legionooc | AFTER THESE MESSAGES [modplot] [infopost/signups]

AFTER THESE MESSAGES

SUMMARY

On one of their interdimensional retrieval missions, the Legionnaires make first contact with a planet whose entire twisted culture is based on keeping the population compliant and distracted by outrageous TV shows that pluck random people out of their lives in their survival bunkers and force them to go through strange and dangerous sitcom, TV drama, game show, and reality TV scenarios. The Legionnaires must survive these scenarios and long enough to reach "backstage" a place where they can potentially escape the oversight of the world's overlords or cut deals with them to get greater freedom of movement. No matter how they navigate this world - whether it's sabotage or stardom, they have to work to get the missing piece of Metron's chair for their struggle against the Big C. Set during "The Body Snatchers."

LOGS

LOG THREAD 1
LOG THREAD 2

BASIC INFO

After Metron's Chair communicates that it's missing several pieces (camouflaged as "pages" from the Book of Magic the chair was pretending to be), it zaps a group of Legionnaires into a dimension where a piece was hidden. Finding themselves separated and captured, the Legionnaires are forced to survive deadly tv show scenarios orchestrated by the government of a deranged world whose entire culture is based around television.

SETTING INFO

After making contact with a malevolent cosmic entity in the year 3423, the Earth of universe 32444-TV had its technologically-advanced peaceful multi-species society break down as the world's leaders became consumed by the control of the entity.

After nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare decimated the population, many were driven underground into massive tightly controlled bunkers, and the entire population is now controlled by the evil being, who calls himself The Executive. The sycophantic world government that obeys him is The Affiliate, and to entertain and delight the being, distract the population with bread and circuses, and keep the public living in fear, The Affiliate started kidnapping members of the population to perform in exploitative and deadly television programs.

TV SHOWS

These programs range from morbid dramas, to exploitative comedies, to mean-spirited game shows, to brutally competitive reality TV. Each show takes place in a Studio arena, run by a Production Team, and a Director.

Players will be allowed the flexibility to make up whatever TV show scenarios they want. These shows scan take inspiration from television shows from any universe, including the Legion's universe, the universes of the characters, and the real world, as the Executive has access to quadrillions of channels to draw inspiration from.

Due to the use of telepaths and hard-light holograms, these shows can take place in a variety of unusual settings and circumstances and can be personalized to be traumatizing to the contestants.

FORCED DRAMAS/COMEDIES

In the forced dramas (which have all the usual genres like medical, historical, soap opera, science fiction, etc.) the kidnapped Actors are given a short page of info about their character, and are shocked by shock collars if they don't perform improv and play along. In these shows, the stakes are real, leading to possible death as the equivalent of a red shirt.

Comedies are different only in that the circumstances tend to be more embarrassing than dangerous.

These shows sometimes have narrators that speak over the characters, and occasionally are filmed with a live studio audience looking down on the set from shielded areas.

GAME SHOWS

Game shows are just as twisted. Any innate powers are repressed and the game shows force Contestants into deadly, stressful, and embarrassing situations. In many of these scenarios, Legionnaires can potentially cooperate with each other - or might be pitted against each other.

These shows often have hosts that direct the show, and occasionally are filmed with a live studio audience looking down on the set from shielded areas.

REALITY SHOWS

Reality TV shows are similar to game shows in danger, only the settings Contestants are shoved into are often more domestic. Still, getting voted out of the equivalent of Big Brother House can lead to getting vaporized or "demoted" into having to compete in more violent and brutal shows like game shows.

These shows sometimes have hosts that direct the show and while they rarely have an audience, they sometimes have filmed confessionals and meetings where contestants are voted off the show to their deaths.

BACKSTAGE

While "on stage" is deadly and dangerous, the backstage areas - if someone can survive long enough to get to one - are slightly less secure. While patrolled by the Censors, the Executive's brutal shock troops, these soldiers are still human (or nonhuman but killable), and they can be defeated, allowing the Legionnaires to recover their weapons and belongings, remove their inhibitor collars, and escape into the extensive tunnel and bunker system.

However, backstage has its threats as well. Backstage is where Agents often take any of the more entertaining actors or contestants and turn them into Stars. Stars are forced to drink a daily mind control drug called Cuppliance that represses their emotions until they're an empty shell and makes them deeply open to suggestion, allowing Directors to make them obey their every command to give the Oscar-winning performance they want.

Stars are given luxuries and status in their society and they and their families are allowed to live on the surface, which is finally recovering from the world war caused by the Executive. This leads to some people feeling that it's a worthwhile sacrifice for their families.

However, Stars are expected to act out a hedonistic drug-fueled (and sometimes sex-fueled, for some individuals) celebrity lifestyle -- even if they don't want to -- to create fodder for celebrity news, leading to many of them burning out and dying young of suicide or drug overdose. Agents also may threaten the loved ones of Stars to keep them compliant.

GOALS

The Legionnaires must survive these TV scenarios to get "backstage," where it's easier to escape from, and then they must escape before being poached by Agents, drugged, and taken away where they'll likely never be found again. After escaping, they must join up with their fellow Legionnaires.

In the process of doing all this, they can potentially work with the rebellion (The Indies) and stage an attack to get the missing page/throne part - and can opt to take the Affiliate and The Executive down, too, if they so choose.

STARTING/CHANGING SCENARIOS

Characters will remember accepting orders to go on the mission, being warned of the risks (since the team won't know the circumstances of the universe the throne is zapping them to), and having a chance to opt out.

They'll remember being zapped into the plot's universe and being attacked and zapped unconscious by something, then waking up on a pedestal, still dazed and in new clothes suitable for the show (if players so choose), as makeup artists and production assistants prepare them for the show they're going into. The pedestal will raise them up into scenario.

For those that want to do more than one scenario with other plotgoers, they can handwave that their character was briefly backstage between each scenario, forced into new costumes by wardrobe (again, if players so choose), and forced onto another pedestal into another shows, until they're finally taken backstage and allowed to stay there long enough to escape.

GEAR

Legionnaires will not have any of their usual gear or weapons on hand in the TV scenarios but once they escape the backstage of their shows, they can find security lockups and recover all their gear, weapons, belongings, and uniforms (if wardrobe forced them to change).

They'll also have power suppressing collars that shock them if they don't participate the way the Directors want but these can be broken once they escape backstage.

NPCING

The mods will npc the Indie rebels, any Affiliate leaders, and the Executive, but players are expected to npc their own scenarios, hosts, narrators, Agents, Directors, staff, etc. Players can pretty much run hog wild with this and make these npcs act as flexible as they need.

(If need be, players can opt to have some of these npcs be sympathetic to the Legionnaires, even enough to potentially help them escape.)

OPT OUTS

This plot is an opt-in mission. Characters that don't opt in can be on other missions or back on Legion World.

WHO CAN SIGN UP

There are no OOC limitations on who can sign up and while there will be a deadline to allow the mods to have a basic head count, latecomers can sign up to the plot at any time. Characters who signed up for "Body Snatchers" can also sign up to this plot as a back up, but if they're RNGed for Body Snatchers, they must withdraw participation from this plot.

PLOT START

Sign up for the plot is open until: 11/5/17 11:59 PM EST

(But latecomers are okay).

Plot will go up: 11/6/17

Please direct signups, questions, concerns, plotting and other issues to the comments below.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ask the mods anything here!

Would a Jerry Springer-type show be acceptable?

That would be fine!

About how long will the event go on ICly?

Probably 2-3 IC days! It'll partly depend on if they want to trash the place and stop the Executive before they leave. If they just cut and run it'll be 2 days, if they trash things, it'll be at least 3.