PLOT ANNOUNCEMENT: Honey, the Kids Shrunk Us

[magicalworld]

Hello everyone, Jesse and Carolyn here to tell you about an upcoming plot where two small children ruin everyone’s lives!

Calvin is six and thinks he is a brilliant inventor. Valeria is three and actually is a brilliant inventor, and she has taken on Calvin’s challenge to improve his non-functional shrink ray design. On August 11th the kids will bicker over Valeria’s improved and entirely functional shrink ray, resulting in a malfunction and the release of Pym Particles. Pym Particles are COMIC BOOK SCIENCE that will be drawn to ImPorts because of more COMIC BOOK SCIENCE, resulting in affected ImPorts SHRINKING!!!

The scale of the shrinking can vary depending on player preference. The default is one-quarter of an inch, but it can range from the loss of a foot of height to being made the size of an action figure to dwelling among the insects to full-on microscopic Fantastic Voyage adventures.

Anything an affected character is wearing or holding will shrink with them, and electronics like the communicators will keep working because shut up this is from the Silver Age, that's why. If you would like your character to disappear and be cut off from contact, their communicator will not be affected if it’s not on them when they get hit- have fun trying to work your new jumbo comm by jumping on its keys with your little legs!

To give the plot more structure, an open log will be set up with pre-posted threads setting up the shenanigans affected characters could find themselves in: having to dodge giant traffic, becoming accidental lords of the ant kingdom, being chased by household pets, and the like. Participants will be free to set up their own threads in this log or logs outside the main one, as they prefer.

Calvin and Val will be the first to shrink and the last to be restored, since they'll be hit by the highest concentration of the gas. The Pym particles themselves have no inherently deleterious or long-term effects after one exposure, so after they wear off it will be back to normal. Once the kids are restored, they will do a joint post arguing over whose fault the incident was and likely get yelled at.

We are soliciting ideas from players for what kinds of situations and prompts should be featured in this log’s threads! Please fill out the form below to sign your character up and specify any ideas you have for what kind of situations will be featured in the main plot log. As a side note, while we encourage participants to get into all kinds of perils, we ask that no characters actually die in this plot; because then Calvin would be responsible for killing people and it would be super weird.

This plot will run from August 11th, when the accident happens, to the 14th, when the last affected ImPorts return to normal. Please let us know if there are any questions!


CHARACTER: Who’s in this mess? SHRINKING EFFECT: How low can you go? Again, the range can be anything from losing a few feet in height to becoming toy-sized to experiencing the world at the level of a bacteria. DESIRED SHENANIGANS: Once your character is shrunk, what adventures do you want them to experience? Do you have any ideas or plans you would like to pursue in this plot?

Comments

OPEN LOG DRAFTING

[magicalworld]

Awfully small-minded of us, isn’t it?
WHO: Everyone involved in this plot
WHERE: Throughout the City
WHEN: August 11th-14th
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Kid science gone wrong leads to some ImPorts getting a much more down-to-earth perspective on life.
FORMAT: Whatever works! Prompt threads will be posted for people to tag off of, but participants are also encouraged to start their own!

(find good cut text, write log start)

Threads so far:

Bug-sized – ImPorts vs. the Ants

Toy store shenanigans

Cat encounter

Oh no it's raining and puddles are like lakes

Toy Store!

[magicalworld]

Through some unfortunate circumstance, your character has found their shrunken selves inside a toy store! Perhaps they were shopping for some game when the Pym Particles descended, perhaps they took refuge here after being shrunk upon the street, but however they came to be in this situation they are now in the best and worst place for a micro-sized ImPort to be.

The up side is that there are doll houses for shelter and tiny ovens for making bitsy little meals. However, the store is also filled with inquisitive children who might very well mistake your character for some new, wonderfully lifelike doll that they absolutely *must* play dress up with! Step lively and try to blend in with the action figures, or your character might find themselves being gummed by an enthusiastic toddler who’s overjoyed with his new toy.

Cat Encounters

[magicalworld]

“Miaow?”

Ohmigoshit’sakitty! It may also be trouble, since your character is now an excellent size for chasing. Maybe it’s a beloved pet, and they may be able to establish a connection and even go on a kittyback ride. Or perhaps your character is encountering a stray puss outside their home, in which case they have a markedly greater chance of becoming a snack. Think fast, or the cat’s curiousity just might kill you.

Log start?

[magicalworld]

The cloud of Pym Particles belches forth from the windows of a Stark Tech lab. It rises into the sky, drifts on the wind, and begins to settle over the City. The Particles fall through the air like an impossible snow.

Their fall is not random nor even. They drift together, form concentrations, become denser as they fall toward certain points. Through some odd quirk of Marvel science combined with the nature of being an ImPort, the Pym Particles are inexorably drawn toward those who came through the Porter.

For those touched by the Particles, the effect is swift and disorienting. The body tingles as its form is changed at the subatomic level. Surrounding objects and structures seem to swell and loom while the ground rushes up to meet them. In seconds, affected ImPorts are in a new world of towering furniture, the boom of titanic footsteps, and everyday little critters suddenly transformed into vast beasts.

ImPorts vs. the Ants (and other creepy-crawlies)

[magicalworld]

Welcome to the world of the bug-sized, population: your character. At any given time the surrounding world is filled with insects and arachnids and other little things that crawl and fly about, largely unnoticed until they become pests. That has just changed in a big (technically little) way. After all, it's hard to ignore a fruit fly when its wingspan is as wide as your outstretched arms.

Whether your shrunken character is indoors or on a lawn that a become a thick green forest or somewhere else, the bugs are everywhere. Hope nobody's got a phobia- although after exposure to this many mandibles, it's entirely possible they'll just develop one.

Braving Lake Puddlemore

[magicalworld]

Through some set of circumstances, your economy-sized character finds themselves confronted by a great expanse of murky water rippling across their path. Previously this would have just been a jumpable puddle left over from a sudden rain, but right now it's an obstacle between your character and shelter. An earthworm larger than an anaconda writhes in the middle of the puddle/lake, slowly growing soggier as it awaits an inevitable and final encounter with a robin. The 'shoreline' is a muddy, sopping muck.

Perhaps a leaf and twig would serve as an improvised raft, or the worm might be used as a slimy, unstable bridge. Your characters' options depend on what size they have been reduced to. With enough time and patience, they could simply get around the lake by slogging through the muddy shore- but where's the fun in that?