Jumanji: Let's Rumble in This Jungle (Interest Check)

[Mathim]

Given that the film made almost a billion dollars theatrically (impressive considering it was released in December!), and since I've had this idea for a while and haven't seen anyone try to get something like this going, I thought I'd put it into action (for the second time so far). So with that said, if you haven't seen the movie (shame on you if you haven't! LOL), I'll break down what the structure I had in mind is all about. And no, you're not limited to the characters from either of the two Jumanji films, though there's also no reason you can't use one of them if you want to. Although, we should try to fill all the really trope-y archetypal roles if we can!

In one way or another, whether you're at an arcade, playing the free demo on your phone, gaming at home on your desktop or unearthing an old retro console in some dusty basement, you and several others are whisked away into the jungles of Jumanji, a beautiful but deadly place with dangers from within and without. Only, you're not in the body you inhabited before you entered this place; you're in the body of the avatar of whatever character you had chosen for yourself when you decided to give this game a try. Whether you're a teenager in the body of someone middle-aged or vice versa, and/or have completely changed sex, you are now in the driver's seat of your virtual counterpart, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with them. And you notice three black bars on your wrist; those are your lives. If you lose all three, well, no one's entirely sure but it seems likely that you won't be coming back from the great beyond like you do when you lose your first two, so let's try to be extra careful, okay?

Each of you has a different vital role to play in your expedition party. They're largely archetypal and come with skill sets that, whether you were the worst person in the world at performing certain tasks before, you now have expert knowledge of and coordination with doing them. Certain things are off-limits, like reading a map if you're not the cartographer/navigator, and that's why you need to stick with and support the rest of your team so you can all accomplish the game's objective and get yourselves home safe and sound. It will still be possible even if someone dies, it will simply be all the more difficult to do so (unless some other poor soul happens to get sucked in and replace the fallen comrade...)

Jumanji is truly a magical place. Some of you will have abilities no normal human is capable of. Some of you will have weaknesses that make absolutely no sense and seem to be just the result of someone's twisted sense of humor. You will need to rely on magical artifacts to win, and battle or escape creatures that aren't quite like the ones from your earth. Your interactions with non-player characters are limited so you must use problem-solving skills and figure out riddles in order to advance and get closer to the end of the game. With that, good luck, adventurers. Oh, and there are no rules about fraternization with teammates. In fact it may just help you out in certain situations...



So there you have it! Create your real-life and avatar character profile and pick whatever role in the party you wish, and watch where you land once you've gotten drawn into the game! I'll set up the profile format below, so if you're interested, let your voice be heard and/or submit one here so we can keep track of which positions are open or closed or pending. I think this type of game will work a little bit better because by its nature, it'll be easier to lose and replace players (or maybe it won't make a difference...we'll see.) Anyway, I look forward to seeing if anyone's up for it! And to be clear, when I use 'real life' in this context, I'm talking about a virtual character, not you, the person on Elliquiy. Like how the Spencer character became Smolder Bravestone even though in real life they're both played by actors. In case there was any possibility of confusion, just avoiding that now.

Character Profile Format:

Code Select Expand


[float=right][img height=250]Before (IRL)[/img][/float][float=right][img height=250]After (Avatar)[/img][/float] (Please provide names of face claims wherever possible)
[b]Name[/b]: Real World Name, Jumanji Character Name
[b]Age[/b]: IRL, Avatar
[b]Sex and Orientation[/b]: Before/After
[b]Personality[/b]: This stays the same
[b]Character Archetype/Trope[/b]:
[b]Expedition Party Occupation[/b] Primary choice, but maybe give a secondary fallback just in case
[b]History[/b]: About a paragraph of IRL and one of your avatar's backstory
[b]Avatar Strengths[/b]: 2-3 related to their profession, 1 unrelated, optional 1 that is a little outlandish or just for laughs
[b]Avatar Weaknesses[/b]: At least 2 reasonable weakness, and at least 1 humorous weakness



The kind of roles we're looking for are probably fairly obvious. We of course need jobs that benefit expedition parties, such as the navigator/cartographer; the big game hunter/tracker; the zoologist; the botanist; the pilot/engineer; the interpreter (optional magic ability to talk to animals); and just to add fun to the mix, we need a bunch of jungle-themed (and other) archetypes and tropes to make our motley crew that much more interesting, such as the smouldering leader, or like an equipment mule (someone with a bag of holding, for example), or possibly even someone with glitch powers like in Wreck-It Ralph since this is a video game world, or a Tarzan-like jungle native who acts like a guide to the group, with all your real-world memories intact and with greater than humanly possible strength and reflexes and survival skills, but with an unfortunate lack of effective communication skills that make you talk like Bizarro-Superman, or an human-animal hybrid of some sort with enhanced senses but your nature brings more trouble to the group (like a Na'Vi or a werewolf who only transforms when it's dark)? There's a lot of possibilities so don't be afraid to ask if you think it might be a bit too wacky. If someone already snagged a role you wanted, we can try to figure out how to maybe blend a few others so everyone is happy.

When (if) the game is up and ready, links for the game threads will be posted here:
OOC Thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=284853.0
IC Thread:

We are by no means closed for business even if the game has begun in earnest (since it's like an MMO that anyone can drop in on at any time), so please, if you're just running a bit late and want in, let it be known and we'll get you a spot on the team.
Current roster of approved characters:
Jungle Native/Scout-Guide - Kalidra, Princes of the Komino River (TerribleTira)
Cartographer/Analyst - Soon Ming (Faeli)
Leader - TBA
Hunter/Tracker/Weapons Expert - TBA
Medic/Botanist - TBA
Zoologist - TBA
Pilot/Engineer - TBA
Other Misc - TBA

[Norsegod1839]

Ill jump on first and plant my interest

[Norsegod1839]

Welcome aboard Tira

[Mathim]

Sounds cool. Are you going to have it be that Vincente chose a female character out of curiosity or was his choice to let the game randomly select his character?

