As a showrunner for a Netflix adaption of a story like this, my goals would be:
Conclude every PC’s season-long story
Decisively defeat the Season 1 villains, Powertronic and Fluvis
What’s everyone’s story? Here’s my personal read
As a Bull, Joey isn’t sure he belongs, or where, but he’s going to fight for who and what he cares about. His status quo should change - he needs a new body, or a transformation, or a change of heart, that puts him into a new position.
As a Harbinger, Mette wants to save the future, but also herself. Her future is about to become invalidated, and she’s got to feel like she still has a place in the new one.
As a Beacon, Roddy has to assert himself as a hero who can stand with the others, and part of that should be acknowledging that he’s outgrown idols like Powertronic. He needs to be recognized by people for the hero he is.
As a Relic, Kiln has to negotiate knowing an old world but living in a new one, and figuring out where they’d rather be after this is all over. They need to be offered either a way to get home, or a hope for one, and be forced to choose whether to take it.
As a Soldier, Alex is here to stand up for people, and confront corruption. I feel like Alex is a good supporting character in this scenario, because they can help facilitate these other outcomes but doesn’t have a lot at stake themselves, except their friends.
As a showrunner, my tactics to achieve these goals would be:
Reduce vague menaces to tangible threats that can be disposed of (or who escape to threaten us another day)
Put a face on everyone’s story, either a nemesis to fight or an ally to interact with
Bring the bad guys here, to the Temple, for a final showdown
Give every PC a climactic scene in which they confront both themselves and their nemesis
What are some of my challenges here?
First, we need a way to turn Fluvis from the Sauron-like vague presence of evil he is now into the equivalent of a ring we can drop into a volcano. We have a bunch of ways to do this:
the temple does some Foo that stuffs Fluvis’ presence into a humanoid body via the regeneration pod
Alex does some magitek antivirus hack that forces him into a body
he just fully takes over Golem
WHICH way we do this should follow our principles though! Let’s put him into some kind of form that Kiln (and Joey, as King) can go fight
Second, I’d want some kind of showdown between Powertronic and Mette (PT as pivotal figure in her future), as well as Powertronic and Roddy (with PT as fallen idol and Roddy as ascendant successor to the title of “worthy hero”). I don’t have any specifics here, so I’d ask the players for ideas.
Third and finally, the stakes are the ape community, and the world at large if PT & Fluvis have their way. Those need to be constantly threatened. That depends on just what The Plan is, though I’ve made suggestions already in this thread:
What can the other players do to help this process?
Boil down their character’s story into a single sentence that says what’s at stake, and what important decision or revelation needs to occur
Suggest outcomes that we should steer the story towards (e.g. Joey getting a human body)
Figure out how to tie that story/turning-point to a confrontation with the dark forces before us, and/or another character
For example, am I wrong about an important part of Roddy’s story being confronting & succeeding Powertronic? Great, share with us what that story should be and we’ll recompute how to wrap up the season.
As a Bull, Joey isn’t sure he belongs, or where, but he’s going to fight for who and what he cares about. His status quo should change - he needs a new body, or a transformation, or a change of heart, that puts him into a new position.
Mechanically and thematically, a lot of what you say, @garrett, makes sense. Along with a lot of good ideas.
Speaking just for Joey, I’ve gone back and forth on where I see his story going, esp. with the admixture of both Bull and Transformed in him. I tend to shy away from the easy answer of “And he got back his body and lived happily ever after” because that’s not how real people’s stories go, esp. people with a lot self-anger and -loathing; their arcs tend either to :
Begin making lemonade from provided lemons, coming to realize that weaknesses or flaws are strengths, making an attitude correction, etc. It doesn’t necessarily remove the problem (or its problematic effects), but it transforms it into something else besides. [Joey realizes he’s got a lot positive to live for, even if he’s stuck in the body of a giant super-gorilla.]
