Unexplained transportation into another Universe sucks. Not 'it usually sucks'. It suck uniformly.

In addition, crossovers with Marvel and DC almost always suck. Why? Because of Power levels.

So, either we have an unexplained transport into the Dresden-verse, or we have the Dresden-verse set in a Universe were the DV character's are to totally, utterly outclassed that it's not even funny. For example, the Hulk destroyed a asteroid twice the size of Earth with a single punch, caused huge earthquakes by walking, and created tsunami's by swimming. Superman has sneezed away solar systems, recharged suns with his heat vision, and moved a galaxy worth of planets by attaching them with chains, and pulling them through space. The Flash has moved at 27 times the speed of light, and run back in time. These are some examples, but by no means the most extreme. Some people in both DC and Marvel have created and destroyed Universe's with a thought.

 

I highly doubt Deadpool would be able to blow away a galaxy or run around the world faster then light....

 

Yes, but Deadpool comes from Marvel, which, by definition, means the Marvel-verse would exist in the story. Which, by default, would mean that any conflict in the story is unimportant. Save a woman's life? The guys in Marvel and DC save the Universe once a week and twice on Sundays.

 

Unless the author deliberately decides to cut out the rest of the universe, or is ignorant of the fact that it's all meant to be one universe.

 

Which leads us back to how Deadpool got to the DV. And just so everyone knows, unexplained magic portals still suck.

 

You guys are looking at the big picture here. This isn`t abut Deadpool saving the universe. This is more on a personal level. I`m more interested in seeing Deadpool`s interaction between the Queens of Winter and Summer, the white council and the vampires, cops and citizens etc etc. I`m interested in seeing Deadpool and his own personal drama, a place where people running around in colorful costumes would give you a one way ticket to a mental instatitutaion.

EDIT: ....alright. i`ll admit, i just want to see him piss people off so bad, even the soulless Queens of Summer would get pissed off, if that is possible. It would be more of a humor fic then anything else.

 

In which case, that raises another important issue. Deadpool is hard to write properly.

 

I never said it was going to be easy. A little bit more difficult then usual but the end result would be incredible if the author knows how to write a story.

 

Okay, this little phrase gets thrown around way too much in threads like these. "If the author knows how to write a story," ANY plot bunny will turn out successful. Besides, who would want to read a story by someone who's a bad writer? They could take the best idea in the world and ruin it! Fact of the matter is, your idea either has realistic potential or it doesn't. In 99% of cases where you need to justify yourself by saying "BUT IT COULD BE REALLY GOOD IN THE HANDS OF A GREAT WRITER," your idea sucks.

 

I have never implied such a thing. I never said anything about "A great writer" as you put it. I said "the author knows how to write a story."

I'm not asking for some genius writer. Just a person with an imagination and common sense. It's surprising how many authors write up a story and make it up along the way.

 

It makes no difference. You're saying that your idea requires a competent writer to make it interesting. I'm saying that simple statement means that, subconsciously, you believe it sucks, which begs the question of why you ever presented it in the first place. Just because your idea now is being written by "a person with an imagination and common sense" (notice the quotation marks. This means I'm directly using your words.), and will likely be made into a good story, doesn't mean that it's a good idea. It means that it needs a good writer to be interesting, which means it's a bad idea in the first place.

 

I want to see a Dresden travels back in time story with the knowledge and power he has now. Or maybe a Dresden that gets raised by Lea after he's orphaned, and his life after growing up under the tutelage of the Winter sidhe. Basically, I want to see a badass Dresden that doesn't get beat up for 2/3 of the book.

 

Hmmm... what time would he travel FROM, and where (when) would he arrive?

His fore-knowledge will lead to him solving the problems of the books faster... but that would definitely draw the Black Council's attention--if Harry was not subtle about solving things due to not being aware of the Black Council.

Would anyone be aware of Dresden's time traveling? The Gatekeeper?

How would Harry come to terms with having broken the law against messing with time? How will he avoid paradoxes?


If Harry avoids setting off Bianca in Storm Front... would that delay the Red Court's attempt to provoke a war with the White Council?



Would Harry be able to manipulate events in such a manner that he profits from the big events, rather then barely coming out on top and getting beat up tremendously in the process?

Would Harry take the opportunity to get some petty revenges on, say, Morgan or Marcone?


Frankly, I don't think we've ever seen any time-travelling Dresden story yet...

Nor the "groundhog day" scenario. I mean, c'mon! Imagine the fun and havoc Harry could cause during time-loops...

Anybody?

 

The bad thing about time traveling stories, is that you either A) have to pretty much repeat most of the books, changing only the parts Harry now effects, which falls into the same trap as all those Seven years HP fic. That is, it would be boring as fuck.

The other option is, of course B) rewrite the entire series from scratch. Which would be hard for even a very good author. In other words, would be a fucking pain in the ass.

In addition, there is also the issue of what you should change if you chose A. For example, in most HP fics, Harry doesn't just up and kill Voldemort. Why? Because if he did, there'd be no stroy, despite how stupid not doing that would be.

In the same way, if Harry used his knowledge of the future, he could change a lot. But eventually (if he did so), someone would figure out he'd been time traveling. Especially since time travel is a very real posibility in the DV.

And if someone finds out, the WC will come down on him, the BC will come down on him, the Vampire Courts would come down on him, and if he sought help from the Winter/Summer Court, the Summer/Winter Court would come down on him.

In other words, he'd die so fast that if anyone ever went faster then the speed of light, they'd call that new speed a 'Dresden'.

 

Time-travelling can cause paradoxes in the DV. And paradoxes are baaaddd....

I doubt people would assume he'd actually travelled in time, simply because they would come to the conclusion that the universe would've a'sploded from the changes he'd wreaked.

