If you can tell, I’m desperately trying not to use any pictures of Quidditch. We all know that one and I’m sure it was in the comments on Monday. It’ll show up here and definitely on Friday too. It is a good example . . . I think. There are flaws, but I’m not going to get into that. Only thing is it’s strange that the entire game basically depends on one player catching one object that nobody else appears to be allowed to grab. That’s like if a baseball game can be won at any point by the pitcher hitting a clay pigeon that’s being swung around the stadium. I mean, why try winning any other way? Seems like a good enough of a segue:
Scoring
Of course, you need to figure this out near the beginning. Even a sport that works off elimination might have some type of scoring. If not in the event, it could be to rank fighters to get a hierarchy. Within the game, you have to make this system consistent and sensible. Basketball is a great example. Basic shots are 2 points, free throws are 1, and shots from outside the arch (from far away) are 3 points. From what I can tell, these are based off difficulty. You don’t have to be that complicated too. Many sports have it that everything is one point. Then there’s American football . . . Look, many activities were designed while drunk. *points at golf*
I will say that having there be an action that creates an automatic win makes a scoring system rather moot. Yes, the game can end before that action is taken, but its existence in fiction makes it almost necessary for on-page games. Bringing attention to the possibility or set up for the action only to not have it happen can disappoint readers.
Team or Solo
This one is fairly simple because it’s the basis of the entire game. It depends on how you are going to use the sport in your story. If it’s to help a single character evolve or get something for a bigger story then solo might be the way to go. Having them join a team could introduce too many unnecessary characters. This is why tournaments and other single-person contests show up in the middle of quests. They don’t bog down the reader with anyone other than a smattering of one-time adversaries.
Team sports are helpful if you want this to be a bigger, more common piece of the story or world. Obviously, it helps when the setting is a school too. A benefit of team sports over solo is that you can create tighter bonds between heroes. It doesn’t require the main characters to work alone or against each other. Now, they have to demonstrate teamwork, which can carry over into other areas of their adventures.
Duration
How long does a game last? You don’t have to demonstrate every minute, but it helps to know the length of time. This helps figure out events occurring around the sport. Do the players have an early or late dinner afterwards? Can it go until the morning because there’s no way to break a tie? This area would also involve how the game is split to give players breaks. You have quarters, halves, innings, and more. All of this helps with pacing if you want to have the game be a central focus for a bit.
Penalties and Rules
As important as it is to know what you can do, it’s equally essential to know what a player cannot do. Even a violent sport like boxing has actions that can get someone disqualified and fined. Without penalties or someone to enforce them, the game is basically literary chaos for the author to do whatever they want. Readers who pay attention will notice inconsistencies or not have an interest in the sport if it returns. To make this a lasting and impactful piece of world-building, you need structure. For example, players in a fictional sport can’t punch or kick the other team. If they do, the limb they used for the attack cannot be used for 2 minutes. It could even be ‘sealed’ somehow.
The Hook
We tend to overlook this in real sports. A hook for a fictional sport is what will make people pay attention. It makes it different from everything else. This goes beyond the scoring and rules. It will determine how the field/stadium/arena looks and what equipment is needed. One could say that this is the core of the sport because removing this would cause the entire concept to collapse. A real world example in my mind is soccer not letting players (except the goalie) use hands. Hockey is another one since it’s done on the ice. Even the more relaxing sports like golf and tennis have aspects that make them unique.
Long ago, I came up with a story that involved a futuristic video game where people entered a virtual world. There were teams who would compete in the tournaments with the players have a different avatar for each area. The heroes were a new team made of misfits, including a homeless teenager who was living in an abandoned arcade. They would go on various adventures as they compete until . . . I didn’t really come up with an endgame since I never outlined it. That’s because various problems appeared:
I merged everything into Windemere where video games didn’t exist. Hard enough to get him alien bounty hunter into this world. No way to pull off video games.
Many of the stories would appear in other stories like ‘Ready Player One’ and ‘Sword Art Online’.
I’m still not sure if the word ‘Hyperscape’ would appear in Windemere, especially if I have to change the sport.
That’s where I’m stuck with ‘Lords of Hyperscape’. The characters were fun and I like all of their arcs. Yet, I don’t have a story that would work for them anymore. Not if I kept things the way they were. Even dropping this to a collection of short stories focusing solely on the tournaments didn’t help. That worked for ‘Phi Beta Files’, but the general concept of a college story can be transferred regardless of tech level. If I’m working with virtual reality and video games then I’m having trouble.
One of the ideas I considered was having the characters compete in illusionary worlds. It could be a manhunt, find an object, or various other games, but that could get old really fast. For a while, I thought about making it a caster sport where each ‘world’ would revolve around a different school of magic. This gets tricky because I never made the various schools and I don’t want to copy DnD. I also do a lot with casters in general, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that again.
