Missteps

[Murmur the Fallen]

As in, worlds that Good Ol' Doug Sangnoir should avoid, for whatever reason:

You know, maybe the world of Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki. The thematic and character development stuff would probably be covered with the AMG step, as well as the
fact that it would take a lot of plot contrivance to NOT send Doug on his way almost immediately. Hmm . . . still . . .

The world of Melnibone. Or Jerry Cornelius' London. Heck, any of the Eternal Champion's stomping grounds. Though there is the notion that Doug's
run into the ol' EC once in a while.

Okay, I'm going to make this argument. The Suzumiya Haruhi world. The reason? Because the premise of the series is that Haruhi WANTS there to be
fantastical things happening all around her, but cannot perceive them or the universe will implode. If Doug shows up, pffft goes the underlying irony of the
series.

Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai. If only because Doug would cry and cry and cry.

Urusei Yatsura. For the same reason.

Inu Yasha. Too great a power disparity there.

What other worlds should Doug not visit?

-murmur

[Shepherd]

Places he shouldn't go?

The Demiplane of Dread (Ravenloft) or the original World of Darkness - two places where good CANNOT truly win.

Any 'normal' superhero universe - part of the fun is seeing a superhero in a nonsuperhero universe. Which is too bad, because I'd have loved to see
him in the Marvel Universe during the Civil War storyline. Would he have been for the Superhero Registration Act as an employee of a government (UN) agency, or
would he have been against it because only the UN has the right to operate government affiliated teams? Of course, it would be easy to add a throwaway line to
a regular step or stagger to suggest that he had been there briefly without actually detailing the actual stop.
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

[Wiregeek]

WH4k universe.

by reputation only, Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann universe.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[WengFook]

Okay, I'm going to make this argument. The Suzumiya Haruhi world. The reason? Because the premise of the series is that Haruhi WANTS there to be
fantastical things happening all around her, but cannot perceive them or the universe will implode. If Doug shows up, pffft goes the underlying irony of the
series.

Uh Murmur... Bob did a little stagger in this already We don't know if any more will come though..

I think Rosario + Vampire is probably on the list. A school full of man-eating monsters and the main heroine is a super Vampite to boot :S
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[Bob Schroeck]

Bob did a little stagger in this already

The Melancholy of Douglas Sangnoir

And no, I haven't planned anything more for it -- it was really just a one-off joke. And as Rob and other Fenspace folks will tell you, I'm letting it be officially apocryphal right now to keep Fenspace part of the greater metacontinuity with DW.

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

[DHBirr]

The Garrett, P.I. universe by Glen Cook. Mainly because the place is lousy with deities -- of the sort who make "lousy" very definitely an
appropriate description. How prevalent are they? The main character, a Philip-Marlowesque private detective, has slept with a total of three
goddesses, and two others put moves on him but were interrupted.

Also, socially, the city Garrett works in could be said to resemble a MegaTokyo in which there were never any Knight Sabers opposing GENOM. One of the books
refers to how there are people in the crime syndicate who have no problem with turning a twelve-year-old into a drug addict so they can coerce her into being a
low-cost, high-turnover prostitute -- the use of the word "flatbacker" stuck in my mind. The mages consider themselves above any law but their own
whims -- and they tend to like pseudonyms that make "Looney Toons" sound modest and sensible ("Dreamwalker Doomscrye," anybody?). The urge
to clean up a city like that -- and the impossibility of the task -- could break Doug's heart. It's breaking Garrett's sometimes.

And then there's Garrett himself. Bob once cited a line that didn't make it into the final draft of DWII, in which he told Sylia that he
thought if she and Wetter Hexe could ever be introduced, they'd either become best friends or try to kill each other. I think Doug and Garrett would be
more likely to tend toward becoming friends ... but there'd some serious wisecracking competition.

Note that this is a series I greatly enjoy and recommend to other readers. But I don't want to see poor Doug there.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Wiregeek]

The Garrett, P.I. universe by Glen Cook.

Hmmm.

The main character, a Philip-Marlowesque private detective,

HMMMM.

has slept with a total of three goddesses

!!!!!

