On Cross-Sim Continuity

[Kansas_Jones 0]

And going with the theme of cross-sim continuity (or not), and various characters (like the Joys or guest stars), that can pop up here and there and everywhere, I want to bring up a cross-canon character question.

 

I write for a non-Trek RP group in which they feature several duty stations within the universe that a player can apply to be a part of, in addition to employing canon characters. Now, when I first discovered this, I had a moment of "I'm not sure whether I like this". But, I'll admit that it is handled quite believably by the GM staff. The concentration, like here, is still on your "own" character and the canon characters just happen to be used as a supporting cast.

 

Employing canon characters for a cross-sim or log? Good or bad idea?

 

And I'll answer my own question to get the ball rolling: Personally, while I really like the character of Doctor McCoy? I really would not enjoy writing for him every week as a character on the USS Enterprise. I like controlling and playing as my own character creations.

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

And I'll answer my own question to get the ball rolling: Personally, while I really like the character of Doctor McCoy? I really would not enjoy writing for him every week as a character on the USS Enterprise. I like controlling and playing as my own character creations.

And after talking with several prominent science fiction writers, they all agree it is much easier and preferable (as a writer) to work in your own universe with the character you have created. Working with someone else's characters in someone else's universe can be mind-boggling.

[Kallah Ramson 0]

Canon characters make for good spice to a storyline but having one as regular crew could get tricky. It depends alot on how well the player can pull it off. Having been on station sims so much I'm surprised I've not seen more canon characters stroll through. I think I remember Picard showing up in a Holloway log and he was played realistically there. I've also seen a billion Vulcan ensigns who's bios state they were sponsored through the academy by Spock. That got a little much.

 

Guess that's another question, is it a good idea or not to have familiar ties with canon characters? On a Romulan sim one person's character was the son of Commander Tomalak. That worked out better than I was expecting. And of course there's been many times it hasn't worked out very well and the player would eventually "re-roll" their character.

[STSF NDak 0]

As a guest, I know Excalibur has occasionally had Weyoun show up, which was a lot of fun writing, but not something I'd want to do all the time.

[V'Roy 0]

And after talking with several prominent science fiction writers, they all agree it is much easier and preferable (as a writer) to work in your own universe with the character you have created. Working with someone else's characters in someone else's universe can be mind-boggling.

And yet Star Trek and Star Wars writers do it all the time.

[Joy 0]

I suspect that the better loved a canon Trek character is, the larger the wince when one is played poorly. I'd agree that the occasional cameo can be fun. Off stage references, where one is relative of, friend of or rival of a canon character aren't too bad. Still, I have winced at awkward portrayals of Q and the holodoc. There are a few characters that might properly be reserved for the actors that originally portrayed them.

 

We'll have to see about the new Trek movie coming out. Can the new Spock reasonably play opposite Nemoy?

 

On the other hand, I have occasionally written logs involving Professor Moriarty and his Contessa from TNG's "Ship in a Bottle." Bad guys with class! I like to play with the role of and rights of sentient holograms. Occasionally using Moriarty as a not so nice advocate for the equality and freedom of binary life forms has proven interesting. Uneasy is the alliance between holo sentients and androids...

[Joy 0]

Clealry, we have different interpretations of what you meant, it seems to me that closing participation to people who otherwise keep up with the game and are intersted, even if they can't be at the game all the time or during the time slot is kind of counter-productive. Guest roles can be extrodinarily helpful in providing more dimension to a game.

 

I know I enjoyed the interactions between Joy Two and tr'Aeolix during Two's first stay on Aegis. I also like the depth and weight of Romulan politics when a sim invites visitors in from the Talon - Excalibur - Agincourt group. There is a lot there.

 

But I don't know that "the Romulans are drifting towards civil war and are becoming isolationist" is the best of all possible themes to be played out on Aegis. Instead of adding depth, complexity and character, a period of Romulan isolation seems just to create an empty embassy.

 

This is one place where keeping time vague, or at least not in lock step, could be beneficial. Does the civil war have to be happening right now in the Aegis canon? While a civil war provides lots of fine plot capabilities in some sims, is it the best theme for all sims?

[Kansas_Jones 0]

And after talking with several prominent science fiction writers, they all agree it is much easier and preferable (as a writer) to work in your own universe with the character you have created. Working with someone else's characters in someone else's universe can be mind-boggling.

 

 

And yet Star Trek and Star Wars writers do it all the time.

 

The Commander's quote: and I'm sure as a writer, it's more enjoyable to let your own characters play in your universe.

