Really *weird* places for a Step...

[Freddy Isnot]

Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality.
Just imagine Doug's reaction to meeting the "Mortal Immortals." They are the exact opposite of avatars. How would this mess with his views of the Powers That Be?
-Freddy Isnot

"You are now graduated from newbie and are just clueless. Consider that a compliment."
-Zipcode

[Bob Schroeck]

Interesting...
First, though, I'd have to figure out how to fit them in my cosmology before Doug could have a chance to do the same...

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Aleh]

You could have their universe be an anomaly amongst the dimensions, one in which the gods (except Nox) renounced their power and placed it within items, such as Chronos's Hourglass, and passed it on to mortals for safekeeping.

[Bob Schroeck]

Hm. Maybe figuring out the "why" of something like that would make for a good plot.
Let me think on it.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Aleh]

Like I said, it's an idea.

[Aleh]

Mouse. While Doug trying to catch the guy would be... interesting, I suspect it would be a very short story. Spamfic, maybe.

[Guest]

How about the world of GURPS Technomancer?Would Doug be able to use a walkmage (or adapt the appropriate circuitry into his helmet?)

[Bob Schroeck]

Huh. Interesting idea. And I even have the sourcebook. I suspect his reaction might be, "Kinda like home, but weirder. I could live here."
I'd have to come up with a good plot, but it might be workable.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Mouse. While Doug trying to catch the guy would be... interesting, I suspect it would be a very short story.

---

Huh? Do you mean the movie Mouse Hunt?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Xenoproctologist]

I think he's talking about the new anime, "Mouse". It's an insipid piece of adolescent fanservice fluff about a thief who's supposed to be rediculously good at stealing things and the three women who compulsively throw their breast in his face for no particular reason.
Personally, I could only stomach about ten minutes of episode one before I had to delete it.

[Bob Schroeck]

Doesn't sound promising.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Aleh]

True, although the 'no reason' bit goes out the window by Ep. 3, which is where you start to get into *WHY* they work for him. As for promise... like I said, it'd make an interesting spamfic. Mouse, the character, takes pride in being able to steal *ANYTHING*. In Episode Two, he steals an *ISLAND* just because the police said he couldn't. Of course, the plan he used was rather unrealistic (especially the part about using Chinese subs), but it's a lot like some of the stuff Doug's used to... up until Mouse returns what he stole...

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Episode Two, he steals an *ISLAND* just because the police said he couldn't. Of course, the plan he used was rather unrealistic (especially the part about using Chinese subs),

---

Why am I suddenly visualizing the "floating island" stuff from the old Doctor Doolittle movie (the one with Rex Harrison)?

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

IIRC, the Technomancer world is also part of one of those systems of parallel Earths in GURPS Time Travel-- don't have a copy handy, can't check, but I think it was the one where two worldjumping civilizations are at war. So if Doug attracted too much attention he could be in even more trouble than usual...
--Sam Ashley
"He beat up ten ninjas with a loaf of French bread!"

[Bob Schroeck]

---

IIRC, the Technomancer world is also part of one of those systems of parallel Earths in GURPS Time Travel ... I think it was the one where two worldjumping civilizations are at war.

---

Yup, that it is. The two civilzations are Homeline and Centrum, but there's also some business running tourism and resource mining from the various worlds.
While we're on the topic, I think it's pretty likely that Warriors' World is real close to the I.S.T. World, on whatever quantum it's supposed to be on. Think of the possibilities for a Step there. Anyway, as I recall, the parachronic business folks in that campaign background stay away from anyone (like Doug) who could blow their secret out of the water.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Aleh]

Hehe... watching Ep. 5, you see the single most atrocious pun I've ever seen... probably would remind Doug of home, actually (the mad scientists, that is). Specifically, a machine called 'Turtle Recall'.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

