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beccaelizabethAm bored. Should be studying. It's Saturday and I don wanna.
So...
Say the first British expedition through the teleport circle has a couple of dozen people. What expertise needs to be represented?
Adventure parties and TV show casts are more usually made up of half a dozen or less. But adventure parties have to do their own cooking. Also then you can't kill anybody or send them to do something long term or have a one off story or date outside the team. Needs more people.
Will want the group to be 50/50 by gender and have more than 10% people of color. Want names from all over Britain, not just England, and from different backgrounds. Am picking names mostly by going through popular names lists and picking ones I can spell consistently, then adding a top twenty surname. My rule is if there's a couple thousand google hits then adding one more is background noise. No using names only one person has though. Also try not to use famous people without knowing it.
Girl names shift all the time and most of them date really easily. Guy names less so, I think. There's core names either way. But the baby name voyager thingy that claims to date when most people had that name be really useful. Though I couldn't find it stating its geography, so I assume it's USA names, which is less helpful for me.
hmmm, I got a dozen names and got bored. It's a start.
Sean Doyle - electronics and radar and military suchlikes
Rhodri Price - physics, crystals and weird tech
Mohammed Green - Chemist.
Owen Piper - Vet. For treating animals. They're bringing animals, and expecting to find more.
Peter Walker - Medical doctor. sort of. Not big on whole patients. Prefers microscopes.
Lindsey Campbell - military. shooting and running around.
Mary Turner - theology and weird folklore
Susan Doyle - explosives, setting and stopping, plus military in general
Elspeth Reid -herding cats organising people, things, supplies, timetables, etc
Aisha Patel - field medic
Caitlin Hughes - military. communications and intelligence and stuff.
Morgan Griffiths - Police.
The Doyles are brother and sister. Sean and Susan are close allies without being best buds. Sean is a SF geek and Susan tries to stay in the real world. They're the kind of family that snipe all the time but if any outsider tries to join in they'll not get out with all their parts intact. They don't really get each other, but they'll always get each other's backs.
Susan outranks Sean. They'd both be weirded out if it were the other way around.
I'm trying to decide if they're twins or if one is older.
We're probably talking ex army, and that probably explains more of the more competent people they pull together, mates from before. One way trip through a stone circle doesn't sound like an official military project really. Of course that would make aquiring weapons a bit more complicated, let alone Susan's favourite tools.
Sean and Rhodri are not dating. Obviously. Of course not. They just have a very intense way of correcting each other's work. And ending each other's sentences. And of course they spend time together, they're working on the same things. (Rhodri and Sean do not yet know they're dating. They'll work it out.)
Sean and Susan are all lean muscle, marathon runners, nothing spare on them. Rhodri was a rugby player, rather a lot of meals ago, but there's still muscle under there. Mary is that shape of fangirl that could be mistaken for fat until they get the right underpinnings on, and then is a more interesting sort of rounded.
Mary is dating Rhodri and Sean, hence the going along with them, though really taking a folklore expert through a stone circle seems like a reasonable precaution. Mary has read widely about heavens, hells and fairy worlds, other lands and other dimensions. She's a big F&SF geek. Goes to a lot of conventions. Tries not to be a fluffy bunny history mangler, but considers the important part of myth and indeed religion to be how it can be used now, and how much it can help people. She'd like to be better at helping people. Her social skills are... different. She causes some social difficulty by asking Susan on a date before she knew she was Sean's sister. Because she's pretty, though on reflection it's because she reminds her of someone she's already dating. There is much *facepalm* and agreeing to never mention it again. ... she's still looking for a fourth to make things tidy. ... Mary is one of those happy not just to go to another planet but to leave this one. It never fitted.
Rhodri has a son, Merfyn, who goes by Mer. Rhodri didn't have much to do with the raising of him, or to do with his mother after one wild party that probably involved E. She woke up and realised she'd shagged a physicist, and that was it, he's in the corridor holding his trousers. Merfyn was somewhat of a shock, and both his parents decided not to compound it by attempting to get along. Rhodri just set up the standing order and got on with life. Mer is just about finished with his undergrad degree as the series starts, ready to be impressed after Rhodri proves the stone circle thing is for reals. That makes Mer more than half Rhodri's age. They get along... awkwardly.
I don't know what surnames go with Mohammed and Aisha, so I did a guess and a mix up. They're names in the top 100 list for 2010. The younger they are, the more likely they are.
The expedition should have a wide range of ages represented. ... basically because it worked for Doctor Who. ... and I'm totally setting up characters who would use that reason in universe.
