Discussion of "A sudden change of species"

[bushwacked]

I like that dream idea. One idea I had for Petrie's dream a while ago is that he could be flying at night with his brothers and sisters around him, and eventually he notices that one by one they're disappearing. When he's on his own, he notices a shadow passing overhead, and he looks up to see a sharptooth flyer overhead, stalking him. Panicking, he tries to fly away but the flyer keeps even with him, and just as the flyer shoots down and Petrie turns up to look at him, he recognises that it's himself (but all sharptoothy), and that's when he wakes up. Dunno if it sounds any good, thought I'd see what you guys think of it.

I dunno if Petrie should be Ichy's species, it's not really that threatening. I was thinking he could be a cearadactyl?

[rhombus]

I also like vonboy's dream idea.   The question that I have is will the dream scenes be from the viewpoint of the sharptooth version of each character or from their leaf-eater form?  Or will it switch from one to the other after the "kill" happens?  If it is from the latter option, then I have some interesting ideas for Spike's scene in the dream.

[Pterano]

Maybe initially leaf-eater then switches, but then, as they continue towards their circle, their minds realize this isn't right, and reject it a bit, and they're leaf-eaters again, but this time, the sharpteeth are closing in from all directions as they begin gathering in the circle. What were your ideas, rhombus?

[rhombus]

Well, if I were to be assigned the scene in the dream immediately after the 'kill' (assuming that we follow vonboy's idea and the dream doesn't end there) then I could have Spike thinking that the "red food" will taste great based upon what he tasted in the killing bite (after killing leaf-eater Spike in the dream), only to realize that something isn't quite right in this dream before it suddenly cuts to Chomper for the final dream scene.  My proposed scene for Spike would help show the very confused mental state of the gang due to the nature of their dreams and also foreshadow some of the darker elements that will eventually permeate the RP.  

[Pterano]

I approve of that idea. Sounds really good.

[Ducky123]

Here I was getting ready to come up with a big, impressive plot that we could break down into seven fragments, but that idea works too. in-yes.gif

What was your idea anyway?

I like that dream idea. One idea I had for Petrie's dream a while ago is that he could be flying at night with his brothers and sisters around him, and eventually he notices that one by one they're disappearing. When he's on his own, he notices a shadow passing overhead, and he looks up to see a sharptooth flyer overhead, stalking him. Panicking, he tries to fly away but the flyer keeps even with him, and just as the flyer shoots down and Petrie turns up to look at him, he recognises that it's himself (but all sharptoothy), and that's when he wakes up. Dunno if it sounds any good, thought I'd see what you guys think of it.

Not bad, but it wouldn't fit vonboy's idea, all provided we're going to use it

I also like vonboy's dream idea. in-yes.gif The question that I have is will the dream scenes be from the viewpoint of the sharptooth version of each character or from their leaf-eater form? Or will it switch from one to the other after the "kill" happens? If it is from the latter option, then I have some interesting ideas for Spike's scene in the dream.

I think they should start the dream as the prey and then switch to the hunters as soon as their leafeater self is killed by their sharptooth self. Though wouldn't that sort of ruin the final surprise when they wake up? They would have to wake up right after the switch I guess...  :unsure:

Maybe initially leaf-eater then switches, but then, as they continue towards their circle, their minds realize this isn't right, and reject it a bit, and they're leaf-eaters again, but this time, the sharpteeth are closing in from all directions as they begin gathering in the circle

Another option I consider good It'd work that way for sure. Though, if that was to happen,
would their leafeater selfes actually end up getting killed or not? If I understood that correctly, the scene switches from the leafeaters getting chased to the meateaters hunting, then surrounding the leafeaters completely --> switch back to leafeaters --> switch to Sharpteeth again --> waking up and facing each other in horror?

I dunno if Petrie should be Ichy's species, it's not really that threatening. I was thinking he could be a cearadactyl?

That's Sierra's species, right? Hmm, if they have a highly increased sense of sight, that'll be completely fine Sight should be Petrie's trait and airial scouting his task.

[rhombus]

I think they should start the dream as the prey and then switch to the hunters as soon as their leafeater self is killed by their sharptooth self. Though wouldn't that sort of ruin the final surprise when they wake up? They would have to wake up right after the switch I guess... :unsure:

If I understood that correctly, the scene switches from the leafeaters getting chased to the meateaters hunting, then surrounding the leafeaters completely --> switch back to leafeaters --> switch to Sharpteeth again --> waking up and facing each other in horror?

Now that I have had some more time to think about it, I was wondering if perhaps the proposed dream should be simplified somewhat?  Although I still think that my Spike idea had some merit, I believe that the final switch back to the sharptooth perspective might make the dream sequence a bit overlong and could ruin for the mood we are trying to convey.  Perhaps it could go: leafeaters running --> sharpteeth hunting --> sharpteeth surrounding the leafeaters --> the final attack on the leafeaters from the perspective of the leafeaters --> awaken in horror as sharpteeth.  

If the dream was handled in this way (omitting the final switch in perspective to the sharpteeth) it would not reduce the shock of the transformation, as they would go straight from the dream "deaths" of their leafeater selves to their new forms, but at the same time it would show the dream from all of the different perspectives.  This would also give the gang the chance to experience the "death" of their old way of life from a leafeater viewpoint.  Perhaps as they experience their slaying at the claws and teeth of the sharpteeth, they could feel something intangible beginning to slip away from them but they cannot tell exactly what it is...  

