[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <340C2D98.41C67EA6 at iname.com>, on 09/02/97 
   at 09:23 AM, Shawn Halpenny <malachai at iname.com> said:

>coder at ibm.net wrote:

>> Of all the membership of this list, other than myself and Nathan, are
>> there __ANY__ not doing a fairly standard variation on a fantasy
>> world?  Oh, I know the details will be different, you'll have various
>> forms of internal economies, or magic systems, or family or clan
>> systems, or interesting forms of heavy/light RP, or whatever.  But the
>> base structure of a glorified medieval world overstocked with magical
>> touches...

>I'm not.  

Excellant.  

>Precisely what I'm going for, however, I'm not yet sure. 
>If you took the look and feel of "Beetlejuice", "Batman" (the first
>installment of the current (and increasingly deplorable) series),
>"Edward Scissorhands", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas", you'd
>get what I want for atmosphere--something rather dark where strange
>things happen and not all works as you'd expect. I've always found
>those Tim Burton movies to have something not quite "right" with
>them, as though reality had been grossly but subtly tweaked and then
>left to continue on its way and to me that's a perfect breeding
>ground for a virtual world.  (In a related vein, the recent Nissan
>commercials in the U.S. have a similar feel to them).  

I like.  

While I've described the mechanics of my world model previously, the
flavour I'm looking for is closer to C S Lewis or Silverlock crossed
with the Blade Runner and Brazil movies.  I want the utter fantasy and
punnery of C S Lewis with the baroque and glaring contrasts between
high and low tech, between sterility and filth, between contorted
stagnant survival and universal overabundant affluence, and between
the most laudable forms of humanity and civilisation and utter
depravity, corruption and bestiality.  

The fantasy is necessary to add some concept of humanity and hope. 
The rest is present to provide structure, however contorted.

This is not meant to be a pretty world.  It is meant to be a world
with many attempted absolutes, many equally painful and intolerable
glaring bright whites and pitch blacks, and few shadows.  No rest for
the wicked, and no lack of torture for the good.  

Take that, and mix in unbrindled fantasy, and actual physically
creative imagination such that the absolutes are now brilliantly
colourful, and the rainbow, if you can stand the glare, is blinding.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...