Storyboard-The Game

[Fenrir]

This is a rather fun game, which someone on another forum I was once on started. The first person posts an image, like so:



Then, the second person writes a short story inspired by the image. It can be any length the poster feels like, from 3 or so paragraphs, to  several pages, if you feel like it. The point is the story has to flow from the image. the second person, after they write the story, will also provide a new image for the 3rd person to write a story based on. Heads up: for some people, this game is great for working up a muse, but for others, it's a place to spend extra muse when there's nowhere else to put it.

[LightTogekiss]

Far to the north in the polar region of the globe lies a glacier. This glacier has been the same size for years, never melting, never growing. The glacier never moves, and the ice of which it consists never cracks. This glacier is so far north on the planet, that no humans have ever even tried living anywhere near it, or so people say.

Deep within the glacier, completely hidden and unknown to every person on the planet, is a large, glasslike cave. This cave is quite large, capable of holding hundreds of people, yet the cave is hollow enough to create an echo; this is because there are only four living beings within the cavern.

The four beings are not natives, and they aren't animals, and they most definitely are not human. What they are, however, is magical. Three large ogre-like creatures surround one human-looking male, all of which have their eyes completely shut, appearing to be in a deep slumber.

What even a bystander couldn't tell, is that the four are ever conversing. Words of anger and peace, phrases of joy and struggle, entire debates regarding life and death are "spoken" of by the four telepathically over the course of weeks and months and years. For millennia words have been spoken back and forth between the four, and never, not once have any of them agreed. One would think that eventually, at least a pair of the beings would agree on something, but that has never been the case.

Usually, the conversations occur so slowly, that months couuld go by before the four even begin to imagine reaching a compromise, this time however, the conversation, which barely began a few hours ago, has escalated into a rapid fir argument, and for whatever reason, the human-like boy is the only one with a side all his own. The other three all agree in at least one way with the other, and it seems that soon the argument will be over, with the boy in the middle losing, being, and only the boy, being a first in the history of the cave.

Before a final verdict can be made, the boy, for the first time in his recent existence, opens his eyes, and what he sees is not what he remembers. All he can see is grey, and for miles and miles the dull color fills his vision. "What? Where are we? I thought.." He says, remembering the world he once lived in. He thinks back, he tries to remember exactly what happened. All of a sudden, his mind remembers a world of life, a world of paradise, a world that seems like a huge tropical island. Somehow, the boy knows this is where he once lived. Then, he sees himself, speaking with three men, apparently speaking about something important.

The speech is compeltely inaudible, but the boy completely remembers what is going on. His memory is now completely unfogged. He remembers that he was the prince, and that these men are offering him power beyond his wildest dreams. Of course the price, being an ambitious young man, accepts the contract with the men, the contract that the boy must meditate with the men for as long as it takes, and when the time is come, the boy shall awaken to a world completely under the prince's control. He remembers following them and sitting on a beach, meditating into a deep and lulling sleep.

The boy looks at himself, wondering why he doesn't feel any different. He looks to the three beings, the beasts that they appear as. "You three. Where are the men I began meditating with? And where am I? I wish to be back in my home at once! This world is now mine to claim, for I have the power of a god!" he says, waking all three of the creatures at once, their eyes piercing into his soul, all at the same time.

"You really think that the deal you were making, was a real one?" the three say in unison, their voices combining to make a disturbing, echoing rumble like tone.

"You three..are the men I made the deal with? What are you talking about? What is going on?! Where is my world!? You three promised me a world!" the boy shouts, his voice bouncing off of the walls of the cavern.

"You truly think you deserve this? Perhaps we should teach you[/color=blue] your place.."[/color] the three say, all of them rising in unison, attempting to grab the boy, aiming to trap him between the three.

"Why you. This is treason! Don't you know who I am!?" the boy shouts, dodging out of the way, stepping out of the circle, and he sees the cave that he has been in all these years. This place..what has happened to my home? he thinks as he runs for a bit, reaching the wall of the cave.

"Perhaps we should destroy him?" one of the ogres says, his body blue and apparently made of liquid. "Yes..no need to try to convince him of his place when we've already served our purpose" another ogre says, his red body appearing to glow like an ember. "Yes..I suppose we have few options.." the last ogre says, his green body moving as if his skin has a life of its own.

The blue ogre raises his hands, creating an intense wave of water, one that seems to be neverending, filling the entire cavern. The Red ogre puts his hands on the ground, creating heat waves throughout the water, making the water come close to boiling, and the green ogre fills the water with a black sludge that makes the water into a muddy sticky liquid that any human would be stuck in upon contact.