If I'm making adventure parties I should get the GURPS books out. If I'm making story seeds I should keep on figuring out who knows who how and why they're going to get pulled into component atoms and thrown at an unknown world.
Also I need to figure out who are team players and who thinks they're too good for team. And who is willing to learn and who thinks they know enough. I like teams and people who listen. I don't want one of those currently popular stories where someone gets away with being an arsehole because they're Just That Smart. People who can't work in groups because they're clumsy at it are one thing, people who can't work in groups because they either can't be bothered to work or don't think they need anyone are quite another. I want stories where trying to be the lone maverick rogue hero actually goes rather wrong. Cooperation works better.
So, they're weirdos, but they're weirdos who know they can't do this alone.
They're a bit professional, so a bit Camelot, but they're all making a weird choice here, so a bit outcast band in the forest type of thing. Finding a balance.
I like highly professional competent people who achieve their position through lots of training, but I'm not sure I'd know how to write them.
As GURPS characters these are all fairly low points cost, so to be useful they're carrying a few disads. Probably including mental and social stuff. Physical disads need careful handling in the setting.
Abilities are never compensation for disadvantages. The disadvantages simply explain why otherwise competent people have the time and inclination to throw themselves at the unknown.
Of course if this is a sketchy shonky sort of an expedition then supplies get to be a thing. I'd rather have them bring everything they think might be useful and then find the limits of their thinking than just have them run out of money. So someone needs to be their bankroll. They also need a botanist. One experienced in indoor cultivation. So, just out of jail for growing the wrong things?
See if they're all hand picked best of the best types it don't suggest any stories within the group. If they're all trying to get out of this world in no small part because they've nothing better to do then there's a whole different set of interest.
... Occupy Atlantis?
It's not just Rhodri/Mary/Sean and Sean&Susan bringing family and relationships along. Though some would have important people left behind because there's always violins to play for that.
They'd be trying to pack the maximum skill set in the minimum people, having drawn from people who don't mind dropping everything to take a wild chance. Tricky.
I did 50K words of a book that isn't halfway finished last summer. Why am I spinning up whole different 'verses?
... because it's easier than anything I'm supposed to be doing, or indeed adding more words to the long already thing.
... okay, time to do something else.
*Edited to swap some names around
So...
Say the first British expedition through the teleport circle has a couple of dozen people. What expertise needs to be represented?
Adventure parties and TV show casts are more usually made up of half a dozen or less. But adventure parties have to do their own cooking. Also then you can't kill anybody or send them to do something long term or have a one off story or date outside the team. Needs more people.
Will want the group to be 50/50 by gender and have more than 10% people of color. Want names from all over Britain, not just England, and from different backgrounds. Am picking names mostly by going through popular names lists and picking ones I can spell consistently, then adding a top twenty surname. My rule is if there's a couple thousand google hits then adding one more is background noise. No using names only one person has though. Also try not to use famous people without knowing it.
Girl names shift all the time and most of them date really easily. Guy names less so, I think. There's core names either way. But the baby name voyager thingy that claims to date when most people had that name be really useful. Though I couldn't find it stating its geography, so I assume it's USA names, which is less helpful for me.
hmmm, I got a dozen names and got bored. It's a start.
Sean Doyle - electronics and radar and military suchlikes
Rhodri Price - physics, crystals and weird tech
Mohammed Green - Chemist.
Owen Piper - Vet. For treating animals. They're bringing animals, and expecting to find more.
Peter Walker - Medical doctor. sort of. Not big on whole patients. Prefers microscopes.
Lindsey Campbell - military. shooting and running around.
Mary Turner - theology and weird folklore
Susan Doyle - explosives, setting and stopping, plus military in general
Elspeth Reid -
Aisha Patel - field medic
Caitlin Hughes - military. communications and intelligence and stuff.
Morgan Griffiths - Police.
The Doyles are brother and sister. Sean and Susan are close allies without being best buds. Sean is a SF geek and Susan tries to stay in the real world. They're the kind of family that snipe all the time but if any outsider tries to join in they'll not get out with all their parts intact. They don't really get each other, but they'll always get each other's backs.
Susan outranks Sean. They'd both be weirded out if it were the other way around.
I'm trying to decide if they're twins or if one is older.
We're probably talking ex army, and that probably explains more of the more competent people they pull together, mates from before. One way trip through a stone circle doesn't sound like an official military project really. Of course that would make aquiring weapons a bit more complicated, let alone Susan's favourite tools.
