Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board Every 10 Years Forum FIVE FACES OF DEATH: Discussion & Editorial Comments

Note: This thread started as a way of gauging interest in whether anyone wanted to pursue a roleplay in the near future. Well, that same night, Vee answered me by starting one himself! So now, as we're in the earliest stages of FIVE FACES OF DEATH [edit], I figured, in the interest of not being wasteful, we'd convert this thread into a discussion of the new roleplay itself! We can put summaries in, encourage new participants to join, talk openly about plot developments or whatever!

See the 13th reply below, for the start of this new phase...


It's been nearly a year since the last LMB roleplaying event, INVASION!, ended in early September 2006. Since then, almost all of LMB continuity has occurred in the massive tagteam thread "Omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis", the LMB 80-Page Giant and a smattering of Onevisions, including two by Cobalt, one by myself and a couple by Spellbinder.

All of these are great but lack the energy that comes with so many people contributing and shaping a story in an unpredictable manner. Basically, when people are roleplaying, you really feel a lot of people are invested in shaping the continuity.

The closest things to roleplays that have emerged since were the still-unresolved Gary Concorde/LVMP storyline (which at one point was going to be resolved as a multi-vision) and the mystery of Gladys the sentient disco ball.

Reading about "The Good, the Dark and the Dead" in Cobalt's latest updates to the Continuity in Bits has made me nostalgic for the roleplays, particularly since INVASION! was the only one I got to be a part of.

So are extended roleplays a thing of the past? Or are we just in an extended, but natural lull? Is the next big roleplay just around the corner?

I'd love to hear thoughts from past contributors that helped make such events so great. What's your perspective on roleplaying, its past and whether it has a future here. What would it take to fan interest in such activity again? If it were to happen, what would be the next logical place for us to go?

Maybe the LMBP Senate thread and the recent Legion of Former Deputies thread are babysteps toward moving back into actively shared continuity. We'll see....

I'd be up for it. Perhaps your forthcoming Onevision might lead into it, Lardy.

The way that one will end, it certainly could, Rocky...it certainly could...

But my concern for such a follow-up or any other roleplay (hence this thread, to test the waters) would be that there wouldn't be enough interest to carry it. I know that me, you and Cobalt would be down for it, but would anyone else?

Three (albeit amazing! ) posters do not a roleplay make...even if you factor in all of Cobalt's alts!

What say the masses?

Absolutely NOT the end of Role Play. You guys have too many DC-alt stories to catch up on!

Don't you have to do a LMBP in the 20th Century?

Call it..umm..The Lightning Strasse? A bar hopping crew of very special LMBers accidentally use the wrong door and enter Guy Gardner's bar Warrior!
Underage drinking!?!!
Invalid debit cards!
Venturian Walking Money!

Can Cobalt Kid out-chug Red Arrow?
Wet T-shirts! (hubba hubba)
Who picks up the check?

Read the LMB in Curious Adventures! to find out!!
Hilarity ensues!

"You guys"? Does this imply that Yellow Kid and his Primary Color Gang wouldn't participate in said hypothetical event?

To answer your question Lardy: OF COURSE NOT!!!. But you know that already, so don't play coy

I can say with great accuracy that I've been a part of every Legion World MMB roleplay. In fact, I can say I've been a MAJOR part of each one, and so have a lot of my alts. And given my historical analysis of these trends, I have a very great idea of how things go.

And generally, they're cyclical. These things move naturally with the ebb and flow of threads on the MMB, and usually can only be influnced to a certain degree by outside influences (re: editorializing by posters). That's why Gary Concord's story has never taken off--because people were still burnt out on Invasion. In fact, Invasion happened an entire year after Infinite Crisis, most likely because Infinite Crisis was such an MMB consuming event that it left people burnt out and some proactively avoiding such things.

I can give a great more examples. In fact, before the Good, the Dark and the Dead, which you'll remember I included, there was a period of intense down time on the MMB and in LMB related lore. A serious wave of inactivity hit the MMB section of Legion World, and LMB type activity, though the main reason was a cominbination of the the focus shifting to other things (Legion forum, Gym'lls) and such an intense wave of activity before hand that some posters decreased their time on LW or the internet in general. So yes, I would say this is a lull. But I would argue that it is certainly not an extended lull, but a normal sized one.

Further, there are two major themes (1) storyline and (2) posters. The latter is important, because you always need a wide variety of posters involved without an overseeing editorial influence that hinders people from 'putting it out there' (indeed, the Good, Dark, Dead Saga or Dark STU Saga would never have happened without that) but at the same time something funneling things to one conclusion so they don't run wild like in Infinite Crisis. Importantly, you can't have the same posters that inspired Invasion inspire the next one, though you logically count on (and indeed need), the major players of Invasion to participate to create a fluid continuity from the last one that will encourage posters to re-join in on the fun. The latter, the storyline, is also important, as reiterating another old theme would be a death-knell to any future plot. We've had our Dark Phoenix Saga and we've had our Crisis on Infinite Earths, and indeed, we've had many other things--to retierate them, which is always tempting, is to encourage longtime LWers to become disenchanted.

All of that above paragraph sounds confusing, of course, but I analyze these trends and have done so recently. In reality, no one will think of any of that and it will happen naturally. That's generally what always happens.