The boy begins to panic, feeling the heat of the water, watching as it approaches him, seemingly ready to capture him. Somehow, the reason completely unbenounced to him, the boy jumps, higher than he ever had before, and the force of his jump allows him to break through the ice, creating a hole in the glacier. As he lands atop the glacier, the light of day practically blinds the boy, and he hears a rumble from within the cavern.

As the boy flees, the three ogres touch each others hands together, creating a pillar of a wood like substance that is as hard as a rock which makes its way through the hole, growing and growing, casting an incredible shadow over the glacier. From within the column, several strange monster like creatures form, apparently compeltely set on destroying the young "man".

The man begins to run, not looking back, not noticing that the ogres are making their way onto the top of the glacier, not realizing that the glacier will soon end, requiring him to decide to fight, or jump off of the cliff to his inevitable death. Seems the prince has fallen far from his throne..

Next image..

[Fenrir]

The Princess slowly made her way up the stairs, not even noticing the desolate landscape outside the barred window, her mind elsewhere. She thought of the kingdom, her kingdom, now in ruins, in the hands of a dictator. She thought of the peasant, the heroic bystander who had come to her rescue, but had been too late. She thought of the room she was now walking to, empty save for a bed.

She wished to be a good queen. A royal ruler who made her kingdom prosperous. But every year, the same man came storming her castle, kidnapping her and enslaving her people, and throwing the poor peasant through the nearest wall. Broken, beaten, he would get up and fight through soldier after soldier, army after army, general after general, until he finally defeated that horrible monster of a tyrant, and freed her from the cell once again.

She thought of how, every time, she tried to be the better monarch, and declare the captured dictator imprisoned for several years, and how every time he broke out within the first week. She thought how, perhaps it would be better, if he was not given the chance to strike again...

She thought of the bed, with one leg that was prone to falling off, and how years of wear had ground the end into a fine point...

This is one of my favorite "setting up the setting" pictures from some dnd stuff I did at one point...

[arkangel]

The door swung open to the old tavern. Two men entered their red capes showing that they were royal servants. The thugs, thieves, assassins, and other messed up people watched them. They crossed to a single table where a man sat. his metal armor easily signifying him as a hunter. They threw a large sack of gold on the table and the larger of the royals nodded. The an took the sack and began counting when an assassin walked over a grin on his face.

"You turning Soft old chum." His brutal tone erupted from the dark hole he called a mouth.  The hunter didn't react which made the Assassin even more aggravated to see the hunter get such a big pay. 

"Your just another one of those royal thugs then right?" The assassin mocked trying to get a rise. When the hunter didn't reply he moved closer.

"Yo..." It all that escaped his trap before a large metal encrusted hand gripped his throat. 

"Stuff it." The hunter said as he grabbed an apple off the table and shoved it in the mans mouth. He then put him down spun him around and kicked him in the rear end. Which sent him flying onto another table.

"You know the rules. Get 'em boys." The bar tender said as he drew a sword from the bar. everyone followed suit and every one had a sword except the hunter. The battle began with the royals fighting the thugs while the hunter faced their boss. The boss ran at him and the hunter punched him in the gut. He uppercuted his hands sending the sword flying. The man watched it fly giving the Hunter the chance to strike. He dove forward wrapping his hands around the mans waist.

The bigger of the royal was doing better then the littler as he had been thrown into the air by a brute like thug. The captain grabbed a dagger and began challenging two assasins to combat. He began slashing about paring hit after hit with his royal training. He began backing up until he was back to back with the hunter he had been sent to pay. 

"Together?" the hunter offered.

The captain nodded and they turned to face each other. They grabbed each other's forearms and began spinning. The captain knocking wave after wave of bar goers away. When their spin stopped they found themselves back to back again only this time they had a blade to every side.

"On my Mark" the Hunter said as they bunched together each grabbing their weapons and preparing for the fight.

[Fenrir]

"GOGOGO!" The chief cried as the door finally opened, and the entire team poured into the larger empty room the enemy soldiers right behind them, each one in unmarked black armor, no way to tell them apart.
"Can we take them?" Lareado cried, his orange armor making him an obvious target in the room made of blues and whites.
"Of course we can, numb-nuts! We're the ones who people forget!" The General said, his shotgun loader than he was, blasting away insurgents like clay pigeons.
"We take the jobs no one will!" Bunker called his line from the team's motto, his sword striking down any who got too close.
"and look good while doing it!" Tinker laughed, stopping to pose like Michael Jackson, ignoring the enemies he should have been fighting, his pink armor labeled on the back reading 'Fabulous!'.
"The last team on the list!" Conneticut professionally taking down 2 insurgents with her cqc skills.
"The team you shouldn't dismiss!" D.C. shot down two more insurgents.
"I'm not even sure we exist!" Michael called, firing eratically in the direction of the remaining soldiers.
The rest of the crew all finished as one;

"We're Ω Team!"