Project Crossoventure: Come Set Your Adventure In Our Setting!

[OldManRupee]

I originally posted this idea over in the MSPAFA chat thread:
We should totally do adventure team ups. Different authors, different stories, same world setting and chance of crossover.

Like the Marvel movies leading up to Avengers, the adventures should all be leading up to something big, like a silly-yet-played-straight apocalypse (giant ducks? Clowns turn on us as secretly they've all been servants of satan all along? Scientists create the ultimate cheese that then goes on a rampage?)

So here's where we start thinking up stuff. I'd like to think that adventurewise, anything goes. I don't wanna get in the way of ideas here. The only constraints would be the common world, maybe some common events occur (like an explosion downtown would be heard by several adventures in the viscinity, etc), and you'd have to perhaps draw other people's characters.

EDIT: Here's our setting we settled on!
Welcome to the city of Mespeth. A large, modern city full of all kinds of people and places, built around the mysterious remains of an abandoned older city. Magic is available to some people, but doesn't effect too much of the overall city. The setting takes place 5-10 years into the future, close enough to be mostly recogniseable, yet with the scope for some cool future-tech. The currency is Messlers, 100 pennies make 1 Messler. 100 Messlers makes one happy citizen

To the East of the city, posh town-houses are peppered with exclusive boutiques, regency buildings, and more commercial stores towards the city centre. City Hall is located here, and a large public park lies at the westen edge of East-side.

In the Centre of the city, office buildings and banks dominate the streets, but many of the buildings are of weird, ancient-yet-advanced design left behind from the abandoned older "precursor" city. Several odd contraptions are found in the back alleys and street corners, but the modern residents don't know how to use them and so generally ignore them. Landmarks in this area include the massive Schazer Tower; a "precursor" building now used by several businesses, the Forum; an old roman-ish meeting place surrounded by shallow steps and littered with pillars, and the Wizard's Tower; a local nickname for a mysterious huge impenetrable cylindrical building that also extends far below ground and has no way of getting inside.

To the West is the industrial hub of the city, with various factories and warehouses both in-use and abandoned. Mespeth River also bisects the city here, serving as a port to ship in raw materials and ferry out the finished goods. There are also various stairways and old-fashioned lifts to serve as access to the underground city.

Underground, in various sub-basements, tunnels and sewer systems, lie the slums of the poorest residents of the city. Quite close to the site of the above-ground river is the Aquifer, an underground river system. Some mining also takes place here.

Surrounding the city are various farms and farmland divided up by a few major roads, and surrounding this are mainly forests.

Adventures in Mespeth City
Politics by Gl1tch
Sleuthsayer by Jacquerel
Water VS Fire by ArsenicNog
MineQuest by AbysmalNinja
City'scape by evergreenWanderer
Powerworks by TheOneGuy
Lost Souls by HiHeiwa
Forgotten Dungeon Escapades by Aelyrin
Life Quest: Revised by Negatively Narcissistic
Mespeth 500: Race To Victory by DudeWitDak
Art of Machinomancy by Blaucat
TimeLoosened by Lazro
Evil Genius by Aussie Evil
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO JOIN IN WITH NEW ADVENTURES! JUST GIVE US A HEADS-UP HERE!

Plotpoints You Should Be Aware Of
* The current mayor of Mespeth City is John Patriot, who changed his name to this to seem more patriotic. He's rather corrupt, and hates The Truth newspaper. (As seen in "Politics")
* The Truth newspaper is an underground paper that has just dropped the story of John Patriot's original name: Richard 'Dick' Gay. Its quite a popular newspaper. (As seen in "Politics")
* Dirk Magnum's new Wizzard Detective business is now open for...uh... business. He's got a small ad in The Truth. (As seen in Sleuthsayer)
* There have been a few mysterious power outages dotted around the industrial West of the city, but only in certain areas. (As seen in Powerworks)
* The wizzard detective Dirk Magnum has unknowingly let loose an Air Elemental in downtown Central Mespeth! Expect mayhem and strong winds in that area for a while! (as seen in Sleuthsayer)
* The big annual roadrace, the Mespeth 500 is just starting! It starts from the big desert outside the Mespeth forest, and it will eventually reach City Hall! It's heavily sponsored by John Patriot! (as seen in Race To Victory)
* Unknown to the citizens of Mespeth City, the Wizard's Tower is influencing toys all over the city, slowly bringing them to life. This will eventually result in a Crossoventure-wide event called Toypocalypse, but that won't happen for a while.

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[OldManRupee]

Oh, and if any passing mods could sticky this, that'd be swell!

[Kikka]

This sounds really neat.

[Skelatox]

I could try it, though my mediocre art would make it difficult, I would shoot for the magical land.

[The One Guy]

Hmm... I'm indecisive at the moment. I want to be part of this, but I don't know if I'd be willing to spend the time for yet another adventure.
If I am to do this, though, I'd prefer either the magic or space setting.

[ponytailArtist]

A lot of those settings sound great, but now I can't bring myself to vote for any of them. @_@

A certain something comes to mind. In the japanese opening video for Tatsunoko vs Capcom, we see the characters materialize within an unnamed television show, appearing somewhat glitchy in the process. There's no rhyme or reason to it or why the characters start fighting one another; It just happens and they go along with it. It'd be pretty hard to establish a proper plot on this concept, but hey, it's worth mentioning.

