What's the Hook?

I can't really sum it up any better than the topic of this post.  In writing the hook is everything in my opinion.  You can be the greatest writer the world has ever seen, but if your idea isn't somewhat original your not going to get anyone to read it.  I don't mean the idea has to be 100% brand new, I mean are there really any brand new ideas anymore?  But it at least has to throw a different spin on the basic topic.

That is where I am at today.  Writing wise, other than a few more character write-ups and some little bits of expanding, I consider Rally Cry to be as done as it is ever going to be.  I think its good.  But I can't find a real hook in it.  I wonder if that is because I have read it sooooo many times.

This seems to be the reason why I change topics so often, trying to come up with something new and cool.  My Nexus setting is pretty sweet, but I can't help if it is too neat.  It takes things pretty far and is pretty extensive to say the least.

So now I am wondering.  Do I do a massive overhaul on Rally Cry, to up it to my current writing style, or do I leave it as it is and work on Nexus for the time being.  It is an interesting question since RC has been submitted for approval to a small games company.  The idea is to self-publish it as a 3rd-party supplement for their product.  Now it is just a waiting game.  Waiting to see what changes they want and waiting to see if it is approved.

In the mean time I write and wonder...

hellbound 3

The Abbey

The building was old, older than any structure deserved to be in this part of the country.  It had weathered hurricanes, blizzards, and everything else God could throw at it, and yet it stood.  Despite its internal strength, the weight of its bones, its outward façade was peeling and faded.  From the outside it looked like nothing more than a derelict old manse, its many-gabled porch sagging under the weight of years, and its paint worn to an indistinct shade of gray.

Even the little things spoke of the age of the house.  The rope-pull on the rust pitted doorbell was frayed and held together by nothing more than the assortment of cob webs that covered it.  The double doors were slightly ajar, the right side hanging by a broken hinge.  All one had to do was apply a little pressure and that ancient door would open wide enough to let me through.  A slight shove, nothing more, and I would be in and out of the weather.  But something makes me hesitate, some age-old and primeval fear of opening a closed door, of walking in on something one was never meant to see.  What was it about the unseen that always sent a shiver, a thrill up my spine?

I can make out the sound of the hound in the tangle of cypress trees and marshy reeds behind me, tracking me by the smell of my fear.  It was only a matter of time before I will feel its sulfur tainted breath on my back.  If I don’t find some sort of cover it would be my ass in the fire.  So, against my better judgment I push open the door as slowly as I can to prevent any kind of noise.  My effort for stealth fails miserably as the ages-old hinges let out a squeal of protest at their jostling.

The noise seems to echo on forever until it is overridden by the sound of the hound tearing through the swamp after me.  If it didn’t have my scent before it certainly knows where I am now.  In a moment I am inside and doing my best to slam to rickety doors shut behind me.  Just as the doors latch clicks home I feel the doors shudder as the hound slams its considerable weight against them again and again.  My last glimmer of hope fades as licking tongues of flame appear under the doorjamb.  The fuckers in the coven sent a hell-hound after me…now how in the hell am I going to get myself out of this mess?

Hellbound 2

The Beginning

If you were to ask me why I got into this line of work I guess you could say it is what I was meant to do.  I mean I was never suited for the 9 to 5, suit and tie kind of thing.  Hell, growing up I could barely hold onto my job at that crappy little burger joint in town.  For the life of me I just always thought I was supposed to be someone else.  I never felt like I fit in at school, sure I tied to play their games, shit I even started on their precious football team, but I never felt comfortable doing that kind of thing.  I was better at being the kind of kid who cut class more often than not and I barely managed to graduate when my time came.

It took me another ten years before I figured things out for myself.  The funny thing is that it didn’t even bother me all that much.  I can still remember how I thought to myself that it was about damn time something like this happened.  I recall all too well how that…thing… had lurched out of the shadows toward me.  I can still smell its blood-and-rot breath and feel its shit caked claws bite into my shoulder.  To be honest it was through nothing more than blind luck that I managed to kill it.  I used that broken two-by-four like I was born to it and must have hammered away at its body for twenty minutes before I stopped.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well I guess it is so you can make a choice.  Y’see I never had one, like I said it was something I was born to do, but you have the chance to avoid all of this.  You could take the high-road and try to avoid this life, try to remain an upstanding member of society and all that crap.  But the thing is I can tell you won’t.  How do I know that?  It’s your eyes.  You have the same look that I had that day, the look that says you finally understand what’s going on around you. 

Sure sure, you know something now, but believe you me, you have got a lot more to learn before you can start hunting.  Just wait and see, maybe you’re meant for this kind of thing, maybe you will be one of the great ones.  But just remember one thing, if they turn you, if you let them change you into something like them I will be waiting…

Drat

Well, as usual something had to happen to inhibit my work progress.  Between waiting for approval for a project as well as my writing laptop not being able to connect to the internet, I have made little progress on much of anything.  Stupid router took a dump and I wont have money to replace it for a while.