...starting with obscure '80s cartoons this time.
Silverhawks -- because no matter how silly the Warriors might think Third Earth is, it's mundane compared to the Limbo Galaxy.
Tigersharks -- because no one even -remembers- the third in the Rankin-Bass Silliness Trifecta.
Spiral Zone -- that one had some really good core concepts, executed very badly. One of those concepts was that good guys and bad guys had completely different tech bases, and neither understood the other's in the least; a little nudge from a wanderer just might tilt the balance and save humanity from blotchy zombiehood.
Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers -- now that one was downright ahead of its time. GOOSE!
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors -- "So this vine-thing has engulfed this star system?" "No, at this point it's spread across pretty much the entire galaxy." "...Bweh?"
Daria -- "I suppose I should have been expecting this after Holiday Island."
Samurai Cat -- and now I'm having Trigun flashbacks and want to see a gunfight between Meryl Strife and Miaowara Shimura. Not to mention Doug trying to deal with a world where you can catch a Greyhound from 1600s Japan to 1930s Chicago. And Shiro would be really annoyed when bullets flying near Doug didn't behave the way Buddha intended.
Gilbert & Sullivan. (Anybody here ever read Marvin Kaye's "The Incredible Umbrella"?)
IOU. (A friend and I are sending Ranma there on a moopsball scholarship. He thinks he's going to get away from the weirdness in his life. Muaha.)
Finally (and most seriously):
Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman.
They're a team of UN-sponsored superheroes...and they're five teenagers in bird suits that make Robin look muted. And they're the only force standing in the way of a worldwide terrorist organization that can afford to build an average of one daikaiju-class giant combat mecha per week. (Eat your heart out, Cobra Commander.)
These kids wrote the book on a lot of things. They were the PROTOTYPE for the Five-Hero Team--the Fearless Leader, the Brooding Loner, the Big Lug Techie, the Kid, and the Girl (and if you count Red Impulse you even get the original Mysterious Sixth Power Ranger). Berg Katse and the Galactors are personally responsible for something like sixty-five percent of the entries in the Evil Overlord List. (They -exceed- the List. Not only are face-concealing masked helmets the order of the day all the way up through the ranks, they ALL COME WITH LONG BROWN WIGS ATTACHED!!!)
It would be a shame and very nearly a crime for Doug NOT to meet the Science Ninja Team.
That said, there are certain difficulties--the foremost being that Gatchafanfic writers have practically *mythologized* the show to a degree rarely seen in the field. Katse especially. The more rabid fans might become obnoxious if characters weren't handled in time-honored fashion... *sigh*
The other one would be when in the series to drop the Loon. On the one hand, the first two seasons each have diabolical master villains who are also tragic figures desperately in need of a chance at redemption -- especially poor Gel Sadra. (And if nothing else, just hearing the stories of Katse and Sadra would give Doug the powerful urge to hunt down Soosai X and use Lightning's Hand to overwrite his OS with Pong *byte by byte* -- there may never have been anime deeds so vile as what was done to those children.)
(Hmm, did I forget to mention I AM one of those rabid fans? n.n; Ah well.)
Instead, and in keeping with the general DW theme of avoiding the cliched and the obvious, perhaps a third season appearance would work best of all -- with Count Egobossler, a self-made and easily despisable villain, running Galactor as a rather effective conventional army and just building kaijurobotto to keep Z (nee X) happy; and with the Ninja Team's personal problems getting nasty (what with Ken and Joe swapping personalities and all). It'd be... an abnormally *conventional* approach to Gatchafic.
--Sam Ashley
"They are sometimes five, sometimes one: the white shadow that moves unseen. The Scientific Ninja--Gatchaman!"

[Bob Schroeck]

---

...starting with obscure '80s cartoons this time.

---

Mind you, a lot of these are obscure to me, too. I've heard of some of them, but not all.

---

Silverhawks -- because no matter how silly the Warriors might think Third Earth is, it's mundane compared to the Limbo Galaxy.

---

Oh, we didn't think it was silly -- we took it on face value, as an alien civilization whose core rules we might not comprehend, but whose spell-casting mummies (and their incompetent henchmen) badly needed killing. Let's see, that was the adventure where I first used "Lightning's Hand", and I took out Mumm-ra's temple with "I Feel The Earth Move" by Carole King. (Hey. That's one I forgot in the "spell songbook" thread... gotta add it.) Anyway, I digress, badly... I've heard of "Silverhawks", but never saw it.

---

Tigersharks ... Spiral Zone ... Galaxy Rangers

---

Never heard of any of these.

---

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

---

I remember the title, and I almost kinda-sorta remember the cartoon itself. I don't remember being impressed...

---

Daria

---

Well, it would make a perfect setting for the "Doug as a teacher" theme that crops up in many of the Steps...

---

Samurai Cat -- and now I'm having Trigun flashbacks and want to see a gunfight between Meryl Strife and Miaowara Shimura. Not to mention Doug trying to deal with a world where you can catch a Greyhound from 1600s Japan to 1930s Chicago.

---

Dealing... wouldn't be hard. Accepting and understanding would be another thing entirely. Then again he might just rationalize it as having fallen into a vaguely cartoon-like universe and leave it at that. This could be very, very fun...

---

And Shiro would be really annoyed when bullets flying near Doug didn't behave the way Buddha intended.

---

Ooh, poor little psychokitty...

---

Gilbert & Sullivan.

---

Hmmm. Possibilities. Many possibilities. Much depends on whether or not the people native to G&S worlds sing their day to day lives the way the plays seem to imply.

---

IOU.