[JRCrusher]

Star Trek and Star Wars aren't bothered if lasers work in deep-space, so neither am I.

But, lasers do work in deep space...
(man, I wish I had any drawing skills at all right now to participate)

[Fuade]

We could go with having every adventure existing in the same world, and a central city to tie it all together? We could avoid all sorts of temporal bullshit by just saying "Yes, Kingmaker exists in the same world as Press Start and there are totally thirty different versions of the homestuck kids.. Don't question it."

[OfficerJordan]

I think the city would be the most practical. All sorts of wacky things typical of fantasy or sci-fi could still go down therein.

Or just have a center city with differently-themed satellite areas or something.

[ProfessorLizzard]

A strange city would be a good middleground, yes.

Oh man. I could use the "Gunhat shrimp gang" for this. Finally, a use for them!

[Ed]

What if we use several different settings instead of just one? You know like changing the setting every week or something. That'd be cool.

Also i don't know which of my lame characters would be best to throw in the fray.

[Aelyrin]

* New Setting: big city. An easy setting to use, its got everything you need to hand and scope for quite a few adventures. Maybe some easily recognisable landmarks near the centre (Schazer Tower, Acre Park, Escher Bridge...?), posh and well kept Eastern Quarter, poor and dirty Western Slums.

If we put the slums physically under the rest of the city, sign me up! :3c
Not sure why, but I just really like the idea.

edit: 777 posts, whoo~

edit 2: A little bit of compromise?
A huge magical city castle (citadel? is that what it is?) on an asteroid or some such. Slums inside the asteroid. :3c
There are even farmlands around the outer wall and maybe more big-city-like in the center. Skyscrapers and whatnot.
So it's magic and in space. Also with teeny town "moons" because it's just that big. But by teeny I mean super teeny.

Anyways, I think that's everything mentioned so far?

[Girth]

It'd be cool if we could build up around one central theme or concept, not unlike the Machine of Death stories.

[Dfaran]

I think there pretty much has to be a Schazer Tower.
Also, for this to be worthwhile, the setting has to be much more distinct than "outer space" or "magical land", to the extent that starting with one of those might even be detrimental. We all know all sorts of cliches and tropes and stuff about those settings, and it would be too easy to fall back on them.
I'd rather see something more memorable. So my vote goes for "big city" with the assumption that it will be a distinct and memorable big city with lots of quirks and stuff. It could still be a fantasy or SF city.

...and for the sake of tossing in a random idea, what if the city was already built, but abandoned before the current inhabitants found it? They've appropriated the buildings and such for their own use, but there's still lots of stuff hidden behind locked doors or broken machinery or mysterious symbols carved on things that the current residents ignore in their daily lives, but still wonder about. Nobody knows who the original residents were or what happened to them.
Bonus points if the architectural style is clearly alien. Say, everything's at the wrong scale, so the inhabitants are too small for all the rooms. Or they have to duck when going through doorways. Or they have to build ladders to get to places that the city builders could presumably fly to or teleport to or something.

[Aelyrin]

^^^
Ooo, I like that idea~

[The One Guy]

Me too.

[AbysmalNinja]

How bout a city built on a plain fed by a River (used for trade since theres a larger city down where it turns into a lake) With more older times so less mines!

[ponytailArtist]

...and for the sake of tossing in a random idea, what if the city was already built, but abandoned before the current inhabitants found it? They've appropriated the buildings and such for their own use, but there's still lots of stuff hidden behind locked doors or broken machinery or mysterious symbols carved on things that the current residents ignore in their daily lives, but still wonder about. Nobody knows who the original residents were or what happened to them.
Bonus points if the architectural style is clearly alien. Say, everything's at the wrong scale, so the inhabitants are too small for all the rooms. Or they have to duck when going through doorways. Or they have to build ladders to get to places that the city builders could presumably fly to or teleport to or something.

I immediately imagine this as the future world in Chrono Trigger. This idea gets a vote from me.

Also I might take part in this too. Also also, any rules related to Mary Sue-ing in here? Sure, we'll be making things up as we go along which may lead to a lot of conflicting bullshit, but at least that's something that can be worked around.

[AbysmalNinja]

Ill join with my crappy drawing, also another conflict is the way everything is drawn

[Girth]

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Dfaran you are the best idea-er. You too, Rupee.

The settling of the humans into The City was generations ago. The knowledge of where they came from, why they left, and how they got here, has been lost to them. They have always lived in The City. The City has always existed.

[Aelyrin]

Everything should be drawn the way the artists wants to draw things. :I
The way I understand it, they'll all be separate adventures They're just in the same universe and cross over at points.

[Armada]

So, can I run a villain adventure? Seems like we need some bad guys to move the plot.

EDIT: Also I like the magical setting.

[Aelyrin]

An adventure based around the villain(s) would be neat! : D

[AbysmalNinja]

So when paths do cross and interactions occur the commands will be on two diffrent topics?

[Aelyrin]

That's what I would suspect.
Hmm. I guess that could maybe get a tad redundant.
I had an idea for how to get around it, but I lost it. :I Whoops.