Part 2 of previous

First thing's first. I just found out I'm leaving at ridiculously early O'clock in the morning tomorrow, so I'll try and put part three of the post up tonight before passing out. After that, it's a whole week without posts. I'm sure all loyal one of my readers will be disappointed. I say that because I'm a loyal reader, and I know I'll be disappointed. Anyway, onto the topic

2. The Unpredictable.

This is quite simple. It's the shock/scare/jump and the surprise twist, all rolled into one. It's the zombie falling out of the roof onto the expendable black guy, or the Werewolf jumping through the window where the lovers are promising each other they'll get through this. Alot of it is expected by your normal cinema goer, but to me I admit I am... a jumper. A sudden shock scene will make me jump, and I hate tension, knowing something is going to happen, just not. Knowing. When.

This also covers a larger, more usual quantity. The unknown. The enemy in many supernatural or alien horror films is a creature of unknown capabilities, any time it could turn around and do something the protagonists aren't aware of or capable of.

A tad distracted at the moment, so I'll leave it there.

Already missing days (AKA. What is terrifying)

Things do not look good for our lovely little Nerdgasm blog. I've only been doing this a couple of weeks, and already I'm missing days. Although in my defense.... I forgot.

That really didn't warrent a "although in my defense" prefix, did it?

Ok, since today and tomorrow I'll be busy rewriting my script into draft 2, and Saturday I'll be leaving to drink excessively with my Uni mates and mates of theirs, I present a three part post, explaining the three aspects to something being scary. Those three parts are:

1. Inevitable

2. Unpredictable

3. Corrupting

Now, let's discuss part 1, the Inevitable.

Unlike other genres which usually try to maintain the image that there is a SMALL chance the hero could win, that he/she/they are striving for, in Horror the usual modus operandi is is to imply there is no hope of victory, and whatever hopes there are, are being cruely snatched away. They're being killed off one by one by a crazy slasher who can find them no matter where they go. They're trapped in a single semi-defensible area surrounded by flesh eating Zombies, and supplies are running low. The Vampire pack has them surrounded and they have no weapons to fight them off with.

Horror is predictated on the foe that cannot be stopped, and the inevitable fate awaiting 90% of the characters. Nothing embodies this better then the endless zombie horde. Kill as many as you like, run as far as you like, eventually they WILL find you, and when that happens it will not be a pleasent death. You will be held down by dozens of them, trying to push them off you as the inevitable mouths descend to feed upon you, nails clawing at your skin trying to rip off a piece for themselves.

Long story short, the fate that cannot be stopped is scary.

Tomorrow: The unpredictable.

I love a good conspiracy

Time for some just simple fun posting. It'll be a short one today, but if it inspires you to type 'Conspiracy' into google and enjoy the fun, then congratulations.

Conspiracy websites are my guilty pleasure. I love reading through them and laughing. The moment the site claims that a commonly known conspiracy (such as the moon landing being faked, or Area 51) is merely a distraction to prevent us from seeing the REAL conspiracy, you've hit a goldmine.

Some of my personal favourite conspiracy claims.

• The 'Greys' (short aliens with whispy bodies, grey skin, and large heads) are SUPER EVOLVED DOLPHINS FROM THE FUTURE.
• Aliens are actually Djinn (what's often translated as Genies in the West) of Islamic scripture, looking to get laid. That 'anal probe'? Alot less scientific then you think.
• Aliens cause magic.
• Jack the Ripper was just an over-eager member of the Freemasons
• The American two-party system is run by a single party, which is actually an amalgamation of the Democrats and Republicans.
• Jesus is a descendent of Atlantis
• The KGB is run by the Teutonic Knights

If you read all of that, and did not:
A) Shake your head with a rueful chuckle or,
B) Laugh openly

Then you need serious help.

P.S. The airbase people claim is area 51 is hidden on Google Maps. DRAMATIC MUSIC.

Tradition

First point, I've found out an annoying aspect of posting on this blog first thing in the morning when I wake up. I make alot of wordos (like a typo, except I accidently type in a whole different word), so until I find the mistakes just read what I MEAN, not what I SAY.

The traditional three-act structure in most stories is one of the staples of the narrative.

1. INTRODUCTION: Meet the characters, have any unusual 'rules' about the world explained to you ("Don't cross the streams"), and learn where everyone stands in relation to everyone else.

1. Things change: The happy little lives of the main characters are disrupted somehow, leading us into the...

2. COMPLICATION/BODY: The characters embark on their journey. This can either be a good thing for them (The Ghost Busters FINALLY getting some business) or a bad thing (You must leave behind your life to destroy the Ring of Power).

2a. Act two downer: Something goes hideously wrong, and things are now worse then ever. Frodo's run off with the Ring with only his slightly odd friend for company, the Environmental Protection Agency's shut off the containment unit, Dr Doom is picking off the Fantastic Four one at a time, and individually they're no match for him.

3. CONCLUSION: Grand conflict sequence in which somehow, against all odds, the heroes triumph.


Last night I saw 'The Dark Knight', I enjoyed it, really I did, but bits of it shat me. Primarily there were no 'acts' beyond:

Act 1: Introduction, isn't Batman Badarse?

Act 2: JOKER IS BADARSER

Act 3: Joker and Batman do stuff. Horrible stuff happens.

Act 4: Joker and Batman fight again, and again, and again. Horrible stuff happens.

Act 5: Batman wins.