So what makes them so great? Spontaineity (sp?). A larger mix of posters. Change in the LMB and to characters, usually alts. Posters allowing themselves to be flawed, but at the same time not actively doing idiotic things to other posters. Posters making the event *theirs*--no matter what storyline any LMBer comes up with, you'll know I care about it when I have something major happen to Cobalt Kid. Everyone should do something like that (think Rocky and Invasion; think Kippers, Pov or Vee in Dark Stu; think Matlock and Hrun in The Good, the Dark and the Dead; the examples are literally endless). Above all else there needs to be a good raw idea, and then a chance to let it percolate naturally.

And there always needs to be those who are there to trim the fat in the MMB so that there is some semblance of control of LMB roleplaying on Legion World--and to do so in a way that casual lurkers wouldn't be able to tell.

So someone get into it already I'm more interested in what's next for Frio myself, and the long-standing mystery that Eryk Davis Ester is going to reveal to the LMB...but I can only tease so much

I've actually been contacted in the short time since I started this thread by one poster who has the germ of an idea. I've offered that poster my services should that poster need assistance. But certainly, this would fit the bill of baton-passing and would really gel with themes we've been developing since INVASION! So we'll see...

This is unrelated, but I think there's one thing we may have never had: a major, non-Alt-ID LMBer perishing in a roleplay. That was patently obvious by how Faraway Lad's story played out in GDD (not that I wanted him killed!). I wonder if that will ever happen? Guess it's hard for us to let go of our prime characters.

Yeah, I've thought of that too. That could be some serious drama though!

Ahem!

Vee--you okay? I didn't miss anything, did I?

Suddenly, I get the strange feeling I'm not the only one who missed roleplays...

Interesting...

Seriously folks...this new roleplay is completely spontaneous and is in its embryonic stages! It's the perfect time to jump in and just throw your ideas in there! At the moment we have about four different plots going on with contributions from Abin, Vee, myself and Cobalt and others contributing characterbits--there's plenty of room for more!

Trust me, there's no overriding plan, though it may seem that way. To be honest, I don't know where the stuff I've thrown out there so far is going--who that blood sample Lardy found belongs to, I don't know where the Lard Lad Robot(s) plot is going, what's in the chest under Lardy's bed--much less where the Slim/Concord thing, the Vee/Roy thing or the Rex Viridian thing are going!

But it'll be fun to roll with them and find out!

So HWW, Miner, everyone else...JUMP IN!!!

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Roleplay X: before it's over, someone will die--FOREVER!!!*


<span style="font-size: 10px;">*Disclaimer: a character may or may not die, and if one dies, the duration of said death may or may not be permanent. This roleplay has not yet been named.</span>

i love to role play

um...yeah...

Anyhoo, DB , regarding the roleplay I referred to, feel free to jump in! DB's storyline has been languishing a long time, so just create one for him!

Personally, I'd like to see five big villains emerge as the story goes on! We could call them...I dunno, the Ferocious Five? Wish there was something more Legion-ny that would fit the bill...

The Fatality Five?

The Jackson Five?

The Von Doom Family Singers?

Oh wait... that's more "Fantastic Four-y"...

Just an informal comment:

Try to keep this story somewhat contained. We are now ranging out over 6 or so threads. I don't want this to overwhelm MMB, so try to use your own threads, and create very few.

BTW, the Procounsel of Greenland thing has nothing to do with the roleplay. I just want the incoming leader to promise it to me, or I'll end up doing a writ-in vote for Dr. Mayavle...*again* .

Wow, I guess we have a title now...neat-o!

Cobaltus, could you provide us with a "The story so far..." summary of what's going on, so everyone can jump in who hasn't yet?

(hey, you're the historian! )

Jillikers Lardy! Its almost too early for that! Basically, everyone should just jump in!

Glad you like the title! I figure, hell, we won't have this wrapped up until at least Halloween given how these things go! (Hear that? That's some longtime LWers slamming their heads on their keyboards).

The Five Faces of Death

• An alliance between Gary Concord, Lonestar Ranger and Frio threatens to tear Legion World apart!
• Frio, once a beloved member of the LMB, has seemingly turned to the side of Evil!
• A man called Slim, harboring a grudge against Cobalt Kid, has captured Stoopid Cat, Pagan Lass, Space Tart and others, holding them ransom in his bar! Without explaining why, Cobalt Kid continues to defer this mission to Everyday Girl rather than attack himself.
• Varalent has been attacked and lies on the verge of death! The Royal Inquisitor is falsely blamed, and kidnaps him--joined by Rockhopper Lad, they are now on a Path to a mysterious Tower, pursued by a mysterious enemy.
• Newcomer Rex Veridian arrives on Legion World. Who he is, whether friend or foe, remains a mystery.
• Multiple Lard Lad Robots continue to appear, when there should only be one--yet, another mystery!
• Hordes of undead attack the Security Office, chanting the name Sheenu!
• The pressure mounting, Lard Lad attempts to gain increased powers for the Office of Security in the LMBP Senate, but is revoked by Outdoor Miner, Spellbinder and Cobalt Kid. Could this be the start of a schism from within the LMBP?

Stay tuned--or better yet--tune yourself in and get involved! That's the barest outline! A timeline won't be done until an estimated December, 2010! (Okay, maybe I'll do one at the end, or just before... )

Man, that is a bare outline! You left out the robots/sheep orgie!