Paradox Support Group

TheEldritchGod

A Cloud Of Pure Spite And Eyes
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
3,444
Points
183
When I have writers block, I frequently just jump ahead to something I want to write that is far more fun and then back track to make it fit.

So I'm working on the paradox support group.

One of the characters is going to succeed on their time travel adventure, when they return, their lives are going to be awesome, but they only REMEMBER the crapy life they used to have before time travel fixed everything. So instead of being a loser, everyone likes them. They have a boyfriend and are a respected member of the community. They no longer have work problems, and in fact, because they got their shit together in the new timeline, the lives of everyone around them are better as well.

They just don't REMEMBER any of it.

So they are going to go to a time travel survivor's support group. It's a superhero universe with reverse morality and time travel, while not common, happens. So in Empire City, there is the Paradox Support Group for people who have become a victim of time travel paradox.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

Think about EVERY time travel story you can think of, regardless of genre or how the story turned out, and ask yourself, if that guy/gal could go in for therapy, what would happen? Even if you don't know, if you have a favorite time travel story you like, post it, so I can come up with something. I need to flesh out the support group.

I'm gonna file off the serial numbers, of course:
- I'm going to have the guy from HG Wells, the time machine.
- Heminone from Harry Potter
- CHRONOS THE TIME TYRANT (who is my stand-in for any would-be time traveling world conquer)
- Marty McFly, of course
- The Time Traveler's Wife and how hard it is to maintain a relationshp with a man who randomly teleports through time.
- Some random romance novel character who went back in time fell in love, brought His love forward to the modern world, then found out, she might look hot, but she's an asshole. Remember: Reverse morality, but that reversal is only a century old.
- Some guy living with himself.
- Robo Hitler (He doesn't say anything. He just sits and listens)

if you got any other ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
 

melchi

What is a custom title?
Joined
May 2, 2021
Messages
2,868
Points
153

Rezcore

Kell-Wnown Timber
Joined
Aug 18, 2022
Messages
1,088
Points
153
When I have writers block, I frequently just jump ahead to something I want to write that is far more fun and then back track to make it fit.

So I'm working on the paradox support group.

One of the characters is going to succeed on their time travel adventure, when they return, their lives are going to be awesome, but they only REMEMBER the crapy life they used to have before time travel fixed everything. So instead of being a loser, everyone likes them. They have a boyfriend and are a respected member of the community. They no longer have work problems, and in fact, because they got their shit together in the new timeline, the lives of everyone around them are better as well.

They just don't REMEMBER any of it.

So they are going to go to a time travel survivor's support group. It's a superhero universe with reverse morality and time travel, while not common, happens. So in Empire City, there is the Paradox Support Group for people who have become a victim of time travel paradox.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

Think about EVERY time travel story you can think of, regardless of genre or how the story turned out, and ask yourself, if that guy/gal could go in for therapy, what would happen? Even if you don't know, if you have a favorite time travel story you like, post it, so I can come up with something. I need to flesh out the support group.

I'm gonna file off the serial numbers, of course:
- I'm going to have the guy from HG Wells, the time machine.
- Heminone from Harry Potter
- CHRONOS THE TIME TYRANT (who is my stand-in for any would-be time traveling world conquer)
- Marty McFly, of course
- The Time Traveler's Wife and how hard it is to maintain a relationshp with a man who randomly teleports through time.
- Some random romance novel character who went back in time fell in love, brought His love forward to the modern world, then found out, she might look hot, but she's an asshole. Remember: Reverse morality, but that reversal is only a century old.
- Some guy living with himself.
- Robo Hitler (He doesn't say anything. He just sits and listens)

if you got any other ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
A man of learning once said, you can't go back in time, but no one said you couldn't go sideways. So just assume the new timeline is just that.
 

TheEldritchGod

A Cloud Of Pure Spite And Eyes
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
3,444
Points
183
A man of learning once said, you can't go back in time, but no one said you couldn't go sideways. So just assume the new timeline is just that.
Nope. No infinities. I'm using a version of time travel time that isn't universal. There is an omnipresent now, and then chrono energy that allows time beads. Subsets of reality where a limited amount of parallel existence is possible, but it isn't possible everywhere.

It involves the conservation of matter and energy and diminishing returns. Eventually all timelines collapse back onto themselves. Some universes are simply immune to time alteration. Once the now has moved on, no changes possible.

So don't worry about the mechanics. I'm looking for characters.
 

Nekroz

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2021
Messages
190
Points
83
I typically avoid time travel stuff but I do have a character suggestion.

A sentient DeLorean that is confused as to why it is sentient and why it can time travel.
It also has a very nice cup holder.

Follow up question: why robo Hitler and not cyborg?
 

TheMonotonePuppet

A Puppet Colored by Medication
Joined
Apr 24, 2023
Messages
2,839
Points
153
When I have writers block, I frequently just jump ahead to something I want to write that is far more fun and then back track to make it fit.

