Idea: Campaign as Mary-Sue Killers

[Leliel]

Well, I just got a strange urge for a campaign where the PCs are dimension-traveling agents with a mission-Destroy all iterations of that bane of fiction, Mary Sue.

Naturally, this is an impossible task, but that's not the entire mission of the PCs-just destroying the Sues who are so bad, that they threaten the fabric of Fiction-land, and at epic levels, the banishment of some of the authors who create them to another dimension.

So, workable but wacky idea, or not?

[Morty]

This idea sounds like fun, but only for a freeform game. No system can ever cover all genres in which Mary Sue can appear.

[Learnedguy]

Death to the Sues, that's all I'm saying.

(Seriously though, remember to make the Sues one-up the PC's as often as possible. Then, when they kill it, it'll feel soo much more gratifying)

[Sstoopidtallkid]

This idea sounds like fun, but only for a freeform game. No system can ever cover all genres in which Mary Sue can appear.

Gurps.

And I would approve, but how do you plan to overcome the probability-warping powers and epic defenses that all Mary Sues have?

[arguskos]

This idea sounds like fun, but only for a freeform game. No system can ever cover all genres in which Mary Sue can appear.

Though, several systems have SOOO damn many of them, that you could totally run a game just hunting down famous/notable Mary Sues. I can see an entire campaign about killing the Forgotten Realms Mary Sues...

*writes down plan for said campaign...*

-argus

[valadil]

Seems like a fun campaign idea, for a quirky meta campaign. Did you have any Mary Sues in mind?

I'm not quite sure how you'd set this up, but what would be more fun than slaughtering Mary Sues would be setting them up for failure before killing them. That sort of thing would take more ambitious players though.

[Piedmon_Sama]

Make a bunch of the Sues horribly unfunctional. Like their giant day-glo fairy wings are physically unworkable, they stand around and leave themselves vulnerable in order to deliver "dramatic" speeches, and they fight as intelligently as they're written (so... not very).

Explain it that, since the PCs are from outside the Sue's universe, they're unaffected by her stupidity-inducing powers, so they don't have to stand around with guns holstered while she does a 5-minute Sailor Moon dance.

[Leliel]

Seems like a fun campaign idea, for a quirky meta campaign. Did you have any Mary Sues in mind?

I'm not quite sure how you'd set this up, but what would be more fun than slaughtering Mary Sues would be setting them up for failure before killing them. That sort of thing would take more ambitious players though.

MINE!

I may be an OK author, but I know how to write badly.

After pummeling a few of the parodies I dream up, the PCs get to blast some famous fantasy Sues into oblivion-I plan to reveal that they were the ones that depowered Elminister-and eventually, kill David Gonterman.

For the reality-warping powers, the PCs are given weapons infused with the essence of Shakespeare, crafted by the best smiths on TV Tropes' payroll, and forged in the Fires of Ingenuity-Basically, they force the Sue in question to actually obey by the rules of the literary verse she appears in.

[Piedmon_Sama]

kill David Gonterman.

Can I play? Please?

(I don't really have anything against Gonterman, but anything with him involved is bound to be hilairious).

[Sstoopidtallkid]

MINE!

I may be an OK author, but I know how to write badly.

After pummeling a few of the parodies I dream up, the PCs get to blast some famous fantasy Sues into oblivion-I plan to reveal that they were the ones that depowered Elminister-and eventually, kill David Gonterman.

For the reality-warping powers, the PCs are given weapons infused with the essence of Shakespeare, crafted by the best smiths on TV Tropes' payroll, and forged in the Fires of Ingenuity-Basically, they force the Sue in question to actually obey by the rules of the literary verse she appears in.

Lose the "Essence of Shakespeare" part. Go with Twain or something. Shakespeare is horrid.

[Telonius]

Final Scene: Mirrors of Opposition for all.

[Drascin]

Gurps.

And I would approve, but how do you plan to overcome the probability-warping powers and epic defenses that all Mary Sues have?

If you find yourself unable to hurt it directly, try tricking them to do an "heroic sacrifice".

Given the average Sue trusts her awesome power of making everyone like her, the idea of people resistant to it, ie PCs, lying to her has a pretty good chance of not even occur to her. And about 95% percent of Sues can't resist a good heroic sacrifice, with overly florid speech and everything. Do the math

[Zeful]

Here's a good place to start looking.