There was no 'rollercoaster of events' with the rise, the fall, the recovery. It started with a high, dropped, bibbled up and down, then ended. There felt like no point at all where the hero (or audience) could even take a breather. That's fine at times, but in a three hour movie you need moments where you can relax for a second, thinking 'All is well'.

It's part of what bugged me about the second two 'Pirates of the Carribean' movies. They split the story in total over two movies, which left them with an odd story. The cliffhanger was good, but in general the story just felt like it was meandering on alot, with no real direction until the end. I still remain convinced that about 75% of the story in the middle and most of the ship-to-ship combat was just the writers saying "Ok, we want a scene where character X meets character Y, but they're on seperate boats. Ok, let's have them attack each other!"

When talking with my father last night (just generally because he was giving me a lift, and it was better then having silence) I mentioned the three act structure and he - in his long, long winded way - talked about how "Sometimes you need to learn the rules, so you know how to break them". It's great to break the rules, it results in new and entertaining stories sometimes, but I'm not convinced either POTC 2&3 or TDK broke them 'right'. They were good, fun movies, but the break from the three-act-structure isn't what made them so, in my view.

Why Superpowers can be...

one of the worst things you can ever give a character.

At its most basic level, your normal three-act cliche storyline consists of:
"Hey, let's say things we'd never say in real life, so any possibe audience can get to know us!"
"Oh you crazy German immigrant with an ex-wife and two children!"

"Oh no, things are going bad, in a way any possible audience would be rooting for us to win, still affected by suspension of disbelief!"
"Good lord, there's no way we can win this, we're all going to die!"

"Hooray we won!"
"And only a couple of us died in dramatic ways! Oddly enough only the black cast members died."


Most superpowers, at their basic level at least, can add to the story. It can seem so much more dramatic and awesome when they have superstrong hero and superstrong henchvillain are smacking on each other in mid-air, only to have 'control of magnetism/gravity/rubber duckies' pick up a car WITH HIS/HER MIND and fling it at them both.

The main trouble is that so often comic book writers feel the need to 'extend' a characters powers. This can be good for when a character needs to 'power up' to beat the main badguy, or the occasional use for dramatic license. The only way to avoid it later on though is to completely ignore that, and we all saw how well that worked with Neo in the Matrix.

"Wait, why doesn't he just jump into the agents and explode them all?"

But in general, once a comic book character is absurdly powerful, the only options are to either depower him somehow (which gets boring the fourth time it's done) or write around that power. Let's consider a few comic characters that are so overpowered that you have to constantly write around their extreme abilities.

Wolverine: I'm sorry fanboys, but fuck off. Wolverine as a concept is amusing (ruggard exterior containing a heart of gold, mixed with some regenerative abilities and unbreakable claws coming from his knuckles? Yeah, I don't mind that), but his abilities are just fucking ridiculous now. He can apparently regenerate from like a tiny clump of living tissue. Glad to hear every cell in his body contains an IMPRINT OF HIS BRAINWAVES. Even if he did come back from that, chances are he would be a blank slate, personality wise. Not to mention... Where the HELL did those cells get the energy and mass required for all that exponential growth. Yes, I know it's a comic, I know it's not based on reality, but Wolverine in general is currently just a shitty narrative device because nothing can kill him. Turn him into a Herald of Galactus and send him out into space and be done with it. Have the occasional one-shot about him saving the fuzzy wuzzy people of the Forest moon of Rodne, and ignore him.

Magneto: It's a bit more understandable when the overpowered character is the villain, then it's a proper challenge for the heros to beat him. But Magnetos powers are just... Using power over magnetism to affect the iron in the blood so he can control someone's mind... Read up again for 'suspension of disbelief'. Yes, I know, it's a comic, so you can get away with alot more, but in general we assume people can't turn 'manipulation of metal' superpowers into 'mind control'. That's like the Hulk learning to punch someone JUST RIGHT so they get a concussion in a specific way that makes them friendly to him.

Superman: When the whole point behind your character is that he's Superman, in general the only thing that can be done to provide him with a challenge is create an entire universe full of superman powered things. When the uberpowered becomes blase... then there's something wrong. A character with the power to destroy a planet shouldn't be something your hero deals with on a regular basis, because then there is NO room for him to lose. Daredevil is allowed to lose occasionally, since all it results in is someone getting away with bank money, or at worst a death. Superman loses and a world dies (unless it's just some literary wank like "I challenge you to combat, Superman!", which usually has the condition "You refuse, and this world dies!" anyway)


Anyway, long story short: Superpowers are awesome. Some supercharacters need nerfing, though.

Hungover post

Rather then try to write anything of significance today, I'll just describe one of my dreams. As in "What I dream of doing one day" not "I fell asleep and next thing I knew I was in a circus being chased by tyranosaur". That kinda dream.

In the vague future, when I've managed to become wealthy and have my own home, I am going to purchase about twenty 'Revoltech' style toys (look them up, pretty cool) of one or two different series (ones aesthetically compatable). I'm then going to buy a glass case, and an 'urban' scenary piece from a hobby shop that fits perfectly into the glass case. After that I'll get a few more things, like cotton wool painted up to be either smoke or explosions. Once a week I'll arrange the toys into a diorama of an action sequence, if possible with 'smoke' flying from their guns when they fire, generally showing them blowing each other apart.

Good times.

Yeah, yeah, I know, not interesting. Well you try to write amusing shit after a night where you had two Long Island Iced Teas in the space of an hour.

So, hey, I'm a graduate now

It's official. I have successfully completed my Bachelor of Social Science.

I now have three options.