 

VRs Quote: going with a random example, Star Trek may have about ninety percent of the novels written with canon characters, but recent years (last ten or so?) have seen branching off with completely new characters - New Frontier (Captain), the space station based Harbinger (entire new cast), and about half the supporting cast of the Riker/Troi Titan novels (I swear, these books remind me of Agincourt). Star Wars features "new" characters, sort of: a crew of clone-bred elite commandos in the "Republic Commandos" series of novels who originally appeared in the PC game of the same name.

 

And going back to my McCoy example, if any of my characters ever "met" a canon character in my fiction writings on here, I'd be careful about how I wrote it. I would never want to get into campy drama, because that sort of thing is painful. I'm sure having a canon guest star on the sims is doable (NDak's Weyoun), and as Kallah mentioned a player RPd as a son of the Rihan Tomalak.

 

Cross sim canon characters? Depends on factors I guess.

[STSF NDak 0]

I know I enjoyed the interactions between Joy Two and tr'Aeolix during Two's first stay on Aegis. I also like the depth and weight of Romulan politics when a sim invites visitors in from the Talon - Excalibur - Agincourt group. There is a lot there.

 

But I don't know that "the Romulans are drifting towards civil war and are becoming isolationist" is the best of all possible themes to be played out on Aegis. Instead of adding depth, complexity and character, a period of Romulan isolation seems just to create an empty embassy.

 

This is one place where keeping time vague, or at least not in lock step, could be beneficial. Does the civil war have to be happening right now in the Aegis canon? While a civil war provides lots of fine plot capabilities in some sims, is it the best theme for all sims?

 

 

As far as I know, (at least on Excalibur's timeline, which I imagine to be /somewhere/ close to Aegis) the actual all-out war is 3-5 years away. The reason Aeolix was recalled was because he's not on the side in power, but they can't out right say that can they?

[TKAR 0]

Interesting possiblies it would be interesting to see and do -IDIC

[Sorehl 0]

I suspect that the better loved a canon Trek character is, the larger the wince when one is played poorly. I'd agree that the occasional cameo can be fun. Off stage references, where one is relative of, friend of or rival of a canon character aren't too bad. Still, I have winced at awkward portrayals of Q and the holodoc.

There are so many ways for a canon Trek character to be done badly, or uselessly, or shamelessly. But the lure is there. Ramson noted a joint log I did with Halloway during the Dominion War - catching Picard having tea at SB310. It was one of my favorites for highlighting the difference between great captains and ordinary captains. I know I've seen logs with subspace conversations from Sisko or Janeway or Necheyev, but Weyoun's the only canon character I've seen performed in sim.

 

I think the writer has to have a certain love and feel for a particular character to pull off a successful canon cameo. It's tempting to use them for stunt casting, rather than for a plot-advancing reason. I've shuddered at some Pocket Books with poor characterizations of my favorite characters. You have to imagine hearing the lines of dialogue coming from the actor.

 

Of course, I'm just about to write a log using one of the series regulars, so I'm probably about to ignore my own advice.

[Joy 0]

Of course, I'm just about to write a log using one of the series regulars, so I'm probably about to ignore my own advice.

 

One of my favorite Joy logs, The Measure of a Woman, is set in a time when she was still at academy. Joy was still adjusting to new programming, and was not at all what she has become. Anyway, I used Captain Picard as advocate for Joy's cause in a court scene.

 

Of course, I chickened out. One way to avoid turning people off when you put a canon character on stage is to not mention his name, to take inspiration from the character, but not to try to convince the reader that you know how to write the character.

 

Besides, this one was a Joy story, not a Picard story... It's just that Picard did such a good job for Data in "The Measure of a Man..."

[Kansas_Jones 0]

I think the writer has to have a certain love and feel for a particular character to pull off a successful canon cameo. It's tempting to use them for stunt casting, rather than for a plot-advancing reason. I've shuddered at some Pocket Books with poor characterizations of my favorite characters. You have to imagine hearing the lines of dialogue coming from the actor.

 

Of course, I'm just about to write a log using one of the series regulars, so I'm probably about to ignore my own advice.

 

I have encountered maybe four or five of these Pocket novels, and just said to myself "Did this start out as a Trek novel? Or something else?". Star Trek: TNG's "Night Shade" written by Laurell K. Hamilton is an example. Not a horrible read, but the characters of Worf and Troi just weren't all there.

 

Ignore your own advice? But that'll be fun! ;-)

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

And yet Star Trek and Star Wars writers do it all the time.

 

Yeah, but they do it 'cause they have to eat. If they had their druthers they would work with their own characters.