Trudge off to a life of mostly misery, because that’s all they’ll ever “deserve” or because they are looking for the wrong thing (usually a knife’s edge between the above and below). [Joey retreats to to the wilderness; Joey gloomily becomes King of Gorilla City]
Burning out in some self-destructive fashion. [Joey becomes the monster]
My preference, as an inveterate romantic – and more to the point of selecting to be the Bull than the Transformed – is the first. He took a step that direction this episode, with Mette’s help.
If I were writing this – with the agreement that we need a concrete bad’un to fight, and (esp. for Joey, who takes his responsibilities very strongly) a great cause against said bad’un – he needs:
To be offered a (one-time) choice between his old life/body and what he has now. (His old body is currently unhealable, but in stasis, but what the capabilities of the temple are, under new, intelligent direction by Alex or Joe or Tahi or Kiln, are undefined, from healing to cloning to just putting Joe’s mind back into the body in stasis for another day)
But to have reasons to choose the latter …
short-term, to save his Love/Rival/everyone else, probably with bitter determination
but with some unexpected long-term realization of gain or success that wasn’t visible or hadn’t been considered, even if it’s as simple as recognizing this isn’t (just) a burden, but an opportunity; that’s not (just) about what he’s lost, but what he’s gained; that he’s not defined by the body he’s in, or maybe that he has more to offer the world than animalistic smashing (e.g., it’s not just Mette saving Joe, but Joe helping to save Mette with words, not just fists).
All to end up in a place in the last panel of the series (before it goes in hiatus) in that triumphant pose, having fully taken on the mantle of the Bull and leaving the Transformed role (largely) behind, ready to take on the next challenge (how does one rent a Size 114 tuxedo for Prom?).
Boil down their character’s story into a single sentence that says what’s at stake, and what important decision or revelation needs to occur
Joey needs to literally become comfortable in his own skin, to choose to realize he’s defined by his passion and determination and relationships, not just by his loss.
I find everything said so far accurate, fun, and actionable.
When it comes to boiling Roddy’s story down to its essence, couldn’t really do much better than this.
I’ve tried playing Roddy more as supporting cast lately (mostly since the HHL Tower stuff) since the story has definitely swung towards Mette, Joey, and Kiln’s story stuff and am okay either continuing in that role or (if the opportunity to make a stand to someone like Powertronic presents itself) going with something like this.
As hypothetical showrunner, I’d want to make sure everyone’s stories twine together. That’s where the suggestion about making Powertronic the villain came from, for example.
Even Alex, who doesn’t have any obvious enemies to fight, has something at stake for the same reason. Their seasonal arc is “I have to get my friends back to who/where/when they want to be” and what’s at stake is acknowledging those people as friends they don’t actually want to lose.
I’d agree here. We’ve ended up focusing on the magitech past-present-future side of things the past few issues, which is both fun and, given deadlines, appropriate. But I definitely want Roddy to get some screen time here (esp. since GW is along for the ride). I think Powertronic, in one form or motivation or another, needs to be part of the upcoming climax.
I don’t worry about Alex because they have a tendency to suddenly pop up out of thin air with suspiciously appropriate advice or technology, whomever needs it. I do think, however, next volume, we need a bit more intentional focus on them.
I used the still version of that gif earlier, but it’s also always stuck with me as one of the most striking, and melancholy, images from that movie, which is a visual feast. We’ve seen Conan as a young adventurer, just starting out, worlds to conquer and enjoy, a rolling stone gathering no moss. And in the end, we catch that glimpse of Conan the King, having won everything he ever wanted, now stuck on a throne with all the troubles of the world on his shoulders. Definitely a dog-finally-catching-the-car cautionary tale.
As a Relic, Kiln has to negotiate knowing an old world but living in a new one, and figuring out where they’d rather be after this is all over. They need to be offered either a way to get home, or a hope for one, and be forced to choose whether to take it.
While I agree with “Kiln going home (or choosing not to) is the end of their arc,” I wouldn’t necessarily put that at the end of this season. There haven’t been enough plot points throughout for me to feel that a magical path home to open. I can, however, see the season ending with something showing up, probably through Tahi, that offers the hope or path forward for a way home.
(As a side note given my leaving its possible to try and do a clean break where I leave and Kiln is off into the forest researching some stuff with Tahi or whoever)
