There could be one or more people claiming to be looking for The Perfect Construct, but actually going to the castle to look for something else entirely, taking advantage of all the confusion. (Some sort of energy source? Lab notes? The secret sub-basement? The Closet of Infinite Brooms? Etc? Anything portable like lab notes ought to be in a safe or otherwise require work to access; otherwise the plot is simply "search the castle" with no action or interaction required.) Justin: that's certainly compatible with the idea of something for Vapnoodle, and ties in with several other plot ideas out in the atmosphere, like the descendant of Amagog idea. The question seems to be less whether we go for this idea, and more how much we do with it.
A "pure plot" that isn't specific to this game, but might make a nice thread to sew with: False Self-Preservation. Take a known villain, who is trying to get everyone to help with a Big Problem. He makes no pretense that this is about altruism -- the threat is simply large enough that he's in it to save his own skin along with everyone else's. But in fact, he's playing a deeper game, which is ultimately about his own self-interest. I'm not sure we have anyone Machiavellian enough to make sense for this plot, but keep it in mind as an option.
Arnis (12/4/06): As I look through the various characters and plots, I note a basic lack of cross-purposes. With the exception of Othar and Sarah, there's really nothing keeping these people from simply working together and solving all the issues and beign done with it in short order.
Also, in a world which is supposed to be known for power-hungry machinations, we have a decided lack of characters who are grubbing for power or machinating.
I know there are some folks who we don't want appearing (like Klaus and Lucrezia), but certainly they could have servants in game, right? So, maybe Lucrezia wants the perfect Construct to put her new metal head on it? Or Klaus is gong to want the Mirror confiscated for research - we could use some character goals that shake things up...
Justin: Good point -- we'll have to chew on this. I tend to follow JMS' dictum about plot: "For each character, ask what do they want? What will they do to get it? And what will others do to stop them? There's your plot." We're very short on the third part of this, and we'll need to work on that. (That said, coming up with these ideas is the first important step -- then we can figure out what roadblocks to throw in their way.)
Darker (12/5/06): One thing we're lacking is Sparks not pre-aligned with Agatha or Wulfenbach. Surely The Perfect Construct might tempt more than just those two factions? I realize this probably means creating characters from outside canonical continuity, but honestly, I think that'll help the game feel original. Justin: Hmm. You may be right. Original characters have their own strengths and weaknesses. They have to be really good characters, so that the players don't feel cheated, and that's trickier with villains. Even more importantly, they need to be well-tied into the character web, which is even harder with a villain. In general, I've found that villains are the most likely characters to tank, especially in a "light" game where the good guys have a bit of automatic edge. All that said, you're both correct that we need some more characters with reasons for conflict, and original characters may be easier for that goal. Darker: One of the things I've liked about Girl Genius is that despite the mad cackling antagonists, for the most part it's not good-and-evil for its own sake - even the megalomanical take-over-the-world sorts tend to simply have an agenda of their own that they care about enough to bulldoze other people for (heck, in Klaus' case that agenda is arguably altruistic). So - I wasn't really thinking "villain", so much as "Sparks with their own agenda"; that can lead to plenty of conflict! (Just look at Othar for an extreme example.) It can also lead to freeform, unstable alliances of convenience and playing one side against another (see Tarvek).
Arnis: Crazed idea #224 - we have a group of actors in the game. Can we get some mileage out of a Shakespearean play-within-a-play? Justin: already in the plans. See Heterodyne Stories for a few initial thoughts in that direction. I've found it to be a good way to pull some people together.
Darker: Crazed idea #225 - Some other Spark has (somehow) managed to secure the services of a Jaeger. Creates interesting "what the hell are you doing off on your own" interaction between the other Jaegers and them. Perhaps the Jaeger's deranged? Or only pretending to be loyal to the other Spark, but actually reporting back, but needs to keep cover? And/or has had some sort of fiendish and deadly device implanted in him/her that will explode / take control / have unknown but terrible consequences were his master to set it off? Justin: makes a certain amount of sense, but I'm inclined to combine that with Infinite Agathas. Helen and Mirror-Agatha should both be able to command Jagers (since my assertion is that the Heterodyne control of the Jagers is phermonal/genetic in nature), so giving one of them this plot makes sense.
Indeed, I sort of wonder if I should use Mirror-Agatha as the original villain Darker suggested above. She's a good fit for the purpose. While I don't want to make her snarling evil, she is definitely edgy, and it would be quite reasonable to give her a wildly different set of priorities than Agatha has. The key, I think, is to make her overtly reasonable, but ruthless. She should have her own agenda, which might be a sort of uber-Klaus: utterly totalitarian, but bringing peace to the land. Done right, we could wind up with some conflict between her and Agatha as to who has the better approach to dealing with the world.
Darker: Notions for minor plots for individual Jaegers: * Some sort of hat disagreement (or possibly even sabotage / theft?) * One or more Jaegers who really think that Gil and Agatha getting together would be keen and are trying to subtly (for Jaegers) matchmake. * Past violence coming back to haunt one or more Jaegers ("haunt" as in "modern consequences", not moral pangs) Justin: First one is a good very minor subplot. Second is brilliant, and exactly the sort of plot to cause delicious Jager-inspired chaos. Third is a good plot in general, but I'm not sure it's what people expect Jager characters to land in -- it could easily come out a little too far from player expectations for them to enjoy it. May depend on the Jager -- it makes more sense for the more "serious" ones (see below).
Darker: If there end up being Many Jaegers...is that apt to increase the ambient level of chaos, relative to many Sparks? They do tend to obey orders, but - as they say - "krezy exidents happen". Justin: mixed opinions. On the one hand, more Jagers will tend to cause more chaos. OTOH, the other two obvious Jagers are Jenka and Khrizhan, who are noticeably less chaotic than our three frontline nuts. So it may depend on which Jagers we're talking about.
Justin: Putting this here, since it hasn't made its way into the web yet -- the Breakthrough plot. One of the human characters could go through a Spark breakthrough over the course of the game. There actually aren't many potential candidates for this: I would say that Zulenna and Moloch are the only good ones. Neither obviously needs it, although either could potentially have it. Conceivably, we could keep it in our back pocket as something to pull out in case one of them finds things too slow. From earlier notes: For instance, imagine if Zulenna were to be breaking through early in the story: that would give the Hostage Squad a really great plot to draw them in. See [this page] for some notes on what happens during a breakthrough. Note that, if we do go with this plot, that [female Sparks don't tend to thrive]; the implication is that she needs protection.