Sean and Rhodri are not dating. Obviously. Of course not. They just have a very intense way of correcting each other's work. And ending each other's sentences. And of course they spend time together, they're working on the same things. (Rhodri and Sean do not yet know they're dating. They'll work it out.)
Sean and Susan are all lean muscle, marathon runners, nothing spare on them. Rhodri was a rugby player, rather a lot of meals ago, but there's still muscle under there. Mary is that shape of fangirl that could be mistaken for fat until they get the right underpinnings on, and then is a more interesting sort of rounded.
Mary is dating Rhodri and Sean, hence the going along with them, though really taking a folklore expert through a stone circle seems like a reasonable precaution. Mary has read widely about heavens, hells and fairy worlds, other lands and other dimensions. She's a big F&SF geek. Goes to a lot of conventions. Tries not to be a fluffy bunny history mangler, but considers the important part of myth and indeed religion to be how it can be used now, and how much it can help people. She'd like to be better at helping people. Her social skills are... different. She causes some social difficulty by asking Susan on a date before she knew she was Sean's sister. Because she's pretty, though on reflection it's because she reminds her of someone she's already dating. There is much *facepalm* and agreeing to never mention it again. ... she's still looking for a fourth to make things tidy. ... Mary is one of those happy not just to go to another planet but to leave this one. It never fitted.
Rhodri has a son, Merfyn, who goes by Mer. Rhodri didn't have much to do with the raising of him, or to do with his mother after one wild party that probably involved E. She woke up and realised she'd shagged a physicist, and that was it, he's in the corridor holding his trousers. Merfyn was somewhat of a shock, and both his parents decided not to compound it by attempting to get along. Rhodri just set up the standing order and got on with life. Mer is just about finished with his undergrad degree as the series starts, ready to be impressed after Rhodri proves the stone circle thing is for reals. That makes Mer more than half Rhodri's age. They get along... awkwardly.
I don't know what surnames go with Mohammed and Aisha, so I did a guess and a mix up. They're names in the top 100 list for 2010. The younger they are, the more likely they are.
The expedition should have a wide range of ages represented. ... basically because it worked for Doctor Who. ... and I'm totally setting up characters who would use that reason in universe.
If I'm making adventure parties I should get the GURPS books out. If I'm making story seeds I should keep on figuring out who knows who how and why they're going to get pulled into component atoms and thrown at an unknown world.
Also I need to figure out who are team players and who thinks they're too good for team. And who is willing to learn and who thinks they know enough. I like teams and people who listen. I don't want one of those currently popular stories where someone gets away with being an arsehole because they're Just That Smart. People who can't work in groups because they're clumsy at it are one thing, people who can't work in groups because they either can't be bothered to work or don't think they need anyone are quite another. I want stories where trying to be the lone maverick rogue hero actually goes rather wrong. Cooperation works better.
So, they're weirdos, but they're weirdos who know they can't do this alone.
They're a bit professional, so a bit Camelot, but they're all making a weird choice here, so a bit outcast band in the forest type of thing. Finding a balance.
I like highly professional competent people who achieve their position through lots of training, but I'm not sure I'd know how to write them.
As GURPS characters these are all fairly low points cost, so to be useful they're carrying a few disads. Probably including mental and social stuff. Physical disads need careful handling in the setting.
Abilities are never compensation for disadvantages. The disadvantages simply explain why otherwise competent people have the time and inclination to throw themselves at the unknown.
Of course if this is a sketchy shonky sort of an expedition then supplies get to be a thing. I'd rather have them bring everything they think might be useful and then find the limits of their thinking than just have them run out of money. So someone needs to be their bankroll. They also need a botanist. One experienced in indoor cultivation. So, just out of jail for growing the wrong things?
See if they're all hand picked best of the best types it don't suggest any stories within the group. If they're all trying to get out of this world in no small part because they've nothing better to do then there's a whole different set of interest.
... Occupy Atlantis?
It's not just Rhodri/Mary/Sean and Sean&Susan bringing family and relationships along. Though some would have important people left behind because there's always violins to play for that.
They'd be trying to pack the maximum skill set in the minimum people, having drawn from people who don't mind dropping everything to take a wild chance. Tricky.
I did 50K words of a book that isn't halfway finished last summer. Why am I spinning up whole different 'verses?
... because it's easier than anything I'm supposed to be doing, or indeed adding more words to the long already thing.
... okay, time to do something else.
*Edited to swap some names around