[Juggtacular]

You know I'm in brah. Gonna start on my app tonight. I'll probably go for something along the lines of an animal hybrid who is one of the heavy hitters in the group.

[Juggtacular]

Yay! Another player

Indeed. And my character will also be a native of the jungle.

[Mathim]

I think it'd be a bit more comical for it to be random. but then again.. maybe he chose her because he's kind of a perv and wanted to see the game character bounce around on screen (assuming we're going with the video game version here)... What do you think would be better for the storyline? I could go either way.

In that case, I think the ironic twist here from him making the choice and having it backfire so spectacularly is the funnier one, but the option to randomize character selection and take it out of the player character's hands is available to everyone in case them making the choice for their character would be...weird.

[Mathim]

This'll be the second time around, and we got a fair amount of people last time, it's just a little slower getting the starting group assembled this time.

[Faeli]

I am also of the interest!  I'll work on a char char by the end of the weekend

[Faeli]

Name: 

•IRL: Allison Kemper


•AVATAR: Soon Ming - Cartographer Extrodinaire

Age:
•IRL: 22

•AVATAR: 19

Sex and Orientation:
•IRL: Declared Lesbian, actually bi

•AVATAR: Bi-Curious Female

Personality:
Allison thinks she knows everything and treats her intelligence as a badge of honor.  She constantly tries to correct others and tries to act with a confidence that she doesn't have in order to bluff her way through situations where she doesn't actually know what she's talking about.



Character Archetype/Trope:
Cartographer


Expedition Party Occupation

Cartographer- Accurately maps the layout of the land in order to ensure the problem cannot become lost.  Reasonably skilled at finding hidden passages (but not at discovering traps)

History:
•IRL:
Allison is a shy, mousy girl that always thought she was a lot smarter than she actually was.  She constantly tried to correct others on subjects that she didn't actually know much about.  This has led her to be fairly unpopular, with most people considering her a nerd but the nerds thinking of her as an idiot.  She desperately wants to be friends but overcompensates for her insecurities by talking down to others.

•AVATAR:
Soon Ming is highly skilled at Calligraphy and was initially travelling to the jungle due to the fact no suitable map of the locale had ever been produced.  However, she soon became separated from her guides and became entirely too aware of her inabilities in terms of basic survival

Avatar Strengths:

•PERFECT DOCUMENTATION: Soon Ming, and anyone else with access to her maps, can travel to previous locations without the possibility of triggering previously discovered traps or getting lost

•THOROUGH INSPECTION: Soon Ming has a good chance of discovering secret passages while updating her map.  This skill does not extend to finding traps.

•VERTICAL PROGRESS: If Soon Ming can get an aerial vantage, she can see the general layout of nearby rooms

Avatar Weaknesses:

• HELPLESS: Soon Ming is not a fighter.  While she can support an actual fighter, if she is ever in a situation where she is the only one fighting her nerves will fail and she will be forced to attempt to flee

• OBSESSED WITH PERFECTION: Soon Ming must spend a minimum of ten minutes in any new area updating her map before she will be willing to leave (she can be bodily moved, however)

• KARATE MASTER (Humor): Allison keeps thinking that one of her powers is an expertise in hand-to-hand combat, since Ming is asian, and will continually attempt to use her non-existent skills in combat, especially in friendly brawls.

• ONE TRACK MIND (Humor): Soon Ming becomes deeply focused when she updates her map, and will not notice or respond to changes in her immediate surroundings

[Mathim]

That sounds very interesting (though that Karate thing makes her sound slightly racist...unless it's a quirk of the game and not anything to do with the choice of the player).

All right, two down, at least 2 more to go. I'll pick last to give everyone else the most freedom possible; feel free to mention what kind of role you'd like to reserve even if you're not ready to submit a profile.

[yasarra]

This looks like a lot of fun.  If there's still a space available, I'll be glad to send you a character in the morning after I've had some sleep.

[Mathim]

Absolutely! And even if the IC game has started, anyone can feel free to drop in. It's supposed to take the form of a live-action MMO so even after the initial characters have arrived in the game, new players are constantly dropping in, just perhaps not all in the same place.

It's a bit late for me at the mo, so I'll make a list of officially accepted characters and their roles in the first post of this thread, and fill in more as needed. Once we get at least 4 confirmed profiles I'll set up the OOC and IC threads and link them in the first post of this thread as well, so look for major updates in the intro post here.

[Norsegod1839]

I'll start working on a sheet shortly

[Faeli]

That sounds very interesting (though that Karate thing makes her sound slightly racist...unless it's a quirk of the game and not anything to do with the choice of the player).

I actually had it envisioned that the player just thought any asian character in a game MUST be good at martial arts so, if anything, she is slightly racist

[Mathim]

LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovF1zsDoeM

[Mathim]

Hahaha. I can totally see this Karate Master thing playing out hilariously.

" you actually aren't skilled in that, Allison."

"Yes, I am."

"No, that's part of the fault. Why is this so hard to unders-"

"HI-YA!"

*Karate chops impotently across the chest*

"What the fuck, Allison?"

"Yeah, and that's just HALF what I got"

*Poses dramatically in Mantis stance*

"..."

*sighs*
"...Nevermind"

I think the last 30 seconds or so of this captures it nicely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETeqW8Lne78