1. Get a job in a field I doubt I will enjoy.
2. Get a job to tie me over until Honours next year, so I can potentially get a better job, in a field I doubt I will enjoy.
3. Misc.

Currently 'Misc' looks attractive. I think I'll aim for Honours next year anyway, just to delay the inevitable, but between the end of next year (honours finishing) and now, I hope to finish the script I currently have draft 1 down of, and hopefully be started on at least one more.

Ahh, the joys of niavity. The thought I can just write a script, on spec, send it in to Hollywood and be credited as the scriptwriter for a multi-million dollar extravoganza.

The thing is, in the back of my mind I have very little doubt it'll happen. All my life I've been able to coast by with a minimum of work. The most work I EVER put in was for the HSC, and even then it was only a couple of hours a day. I got into the High school I wanted by dint that my brother was already in.

From there, I found out about a it, and with my ability to talk bullshit, I was able to get a 'scholarship' for the Uni that gave me an extra 5 UAI points.

Since my brother knows the tricks of the trade, he told me how to sneak through a backway into the degree I want (apply for a degree with a lower UAI, and transfer once I'm already in).

Those two tricks combined were all that got me into Uni. From there I've done shit all work and been a solid 'pass' the entire time, slightly leaning up into credits at times. The worst bit? If you added TWO marks to my entire 200 level and above University career, I would be solid credits. To me that screams 'bell curve scaling'. I have done next to no work my whole life, and I've been one step away from credits.

Story of my life. Next to no work, have it all handed to me. I know the moment I step into the real world, it'll all be different. Dog eat dog eat wimp, all that sort of shit. But in the back of my head I'm so used to it all being just... HANDED to me that I fully expect to send my script off to hollywood, get a phone call a few weeks later, and be asked to fly down to write them a few more scripts they can buy the options of from me.

I'm in for a rude fishing shock.

New character

Just as an extra post, and since I want to get his character written down, meet the next character in my possible future Champions campaign. Same rules as Malice. Feel free to be inspired by this to use him for non-profit, but if he's going to be used for something designed to make a profit, I'd like to be consulted first, and permission gained.

KNIGHT RISEN

History: In Medieval times, there arose the myth of the Noble Knight. Some indeed did personify this myth, those who deserved the title 'nobility'. They were strong, generous souls who took their responsibilities to those beneath them seriously. However, most Knights of ancient times did not embody these chivalrous concepts. They were greedy, caring not for the serfs and peasents beneath them, using them as tools for their own wealth and opulance. As many things did in that time of magic, this less-then-ideal concept became strong enough to gain sentience. Knightly corruption was born and personified, it's physical form that of a Knight in pure black armour, unbeatable in combat and remorseless in slaughter, he became a creature to fear. However, as the idea of 'Knightliness' died, so too did he grow weaker, until in the industrial age he was but a faint spark clinging onto an insubstantial existence.

In the modern age, however, when magic again begins to resurface within the world and there once more comes above the belief there is more to life then what science can explain, the Knight rises, once more. And he feels that without nobility ruling over the lands, he deserves it as a true personification of the Bloodlines of rulers. Woe to anyone who stands in his way.

Personality/Motivation: The Knight Risen is a personification of a concept. He is the corruption of nobility given form. He feels everything he wishes for should belong to him, but not in the manner of the petulant child throwing a tantrum. He just thinks the world is his, and anyone who gets between him and what he wishes for is a thief and should be treated as such.

He speaks of honour, duty and chivilry, but shows no urge to follow it himself. He will chastise an opponent for using anything he considers 'ignoble' tactics, such as ranged weaponry, but will gladly lance an opponent in the back or shoot them with his shotgun himself. Most of the time he feels no need to even speak with his opponent, feeling his actions speak for themselves. Only if someone proves themselves either in combat or of noble birth, will he even lift his visor to speak. Most of the time to demand their surrender, but sometimes to offer them the chance to serve beneath him.

Powers/abilities: As an abstract ideal personified, Knight Risen cannot be killed in the normal means. However, he is not stupid, and if he is outmatched and defeated he will likely flee once he reforms. He has no 'physical' body, only a spectral form that can interact with the physical world, but one that conversely the physical work can interact with. He cannot become intangible, but he can become invisible, although his bike still roars while unseen. Instead of the black steed that needed no food or rest, that he road in the past, in modern times he rides a black motorcycle that needs no fuel and suffers no mechanical faults. Similarly, instead of his black armour he wears black motorcycle leathers that provides more protection then full platemail could. This, combined with his non-physical nature, means that lethal attacks like bullets, blades or knives, are almost useless. There is no substance beneath the leather for the bullet to harm, and blades 'clang' off his hide. Also, as a non-living creature he himself doesn't need food, drink, or rest. He does not age, and even if ripped limb from limb, he will reform nearby within twenty four hours.

Offensively, his spectral status gives him access to a large amount of weaponry, formed from his very substance. Most common for him is a lance tipped with a silver skull with glowing eyes, used in conjunction with his bike in a manner similar to jousting. It's supernatural status gives it the strength it needs to break through a tank's forward armour, when he's going at top speed. As well as that he can form a double-handed warhammer if needed, for unmounted combat, and a new addition to his arsenal is a spectral shotgun that fires flaming slugs. His natural capabilities in combat make him a highly dangerous adversary, which is only heightened by his accumulated skill of centuries.

