Okay. The premise is simple: a gag-fic, where all of the Servants are from the movie, <a href='http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Monty Python and the Holy Grail</a>.
First I'll talk about the servant-master pairings, and then I'll get into why I want to do something a little different than just "listing ideas". Feel free to skip down to that first; the bolded word will let you know, and then you can come back.
Here's what I figure:
ASSASSIN
Master: Caster
Servant: The Frenchman (you know: that guy with the mustache and the indecipherable <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franglais' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>franglais</a>).
Reasoning: He's similar to canon!Caster in that he stood at the top of a gate and shouted down at people that wanted to get past him.
ARCHER
Master: Rin
Servant: EMIYA
Reasoning: I thought about just giving Rin one of the knights or something, but I think too much of the plot of the game revolved around EMIYA and Shirou. But! Let's screw with his power(s): "Despite having told over 1,000 jokes, he never got any of them." That is, EMIYA is the ultimate straight man, an idealized <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzai' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>tsukkomi</a>. No matter how absurd the quip, he responds seriously and honestly; and he can perfectly repeat any joke he's heard, but he doesn't understand why they're funny. For example, after hearing "<a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funniest_Joke_in_the_World' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>The Funniest Joke in the World</a>" he would say "I don't get it," but he could then turn around and tell it. If you have a better idea throw it at me?
BERSERKER
Master: Ilya
Servant: Rabbit of Caerbannog
Reasoning: Okay! Picture Ilya! She's standing there looking a little wide-eyed and slightly vulnerable. Now, cradled in her arms is a little white rabbit. Adorable. Then the rabbit flies out of her arms and mauls your face off! It's going for your throat! Perfect Ilya.
CASTER
Master: Taiga
Servant: Tim the Enchanter
Reasoning: How can Caster not be Tim? Caster cannot be anyone else. But, I think replacing Souichirou with Tiger would be good for two reasons: 1) Keep it light-hearted, 2) They're dating? I guess? It would really bug Shirou. Also the comedic let-down of Caster being literally next door rather than camped in the Temple.
LANCER
Master: Kirei (still replacing Bazette)
Servant: Knight Who Says "Ni"
Reasoning: I feel like his "syllables" would make a pretty efficient NP, like Gae Bolg was. Although his agility isn't too great. Anyway the connection is tenuous, but whatever. I feel like he could carry the role of Lancer is my bottom line.
Alternate Servant: The Black Knight
Reasoning: Battle continuation EX, but the joke would wear out pretty damn quick.
Alternate Servant: Sir Bedevere (The Wise)
Reasoning: "And that, Kirei, is why we know the Earth is shaped like a banana." I think following his logic as he deduces who each Servant is in briefing with Kirei would be pretty good. But, I'd prefer not to have too many Knights of the Round Table summoned because they wouldn't fight, they'd more like, hang out.
RIDER
Master: Shinji (still outsourced from Sakura)
Servant: Sir Robin
Reasoning: Because I want Shinji to have the most worthless/cowardly Servant possible: Sir Robin would definitely have, like, Rank A in the skill "Battle Escape." I guess I'll just bow to the inevitable and directly ask Mike: what's your opinion?
SABER
Master: Shirou
Servant: Arthur ("real name: Connie")
Reasoning: Okay this might get a little tortured: Connie Booth played "The Witch" in the movie; in real life she was married to John Cleese (who played Lancelot) at the time of filming. Meanwhile, Graham Chapman (who played Arthur) had come out of closet as a homosexual a few years earlier. I think it would be unavoidable to address the whole "actor who played Arthur was gay" thing considering the context of the Saber/Shirou pairing, but I can't see where the jokes would be funny instead of just plain tasteless. I guess my feeling is Saber should be a girl for the sake of the plot, but the most memorable female character from the movie was The Crone ("lovely filth") (also, I suppose that might be a comment on the gender equity of the 70s or something).
"GILGAMESH"
Master: Kirei
Servant: <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_%28Monty_Python%29' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Cardinal Ximenez</a>
Reasoning: Yes, the "Spanish Inquisition" skit isn't part of the movie, but I cannot think of a more appropriate Python character to crash the party with. He's got lots of NP he recites (Fear, Surprise, Ruthless Efficiency, Almost Fanatical Devotion to the Pope, Nice Red Uniforms), and in the end, he's always foiled by his own incompetence. I'm not sure whether he'd keep his sidekicks (Terry Jones played Biggles, but also Bedivere in the movie; Terry Gilliam played Fang, but didn't have any big roles in Holy Grail).
Okay!
So what I would like to do, rather than just write this myself, is make it into something like a forum game. We'll come up with a plot together: something that follows the events of one of the game routes, for the sake of simplicity. Then, once we've hammered out a plot, we'll break it into a discrete progression of scenes. Once that's done, we'll call dibs on individual scenes, write them, and then assemble them. Ultimately I'd like something coherent enough to place on FF.net. Maybe I'll create a dummy account or something, I haven't thought about those details too much yet.
Thus:
1) Develop Plot
2) Break plot up into scenes
3) Pick which scenes you want & write them!
4) Glue everything together
I'm going to guess Zerohour is up for this, but I'd also like to especially invite people who don't write a lot. I'd like people to feel included is what I mean.