So I'm working on the paradox support group.

One of the characters is going to succeed on their time travel adventure, when they return, their lives are going to be awesome, but they only REMEMBER the crapy life they used to have before time travel fixed everything. So instead of being a loser, everyone likes them. They have a boyfriend and are a respected member of the community. They no longer have work problems, and in fact, because they got their shit together in the new timeline, the lives of everyone around them are better as well.

They just don't REMEMBER any of it.

So they are going to go to a time travel survivor's support group. It's a superhero universe with reverse morality and time travel, while not common, happens. So in Empire City, there is the Paradox Support Group for people who have become a victim of time travel paradox.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

Think about EVERY time travel story you can think of, regardless of genre or how the story turned out, and ask yourself, if that guy/gal could go in for therapy, what would happen? Even if you don't know, if you have a favorite time travel story you like, post it, so I can come up with something. I need to flesh out the support group.

I'm gonna file off the serial numbers, of course:
- I'm going to have the guy from HG Wells, the time machine.
- Heminone from Harry Potter
- CHRONOS THE TIME TYRANT (who is my stand-in for any would-be time traveling world conquer)
- Marty McFly, of course
- The Time Traveler's Wife and how hard it is to maintain a relationshp with a man who randomly teleports through time.
- Some random romance novel character who went back in time fell in love, brought His love forward to the modern world, then found out, she might look hot, but she's an asshole. Remember: Reverse morality, but that reversal is only a century old.
- Some guy living with himself.
- Robo Hitler (He doesn't say anything. He just sits and listens)

if you got any other ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
This is a freakin' awesome idea.
I'd imagine a teen mom who no longer has children would be having a huge identity crisis.
Oh. My. Gosh. You could make a genuine horror psychological story just from how mind-bendingly horrifying that it would be.
 

Cipiteca396

Monarch of Despair 🐉🌺🪽🌊🪶🌑🐦‍🔥🌈
Joined
Jun 6, 2021
Messages
2,700
Points
153
Bearing an Hourglass, Piers Anthony. About the incarnations of Time.

The TV series Primeval and Eureka had this (Minus the therapy, probably) as a plot point. Probably too long to watch, and I don't remember how Primeval handled it...
But Eureka was interesting. Most of the time, characters ended up married to people they didn't know or to (suddenly not) dead love interests.
One kid lost his autism(Which he used to cause the time fracture in the first place).
One person ended up being a spy, and had no idea how to deal with that since they didn't remember their handler or even who was employing them.
The comedic relief ended up being the boss of the largest science firm in the USA.
I don't remember any others, but it was a fun show anyways.

There were also Haven and Blood+; no time travel in the technical sense, but occasionally the main characters would 'hibernate' for a while, forgetting all their memories and then reappearing out of nowhere 20-30 years later. To others, they seemed like time travelers or genetically identical descendants.
They tended to get a lot of praise and trust from the people they saved, and a lot of unexpected vengeance from people they slighted or wronged. And they looked at a lot of old pictures of themselves. A lot.
 

TheEldritchGod

A Cloud Of Pure Spite And Eyes
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
3,444
Points
183
This is a freakin' awesome idea.
THANKS.
Oh. My. Gosh. You could make a genuine horror psychological story just from how mind-bendingly horrifying that it would be.
Part of it will be serious. part of it will be comedy.

Guy with a blue face stands up, "Hi Everyone. I'm Chronos the Time Tyrant. As part of my plea bargain, the court mandates that I come to this meeting twice a week. I have to admit, it's been a lot of help to me. It's been, subjectively sixty-two days since I last time traveled, and objectively negative fifty eight days until I do my last time hop.

Everyone, "Hi Chronus."

Chronus started wringing his hands in a nervous gesture, "it was a tough weekend for me. I really had the urge to go and bet on the ponies." He rubbed his arm, "I remembered the winner of the trifecta last weekend and even though I am not allowed to gamble, it was really hard to not think about it. Yes. I watched the race and I was right about the winner." He rubbed the back of his neck, "Was really hoping I was wrong."

A teen-ager in a puffy vest coat leaned forward in his seat, "Chronus, Ah Jeese. Why you keep torturing yourself like that, man?"

Chronus rubbed his face, "I know! I know, next time I hop I'm going to complete the time loop and wind up dead. Seeing my own corpse really made it clear I was heading for a dead end, but you REALLY have no idea what a rush it is to beat the odds."

A young woman nodded, "Hey. You, better than anyone, know that a self-fulfilling prophecy can be beaten if you just let it go."

He nodded, "Well, just... I dunno. needed to talk about it. Been feeling itchy lately, that's all."

