Cverse Draft 2009: Frontier Combat Kingdom

[Regis]

I'll speak up in favour of Dan DaLay - his smug 'King DaLay' gimmick, lounging around and laughing at his own team-mates arguing and fighting, I kind of liked it. He was never going to carry anything, of course, but I liked the way you wrote him.

 

One question, though - the drug test angle: were those results genuine, or was it really an excuse to drop a whole bunch of guys as a cost-cutting measure?

[Self]

I'll speak up in favour of Dan DaLay - his smug 'King DaLay' gimmick, lounging around and laughing at his own team-mates arguing and fighting, I kind of liked it. He was never going to carry anything, of course, but I liked the way you wrote him.

 

One question, though - the drug test angle: were those results genuine, or was it really an excuse to drop a whole bunch of guys as a cost-cutting measure?

 

I did an actual factual drug test with the intention of making public all of the failures... but there weren't any. It was half a way to cut dead weight, and half a question of "which characters would be on drugs?". I didn't want to suspend The Dirty White Boys, but realistically they would be on drugs. I didn't want to suspend Troy Tornado, but as a Rock Star it makes sense that he'd be taking. The entire thing was to set up two things. Christian Faith getting suspended, and the question of who helped Edd Stone pass? Come to think of it, I never really answered that last one. I meant to in the last promo. It was Steve DeColt.

 

I actually considered at one point switching Faith and DeColt around. Having the muscled up Steve DeColt fail for steroids and Christian Faith teaming with Edd. It would have changed the project around a lot. DeColt's story would have been a purely babyface story of redemption, of trying to re-earn respect and love. Faith and Edd would have nice comedy in an Odd Couple sort of way, but less drama with Jeremy... unless Jeremy went heel.

[Regis]

I did an actual factual drug test with the intention of making public all of the failures... but there weren't any. It was half a way to cut dead weight, and half a question of "which characters would be on drugs?". I didn't want to suspend The Dirty White Boys, but realistically they would be on drugs. I didn't want to suspend Troy Tornado, but as a Rock Star it makes sense that he'd be taking. The entire thing was to set up two things. Christian Faith getting suspended, and the question of who helped Edd Stone pass? Come to think of it, I never really answered that last one. I meant to in the last promo. It was Steve DeColt.

 

I didn't think you'd have such a heavily drugged-up roster - I've gone through a whole bunch of games without finding more than one or two people, mostly the usual suspects, who are on drugs.

 

I actually considered at one point switching Faith and DeColt around. Having the muscled up Steve DeColt fail for steroids and Christian Faith teaming with Edd. It would have changed the project around a lot. DeColt's story would have been a purely babyface story of redemption, of trying to re-earn respect and love. Faith and Edd would have nice comedy in an Odd Couple sort of way, but less drama with Jeremy... unless Jeremy went heel.

 

I like it! Would have been good, would have made sense, but... I don't know... it wouldn't have been as Awesome.

[Self]

JOHNNY BLOOD

 

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p366/celdom/Characters/JohnnyBlood.jpg

 

Was to be called "Bloodstone" until the lack of Stones made the name feel wrong to me. As I didn't want two 'Johns' in one stable, Maverick lost his first name. I love Blood's rage. It made his matches easier to write. It made his promos easier to write (every short, sharp sentence ends with “!” or “???”) I simply dug the one-dimensionality. He had depth in his backstory and relationships, but also a clear and vibrant surface that works in wrestling.

 

One of the better talkers on my active roster, he improved well from being surrounded by Garcia and Eisen on a regular basis. He shot up from C entertainment skills to B- in a couple of months. I liked The Triumvirate, but Johnny outgrew that group pretty quickly. He was a loner.

 

I loved the backstory behind Johnny vs. Jeremy Stone, but their feud could have been paced a little better. A proper 3-Act structure. Only one PPV draw. Save killing Edd in the cage for last. I was a little sick of the feud by the time it ended, but on the whole I dug it. By striving to beat the one man he's never beaten, Johnny was a bit babyface, but it was a fun motivation for me to write to. Eventually I reckon I could have flipped the dynamic with an Edd vs. Blood feud. A longer Faith feud would have gone deeper into Blood’s past to find the root of his rage. Abusive parents? Bullies? The girl that got away? I’d probably pick something from my own childhood and work off that…

 

Blood wasn't the ultimate evil or ‘Big Bad’ of the story, rather he was a misguided anti-hero on his own journey. Act One was of a driven young rookie trying to break into the sport, and becoming twisted to the dark side. What you read was Act Two; the monster running roughshod until he was cast down from his heavenly throne. Act Three would have been his redemption. A slow burn babyface turn, before learning to overcome his fatal flaw (rage) and forgive those that did him wrong (Jeremy). With The DeColts taking the top heel spots, Blood would have dropped to the midcard for some character development. After his loss to Harry, he would have become more angry, more erratic, more deadly and yet more prone to folly. A rematch with Harry would be inevitable. A mini-feud with Danger Kumasaka could have been great. The recurring theme would be his rage getting the best of him. Johnny wouldn’t get the title back for a long time. At least not until he turned angry, angry, baby face.

 

How to turn him? That's a question. Perhaps Jeremy would enlist his help battling the DeColts, and through that acceptance he’d let go of some of his hatred. I also considered a relationship with Melody Cuthill. A slow-burn ‘lust from afar’ for the ultimate girl next door… you know, while he’s ripping someone's throat out. Then at the right time, he saves her, and with her he finds enough happiness to let go of his hatred. Not that he’d ever become a happy, smiling ‘loves fun’ baby face. He’d always be a bit of a psychopath, but he’d learn some self-control… and maybe get a clean, honourable victory over Jeremy to boot.

[Regis]

That last one was my prediction - He beats Jezza clean, no cheating, and Jezza raises his hand in victory and keeps being nice to him. At first Blood is suspicious, then he gets angry (shocker!), then he actually realises that no, Jezza really does respect him. Johnny Blood was an awesome character. Nice job.

[mistaken]

this diary as a PDF

 

Cverse Draft 2009: Frontier Combat Kingdom