Ok, I’ll try to put this as simply as possible. Long ago, the Main Bad Guy, Sorcerer King of island A made a deal with aliens to Zap from space island B (the good guys) and wipe it off the map. They did. Also the aliens supplied the Main Bad Guy with some advanced technology (such as fighters and submarines) to make his World domination easier. In exchange, the aliens are paid a yearly tribute in a metal that is valuable to them. Anyway, our heros are from the race who’s island got wiped out and it’s years later. Through the story I have managed to get them on the spaceship. I want 4 things to happen: 1) A face off with the The Main Bad guy on the ship. 2) Them Zapping the Main Bad guy’s island with the alien ship’s zap ray and thereby permanently eliminating the armies of the Main Bad Guy and getting revenge. 3) Escaping from the alien’s ship back to thier planet (it is in orbit and they arrived via shuttle, launched from island A). 4) Making it so the aliens can’t hunt them down (maybe blowing up thier ship somehow?).
Anyway the main problem is that they can’t communicate with the aliens to find out about and figure out how to use the alien’s zap ray. Our low-tech hereos can do magic but why would they have a spell that would let them speak to aliens? I could put a universal translator somewhere but it would be hard if not impossible to figure out and also built for the aliens (not huminoid). Obvioulsy the aliens have a way of communicating with the Main Bad Guy and vice versa, so some kind of translator is on board. Anyway, I am stuck. I’ve thought that maybe they could take an alien hostage and get it to use the zap ray but there is the language problem again (and why would that alien be a zap ray gunner?). Or maybe they could stumble onto the main deck where the aliens and the Main Bad Guy are already conversing and so translators would be in use (and maybe the main Bad guy could brag about the zapping of island B). But my ideal order is 1)Use the Zap ray just as 2) the Main Bad Guy is arriving so that he is really mad. Currently our hereos are in the shuttle hangar, magicly invisible. I haven’t decided if the alien’s robots should be able to see them (in infrared?) thus sounding a general alarm or just have them sneak past. Any ideas on resolving the problems listed above?
::chuckles:: this ones easy just make sure at some point someone gets a spell they cant use and have them carry it around said aliens/bad guy reads the spell and voila every one understands each other dues ex machina i think its called
Bear in mind, my creative-writing skills may be a bit rusty. But I’ve got an idea:
The Bad Guy doesn’t know too much about the alien language without translators himself. So they kindly gave him an instruction manual, which he always leaves around the gun room (or his personal chambers, or wherever your characters are wandering around).
Yeah, but from Satasha’s summary it sounds like the MBG didn’t have anything personally to do with the Zapping, so he wouldn’t need to know how to work the Zapper. It’s not clear to me why MBG would be hanging out on the spaceship anyway, though, so maybe I’ve got something wrong. How long does it take to get a shuttle into the orbit of the spaceship, anyway? Must be a long time if the heroes’ shuttle was launched from Island A before it was Zapped ‘long ago.’
It’s a useful idea though, if the aliens gave MBG alien-tech warships and stuff, maybe he has an instruction book for that stuff that the heroes can find beforehand and use to decipher some of the alien language or something like that. Or maybe there are a couple aliens planetside in MBG’s service that they can kidnap and use to figure out how to communicate. Maybe they can intercept a crew of aliens some time that they come down to pick up a shipment of the metal.
How do the aliens communicate with each other? Would it be as simple as learning a spoken/written language, or is it more complex than that?
You mentioned that MBG probably has a translator of some kind. If it’s a device, you could have the heroes infiltrate his lair before heading out and stealing it. This offers the chance to have an encounter with MBG before the climax, which is useful to build anticipation.
Or, here’s another idea, you said the heroes can use magic. So have them use some kind of magic beforehand to spy on the aliens on the ship and see how they operate their stuff. Maybe go back in time and watch what they do as they Zap Island A. This is also desirable because it would provide an emotional moment for your heroes as they are forced to revisit and witness firsthand what must be a painful experience for them.
I guess my main idea is to have the heroes prepared beforehand, so they already know what to do before going into orbit.
Thanks for the ideas so far. White Lightning: I guess I wasn’t clear, the heros’ island was zapped a long time ago, they weren’t on it (they were kids on a boat with grandpa). Plot wise they are already on the alien’s spaceship (and grown up years later). It takes hardly any time to get from the planet to the orbiting mother ship (like starwars) This is where I stopped writting and got stuck.