More likely, they'd suspect him of A) beeing a seer, B) having compromised most organizations, or C through Z... something else.


Anyway, the question is... would Dresden try to avoid doing anything until he "catches up" to his time, or something?

Personally, I would be for Dresden changing a past event before he even realizes it and--upon noting that the universe did not, in fact, a'splode... decides to try and use his foreknowledge. Come on. You have to admit that getting into stupidly large amounts of trouble before he knows what the hell just happened (such as accidentally causing a paradox without realizing it) is so Dresden's style.



Anyway, there are various kinds of time-travel fics. The "infinite loop"/"groundhog day" types, where we just want to see how the protagonist will start abusing the reset button... The accelerated fic where we see the changes in snippets and one-shots...


And where is the Gatekeeper during all this? Good question. Maybe he's... lost. Maybe by cosmic coincidence he doesn't realize it. Or maybe he's getting roaring drunk after recieving a note from the future warning him not to interfere with the time-traveller... :twisted:

 

So I've started reading the Nightside series during the year long wait for Dresden 12, and I've gotten up to book 4 in that series, Hex and the City.

The description of the chamber of the Lord of Thorns was pretty cool. Enochian (or a tongue created for man to talk to angels) covers the walls, and the true names of Angels, from both Above and Below are recorded here.

I'd really enjoy a crossover between Dresden and the Nightside in which Dresden gets a hold of that knowledge, gaining power over the Angels and the Fallen. Think of how capable he would be of handling the Denarians from that point forward.

As for plot points, I don't really have much in mind. Dresden already has Soulfire (thanks Uriel), Intellectus (thanks Demonreach), Bob (thanks to Kemmler and Justin, roundabout), and several other things going for him. Adding Enochian and power over the Angels would make him a force in his own right.

I'm not sure how you could make that happen, especially realistically, but it could be a fun read if it's done well.




Edit: Dresden really needs to find out the intended purpose of the island Demonreach in a big way. None of the Council members he trusts are talking. The Gatekeeper gave him a clue by saying that the island is the source of the leyline, leading Dresden to ask from where the source wells up. Ebenezar's journal entry indicates that their is some sort of Mantle associated with the island, again raising more questions. Dresden has lately shown he's willing to subcontract his business, and could easily seek out outside help in finding this information.

Enter John Taylor, the Nightside's most famous P.I., a man who has the gift of finding all manner of things. Whether they want to be found or not.

Put these two magnets for Really Bad Things together, and you've got a duo of tough guys who consistently find just enough information to get in over their heads. They might then find themselves following a trail that leads through both the Nightside and the Nevernever, leading them into dangerous situations that they seem to emerge from stronger than before.

Ah well, it's nothing concrete at all, but it could be the beginning to a good idea or two.

 

Probably would be fun in a "Harry keeps the coin" tale: Treachery wipes out most of the Senior Council, including Langtry, and Ebenezar McCoy is selected as the new Merlin. Unfortunately, this means that the Blackstaff has to pass to someone else, someone the new Merlin can trust: Harry Dresden.

Morgan is not amused.

Incidentally, as Blackstaff, Harry would be permitted to meddle with time, mess with Outsiders, do all manner of proscribed stuff.

 

Jedi Buttercup has done two extremely short but surprisingly good DF/Btvs crossovers and I have to say they've rather sparked my imagination. It's two universes that could be melded together rather easily and Dresden becoming unwittingly involved with the affairs of the Watcher's Council could be a decent set up for a fic...

 

With the Time Travel idea, you could have physical Harry (ie. an older body) come back and simply avoid Chicago until his counterpart goes back in time, step in and voila! This would give Harry the time he needs to grow stronger get some sodding control over his magic and (knowing Harry) find all sorts of new and interesting troubles.

The groundhog loop fics can be a lot of fun, they can be dark and disturbing and they can be utter shite; it depends on the writer and the direction.

Darkhallow!Harry appeals to me, but couldn't we simply cross the two ideas together and have Harry absorbing the DH be the reason why he went back a few years/decades/centuries. Lash could realise something was wrong (perhaps Harry's unfamiliarity with channelling the energies of the DH) and apply that energy to moving back in time, covering their' tracks and avoiding paradoxes. Meanwhile, Harry arrives and his magic is nearly depleted by this reality-fucking; avoiding the whole SUPER!Harry thing for a while as he recharges. Suppose his basic capacity for magic is increased to Mab levels (as per the DH idea) but the amount of magic he has is only regenerating at Harry's basic rate; ie. less than a percent of that power a month.

Think of a faucet filling a glass of water; this is Harry's natural power. After the DH, the glass is replaced by a swimming pool; but the faucet is unchanged. Theoretically Harry nows has the potential for Faerie Queen levels of power; but it takes ages for his reserves to refill at the current rate.

Of course, as his magic and abilities grow with time, the faucet is replaced by a hose, then a fire hydrant, then flood gates . But just like the books, that potential is still decades/centuries away from realisation.

 

One of the problems with Dresden/Nightside crossovers is that in order for Taylor to be involved, it has to take place in the Nightside, or Taylor just becomes a vanilla mortal. That, and the Nightside should be unknown to the (general) White Council, since the area explicitly has gangs of combat sorcerers. Somehow I don't think that the Merlin would appreciate a place where literally hundreds of magic users, wizard-strength and above are permitted to roam without White Council influence.

My idea for the crossover that I'm writing after my Twilight curbstomp has Harry finally rid himself of Mab. Several years ago, Larry Oblivion stole a wand from Mab, and now Mab wants it back, giving Harry the chance to rid himself of his debt. But Harry has no idea where this "Nightside" is, and John Taylor has been contracted by Walker to protect Larry...