[chiasaur11]

Lose the "Essence of Shakespeare" part. Go with Twain or something. Shakespeare is horrid.

I respectfully disagree.

Man's work is fairly good, all things considered and Robbie the Robot is a Sci Fi icon.

Plus, he invented a bunch of plot ideas still used today. Some even used well!

[Behold_the_Void]

If you're looking for a system and intend to hit the anime fandom, may I not-so-humbly suggest the anime system linked in my signature. It's modular enough to capture the general over-the-top flavor you may want to use.

[Tengu_temp]

An awesome idea for a very silly, comical and fourth-wall-breaking campaign. Excel Saga meets The Punisher meets Men In Black. As a connoisseur of comedy campaigns, I give the idea my seal of approval.

Gurps.

Too gritty. I'd go with M&M 2e, because you can never be wrong with M&M 2e.

[Tokiko Mima]

Promise me you will not reveal how Shakespeare's essense was extracted. PLEASE!

[mostlyharmful]

And I would approve, but how do you plan to overcome the probability-warping powers and epic defenses that all Mary Sues have?

Kill It WITH FIRE!!!!!!

[Ravens_cry]

Kill It WITH FIRE!!!!!!

*sigh* And all this time I have been using Heart. . .

[Knaight]

Too gritty. I'd go with M&M 2e, because you can never be wrong with M&M 2e.

I'd go with fudge, just because its so modular(just dropping penalties off the wound track gets you from moderately gritty to cinematic, meaning different characters can have or not have the wound penalties), and you can create things quickly. Thats the issue with M&M, character creation can take a while. And its free.

That said this campaign sounds fun. You should have them eventually finish off Drizzt as a BBEG or nearby.

[Beleriphon]

Too gritty. I'd go with M&M 2e, because you can never be wrong with M&M 2e.

I concur, also the Atomic Think Tank already has several, hundrend thousand ready to rumble in the Roll Call section.

[FoE]

It could be pretty funny. Actually, you should make the BBEG your boss a notorious Mary Sue, using your group to destroy all the other Mary Sues in the universe.

[Knaight]

I could actually see use for an overpowered DMPC on this one, have that guy be the final boss.

[Sholos]

You should have them eventually finish off Drizzt as a BBEG or nearby.

Drizzt is not a Mary Sue.

[Frosty]

Promise me you will not reveal how Shakespeare's essense was extracted. PLEASE!

ROFL! Good one.
Oh, and please do make at least one of the Mary-Sues be Dangerous Genre-Savvy

[nobodylovesyou4]

i hate to ask this, but what exactly is a mary sue?

[AstralFire]

i hate to ask this, but what exactly is a mary sue?

A character that is a very thinly veiled self-insert into the story and as such gets all sorts of awesome things and personality that is supposed to be perfect in every way.

There is nothing inherently wrong with such a character, since actually a lot of people's favorite protagonists are also flawlessly perfect - and we're not talking Superman, we're talking more Batman or Cinderella, where their only flaws do not detract from their coolness (snark is often very common) - except that a Mary Sue does so while being incredibly annoying because it failed at being likeable to anyone but the writer.

Promise me you will not reveal how Shakespeare's essense was extracted. PLEASE!

Will Smith's blender was involved.

[Thane of Fife]

A character that is a very thinly veiled self-insert into the story and as such gets all sorts of awesome things and personality that is supposed to be perfect in every way.

It's not necessarily a self-insert. It's just someone who's ridiculously perfect, and yet, who almost always suffers from intense angst.

While I have a hard time actually recommending this, the BBEG absolutely must be Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.

Google "My Immortal." It's a fanfic. Don't actually read it - instead, convince somebody you don't like to do so, then make the shattered remnants of their sanity sum up the tale for you.

[Ravens_cry]

*Fails SAN check*

[Sstoopidtallkid]

It's not necessarily a self-insert. It's just someone who's ridiculously perfect, and yet, who almost always suffers from intense angst.

While I have a hard time actually recommending this, the BBEG absolutely must be Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.

Google "My Immortal." It's a fanfic. Don't actually read it - instead, convince somebody you don't like to do so, then make the shattered remnants of their sanity sum up the tale for you.

*stabs*

I hate you so much right now.