[It’s too late to go back and have them had read tech manuals, the way I have written it. Sorry.]
Now I need to find a way for them to be able to figure out: 1) that the zap ray was what nuked thier island and 2) how to use it to fry the bad guy’s island. Keeping in mind that they aren’t tech savy but they are smart. Is that clearer? Sorry if it isn’t. I am thinking that maybe I could have them come on to the bridge while the aliens are communicating to another shuttle that contains the main bad guy and is headed for the ship. It is a good question, why would he even be comming to the ship? Maybe they could zap bad guy island and the Main Bad Guy could escape on a shuttle just before his island fries. Kind of like in galaxy quest where the bad guy teleports to the good guy ship just before his ship blows up. I don’t know.
Impressed by the alien weapon technology provided to him and used against his enemies, MBG wants to visit the alien mothership. A group of alien military advisers/trainers working on world bring him to the ship for a tour (someone would have to train MBG’s troops to use this advanced weaponry). This group of aliens could speak MBG’s language without a translator or have small portable units with them. I’m thinking they act like Special Forces in Vietnam - adept at languages, weaponry, and training native peoples they provide aid to. A small group of them come back to their ship first with some underlings of MBG, to prepare for MBG’s arrival. MBG and the aliens could be secretly conspiring against each other. MBG wanting more alien weapons, and the aliens wanting direct access to the valuable metal without bothering with MBG.
Your heroes capture this first group upon their arrival in the shuttle bay, and realize that the aliens can communicate with people from their world, and how they aided in the destruction of island B. They use these hostages to force their way onto the bridge, seizing control. They then commicate with the shuttle carrying MBG, tell him who they are and what they are about to do. They force the aliens to zap MBG’s island, perhaps by threatening to kill the alien leader or by manipulating the alien weapon officers with their magick, enraging MBG as you wanted.
Or the aliens could go along with it, acting like they are being forced, since this gives them an excuse to eliminate MBG’s powerbase like they have been secretly wanting.
MBG arrives on ship, furious. You said he’s a sorceror king, so he attacks the heroes with his magick once he arrives. MBG and heroes have their confrontation, endangering the ship. The aliens decide to kill all the islanders because of the danger to themselves. The heroes have been holding their own against MBG until the aliens intervene. MBG turns his fury on the aliens, causing fatal damage to the alien ship. The heroes use this chance to make their escape via shuttle back to their planet as the alien ship and MBG are destroyed.
We have a group of D&D type primitives on a space ship filled with alien robots. What would they be thinking at this point? What in their experience are these things similar to? Are they of such a configuration that they could be mistaken for armored beings? Would they be seen as demons?
I would have your hero react with whatever his strengths are. You say your hero is unfamiliar with technology. Well how familiar are the alien nasties with magic? More to the point when was the last time any of these robot thingies had to face an opponent face to face? Do they even have melee capability? Do they have a nice bank of blinky lights somewhere about their “chests” just begging to be bashed in?
What I would do is this. Figure out some way that your hero’s very primitiveness is the weapon that wins the day. These machines zooming about in space in a nice sterile environment probably just don’t have the subroutines for dealing with a great deal of what your hero deals with every day. Remember your hero is just as alien to the robots as they are to him.
Have the hero make such a nuisance of himself that the main bad guy is brought aboard to deal with him. He being of the same type and therefore better able to deal with the threat. Better yet have the Island A baddie brought aboard without explanation so he doesn’t have his battalion of body guards or his pet mage along. Then only after he arrives the robots say of the hero, “He’s one of yours. You deal with him.” That way you have the villain of the piece in a vulnerable position. That would set up the confrontation. Which would satisfy item 1) “A face off with the The Main Bad guy on the ship.”
As for item 2) “Them Zapping the Main Bad guy’s island with the alien ship’s zap ray and thereby permanently eliminating the armies of the Main Bad Guy and getting revenge.” Very bad form for a hero. After all he would get not only the armies but the bakers and the schools and the livestock and the internal resistance fighters, etc. The zap gun thing is just way too crude a weapon.
