Remote control vs. The Rules vs. Mind Control App vs ?

There are just so many stories about mind control. I can't seem to look through stories on this site without tripping over another remote control device that makes women fucktoys, or another notebook that lets you rewrite the rules, or another app that makes you a stud.

I get it, wish fulfillment is exciting. And lots of men fantasize deeply about controlling women. I'm not really complaining about it.

But it occurred to me, and this has probably already been done, that it would be funny to do a story where these different mind control plot devices come up against each other. Like, some guy has a magical remote control. But then someone else has the rules notebook. And then there's a genie or whatever. And everyone's control ends up getting overwritten by other devices.

So...has that been done? Would it be funny or just stupid?

 

It sounds to me like it'd get really confusing really fast! Not my kind of story but I think it'd be pretty different from what I see on the front page for the genre.

 

Yes, I think that confusion would be a feature, not a bug. This would definitely be played for laughs and anarchic chaos, and basically a parody of the genre. Haven't really given it much thought beyond that broad framework, it just popped into my head! Was really curious if it had already been done.

 

The real flaw is that all these stories begin with "Better test it immediately on my teacher/mother/sister." Which the novelty of it is all fine. But I don't think I've ever seen one of these allegedly misunderstood genius male mcs(Who aren't that.) ever take a look at their new mind control plot device and think:

"My first act better be to make sure I'm the only who can use it."

Here's what you do.

Instead of fucking with lust powers or mass mind control, you just minmax into one power. Resistance.

Then...because they're all still mostly just scrawny nerds who need to rely on their noooot quiiitte rape powers, you can just spend about two or three weeks on a crash fitness program, bodybuilding for about a month and a half while they're busy building their harems and then just...punch them and take their plot device. And when you control the majority of their artifacts, you keep one or two with theirs who can't act against you since you control way more mind control powers and could easily take their whole harems for yourselves and since you're the only who trained to make sure their powers don't work on you and a stronger physically, you're the true big boss of all the other kinds playing in the sandbox.

Fighters for the win! No complicated scheme. Just beat their ass the old fashioned way like a bully in one of those old fashioned highschool movies they cry so much about. Except it's happening again. Because they were a loser in their reality, and they're still a loser in this one. What good is being the god of your reality when your reality involves you having a fat ass?


That's how you also win Divinity 2. No mages. Just straight physical damage to one shot wizards. Works in Shin Megami Tensei too. To hell with complex strategy. Just punch.

Fuck you mages!

I cast fist!

 

I understood about an eighth of that, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

Like...basically....

Mind control or magic protags train mind control or magic powers. They don't do anything about becoming physically stronger. In that setting, the strongest character would non-ironically be, just a guy who instead of going through messing around with all that bullshit with rings and remotes and whatnot, is just a guy who trains himself to resist mental powers while regularly upkeeping his physical body. Other protags do not. Thus, anyone who just chooses to instead take the time to take up meditation and become naturally athletic would just rip right through them and could claim all their artifacts for themselves and since their powers won't work on this guy whose actively trained to resist their use, they're forced to engage them physically where they're still just as weak as ever, so.....

Without being able to use any special tricks and having to face someone physically....suddenly it becomes pretty one sided.

 

You know that was kinda Larry Niven's concept in "The Magic Goes Away" books from the 70s.

Essentially, you had high level magic users, able to do everything on the planet, but unable to do the most basic things for themselves, because everything they did RELIED on magic as its catalyst. Wizards controlled the world but as soon as Mana became scarce... Using it was pointless. The most powerful weapon in the story was a disk.

Just a disk, with a unlimited movement spell that ate all the magic in the area. It just Ran a spinning pattern, using magic to keep it running. Until all the Magic was used up.

It was immortalized in the game "Magic the Gathering" as Nevinyrral's Disk, the iconic artifact that destroys EVERYTHING on the table and makes you start over again. All sources of power, all spells, EVERYTHING goes to the discard pile. So even the most basic spells become dangerous again, because there's no power for the higher/dangerous ones.

Larry's joke was "What kind of Wizard can't defend himself against a sword swinging barbarian? An INCOMPETENT ONE, that's who."

Which brings in the whole philosophy of "Mercy is for the Weak". A guy with unlimited power and the ability to turn the world against you is NOT weak, no matter what his physical form or claimed incompetencies.

 

I've contemplated writing a mind control parody before. I suppose this idea could work similarly to Mirai Nikki. The characters are all from different walks of life, with distinct personalities and motivations; each has access to the same general power, but with a different spin. You could have someone whose mind control only lasts for a brief time, another who uses mind control via a potion that their victims must first consume, another whose mind control only works at night, another who can only mind control one person at a time...

By sheer coincidence, I just pulled that card last week...

 

I am starting to suspect that half of chyoa writers are MTG players

 

Former player. Played basic set with a White Green, then quit for a ton of years till odyssey, where I came back with my "Squirrel Deck of Doom". (Blue White Green with a tiny bit of black for the Kickers)
I got yelled at a lot for not respecting the Meta.
Would like the game a lot more... If it weren't for the players. Bout the Same way I feel about Team Fortress 2, Smite and Battletech. (It's a GAME people, not a lifestyle!)

 

I play some MTG on Arena but am very not good. Still, it's a fun way to kill time

 

I am from the Team Hearthstone but I do play MTG Arena sometimes, too.

 

I used to play HS ladder a lot until I found Arena. I still fire the HS client up on occasion but that's always for Battlegrounds now.

 

I've never really played MTG.

I just used to collect the cards.

 

I own some cards (I bought a few prelease sets on a lark) but have never played with actual cardboard.

 

I think I played one game one time, but I was wasted and don't really remember it.

I mostly just liked unwrapping the shiny foil, and having a chance of getting something rare. Despite this I've somehow never paupered myself on lootboxes or scratchcards.

 

It's not exactly the same idea, but there was a story I read a loooong time ago called Master PC (IIRC), that involved a single mind controlling piece of software, but the characters were struggling and fighting over it and layering conflicting commands, etc. I thought it was well done

 

I have....several hundred dollars of MTG cards.

Actually, let me rephrase that. Considering the fact that I have one card that's worth about $225 Market Price($300 Retail), I probably have well over $1,000 worth of Magic Cards.

 

A card that should have never been printed...

I hate hanging onto cards when they're worth that much. I once traded a Jeweled Lotus and Force of Negation for an entire Mystery Booster box.

This is a good idea. I think basically any type of conflict is beneficial to a mind control story.

 

That could be said about most cards that reach that kind of value.