Appearance: Beneath his motorcycle leathers there exists no form, he is given substance by his outfit. The leathers, including gloves, trousers and boots, cover his entire body up to his neck. His head is covered by a standard motorcycle helmet, with a metal dragon crest standing atop it, similar to how vain knights of old would adorn themselves.

Cliche

First, a link to what inspired this post.
http://www.drhorrible.com/index.html
Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Fillion, if any of you asked I would give up my anal virginity to you. You are individually that awesome. Joined together, however, you are like Voltron, capable of feats any one Lion couldn't do.

Now, onto the post itself.

The cliche. Simultaneously one of the most loved and hated aspects of any story. If it's too cliche, people are jolted out of their suspension of disbelief, ending up just shaking their head in disgust. Even worse then that, they can be too predictable. If your average audience can predict how things will end precisely, it just weakens the story and makes it less enjoyable.

Notice, however, that I said "predict how things will end precisely". THAT is an important point. There are always a few things the audience will be able to predict, unless you mangle the story so badly it becomes unenjoyable. There will always be a love interest. There will always be a low point the hero(es) has(/have) to recover from. Some cliches are nearly (but not quite) essential, and it takes a very deft hand to write a movie usurping the cliches successfully.

Some other cliches, however, if usurped can be quite fun. The above link is proof of that, making a story where the bad guy is not only the main character, he's the one you sympathise with more then the good guy. I, one day (in the imaginary world where I become a successful screenplay writer), hope to try my hand at writing a moviescript where the story is all about the villain. The nearest I've seen to this being done (aside from 'that' old Western everyone knows) are the 'smart crook' movies and Lock Stock style underworld movies. Don't get me wrong, I love the those movies and REALLY hope to write a smart-crook one myself, but let's face it, they're criminals but they're not BAD guys.

Let's actually look at what a cliche IS. A Cliche, at it's most essential analysis, is something that has been used so much in a particular genre that people expect it. In many ways the cliche is a bad thing, but in terms of characters the cliche can be good. A cliche is used alot, and why is it used alot? Because more often then not it WORKS. A well written cliche can be alot of fun. Often it can be a lot more fun then an attempt to break the cliche.

So, what is my general point?

Respect the cliche. Treat it with respect and surprise it occasionally, but don't overuse it lest it fall apart. Sometimes the fantasy story beginning with the young boy thrust into a world outside his humble village, unaware of his grand fate or incredible lineage, is the best kind of fantasy story.

Just don't let it become a Steven Segal. Not sure what I mean? Try to think of a single Steven Segal movie that can't be summarised with the following.

"Steven Segal is a maverick (ex?) [Cop/FBI agent] who bucks [authority/the bureaucratic system], and has to break the rules to break a [terrorist organisation/drug syndicate/arms dealer], doing things his own way. He happens to know martial arts."


As a final note, if you want to see a movie that takes the common cliches of the hollywood movie, cuts them up with a razor, and snorts them with a hooker in a hotel room, see 'No Country for Old Men'. Go out and rent the movie. Sit down, and after twenty minutes write down on a piece of paper what you think will happen, then put it to one side. Read it again at the end of the movie, and weep.

How to make a good DVD commentary

Just stepping away from the excessive "Ohh, look at me, I'm a wannabe writer, aren't I all creative... ladies?" that's been in this blog so far, I thought I'd share my geekily acquired knowledge, and put down some pointers on-

DO'S AND DO NOT'S OF DVD COMMENTARY'S

1. DO get a have a mix of perspectives. While an all-actor commentary or all-writer commentary can be quite interesting, there come points in the movie where the people assembled in the room just don't have anything to say about the bit on screen. If you have people from a variety of roles there's always something that can fill the silence, and hearing people from different areas of the industry discuss the trials they had with particular parts of the film is interesting.

2. DO make sure your commentators get along. I'm not saying this because I've heard DVD commentaries where they had screaming arguements or something, but commentaries where the people involved laugh and joke with each other are always more interesting then 'clinical' ones, where no personality shows because everyone feels awkward.

3. DON'T abuse editing. I imagine anyone who listens to commentaries has heard one or two where people from different locations are involved in the commentary, by doing a solo-comm and then having it edited in to a larger one. If there's only one extra person, and if it's done INCREDIBLY well you can get away with it, but most of the time it just makes things too awkward. For the Pirates of the Caribean writers commentary there were about three seperate groups, so there were so many voices, but whenever someone told a story there was so little response it just felt awkward. Then in the Oceans 11 commentary, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon were doing the commentary seperately to Brad Pitt, which made it sound very awkward. Especially when Brad Pitt told a story, and then Andy Garcia told the exact same story twenty minutes later, like Brad wasn't around.

4. DON'T have a single person commentating. It's just a lonely dude stuck in a booth talking about what he worked on. It's alot better when there are two or more people, having a dialogue, asking each other about their thoughts and experiences of the movie.

5. DO keep the atmosphere light and friendly. When the commentators are hanging around having a laugh with each other and obviously getting on, it works alot better.

6. DON'T talk about anything other then the movie for too long. While it's good commentators get on and have alot of interests, it's no fun if you're watching the movie and hearing a couple of people talking about nothing to do with what's on screen. It's like being stuck in a cinema with people talking loudly about nothing behind you. Some tangents are fine, but try to keep it vaguely under control

7. DO encourage 'joke' commedies. Dodge ball and Anchorman have some of the funniest commentaries I've heard in a long time. Not what you normally expect to hear with commentaries, but they're good value.

