monday-mashup

Somewhat later than I would like, it’s time for another Monday Mashup. I was forcibly restrained from doing Finnegan’s Wake. People have no sense of fun. So instead I’ll do something classic. Dukes of Hazzard. It’s a fun-loving family who’s continually plagued by incompetent venal lawmen for no good reason — kind of an updated Robin Hood, in a way, but without the political aspect. There are lots of car chases, which are close to any gamer’s heart. Have at it, and damned be him who first cries “Hold, enough!” (Couldn’t figure out how to mash Macbeth, but maybe next week.)

In honor of the impending election season, and because — oh, wait, nobody demanded it. Well, our mashup of the day is The West Wing anyway. Depending on how you look at it, West Wing is either a brilliant show about a team of exceptional individuals working to maintain their ideals under the spotlight of Presidential politics, or it’s a self-indulgent epic about a bunch of unlikely White House staffers that takes place in an alternate reality in which liberal politics work. Either way, it’s got that snappy Aaron Sorkin dialogue and it’s kind of nice to pretend that our government is that idealistic. Have at it.

Your Mashup, should you choose to accept it: the Beach Boys. Yeah, the surfer legends, the face of 1960s surf music, the boy band of the decade — the Beach Boys. Without pushing in any particular direction, I’d say there’s potential for romantic scenarios, ecological scenarios, fun-oriented scenarios, or even auto racing scenarios. A lot of roleplaying is oriented towards the big deadly problem. The Beach Boys… are not. What can you do with the sun-drenched teenage hormonal wonderland evoked by “Surfer Girl”? If that doesn’t tickle your fancy and you prefer the Smile lyrics, though, be my guest. That stuff is pretty cool too.

It’s Labor Day, and I thought about postponing till tomorrow — but nah. Let’s do some mashing up of the old pop culture; let’s dance with the memes in the pale moonlight. (Whoops, there’s one now.) Our chosen subject this week: Shogun, by James Clavell. If I was going to boil Shogun down to a sentence of summation, I’d say it was about a man plunged into a culture he considers barbaric, and how he learns to understand it. It’s perhaps the case that the book is worthwhile not so much for the plot, but for the sincere attempt to write about Japanese culture on its own ground, which is difficult to subsume into gaming. Still, the raw plot material is probably fairly fertile ground. Have at it.

Sorry about the missed week last week; Gen Con killed me. I was gonna take a suggestion from Eric McErlain this week, but it’s a little too close to the last one in theme, so I think I’m gonna save it for a little while. Also, I put together a Monday Mashup page for your delight and amusement. What else… oh, yeah, I need to come up with something this week. OK, let’s pick some low-hanging fruit. Your inspiration this week is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Go.

Today’s Monday Mashup inspiration is the classic Huckleberry Finn. It is perhaps the definitive American novel of juvenile delinquency, beating out Catcher in the Rye by a nose. (I added “American” above so no smarty-pants would say anything about Lord of the Flies. Hah.) Huck, the quintessential youth, and Jim, the quintessential outsider, float down a river on a raft. They are not in control of their travels to any large degree, and they are willing to accept what comes as a gift from the gods. Adventures, in many ways, happen to them. Sounds like the average adventuring party to me. Mashers, have at it!

Another Monday, another mashup. What’s the Wayback Machine got for us today, Sherman? “Um, it’s something about ‘true believers,’ boss.” Right! Time to mash up the Fantastic Four! The Fantastic Four are notable among superhero teams for a) being a family and b) being the most blatant example of Jack Kirby’s “use the elements as inspirations” rule ever. It’s kind of a difficult mashup in that the characters are key to the concept, so you’d almost need to use pregen PCs. Perhaps we’re talking convention games, here. My mashup follows.

What can I say? I thought everyone had read the Narnia books. OK, another Mashup. Rules are here. Your media item of the day is Neuromancer: think ever-speeding pace of change, think future shock, think new types of intelligence. Go.

Let’s take this meme out for another spin. Yep, it’s time for another Monday Mashup. Ryan made a suggestion which I’m going to take up. He pointed out that a lot of respondants were interested in the idea but didn’t know enough about Greyhawk to take a stab at it. He suggested that I should pick a piece of modern media, and let people choose their own game for the purposes of adaptation. I think he’s right. Thus, how to participate: pick a roleplaying world and talk about how you’d use the specified book/movie/TV show/whatever as an inspiration for a campaign or one-shot set in that world. You can post on your own blog or LiveJournal or in the comments here, as you see fit. This week, your mashup subject is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (The 1978 remake is also valid fodder.) My contribution follows.

So this is an experiment. I like genre-mashing. I also like drawing on the tropes of Western media to give genres a new spin. I also think the Game WISH (original) is the bee’s knees. Thus, I’m kicking out Monday Mashup as a writing exercise. The format is pretty simple: I’ll toss out a roleplaying game/setting and a piece of pop culture, and you write up a brief rendition of a possible campaign that incorporates ‘em both in whatever unhealthy form you prefer. If people dig it, I’ll keep going, and if not, I will continue to chortle about my weird ideas in privacy. This week: the forensic scientists of CSI meet Greyhawk. Go!