in Spaaaaace!, First Contact, The Circus From Nowhere
Tore: The Merriment of the Twisted Wheel, The E Men
MichaelCule: Speak the Kingā€™s Euphranian Man; The Last Days of the City; A Court of Stars, A Throne of Iron; WDNE; Five Children and Them; Happy Valley

1 Like

I need to bow out. Sorry folks.

OK. Sorry about that. In which case I think I have ratings from everybody and I will go and collate the result momentarily.

3 Likes

Bless you for a gentleman, for using that word the traditional way.

1 Like

Iā€™m with you on that. English has a vast number of subtle (or less subtle) distinctions of meaning, and I hate seeing them blurred, or sometimes trampled into the mud.

I am seeking clarification from one respondent and otherwise just hanging about pretending I think I did something clever deliberately.

Itā€™s even better if you used the word correctly without even having to think about it!