Right then. The 2012 Olympics are now over, so I can casually discuss them as a source of plot hooks. (As opposed to the opening ceremony, which could fuel a game with a suitably high Weird Level for months.)
I’ve done so already a little, and resisted the temptation to comment on the cyclopean duo of Wenlock and Mandeville (lest they see me) so what else might I observe?
A big event like the Olympics, the New Year countdown, Glastonbury, the Edinburgh Festival or the like brings together hundreds, thousands of people who might otherwise never cross paths. There’s room for all kinds of drama there from Die Hard In A Stadium to a more public than usual monster attack to a romantic comedy of just-missed connections. (Why hasn’t somebody made a romcom set in a music festival? Think of the soundtrack sales!)
The Olympics in particular started in Ancient Greece (although there was quite a big gap until 1896) so they’ve seen the rise and fall of great nations, scandal and horror, courage and fellowship, that time when a guy tried to win the fencing by putting a fake sensor in his sword...
Characters proving themselves in contests of skill and strength is one of the ancient plot hooks, slightly behind the less voluntary version where the characters are forced to be gladiators. As a player, I’d love a chance to do that bit with a combat character.
But even if they’re not in the centre of the stadium themselves, they could still get caught up in a big event going on all around them.
What kinds of events might another world have?
No comments:
Post a Comment