The urge to clean up a city like that -- and the impossibility of the task -- could break Doug's heart. It's breaking Garrett's sometimes.

Sold! this available in Ebook, or am I going to have to pirate it?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

The Garrett novels are made of awesome and win. I think they're what Cook uses to de-stress after writing Black Company books (which are too damn
depressing for me to stand).

...Doug showing up there would be truly nifty, but the series is still going. Although there are signs in the latest volume that it may be drawing to some
sort of conclusion.

I should point out, though, that the Capital-G Gods only show up in one volume.

Let me see...

The city of TunFaire, sleazy capital of Karenta. The Karentines have been at war with Venageta for over a century, battling over silver mines located in an
isthmus between them -- silver is the universal fuel for high-powered magic, and both kingdoms are effectively ruled by wizards of various stripes. As
Karentine law requires that absolutely every remotely healthy full-blooded human male serve at least one term in the army (nobility and wizardry are not
exempt), the once pure-human capital has been hiring a lot of elves, dwarves, and whatnot for long enough for significant immigrant populations and half-,
quarter-, and multi-breed underclasses. There's a lot of racial tension brewing on top of the usual class struggle.

Garrett, ex-Marine, is a confidential investigator whose usual jobs involve preventing brewery workers from walking off with too much of their product... but
somehow he always attracts the strange cases. Usually heralded by some jaw-dropping beauty showing up on the doorstep he shares with the Dead Man, a
four-hundred-year-old telepath whose species just won't finish dying until their (inanimate) corpses are completely destroyed (and they don't decay,
either). Rounding out the gang are Morley Dotes, half-elf vegetarian restarateur and master assassin, and Saucerhead Tharpe, legbreaker par excellence. Along
with a steadily accumulating cast of weirdos and beauties.

All but the two most recent books are out of print, but there's a torrent on Demonoid, here.

--Sam

"He stands, like some kind of... pagan god or deposed tyrant. Staring out over the city he's sworn to... to stare out over..."

[Black Aeronaut]

Rocket Attack USA?

[Bob Schroeck]

Nah, he's got other ways of proving he's from another dimension.

(ETA, 3 weeks later: It occurs to me that if he actually lands in "Rocket Attack USA", he can recite the plot to "Hopelessly Lost" to
prove he's from another universe...)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Another world to avoid: the world of Spider-Man - The Musical!  Not just for how cheezy that world seems to be, given its capsule writeup; how could Doug possibly handle a world with metahumans who burst into song at apparently-random points in their everyday lives, possibly including during combat?

(Before anyone mentions the Sakura Wars Step, note that the members of the Flower Division don't break into song at random points in their everyday lives, only while they're on-stage.)

[Black Aeronaut]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

(ETA, 3 weeks later: It occurs to me that if he actually lands in "Rocket Attack USA", he can recite the plot to "Hopelessly Lost" to
prove he's from another universe...)

Lemme guess... He read EPU during his brief stay in Fenspace? Bet -THAT- took a hefty chunk of his free time, not that he minded losing it to
the clutches of the Usual Suspects at EPU. ^_^ He probably thought that Hopelessly Lost was cracktasticly delicious, despite having been there.
Hell, even back then, Gryphon was pretty damn good with other peoples' characters, so Priss's reaction would probably ring true to him. Hell, he'd
laugh his ass off at the whole montage they pulled after they Explained The Whole Thing(tm) to her.

[CattyNebulart]

Code Geass would probably be a bad world for Doug.

Doug visiting Mid-childa would also be bad. Though it would be cool to see any of the characters from there lay the beatdown on Doug.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Black Aeronaut]

I can only imagine the field-day Doug would have with S-Cry-Ed. Seriously, how would his abilities behave in a place where the fabric between dimensions is so
thin that it spontaneously grants people with their Alter Abilities? And if they do behave reasonably enough, the twisty plot would probably give him
headaches.