---

You speak to the Double Dean, you know -- of the College of Comparative Irrelevancy and the College of the Creative and Destructive Arts, the sole being tasked with the preservation of that terrible artifact of theological topology, J. Halvah's project. (Yes, and I was there when it was first switched on, making me a J. Halvah's Witness...) In other words, I was one of the original online players back in the 1980s -- you can find my name on a dorm on the campus map in the book. So I'm very familiar with this setting. And I'm surprised I never thought of it. There are Definite Possibilities there...

---

(A friend and I are sending Ranma there on a moopsball scholarship. He thinks he's going to get away from the weirdness in his life. Muaha.)

---

Ranma's joining the Team? Oh. Dear. Gods.

---

Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman.

---

I've heard a lot of good things about this, but I've never seen it. Your description only reinforces all the great things I've heard. I think I should find a copy soon.
Thanks for all the suggestions!
-- Bob
(IOU Alma Mater: www.io.com/~woodward/d7/thiou.txt )
(Edit: broken URL)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[offsides]

Galaxy Rangers was (and is) one of my all time favorite american cartoon series. I doubt I can give a full synopsis of the show, but there's a number of sites on the net that can. The basic ideas was that there was a group of 4 effectively metahuman space cops whose primary task was to track down and get rid of the great evil that was facing the universe. I say effectively because to my knowledge only 2 of them were even close to metahuman status (Goose, the metamorph, and the girl sorceress whose name I forget), and all four of them had to rely on their badge/implant as a focus for their powers.
Unfortunately, the show was cancelled before it concluded leaving things hanging in midair forever. The universe was also in some ways a darker vision of UF, which is probably why I liked it so much...
As for Gatchaman/G-Force, that would definitely make an interesting step, if it could be worked out properly...
Offsides
Drunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At Large

[Guest]

Ahahaha! I remember Silverhawks. That was a seriously wacked universe. What with the music that was actually a physical attack, and the guy with the horrible southwestern accent and cowboy hat.
And of course the token sidekick creature that's smarter than the rest of the team combined, or so it seemed.
The one trend in 80's cartoons that amuses me to no end is how the characters narrate the actions that are occuring.
Liono: Oh no! Mumm-ra and his henchmen are escaping! I must now draw my bersword so I can defeat them with honor and justice!
(It must have been very interesting when they got sent to Third Earth.)
If Doug ever found himself in one of these universes, maybe he'd develop a propensity for doing the same thing. =P

[Rod.H]

---

---

Tigersharks ... Spiral Zone ... Galaxy

---

---

Never heard of any of these.[/quote]
I'm somewhat the same except as the subject says I'm aware of the third and memories of it are a bit werid as I think I've seen both animation and live action version of it. Either way we're talking 'bout a space western here, not a Trigun or Cowboy Bebop type of one, but a Walker, Texas Ranger meets Quickdraw McGraw and does Thundercats. Of cause I could be very wrong here as it's been awhile since I've seen it and I was more a fan of Inspector Gadget, Count Duckular, Cops & Transformers - when I wasn't getting my Loony Tunes fix.
There was toys produced for it too, for example a cyberhorse that had a humanoid form and a BFG, and a futuristic Stagecoach with horse shaped anti-grav pods, thusters and hoverconversion wheels.
--Rod.H
"You're right, yellow spandex isn't your thing. Righto, break out the Vorlon suit!"

[Star Ranger4]

Sorry, Rod, but the one you're thinking of isnt' Galaxy Rangers, but rather Bravestarr...
"I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Rod.H]

Ah...enlightenment. I knew it had to be called something and it was the main sci-fi western animation I can recall (I've got bigger holes in my mind than Commander Sinclair). Now I'm puzzled 'bout that live action one.
--Rod.H
Australia, land of the non-supported fen/fanboy/otaku (but it's changing)