First I'll talk about the servant-master pairings, and then I'll get into why I want to do something a little different than just "listing ideas". Feel free to skip down to that first; the bolded word will let you know, and then you can come back.
Here's what I figure:
ASSASSIN
Master: Caster
Servant: The Frenchman (you know: that guy with the mustache and the indecipherable <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franglais' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>franglais</a>).
Reasoning: He's similar to canon!Caster in that he stood at the top of a gate and shouted down at people that wanted to get past him.
ARCHER
Master: Rin
Servant: EMIYA
Reasoning: I thought about just giving Rin one of the knights or something, but I think too much of the plot of the game revolved around EMIYA and Shirou. But! Let's screw with his power(s): "Despite having told over 1,000 jokes, he never got any of them." That is, EMIYA is the ultimate straight man, an idealized <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzai' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>tsukkomi</a>. No matter how absurd the quip, he responds seriously and honestly; and he can perfectly repeat any joke he's heard, but he doesn't understand why they're funny. For example, after hearing "<a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funniest_Joke_in_the_World' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>The Funniest Joke in the World</a>" he would say "I don't get it," but he could then turn around and tell it. If you have a better idea throw it at me?
BERSERKER
Master: Ilya
Servant: Rabbit of Caerbannog
Reasoning: Okay! Picture Ilya! She's standing there looking a little wide-eyed and slightly vulnerable. Now, cradled in her arms is a little white rabbit. Adorable. Then the rabbit flies out of her arms and mauls your face off! It's going for your throat! Perfect Ilya.
CASTER
Master: Taiga
Servant: Tim the Enchanter
Reasoning: How can Caster not be Tim? Caster cannot be anyone else. But, I think replacing Souichirou with Tiger would be good for two reasons: 1) Keep it light-hearted, 2) They're dating? I guess? It would really bug Shirou. Also the comedic let-down of Caster being literally next door rather than camped in the Temple.
LANCER
Master: Kirei (still replacing Bazette)
Servant: Knight Who Says "Ni"
Reasoning: I feel like his "syllables" would make a pretty efficient NP, like Gae Bolg was. Although his agility isn't too great. Anyway the connection is tenuous, but whatever. I feel like he could carry the role of Lancer is my bottom line.
Alternate Servant: The Black Knight
Reasoning: Battle continuation EX, but the joke would wear out pretty damn quick.
Alternate Servant: Sir Bedevere (The Wise)
Reasoning: "And that, Kirei, is why we know the Earth is shaped like a banana." I think following his logic as he deduces who each Servant is in briefing with Kirei would be pretty good. But, I'd prefer not to have too many Knights of the Round Table summoned because they wouldn't fight, they'd more like, hang out.
RIDER
Master: Shinji (still outsourced from Sakura)
Servant: Sir Robin
Reasoning: Because I want Shinji to have the most worthless/cowardly Servant possible: Sir Robin would definitely have, like, Rank A in the skill "Battle Escape." I guess I'll just bow to the inevitable and directly ask Mike: what's your opinion?
SABER
Master: Shirou
Servant: Arthur ("real name: Connie")
Reasoning: Okay this might get a little tortured: Connie Booth played "The Witch" in the movie; in real life she was married to John Cleese (who played Lancelot) at the time of filming. Meanwhile, Graham Chapman (who played Arthur) had come out of closet as a homosexual a few years earlier. I think it would be unavoidable to address the whole "actor who played Arthur was gay" thing considering the context of the Saber/Shirou pairing, but I can't see where the jokes would be funny instead of just plain tasteless. I guess my feeling is Saber should be a girl for the sake of the plot, but the most memorable female character from the movie was The Crone ("lovely filth") (also, I suppose that might be a comment on the gender equity of the 70s or something).
"GILGAMESH"
Master: Kirei
Servant: <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_%28Monty_Python%29' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Cardinal Ximenez</a>
Reasoning: Yes, the "Spanish Inquisition" skit isn't part of the movie, but I cannot think of a more appropriate Python character to crash the party with. He's got lots of NP he recites (Fear, Surprise, Ruthless Efficiency, Almost Fanatical Devotion to the Pope, Nice Red Uniforms), and in the end, he's always foiled by his own incompetence. I'm not sure whether he'd keep his sidekicks (Terry Jones played Biggles, but also Bedivere in the movie; Terry Gilliam played Fang, but didn't have any big roles in Holy Grail).
Okay!
So what I would like to do, rather than just write this myself, is make it into something like a forum game. We'll come up with a plot together: something that follows the events of one of the game routes, for the sake of simplicity. Then, once we've hammered out a plot, we'll break it into a discrete progression of scenes. Once that's done, we'll call dibs on individual scenes, write them, and then assemble them. Ultimately I'd like something coherent enough to place on FF.net. Maybe I'll create a dummy account or something, I haven't thought about those details too much yet.
Thus:
1) Develop Plot
2) Break plot up into scenes
3) Pick which scenes you want & write them!
4) Glue everything together
I'm going to guess Zerohour is up for this, but I'd also like to especially invite people who don't write a lot. I'd like people to feel included is what I mean.