The hell of working in an ongoing world

[jducoeur]

Argh! The Foglios aren't going to make it easy to figure out who to put into this game, are they? *Sigh*.

Yes, yes -- it's just a Heterodyne Story, and we can (and probably must) to some degree fiddle with continuity. But I'd really prefer to keep as close to canon as reasonably possible. We'll see how we have to play this: yesterday's page doesn't bode well...

Comments

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

Nonsense; as long as the head's intact...

[keshwyn]

Exactly. After all, Punch & Judy are back courtesy of Gil, and Klaus brought (or at least planned to bring) whats-her-name, the obnoxious Princess, back too.

[jducoeur]

True, and I'm currently expecting to have all three in-game on that basis. Still, there's a lot less obvious reason for him to do it this time around...

[keshwyn]

I'm not sure he will. I'm betting -Agatha- might, though. And there's a whole Circus full of minor friendly Sparks there to make sure his head stays intact long enough for her to figure out how.

[jducoeur]

We'll see. I'm making no bets on where the plot is going at this point...

Not sure I'd want to trust my head to those sparks

[metageek.livejournal.com]

What if they decide the best way to preserve is head is to bake it into a pie?

[jducoeur]

I'm going to delete this comment -- I think it's correct, and I don't mind it personally, but it crosses over into "spoiler" (too much detail), and I'm trying to avoid spoiling anything quite that recent. I'm willing to assume that folks have read much of the story, but not necessarily up to this week...

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had that thought too when reading yesterday's update. On the other hand the Narbonic story arc is just about wrapped up.

[jducoeur]

Yaas. And Narbonic is really much easier, because there is so much *space* in it. I can simply say that this happened "in the past", and not worry *too* much about the fine details of when.

The trick with Girl Genius is that the story is so *tight*. I mean, the entire series since the beginning has taken, what, maybe a couple of months so far? And the scenario is constantly shifting. That's part of what makes it such a good story, but it *does* make it rather harder to work a substory into the middle somewhere, even acknowledging that it's apochryphal..

Narbonic space

[metageek.livejournal.com]

And Narbonic is really much easier, because there is so much *space* in it.

Oh, yeah. And there's always been a sense of open space, with passing references to adventures that we've never seen, like baker's yeast devouring a Swedish embassy.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I think the idea of trying to stay consistent with the ever-changing online storyline that can change a couple times a week throughout the writing process is not reasonable.

My suggested solution - make it known that you will be consistent with all material that's made it to print by some specific time (end-of-year, January 1, gametime, or something).

[jducoeur]

Yeah, something like that is probably necessary. At the least, we're just going to have to pick *some* time and say, "Okay, we'll try to live within these constraints", and not get too nuts about it being rendered incorrect afterwards.

Indeed, even if we were to make the opening scenario perfectly consistent with the GG world, there is little chance that the *end* will be -- making it do so would probably require constraining the players greatly, and the players having fun is much more important than consistency.

It's really not all that hard to set a stake in the ground and say, "We'll be so accurate and no more", and I suspect the players will forgive the inconsistencies. Not letting it make me insane will be a bit harder, but I'll simply have to work at that...

[jducoeur]

Oh, and help me remember: we should put a statement to this effect into the casting letters, which I'm planning on sending out around the beginning of the year. (Frighteningly soon, but I promised everyone time to costume.)

[jducoeur]

Hmm. Interesting observation -- I'd like to believe you're right (there's *just* an outside chance of it), although I'm dubious. However, deleting the comment on "too spoilery" grounds. I'm trying to avoid specifics, for people who aren't quite caught up...

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

I was wrong. But. All is not lost. (:

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that Klaus is a construct.

Also, this is a particularly bad moment to be looking for stability in the storyline. They've been building up to this for months in terms of moving in characters, and this is presumably a volume climax going on. Give it a few weeks to settle down before locking in on a continuity point.

[jducoeur]

Keep in mind that Klaus is a construct.

Or something, yes. I've been trying to avoid any assumptions of what the stitches are all about, although that's definitely one of the more likely hypotheses. Whatever he is, we're getting a reminder that he is a *scary* sonovabitch when he wants to be.

Also, this is a particularly bad moment to be looking for stability in the storyline.

Yeah, I know. I have no idea what "Opera Week" portends, but I have a suspicion that much is about to change. It's just inconvenient timing, because quite soon I need to choose which characters are actually in-game, which is tightly related to the question of which major plots we're going to run with. My (admittedly self-imposed) deadline for this is around Jan. 1, and I don't want to slip that by much -- this game has a lot of costuming appeal, and I want to give the players who want to a chance to do it up...

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Klaus is officially a construct according to Girl Genius: The Works. Which if you don't have a copy of, you should get. It's a good game.

Now, granted, GG:TW is way out of date (check out the Abner and Pix picture!) but I'm inclined ot think that Klaus being a construct hasn't changed.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I'm going to suggest a strong "if it ain't in the comic, it ain't canon" line. Whether or not jducoeur (or his fellow GMs) know the card game, many of the players may not.

[jducoeur]

True, but in case of doubt, the card game makes a good tiebreaker. This is a good example: being a Construct is only one explanation for Klaus' scars, but if that's what the card game says, I'm willing to accept that it's probably the *right* explanation.

(Besides, we should be assuming as little player knowledge as possible anyway -- some of them haven't read the series...)

[jducoeur]

Ah, interesting. I have a copy, but I haven't done a principled dig through it to see what it adds to the backstory. Clearly something I need to do...

[keshwyn]

Given that the Foglios made it, I'm willing to bet that most of it is still kosher, if not canon. (The changes in some of the circus folks are a hoot, though.)

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

Can you just pick a time when the game starts? Current goings on, if in the games future, don't matter.

p.s. I don't think any amount of costuming lead time is going to get me beleivable in my desired character (the pirate airship captain)...

[jducoeur]

I can, but it's a bit tricky; as mentioned in an earlier comment, there just isn't a lot of *room* in the story to stick something in. I may do so anyway (just sort of shoehorn it into somewhere in the past), but there aren't many opportune gaps to put the story into.

p.s. I don't think any amount of costuming lead time is going to get me beleivable in my desired character (the pirate airship captain)...

Interesting. I didn't think to ask peoples' opinion about cross-casting. I suppose this is one of the few games where it's entirely plausible that a non-trivial number of men might want to play female roles, since some of the women in this story are *such* great characters...