8. DO do things out of the ordinary. Ghostbuster's commentary had an interesting 'MST3K' look going, where they were visible sitting in the lower right hand side, as if in a theatre, while they did the commentary

Final thoughts: As some people know, my aspiration is to somehow become a Hollywood script writer. If I have the chance, I'd like to propose any movie I work on have a commentary done by the MST3K dudes, including their trademark corner-sitting.

The Pros and Cons of different forms of media

There are many different forms of media around that can tell stories (books, comics, movies, TV, etc etc). Each of them have their own particular strengths and faults. Just to try and appear deap, and because it's what I want to write about today, I'm going to try and classify the strengths and weaknesses of each in terms of storytelling.

MOVIES

Pros:

• Collaborative effort, can be improved immensely by good actors, directors and behind the scenes staff.
• Self contained story, easy for anyone to sit down, watch and enjoy.
• Higher budget then TV series compressed into singular event, resulting in vastly improved effects.

Cons:

• Quite short, has to fit whole story (introduction to world, introduction to characters, complications, conclusion) within short window of a few hours, at most.
• A single faulty member has the potential to completely destroy audiences suspension of disbelief. A bad director means it makes no sense, and a bad actor just ruins the experience entirely.
• Constrained by a reasonably narrow definition of what a 'good' movie is. Most scripts have to follow the predefined three-act structure to be considered any good.

TELEVISION

Pros:

• Extended exposure to the characters. The episodes each tell an individual story, but the presence of continuous characters across the series gives the audience a chance to grow fond of them.
• Only requires a singular introduction. Once the characters are known, that's all that's needed, and you can use following episodes to make them grow.
• The (hopefully) large number of episodes in the season allows you to make any character growth more gradual then it has to be in movies, making it more realistic
• Similar collaborative effort to movies.

Cons:

• Limited budgets stretched out over the whole season means that it's very difficult to do TV shows that require great deals of special effects
• Usually have to continue on until they jump the shark, forced to keep making episodes by their producers who don't want to give up the cash cow. This ruins the memories of them for fans, some times.
• Simlar potential for single weak point to make it less entertaining, like movies.

Comics

Pros:

• Once characters are established, they're firmly established and can be brought back any time, without having to worry about actors or any other issue. Most comic book characters are already FIRMLY established.
• Budget rarely limits story potential through limited special effects, since it's not that much harder to draw a giant Cthulu attacking Spiderman and Captain America then it is to draw Spiderman talking.
• Continuous nature means that as long as someone is willing to write it, someone is willing to draw it, and someone is willing to publish it, comic books can continue on indefinately.

Cons:

• "No one ever dies except Uncle Ben and Buckey" is no long accurate, since Buckey came back. Because comics are so often written by different writers, who change constantly, there are so many occasions where one writer killed a character, only for another to bring the character back, that no one takes comic book death seriously anymore. This heavily limits dramatic potential.
• Heavily male orientated. Alot of the time, if a female comic book character is made, being a woman is part of her 'gimmick'. Alot of the time the female characters are secondary characters in comics about male characters, which leaves them vulnerable to be heavily tormented to show how 'badarse' the villain of the hour is. Women in Refrigerators syndrome.
• Go on too long. Once a character is popular, comic book publishers don't want to give him up, resulting in characters that've been going CONSTANTLY since as far back as the 50s. Try reading all of Batman or Spiderman's history on their wikipedia page, and tell me it's not a convoluted, contradictory piece of crap. SOMEONE PUT BATMAN AND SPIDERMAN OUT OF THEIR MISERY!

Novels? Well I feel I've written enough for now. Maybe at a later date I'll finish with Novels.

For now, tah tah.

An amalgamation of the past two posts

Just because I thought it would be amusing, I'm going to apply the post about the three aspects of the villain (Motivation, methods, style) to the post about Malice, a villain I came up with for the Heros RP PnP system.

Motivation

Malice's motivation is two-fold, focusing around greed, with an arm stretching out into insanity. His basic motivations are incredible selfish. He wants money and respect, with no care for the harm he causes others in getting it.

If that weren't motivation enough, his sadism and minor psychic abilities meld together to give him an extra motivation which is a mix of insanity and greed. Insanity, because he desires the pain of others, but greed because he desires satisfaction of his own addiction at the detriment of others.

Methods

Not quite as memorable for Malice, but his methods are still unusual. If he were part of a larger villain organisation, his role would almost certainly be distraction.

His usual modus operandi to achieve his full strength is to go into a crowded area, and just start shooting people randomly (already the sign of a true villain). When a threat arrives, he allows the surrounding suffering to overwhelm him, and transform him into 'Malice' form. It's a method that's unlikely to be copied, that's for sure

Style

The trick here is that style isn't necessarily Chilli Palmer, it's just a uniqueness to the character, a 'gimmick' if you will, that makes them stand out and be unique. For Malice it's alot of it is the desire for strength and the lengths he will go to to achieve it.

If I do make use of him in a RP-campaign of some kind, I imagine later on (after I've gotten good use out of him) I'll have a game or two where Malice, in his desire for more power, undergoes experimental procedures that turn him into an even stronger, animalistic style of creature. It's at this point where the heros, who hopefully will have been genuinely heroic in their actions, will have no option but to kill him. With any luck, played well it could be quite a conflicting, challenging moment for them.

First 'short post'

Since I have things planned for today, rather then attempting a thought-provoking post at all, I'll put to paper (so to speak) a character I've had in my head for a long time.