While I am waiting for approval, or denial on my Rally Cry project I have been back to dinking around on my Hellborn setting.  It is nice to work my chops out on something else besides super-heroes for a while.

System wise I finally have one I am happy with for RC, but that all depends on getting the OK to continue.  It is funny though, as I wait I cant help but wonder what the hell is taking so long.  I am not a patient person at best, and waiting is something I am never good at.

Even for Hellbound I am happy with its progress.  The writing, although slow, is good and there is already a system that my friend and I created that fits my needs.  It is nice to have some things working out even if the overall project is on a stand still.

So here I am, unable to connect my writing laptop, so I cant really add anything of substance to this little blog of mine.  Hopefully that will be fixed soon, but time will tell.

What is Rally Cry

In my last couple of posts I have mentioned Rally Cry in great detail, but never specifically detailed what it is.  It is, at its bones, a RPG setting based in the Iron Age of Comics.  During that age the heroes were dark and grim, the villians were often misunderstood anti-heroes, and even the world itself was darker than our own.  I fell in love with that age of comics when I was in High School and it has stuck with me ever since.

Rally Cry details the world of the enar future with a several twists.  The main one of course being the addition of super-human characters, or extraordinaries as they are known by.  Much of history is the same as ours, but the impact of these greater-than-human people have deffinatly left their mark.  The most notable example of this is the destruction of so much of Washington DC as well as New York City at the hands of a vastly powerful extraordinary named Carnal.

There are aliens and lost civilizations as well as all manner of technological advances.  Mankind has made it as far as the mars, and there are several moon-bases where man is thriving.  It is only a matter of time before the species makes it into space.

The primary setting I plan to release will include a general layout of the world, heavy details of the ruins of New York, as well as a number of important extraordinaries.  After that I already have notes for another fleshed out city and a massive alien invasion.  It is moving along well and I am actually happy where things are going and have been for a while now.  A nice revelation for me in the long run.

The Search for a System

So, I have been working on Rally Cry, my super-hero RPG, in one form or another for the last few years.  Granted there have been several looooooong dry spells where it sat untouched for months on end, but every time I come back to it.

The most frustrating part about it is the decision of what system or mechanics do I want to use.  Over the years I have created several different sets of mechanics and I have also had the pleasure of creating a few with my friend Nathan.  But always there is that niggling little thought that the mechanics dont fit what I want to do.

Today I have two systems that I have narrowed it down too.  One, very simple and rules light, the other more mechanically inclined but no less enjoyable.  The choice before me seems to be which one to concentrate on and do playtesting with my other friend Rick.  It is an problem to be sure and one that needs to be rectified soon.

Until then I will continue to expand my setting and work on both sets of mechanics as time, and inspriation, dictate.  The good thing is that setting work is continuing at a decent pace, as is my artwork for it.  I have several pictures inked, and several more drawn and awaiting inking.  I was hoping to put them in color but due to a shoulder problem I am unsure how that would work out.  Coloring, even my rudimentary cell-shading attempts, takes a lot of time and that could be better spent on writing I think.

Time will tell I suppose...

Why Rally Cry

I have often asked myself that very question when writing.  Why do I do what I do, why do I have so many projects going?  The truth is I dont know.  I do know that I enjoy what it is I do most of the time and find it to be relaxing and cathardic in a way.

Why Rally Cry?  Why do another Super-Hero setting in an industry that already supports a good number of them.  The simple reason is because I want too.  Comic books have been a huge part of my life for almost as long as I can remember, and so too has gaming.  Therefore the combination of the two only makes sense really.

The Rally Cry of today is, thus far, my best work.  It is currently going through a rather significant rewrite, which is time consuming but well worth it. It is a dark world, where the shit is deep and the problems are everywhere.  Does that mean its not heroic?  Far from it really.  I think that the darker the world the brighter the heroes can shine.

If you were to look for my source of inspiration you would need to look no further than the Ultimates universe by Marvel Comics.  Is my setting a copy of that?  Well no, but it has many similarities.  The problems are many and the heroes are often only a few steps away from being their own worst enemy.  Does this mean I would allow serial-killer type characters to be played in my games?  No, I wouldn't. 

Regardless of how dark a setting is, the characters that are played are meant to be heroes.  They dont have to be the shining bastions of justice like say a Superman, but they do have to do what is right the majority of the time.  Is this fair to all styles of play?  Of course not.  But it is fair to my goal, to my ideas, and too the genre.

To quote the Great Stan Lee

'nuff said