Why do you want to get rid of the alien robots exactly? Are they innately evil or just opportunists? Once you off the villain of the piece the robots will still need a supplier for the metal. Why not have the villain fail at suppressing the hero’s mayhem and the robot’s decide to act in their own self interest and make a deal with the Hero. He could probably get a much sweeter deal than the villain because the stuff he would ask for in return for the metal would be more useful as well as cheaper than the weapons, etc. that the villain was demanding. How many plough shares, or tractors for that matter could he get for the cost of one weapon of mass destruction? He could also bargain for exclusive right to represent the planet for himself and his heirs thereby having a bargaining chip back planet side.
He can then put it to the remaining leaders of Island A that they accept him and the new deal with the robots or give up all contact with the aliens and the goodies they represent. That way your hero gets the military might of the villain; right of return for the remaining former inhabitants of Island B who then become his inner circle, landed barons, etc.; continued technical assistance from the aliens building a REAL power base not a military one, etc.
Degrance has some really good ideas there. I only have a couple of suggestions:
Working from a D& D standpoint, there is a spell that would allow information exchange between two intelligent but non-communicative species: Telepathy. Images can be transferred from a captured alien bridge flunky, and they can determine what weapon is used and how to operate it just from the images (mages are supposed to be smart and able to interpret lots of strange things).
Getting the aliens to blow up Island A is going to be nigh impossible if that is the source of the metal they covet (no matter who the Good Guys capture, torture, or threaten). The aliens don’t seem to be too moralistic if they blew up an innocent Island at the request of the MBG. Yet they must fear the MBG’s magic if they haven’t already taken his Island by force and grabbed all the metal for free. Surmising that the Good Guys’ magic will be just as powerful as the MGB, I’d say they might be on almost equal footing with the aliens’ technology. And they might be able to use yet another spell to accomplish item #2 (zapping MBG’s Island) by using Mind Control or some such. Of course, this usually entails being able to communicate with the controlled being, but perhaps they can just envision Island A blowing up and the Mind Controlled Alien Leader will order the destruction just as the MBG is arrive at the alien ship. The Alien Leader could be convinced the the MBG is about to double-cross him with a well planted suggestion from the Good Guy mage.
Well, it’s been mentioned before, but yes, with magic, there are many possibilities to bridge the language barrier. There is the aforementioned telepathy spell, plus spells that could just act as translation spells (the type of spells that can allow, say, a Zimbawian communicate with a Japanese person when niether knows the other’s language; or for a French man to carry on a conversation with a polar bear at the zoo). The trick is, you should probably have someone use this spell at some point in time prior to its use with the aliens, so it doesn’t seem so “Oh, by the way…”
Also, there’s been a lot of speculation, but how does the MBG communicate with the aliens? If they speak the planet’s native language like aliens always seem to, then it’s no big deal. And you’d think that after almost occupying the planet for, say, 20 years or so, the aliens would have some grasp on the planet’s language, and possibly vice versa (depending on how much interaction they have with the surface).
I do like white lightning’s suggestion of a time displacement spell that can allow them to view the use of the controls. Once they figure out “Oh, they used this device, but how do we use it?” it would be a good way to learn through observation, and like he said, get a bit of emotional impact. You said the main characters were off the island in a boat with grandpa, but what about mom and dad?
For me though, using the big laser to blast the bad island seems a little too easy. The whole “They did it to us, so we’re going to do it to them” type of thing. Perhaps the heroes can somehow learn to work the navigational systems, plot a course for the Bad Island, get out, and let the thing crash and burn. That way, you get to kill off the baddy, and make sure the aliens “can’t follow.” Also, after the climactic battle, perhaps the villain ain’t quite dead, so he gets to watch and be part of his empires destruction.
Of course, that also brings up the question of: What about all the good people on Evil Island? Are there any? Where have the heroes been staying all these years? Is there another good island out there? Perhaps that’s a way you can have them use the weapon if you still want to use the zap ray. MBG gets aboard, decides “Well, I’ve had it with you folks, now you get to watch your new friends fry,” and convinces the aliens to vaporize a new island. Of course, the good guys manage to find a way to either destroy the laser, or redirect it (quite possibly with something as simplistic as hitting the damned thing with a big stick; there is something to be said about dumb luck).
But the thing with writing is that your first draft is never your final, so don’t think “Well, I haven’t addressed this yet, so it’s too late.” Some things, like the telepathy spell and whatnot, can all be fixed with the simple addition of a few scenes here and there where the team “hippie” has fun getting the local fauna to play pranks on the team or just spends his day communing with the birds. Be willing to go back and make changes. And best of luck with the final product.
dues ex machina i think its called