[Soutern Cross]

Another world that Doug should avoid is the world shown in Perfect Creature.How would Doug react to a world where
most of the medical science is derived from the work of the Brotherhood? How would Doug react to a religious order of vampires? Especially if he found out
about some of their immoral dealings?"There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets"-Colonel VanHeusen , from "It! The Terror From Beyond Space"

[Jorlem]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

Bob did a little stagger in this already

The Melancholy of Douglas Sangnoir


And no, I haven't planned anything more for it -- it was really just a one-off joke. And as Rob and other Fenspace folks will tell you, I'm letting
it be officially apocryphal right now to keep Fenspace part of the greater metacontinuity with DW.

If you don't mind me asking, when does the Fenspace step occur, relative to the other steps? Because if it happens fairly late in the walk,
he might assume that Fenspace's Haruhi is a dimensional alternate of the 'canon' Haruhi that he met, similar to what occurred in MegaTokyo.

I'm sure you've already thought of all this though, I was just wondering how the Fenspace and TMODS stories conflicted.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrm.... Lesse what Merriam-Webster has to say...

apocryphal

One entry found.




Main Entry: apoc·ry·phal


Pronunciation: -fəl

Function: adjective


Date: 1590


1: of doubtful authenticity : spurious


2 often capitalized : of or resembling the Apocrypha


synonyms see fictitious

Okay, and for Apocrypha...

Apocrypha


One entry found.




Main Entry: apoc·ry·pha


Pronunciation: ə-ˈpä-krə-fə

Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction


Etymology: Medieval Latin, from Late Latin, neuter plural of apocryphus secret, not canonical, from Greek apokryphos obscure, from apokryptein to hide away,
from apo- + kryptein to hide - more at crypt


Date: 14th century


1: writings or statements of dubious authenticity


2 capitalized a: books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament - see
bible table b: early Christian writings not included in the New Testament

Okay then. So what he's saying is that the Haruhi micro-mis-step didn't really happen. Think of it as an Omake. Disregard it and carry
on.

[Bob Schroeck]

when does the Fenspace step occur, relative to the other steps?

I haven't specifically located it yet, but despite the fact that a BTVS character shows up with the Girls in "Legend of Galactic Girls", Doug visits Fenspace before DW13 (Glory Hound). How much before that Step he was there, I can't say at this point.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[ECSNorway]

You've said before that the girls aren't necessarily 'in ste' with Doug, time-wise... perhaps this is a symptom of that.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[robkelk]

How much before that Step he was there, I can't say at this point.

Well, I did have Doug "recognize" Kohran, but I can retcon that if it causes any problems for you. (I'm going to have to retcon Eimi into the story anyway...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, given that Sakura Taisen is Step 12, that's not a big window, but I've no problems with Fenspace being "Step 12.5".
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Thanks.

(If you'd rather that Doug recognized Sora instead of Kohran, that could put the Fenspace step anywhere between 5 and 13, non-inclusive. Mind you, that
would require Doug actually meets Sora in Step 5... which I wasn't sure was going to happen.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[DHBirr]

Mind you, that would require Doug actually meets Sora in Step 5... which I wasn't sure was going to happen.

His meeting her during the period of DW5 doesn't necessarily have to be something that was ever portrayed in the story, does
it? You could, for instance, mention in your story that Sora dropped by the temple a time or three on Motorcycle Club business while he was sparring with
Paradox, working on his bike, or whatever -- presumably introductions and some minor conversation took place; not enough to warrant quotation in DW5 but enough
that he remembers her appearance (which is, after all, distinctive in its own way: a college student who gets mistaken for a junior high-schooler).

Just a suggestion.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Bob Schroeck]

Also, Doug does not leave that universe at the end of the story, although he does, obviously, eventually move on. So he could easily meet Sora well after the
events of the chapter we're currently writing.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Okay, so a retcon that Doug recognized Sora instead of Kohran would give you more room to play with the idea of Doug having Eimi along.

Ah, but there's no way to explain how Noah knew Sora well enough to build a duplicate of her without mentioning transfictionality.

So that puts the retconned Fenspace story somewhere between DWX and DWXIII. Plenty of room...

I'll work on the retcon sometime soon. (Not this weekend, unless the brand-new local anime convention tanks worse than some folks are expecting. Maybe Friday. Maybe today, if I can squeeze it in.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012