The key point was coming up with some kind of sport for Windemere. I created on before, which involved teams flying on various beasts to protect a nest of eggs and gather more from the playing field. It was called ‘Clutch Ball’, which is still viable. The homeless arcade dweller could be switched to someone living in the wilderness with a flying beast. The team could be a collection of different mounts instead of everyone being on the same one like their opponents. This doesn’t have the magic factor, but it definitely stands out a bit more. Just can’t call it ‘Lords of Hyperscape’ unless the eccentric team owner goes with the name with no explanation. They’re still going to be a gnome, so maybe ‘Hyperscape’ is their business?
‘Clutch Ball’ being the front runner brings up the other headache. I have to design a sport with rules, scoring, and different types of mounts. It sounds like a fun challenge. Would be similar to ‘Phi Beta Files’ where I have to design the mercenary team roles and create a bunch of teams. Hope the two series having that in common doesn’t cause any problems, which is another stressor. Not sure how to make ‘Lords of Hyperscape’ differ unless I don’t make any other rival teams. None with details beyond the mounts they use. Would that even work since it means no solid enemies?
As you can tell, this post is mostly just venting and seeing what comes out to fix this idea. I don’t want it to go the way of so many others. It’s part of a group that’s having a lot of trouble adapting. Alien bounty hunter is too, but that might be a post in the near future once I get my mind wrapped around things here.
This topic was inspired by a story involving a captive Lyrebird. These types of birds are capable of copying noises like chainsaws and car alarms. One in the 1930’s learned how to imitate a flute before going into the wild. The flute song has been passed down through the generations of that bird. So, what cool songs are out there?
Well, the obvious event was coming home from Oswego. The drive back last Sunday wasn’t too bad until we got into Westchester. That’s when the traffic started hitting and it’s never good when it’s at the end of the trip. My legs were already tired from the long hauls and there aren’t any more rest stops, so I have to endure the stop/go/stop/go stuff until we got home. Checked a map though and I think I found a route that could get me around one of the worst spots.
The rough drive was followed by laundry, so I didn’t get to rest between that and going back to work. I genuinely thought I could get some work done on ‘Coven of the Gray’ at night. If not on the days I had my son, the ones where he was with his mom should have had a some time. Unfortunately, work was crazy with everyone getting back into the schedule ON TOP of summer temps. This left me completely drained by the time I came home. A hot room didn’t help, so I really just showered, changed, and went to bed early to make it through the next day.
In regards to ‘Coven of the Gray’, I am trying to figure out how to work the coven members with a theme. There are going to be 13 of them, which doesn’t give me many options. I don’t want to go with bad luck or any of the standards. In the past, I tried the 12 Olympians plus Hades for this kind of thing, but that doesn’t work here. I have time this weekend to look stuff up, but it’s going to bug me for a while. Doesn’t help that I don’t know how many other characters need to be added besides the coven, the protagonist, and a woman who hates the protagonist while following him. Everyone has had their memories wiped, so they’re working of residual emotions. Mostly different levels of positive and negative thinking. Yeah, I haven’t figured it out yet.
Some progress was made in regards to blogging since I set up the poems, Sundays, and Teaser Tuesdays for September. This was when I was in Oswego and my son was working on something else while talking. We had the Artemis II landing on TV, so I worked on it while waiting for the final 3 minutes. Anyway, that’s something, but I’m not going to rush into doing the rest. Need to figure out what to do about the October monster theme as well, but it might be reusing various Windemere beasts from the past.
Had to check my calendar to see if I had anything planned, but it’s a full week with no appointments. I’m going to be using this afternoon and tomorrow morning to get in Pokemon time since it’s an event. Both will be on the shore because some of the stuff requires being near water. That means getting there early and getting out before a storm hits tomorrow. I’m fine with this because I’m still in the thinking stage for ‘Coven of the Gray’, which I do when I’m walking around. Maybe come up with 1-3 more recurring non-coven members for the adventure.
Another reason I’m not going to plan much is because there are school events going on next week. We’re doing a field day thing at one point, which can be brutal if its sunny and hot. Looking like it won’t be that bad, but a full day of being outside can be fairly draining, especially if I have to run around. Thankfully, next weekend I have my son, no Pokemon events, and a local comic/anime/video game convention that he wants to attend with his costume. It’s all indoors and he doesn’t spend more than an hour on Saturday to do the fun stuff and returns Sunday for the cosplay contest. At this point, it’s a tradition that we plan the rest of our weekend around.
Guess I’m going to be boring for a while. There are five weeks until Memorial Day Weekend with no days off. It’s rough because many students are starting to check out, especially when the weather improves. Even with our kids, we end up struggling to keep them focused and on task. You can feel the restlessness in the air, but there are still 10 weeks to go. The last 2.5 are Regents though, which doesn’t make much of a difference. I have my other stuff going on while this is happening too. All I can say about that is it’s a legal situation.
Finality comes faster
As you age your mind
Cast away your childhood
To be serious
And stern
And mature
Nothing is left
To nurture your spirit
No reaching back
To touch your youth
Recapture energy
To ward off the reaper
Leaving yourself exposed
To your end
Legends of Windemere 