As mentioned in one of the first posts, I am a roleplayer, but more then that I learn new roleplaying systems semi-regularly, and plan out possible campaigns in those systems. Currently I'm considering a campaign using the 'Hero' system used in Champions PnP RPG. Essentially this allows super-hero characters, which means I have to come up with Super-villains. And so, here exists a Supervillain.

If you happen to be a fellow RPG player and considering using these characters, feel free, just mention that you got them from this blog. In the highly unlikely event of you wishing to use these characters in something that will make you money, please be kind enough to contact me first.

MALICE

History: John State was an ordinary petty crook, of no notice to anyone or anything. He was one of the usual suspects if any crime was bungled within his area, and lived on scraps. This was made all the harder for him by the fact he'd had a taste of luxury. An orphan, John was passed around foster home to foster home, most of them a blur, only one of them standing out. It was a wealthy couple of extraordinary money, they gave him everything he could ask for. It was his own fault they rejected him in the end, he couldn't leave behind his bullying ways and child-learnt habits of stealing. He continued to grow up bitter, towards the world, other people, everything. It was about this stage he first started to show signs of sadomasochism.

Acting as hired muscle one night, John found himself helping others rob a chemical plant of something. Things went wrong, as they often did for John, but in this case they went right, in some weird manner. The criminals were caught, but not by the police, by the private security firm working for the company they were stealing from. The police were never called, and all those caught 'volunteered' for clinical studies. None of the others that went in with John were heard of again. John, either through luck or sheer force of will, survived the trials his body was forced through. Eventually his physical form was a twisted lump of what was once a man and the researchers had done what they set out to do.

They had brought forth rudimentary psychic powers in a person. He was able to feel the pain of others, without even necessarily seeing them. This is where the researchers made an enormous mistake. When experimenting on this once, instead of bringing the normal 'scum of the Earth' type they usually did experiments one, they were in a rush and so kidnapped an innocent person off the street. This innocent person's pain had a rather different reaction within John. Rather then simply cause him to react, it caused his muscle to swell and his body to grow. Rather then a mewing shadow of a man, inside the cell, within a matter of seconds, stood a four meter tall beast, a creature of muscle and sinew and scales, enjoying the feast of innocent suffering it was feeling, and wanting more.

Needless to say, John escaped at great expense of life. He is still free to this day, operating under the name 'Malice'

Personality/Motivation: In many ways, Malice is a weak individual. He blames others for all his own failings, claiming nothing bad as his fault, and refusing to acknowledge his mistakes. He doesn't have much self confidence, although he hides this behind a facade, and he is accutely aware of his lack of learning. This means that with the right coaxing, it isn't particularly hard to get him working for you. The only thing more engrained in his mind then his enjoyment of other's suffering, is his hatred of authority figures, as he blames them for his failures (of course).

Malice's motivation is two-fold. Firstly, his more 'sophisticated' side wants what he never had in life. Wealth and respect. While he sometimes confuses respect and fear, in general he simply wants alot of money, and for people to treat him like someone important.

His more sadistic side, however, just wants those who do not deserve it to suffer. He is almost addicted to the sensation of innocents suffering now, and often succumbs to the temptation to make them suffer, despite how much trouble it may cause him.

Powers/abilities: In normal human form, Malice is a tall, strong man who can easily outfight an untrained individual. He nearly always carries with him a handgun (although the type varies based on what he can scavenge), and is reasonable at many 'tricks of the trade' for someone working as a petty crook. He can forge some very basic documents, tail a person without being seen (as long as they do not know to look for him, or anyone), and pick a simple lock. His latent psionic abilities allow him to sense pain and suffering of others, although it is only the suffering of those who do not deserve it that that trigger the transformation.

The pistol he carries is not for combat sake, however. If Malice needs to fight, what he will often do is find a large group of innocent bystanders, hide among them, and then shoot someone. The pain the victim feels as well as the terror of everyone within earshot over hearing gunfire is more then enough to allow him to change. In his altered form he is four meters tall with shoulders two meters wide, and weighs about twenty six thousand kilograms. He has strength enough to lift a small truck over his head without breaking a sweat, and his hide can resist small arms and some heavy arms fire with ease. His strength and incredible toughness alone makes him a threat, but perhaps the most terrifying part of this is how his sadomasochistic side seems to be predominant. This, combined with his near radar-like-sense for innocent victims means that no one is safe when he is out of control. Perhaps most terrifying about all this is just how difficult it is to defeat Malice. Possibly based on the same terrifying process that turns a normal sized man into this behemoth, when he is genuinely injured, his body can - in a matter of minutes - recover from the most greivous of injuries.

Appearance: In his normal human form, Malice usually wears an old, patchy trench coat with baggy pants and a baseball cap to hide his face and untamed mane of black hair. He is a tall man, over six feet easily, with a strong build. His skin is leathery in appearance and makes him look far older then the thirty years of age he has.

In 'Malice' form, his leathery skin becomes an amalgam of scales and fur. His hair extends to run down his spine to mid-back, along the outside of his arm from shoulder to wrist and around his waist (as a pseudo-loin-cloth, thankfully), becoming almost fur-like as it does so. The exposed parts of his skin becomes covered in blood red scales, the only area uncovered being above his pectoral muscles to his head. His neck looks like a hodge-podge of muscles and vigorously pumping veins, throbbing obscenely up towards his terrifying face. Tightened muscles draw his lips back into a skull-like grin and turn his eyes into an unnerving glare.


There you go. I hope that was an enjoyable read.

Just out of interest, do me a favour and read it through again, pondering ways outside of psychics (the obvious method) you think this guy could be defeated.