The counselor nodded, "Understood. We all are proud you managed to not abuse your future knowledge." Everyone murmured in agreement. The counselor looked around, "Anyone else wants to go?" He looked over at a robot that looked just like Hitler, "Robo-Hitler, you want to talk about anything this week?" The robot just shook its head to the soft sound of servos whirring.

A blond-haired woman in a skin-tight blue jumpsuit raised her hand. The councilor nodded and gestured for her to speak. She stood up, "Hi. Greased Lightning. Two weeks ago I almost got conned by a temporal duplicate of my personal hero into destroying the world. Instead, I prevented it and returned to a future that I have no memory of."

A chorus of greetings replied, "Hi, Grease."

The counselor asked, "So, is this your first time here, or have you been here before but nobody remembers you?"

The young woman from before spoke up, "Oh. She's been here before. About a month ago she showed up saying she was glad to have met us, but that she had to go and that we had been a lot of help. She just stopped by the one time to say goodbye."

Grease blinked at her, "No shit."

The woman nodded, "Yeah. I don't know why, but I never get affected by time shifts. I never travel through time, I just notice when everything changes. It's annoying. I never know If my kids are going to have existed or not when I get home."

"Uh... wow. That sucks. What's your name?"

"I already told you. Don't worry. Nobody remembers my name. Even when I have a husband, he can't remember it. I've gotten kind of numb to it. That's why I come here. At least everyone here believes me when I start talking crazy."
 

Desustar

Active member
Joined
May 17, 2023
Messages
98
Points
33
so there's this guy in sss class suicide hunter who has a regression skill. it isn't time travel per se (spoilers) but it might as well be. and there's also another girl in the series who also has experienced fucked up time travel. their history might be long if I typed it here, so if you can read the web novel. or I could try to give you their background history if you want it.
 

TheEldritchGod

A Cloud Of Pure Spite And Eyes
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
3,444
Points
183
so there's this guy in sss class suicide hunter who has a regression skill. it isn't time travel per se (spoilers) but it might as well be. and there's also another girl in the series who also has experienced fucked up time travel. their history might be long if I typed it here, so if you can read the web novel. or I could try to give you their background history if you want it.
Oh, I'm planning on a guy with "Recursive Suicide Syndrome."

If you can "reset" the day just by dying in a groundhog day situation, what happens when you finally undo the groundhog day? How do you undo that impulse to just yeet yourself every time something goes wrong? How many people would get out of a groundhog day and the first time they have a problem, blow their own brains out?

There's going to be a pamphlet about it.
 

Desustar

Active member
Joined
May 17, 2023
Messages
98
Points
33
Oh, I'm planning on a guy with "Recursive Suicide Syndrome."

If you can "reset" the day just by dying in a groundhog day situation, what happens when you finally undo the groundhog day? How do you undo that impulse to just yeet yourself every time something goes wrong? How many people would get out of a groundhog day and the first time they have a problem, blow their own brains out?

There's going to be a pamphlet about it.
have you read suicide hunter?
 

nowme_cres

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2023
Messages
97
Points
58
When I have writers block, I frequently just jump ahead to something I want to write that is far more fun and then back track to make it fit.

So I'm working on the paradox support group.

One of the characters is going to succeed on their time travel adventure, when they return, their lives are going to be awesome, but they only REMEMBER the crapy life they used to have before time travel fixed everything. So instead of being a loser, everyone likes them. They have a boyfriend and are a respected member of the community. They no longer have work problems, and in fact, because they got their shit together in the new timeline, the lives of everyone around them are better as well.

They just don't REMEMBER any of it.

So they are going to go to a time travel survivor's support group. It's a superhero universe with reverse morality and time travel, while not common, happens. So in Empire City, there is the Paradox Support Group for people who have become a victim of time travel paradox.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

Think about EVERY time travel story you can think of, regardless of genre or how the story turned out, and ask yourself, if that guy/gal could go in for therapy, what would happen? Even if you don't know, if you have a favorite time travel story you like, post it, so I can come up with something. I need to flesh out the support group.

I'm gonna file off the serial numbers, of course:
- I'm going to have the guy from HG Wells, the time machine.
- Heminone from Harry Potter
- CHRONOS THE TIME TYRANT (who is my stand-in for any would-be time traveling world conquer)
- Marty McFly, of course
- The Time Traveler's Wife and how hard it is to maintain a relationshp with a man who randomly teleports through time.
- Some random romance novel character who went back in time fell in love, brought His love forward to the modern world, then found out, she might look hot, but she's an asshole. Remember: Reverse morality, but that reversal is only a century old.
- Some guy living with himself.
- Robo Hitler (He doesn't say anything. He just sits and listens)

if you got any other ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
I thought you meant Paradox like the game developers
 

nowme_cres

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2023
Messages
97
Points
58
Yeah, that's a whole other can of worms. I hear people who play their games need a support group lately. Maybe it's just the industry as a whole has decided to collectively minecraft themselves.
The games are just super buggy and glitched out
 
Top