Reinterpreting DW as a Jumpchain?

[kestrel404]

Has it occurred to anyone else that DW is, in essence, the Ur-Jumpchain?

With new powers coming only in the form of new songs for Doug, I suppose, but it still fits pretty well.

(EDIT by Bob to clean up font formatting that made it unreadable under San Felix.)

[robkelk]

What's a jumpchain?

[Bob Schroeck]

What he said. I've not heard the term used before.

[hazard]

Serial self insertion prompts, with every new setting you insert giving you a point buys system new powers appropriate to the setting. Inserting into Ranma gives you options based on weird martial arts for example.

[classicdrogn]

Here's a list of Jumpchain links collected by some redditor, mostly to the individual setting rule documents but also including some of the better known story(ish) threads/blogs IIRC. There are perennial /tg/ and Spacebatles threads for it as well, regfulars of which seem to hold each other in varying degrees of contempt because ... the internet, I guess?

In general, jumpers are mentored or trolled or just chivvied along by a ROB known as Jump-chan, and either surviving ten years or completing the story objectives lets them either continue on to the next jump, decide to settle and stay where they are, or return to their original world with all the powers/etc. gained in the jumps, while dying is "failing the chain" and sees them returned home as they were before. "Winning the chain" is a matter of completing one of the particularly challenging "end jumps" and the prize is becoming a MtG Planeswalker, pre-Time Spiral and Mending godlike edition.

[David Lewis]

It's a kind of sub-type of the online CYOA subgenre of internet creativity. It's kind of a DEEP whole to go down - but Jumpchains in particular.... Think Quantum Leap into various anime/fictional settings, picking up powers, skills and artefacts as you go.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/R.../Jumpchain

[robkelk]

Ah. Given that definition...

No, Drunkard's Walk isn't the ur-Jumpchain. The Harold Shea stories predate DW by a half-century - he keeps his skills, and he gains a spouse whose skills complement his.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, yeah, exactly.

And remember that Twisted Path and Legion's Quest both predate Drunkard's Walk and are far better candidates as fanfic ur-examples than DW.