How to make a bad guy

1. Motivation

2. Methods

3. Style

Those are the three key aspects needed to make a villain noteworthy. You don't need all three to be memorable, but they're all things that contribute to changing a villain from 'the bad guy' to 'an ultimate evil'.

1. Motivation
In this aspect, there are three different possibilities.

• A) Greed
• B) "I'm the good guy"
• C) Insanity

Those are the three different ways a villain can be motivated into his actions. Greed is easy enough, it's the villain in Die Hard and the Italian Job, he or she is the person who just wants power/money and will go to any length to get it. Greed can even be Darth Vader from Star Wars, who fell to the dark side out of desire for more power (among with other things)

B is one that's both under-considered and a little over-represented nowdays. Everyone thinks they need a villain who the audience can understand the motivations of, and who genuinely thinks they're doing the right thing. Magneto is a classical example, he believes all his actions are for the good of 'his people'.

Insanity is something not often used, since it results in a villain who just genuinely cannot be sympathised with or understood. When done poorly it results in a shamble of what should be a character. When done well it's incredible though, resulting in the Joker, Hannibal Lector, and some of the most memorable villains around. It's a risky motivation, as it results in a character who can never, ever be sympathised with, and locks the writer into trying to make him a villain people see and go "... He was AWESOME."

2. Methods

One of the easiest ways to achieve a villain is to give them a noble goal, and remove any methodic constraints. Swordfish, John Travolta did have a 'noble' end goal in its own insane way, which was to protect his country, the way he became the villain is in the methods he used.

[TANGENT]

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why "The ends justifies the means" is bull. Say your end goal is to save lives, you're a doctor working in a hospital, and a reasonably healthy patient checks in, he's just got a rash from an allergic reaction, no family, but he himself is a nice guy, innocent of any crime. If you slit his throat and divided his organs amongst the sick who needed transplants, you could save a dozen lives. The end result of that is "saving a dozen lives", but could the means really be seen - in any universe - as a good thing? I do not think so. The means always requires justification on their own merit. I might do a more in-depth post about this sometime, but for now back to writing.

[/TANGENT]

So, the methods in use can turn a hero to a villain. At the same time they can always be used to simply enhance his villainous status (although this does tresspass somewhat into point 3). Look at Hannibal Lector, his methods most certainly made him even more memorable as a villain.

One of my favourite villains around is from 'Serenity', the Operative. He had noble ideals, and while his methods were pretty rough (nerve-hitting someone then letting them fall upon his sword) he had a certain.. honour to him. He was a good man who had invested all he was into a flawed ideal, only he could not see the flaw.

Other methods that can be memorable (which also tresspass somewhat into style) can be gimmicky, or possibly a form of honour. Two face and his coin-flipping is gimmicky, but adds something to the villain that makes him stand out. Giving the villains a form of honour (such as the Predator only killing armed people, and refusing to kill a pregnant woman) can also make them stand out and be more appealing.

3. Style

This one I was looking forward to writing about. Style. It's what elevates Jason the hockey-mask-wearing-slasher from a thug with a knife. Give Darth Vader a pink tutu and he would have to force chock every officer in the Imperial Navy because they would all snicker at him.

Style elevates someone from a 'bad guy' into a 'villain'. Hannibal Lector had immeasurable style, class and elan, which just made his desire to eat your face all the creepier. Style also covers gimmicks, things that make a character stand out. Recall the villain in 'No country for old men' (who's name I can't spell), he had a couple of gimmicks that were so understated at no point did you doubt they could be real, despite how outlandish it all was (killing people based on a coin flip, using a air-gun designed for killing cattle to kill people? If I told you that in conversation you'd laugh. If you saw him do it, you'd crap yourself).

Style can be something incredibly understated that makes the villain feel... almost wrong, but oh-so-right. Without his undefinable brand of lunacy and style, the Joker would just be a creep with a bad sense of humour. Remove Darth Vaders deep breathing and imposing costume, and he's a wanker with a laser sword who doesn't like people talking bad about the force.

You may have noticed alot of the examples I used were comic book in nature. This is, quite simply, because no one does villains like comic books. That may be my next post, why comic books are so unique.

First post ahoy!

Well, time to come up with my first ever post. The anticipation and nerve-crumpling fear I should be feeling isn't there, primarily because I know I'm likely going to be my entire audience. I don't even have as much of a crowd as Fozzie Bear.

So, what shall be discussed today?

The Risk of movies (A.K.A. Why there is no originality left)

Recently hollywood seems to have entered a major slump, with little or no originality in major movies being released. Think back to the last couple of years, all the MAJOR, big name movies being released. The vast, vast majority of them were:

• Adaptions from comics
• Adaptions from novels
• Reinvigorations of past franchises
• Parodies of concepts already in place
• Sequels

Let's just think about this for a second. I enjoy a good adaptation as much as the next man, Hellboy rates up with my favourite movies and I happen to think Transformers was a good, fun movie, but I don't want these adaptations to come at the cost of original products.

Still, it is somewhat understandable why movie studios are doing this. A big, major hollywood production can cost upwards of one hundred million dollars. That could buy you ALOT of hookers, hotel rooms, and coke. Hellboy was made with 70 million dollars. Transformers, if I remember right, was 110 million dollars or so. I could check IMDB, but... It's too early and I'm freezing, so screw that with an iron bar.

That's a hell of an investment (even if on a long enough time line most movies DO make money. Hell, from DVD sales Waterworld has finally made a profit) for an untested product. So, what's the best way to sell something to movie producers?