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

>>IOU.
>You speak to the Double Dean, you know -- of the College of Comparative Irrelevancy and the College of the Creative and Destructive Arts, the sole being tasked with the preservation of that terrible artifact of theological topology, J. Halvah's project. (Yes, and I was there when it was first switched on, making me a J. Halvah's Witness...) In other words, I was one of the original online players back in the 1980s -- you can find my name on a dorm on the campus map in the book. So I'm very familiar with this setting. And I'm surprised I never thought of it. There are Definite Possibilities there...
We bow in awe.
>>(A friend and I are sending Ranma there on a moopsball scholarship. He thinks he's going to get away from the weirdness in his life. Muaha.)
>Ranma's joining the Team? Oh. Dear. Gods.
(WARNING! MASSIVE BLATANT PLUG APPROACHING!)
With me in the studio today is my coauthor and partner in crime, Philip "Ran Nomine: Hell or Hot Water" DesJardins.
Having read Cohn's -Rules of Moopsball-, it seems to us that this is -not- a game to be dominated by the brainless slabs of muscle described in the sourcebook... sure, you need mucho endurance, but speed, brains, and adaptability are the keys to victory.
So: for the last few years, other colleges (and high schools--the Intereverywhere Moopsball League is heavy on open-door policy) have been dominating, and IOU's sports revenues have gone through the floor.
The ArchDean is Not Happy. ...He's the one true -Unseen- Dean, back after twenty years in a cave with some suggestions for reforming The Team around a certain young martial artist of his acquaintance.
Of course, where Ranma goes, everyone else follows... so better to have them all at IOU -officially-.
This is sort of a cross between a "standard" Ranma-continuation, generic weird-college life, and generic sports manga. Ranma winds up really -liking- moopsball (part of that may have to do with the fact that Anything Goes was originally a style inspired BY Moopsball, so it doesn't take long for Ranma to see applications in one for the other, and vice-versa), and comes into conflict with the Team's captain--a certain werewolf, now senior and embittered over the demise of his playing style. Can Ranma become a star player -and- a leader worthy of becoming the new captain? Can he lead the Team (for this fic's purposes the IOU Fnord) to victory over such rivals as the Nekomi Vikings, the Toudai Turtles/Meteors (their team's name changes depending on whether the Hinata or Tomobiki faction is dominant this week), the Saito High Poltergeists, the CLAMP School Bishounen, the Floristica Demongods, and the Ohtori Academy Phoenix? (BIG story planned for that last one...just who is East of the Sun/West of the Moon, and why does Akio fear it? And what has it done to the Dueling Arena?)
Of course, most of the other cast members have been... coerced... into joining the Team as well. But they've got other majors...
-Akane learns to appreciate her unique skills in Weird Science and Culinary Studies. ("As God is my witness, I will find a way to ruin curry!")
-Konatsu is taking Advanced Ninja Studies under Space Ninja Professor Baltan. And engaging in a feud with...
-Tsubasa, studying Mecha Theory (A nod to RpM for a truly wonderful idea). This of course leads to headaches for...
-Ukyou, who after a long soul-searching period trying to find a proper major has settled on Food Magic (Before that it was Housemaking, which didn't last long; before that Applied Theology, which resulted in a cult being started in her name (As close to self-insertion as this series will get); before that was a misunderstanding as to precisely what WSaCS WAS). And discovers that she is the world's only cooking Archmage (In GURPS terms, single-college (food) magery at level 5. Don't Ask.)
-Ryouga, who's actually been attending for a year or so now. What? The man has a life.
-Shampoo, who is studying political science. "Shampoo want become great warlord. Lead mighty Amazon armies into the plains and conquer stupid chinese. Bring enlightenment to mainland Asia."
-Cologne resumes her duties as Dean of Ancient Chinese Secrets (and Misanthropology).
-Gosunkugi figuring out that he's just not cut out for magic, leading him to studies in Theoretical Thaumatology. And some of the largest cost-overrun experiments that the University has ever seen.
-Kasumi in C.T.H.U.L.H.U., studying Temporal Housekeeping. When she's through with the course of history, the Tendou dojo will never have NEEDED repairs.
-Nabiki... we're not sure what she's taking. No one is. Fear.
-Kodachi, almost alone amongst the Fiancee Brigade in that she's still got her eye on Ranma, and plans to use Botany to get him. ("Go, my army of Dryads!")
All of which will, after four years of increasing insanity, culminate in the only way it could end...
Absolute. Wedding. Apocalypse.
(Blatant Plug ends. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Walk discussion.)
Phillip DesJardins, Monkeys With Typewriters Fanfiction Productions ("More bananas! Stat!")
Sam Ashley, Evil Midnight Lurker (Bad is good baby! Down with Crystal Tokyo!)

[Bob Schroeck]

---

We bow in awe.

---

As well you should.
Oh, extra footnote. "Swomi Tift" in GURPS IOU was originally from my online TFOS campaign (see transcripts here)... Walter just decided it was time for her to graduate high school...

---

my coauthor and partner in crime, Philip "Ran Nomine: Hell or Hot Water" DesJardins.

---

"Ran Nomine"? Please sir, may I have some more?

---

Absolute. Wedding. Apocalypse.
(Blatant Plug ends. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Walk discussion.)

---

I must read this! Please let me know when it's ready for release (or prereaders!).
-- Bob
(I wanna cameo! For me and my secretary, Bitsy of Amber.) (As it turned out, J. Halvah's Project was the Light behind Amber that cast all the Shadows, and she was there to watch over it.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.