Regardless of how we decide to structure the dream, another thing that we need to determine is how we are going to split up the writing of the dream.  Will each character have a post or two within each perspective shift (i.e. everyone posts themselves as leafeaters running, then the perspective shifts, then everyone posts as a sharptooth hunting, etc.) or will we divide up the writing duties so that the dream is in a number of segments and each character has one post to elaborate on a specific portion of the dream?

I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks about these ideas.  

[Ducky123]

I'm in favor of your idea rhombus The switch from being teared apart by sharpteeth to becoming sharpteeth themselves is indeed very powerful.
As for the how to: We could indeed all write a (rather long) post for each switch but we could also do it in a more interactive way which would mean more and shorter posts...

[Pterano]

I like Rhombus's addendum much better I think. This way, we still maintain the surprise of it all and can get the full impact from that scene.

Ducky, basically the idea I had was they all share a similar dream-story that would take them to the gathering place, BUT, hearing the new add-ons from Rhombus, I think we should go with that idea instead. It'd have a much bigger impact I think than say just a long storyline that'd lead them all to the circle.

Also, just a heads-up, but on the 8th, I'm gonna be away for about a week leading my first tour, so my posting might slow down drastically at that point. I can't give an accurate estimate yet on just how frequently I'll be posting, if at all, so we'll just have to see where it goes and what I can and can't squeeze in.

I like the interactive idea of shorter posts myself.

[bushwacked]

I'd be okay with how everyone else wants to do the transformation scene I'm a little confused though, it'll be all one long dream, with each of us taking it in turns to go over the next part?

[Pterano]

Yeah I was thinking a collective dream, but different experiences of course, since some are turning into different sharpteeth. The general details that would remain the same are they're being chased by a sharptooth, they all head to the same area, and it ends with them being surrounded on all sides.

[bushwacked]

Ah, I see. Sure thing, that sounds like it could be fun   I suppose we'd also need to figure out the posting order beforehand?

[Ducky123]

Yeah, sort of At least at the first scene of the dream (the gang encountering their sharptooth selfes), we could set up an order. In general, I think it is very important to wait for the others to catch up before moving on to a new scene. That way we'll avoid mixing up the order of things

[rhombus]

I agree with everyone here in that I think I would prefer shorter, interactive posts in the dream sequence as well.  

At least at the first scene of the dream (the gang encountering their sharptooth selfes), we could set up an order.

That sounds like a good idea, in my opinion.  I have no particular preference in terms of where Spike falls in the initial order.

[Ducky123]

Has anybody an idea as for the order? I'm having trouble to think of anything creative lately  

[rhombus]

I suppose that I could begin the sequence unless someone else wanted to do so.  I actually had a scene in mind where Spike is eating a bush (go figure   ) when he notices a certain green fast biter taking an interest in him...  Beyond that I suppose that we could either randomly assign the order or we could do a first-come-first serve order, where an order list could be posted (1-7) and everyone picks which slot they would like.  As far as I am concerned, like I said before, I would be happy anywhere in the order.

One question that I had, however, is this: are all of the characters going to be participants in the same dream (all of the gang running from their sharptooth selves and possibly having the gang interacting with themselves) or are they all going to be in their own variant of the dream (kind of like what I did in my story)?  If I understood correctly, we were doing the second option.

[Ducky123]

I thought that they are all together during the dream. However, they're not interacting with each other as they are too busied running - respectively hunting - I just think that this way works very well because, in the end, they're going to wake up all together, so why not being together in their dream as well? Interactions like talking are only slowing us down I suppose.

Just my opinion, I'd be more than happy to hear yours

Regarding the order... I think that I will start with a narrative part, just explaining and describing the situation a bit. Then *we're playing our respective characters (I actually think the order is not THAT important as long as we make sure that everybody has posted before we move on to the next stage).

*Do you think we should start with their Sharptooth selfes? Perhaps not playing them "in-character" but from a narrator's view? Or should I do that in my introduction post?

[rhombus]

I thought that they are all together during the dream. However, they're not interacting with each other as they are too busied running - respectively hunting -  I just think that this way works very well because, in the end, they're going to wake up all together, so why not being together in their dream as well? Interactions like talking are only slowing us down I suppose.

Just my opinion, I'd be more than happy to hear yours

That sounds good to me.  I was just unsure how we were constructing the dream based upon the discussion on the dream thus far.   Making all of the characters appear in the same dream would also make this dream different than what I had in my story.

Regarding the order... I think that I will start with a narrative part, just explaining and describing the situation a bit. Then *we're playing our respective characters (I actually think the order is not THAT important as long as we make sure that everybody has posted before we move on to the next stage).

Sounds good to me.  

Do you think we should start with their Sharptooth selfes? Perhaps not playing them "in-character" but from a narrator's view? Or should I do that in my introduction post?

Either way sounds good to me, although I think that I would prefer if that happened in the introductory post.  That way when we start writing from the sharptooth point of view later on in the dream it will seem more jarring and disturbing.  It will show the contrast from the innocent gang and their vicious sharptooth counterparts.

[Pterano]

Just letting everyone know I'm off on my first tour tomorrow, and I'm not sure what posting capabilities I'll have yet. I'll be back late Sunday night, and I don't know if I'm taking my laptop, but I'm bringing my new tablet along, so we'll see if I can squeeze anything in or not.

[Ducky123]

That's alright

I doubt I'll get a chance to get this RP rolling again before Friday or so anyway