"It's based on this already successful product"

Be it comic, previous movie, novel, cartoon, computer game, animal, vegetable or mineral, if you base a product on something that is already shown to have been successful, you have a much greater chance of getting it off the ground.

The grand tragedy of all this is that there are now no new products being delivered. With the American Economy not doing so crash-hot, movie producers don't want to dump too much money into products that have a slightly higher risk of not doing well.

And before people point to all the 'original comedy movies', personally, I don't think they count. I love comedy flicks, a good comedy will make me pass out from laughter, but... let's be perfectly frank here, the vast vast majority of them are a wave of unlinked gags that have little or nothing to do with any real story, and any emotional moments are 90% likely to be an afterthought. I never saw 'Knocked Up', I've heard it's incredible, but I next-to-guarantee you that it doesn't have a story that could stand on its own as anything other then a Straight-to-TV-no-DVD-release movie.

Final note: WHAT THE FUCK was the point of 'High School Musical', and did it REALLY warrant a sequel?

What's Nerdgasm about?

Nerdgasm, as a word, is obviously an amalgamation of the words 'nerd' and 'orgasm'. I would've used it for the over-all title, but someone had already taken it (bastard).

This blog, though, despite what might've been inferred above, is not about the latest and greatest geek news. It is basically my vague attempt at scatter-shot-awesomeness. My hope is that if I shoot off enough posts, eventually one will be of value to someone, and my existance will be validated.

To put simply, I will write about whatever the hell I feel like.

Since I'm a wanna-be writer who has listened to his entire DVD set with commentary ON, is a major geek, a roleplayer and was once president of my University's philosophy society (named, unfortunately, the Platonic Society. The common joke about us was 'No sex please we're thinking'), I imagine the topics will be many and varied.

They could range from the deep "why are labels a necessary evil" pseudo-philosophical piece, to "The joys of the lady-chest" justification to myself about why it's ok to eyeball women's breasts knowing they won't catch me since I wear sunglasses often.

But, I think I'll start tomorrow. Already I've rambled reasonably well, I think. I have to save SOME of the good stuff for later.

Welcome to the Nerdgasm

In introduction, this is one of many blogs started every day that will probably:
A) Fail to be read by anyone outside the writers immediate real life circle
B) Fail to be regularly updated outside of one month
C) Fail to be interesting

I go wholeheartedly into this project of verbalisation-of-my-thoughts fully knowing that is is, in all likelihood, going to fail so badly it will forever taint my self image and confidence in ability to finish projects.

First, to introduce myself. In general you only really need to know a couple of biographical facts, and two important factors that aided in my decision making.

Biographical facts: I am a twenty one year old Australian male who has recently finished a bachelor degree in Social Science.

Important factor 1: Having just finished my degree, I have now entered what I term my 'begin life crisis', for the first time in my life I now have genuine decisions in front of me, and require more then a certain mark to progress to the next stage.

Of course I am fleeing with pants-wetting speed from this decision, and decided to apply for Honours. However, due to a cock up of my own, I finished my degree mid-way through the year. Honours doesn't start until next year. I have at least four months before Honours applications are even considered, and even further after that before I would genuinely get started, even if I am successful.

And so I find myself in need of a job to fill the time, and a hobby. So, what better hobby then the self indulgent nature of blogging. Sitting in my tiny corner of the internet screaming at the top of my lungs "Look at me! Please someone in the world validate my life by reading the bytes I'm pointlessly uploaded onto this database of naked celebrities and cat pictures!"

Important factor 2: I am a geek.

Not only am I a geek, I am a mega-geek. In the Power-Rangers-like reality of geekism, I'm not quite up there with the Ultra-geeks, but I'm pretty damn geeky. I know what THAC0 stands for (To Hit Armor Class 0, used in an old edition of Dungeons and Dragons), I have recently purchased childrens toys from ten years ago (Beast Wars, and I have some more on order), I quote star wars in casual conversation ("It's a trap!" and "Your powers are week old man, you should not have come" are personal favourites). I play MMORPGs and Roleplay in them (my main character had a wikipedia like page about him of 42kb in size, before I killed him off as part of an ongoing storyline). If the option was available, I would bloody well LARP (Live Action Roleplay).

To make it even weirder, I am a the 'jack of all trades' of geekdom. There are a few parts of the wide world of geekdom I don't know much about (Anime I am completely ignorant on. All I know is there are a couple of different schools of it, Ninja Scroll is very bloody, and Akira doesn't show up much in a movie named after him. Oh, and Guyver was a fun TV show), but in general I am pretty knowledgable about a wide variety of things. I can wow Star-Wars ignorants with my knowledge, but against a die hard fan I'm dead in the water. To people who struggle with computers I can seem very intelligent, but to anyone who's actually opened one up, I've got nothing.

But to anyone who reads this who doubts my capacity for true geekdom, I submit these facts to you.

1. I have GMed a roleplaying game that uses the dungeons and dragons ruleset, based in star wars, using the 'KotOR' era. Not only that, but I did it over the internet with people I've never met, except through an MMO.

2. Despite the above game failing (there were too many players, it was hard to co-ordinate everything properly), I am planning to do so again. But this time I am learning a ruleset I have never encountered before in my life (Hero-system) specifically so it can be played with those rules. This possible game, played in a Super-hero world, already has been populated with a half dozen different villains for the PCs to face.

Tremble and quake in fear, mere mortals, for I am the worst kind of geek.

The Geek with no practical skill.