A Thing FAQ

don't read until you've finished reading a thing yo

It took me over six months to write A Thing. It started when I was bored and wrote mission 000. I figured I'd just throw it out, but I liked the premise a lot. I wrote it like I usually do, but with a few key differences.
1: There's an overarching plot. Granted, it's not a deep plot, but there's a continuity of events and motivations.
2: I didn't have a cutoff point. Usually I write six or seven chaptours and slap on some copy/paste. This time, I wanted to make what San Andreas Stories wasn't, and what Purple is too lazy (and now too gone) to finish.
What I do when I write is simple: I think up an idea. That idea can be gotten anywhere; in bed, in the shower, in the car. I write it down at my first opportunity and then work. Many missions underwent a lot of revisions, especially 012. I actually considered cutting the character of Kenneth Lewis all together.

Choosing myself as the main character was mainly because it's the easiest to write about myself. I won't object to what I'm doing. Also, by the time that it being conceited occurred to me, I was already, like, fifty missions in.

I tried to keep the cast small. In SAS and not-SAS, Purple and I made it so that there were shitloads of extras (usually with some version of the name "phillip"), and they got killed and revived and replaced regularly. Things happened with no explanation. I didn't want that. I wanted at least a stupid one-line "ha i tricked you". I wanted depth. I wanted something different.

Giving characters their own occupations was a difficult choice, aside from Sheriff Antony and King Bran. What I ended up doing was waiting until I needed a character, and throwing someone in it. The best result was Crazy Svart.

I started this shortly after finishing Sam and Max Save the World and Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space. As a result, I stole a lot of shit from it. Some was intentional/knowing (Satan, subway to Hell, time travel, and Santa. George rips off Superball, and Fred rips off Leonard Steakcharmer), some subconcious (Kathy rips off Sybil pretty badly).

Stealing frend characters and situations wasn't a decision I took lightly. I tried as hard as I could to stay true to the original characters, and added some flavour. Farmer Joe wasn't included because I simply can't write him. Believe me, I've tried.

The ending was never planned. I honestly just thought it up the day I wrote it. Ending on 125 wasn't intentional, either. Why did I use the song titles from The Abbey Road Medley? To make up for SAS.

The big question no one's asking is "will there be a sequel?", and I say probably. I love the characters too much. The second question is "will there be any more RPGboots", and I will say that I've written half of XII, mostly before I started A Thing. I'll probably finish it.

The randomly-named other things in this subforum are television programmes that Jakey records on his not-TiVo. I started them when I had writer's block around 3/5 through.

046-048 were jammed in when I was on, like, 092 (now 095). I had already given myself the opening for Kathy missions, so I ran with it. I originally wrote it and 096 as optional dates, but I liked them too much to throw into a separate pile.
056-058 were originally part of a sequel to RPGboot HERO. Michelle was complaining that the house was going to be foreclosed on, and Eif wanted to watch The Big Game (it's sports), causing a nude Sheriff Antony to replace him. Taylor demanded musics for payment thrice (once in Steamcleanerz Я Us, once in Yoghurtz Я Us, and once to avoid eviction [the avoiding eviction set failed because Jakey called the encore "The Eagle Has Landed" instead of "The Eagle Has Landed", and got points deducted for blind Nirvana fanboyism]). Jakey then disguised himself as Taylor, and (after delivering the false paperwork) had to play musics to end his shift. The basketballers were being ransomed off for musics, but I forget the setup to that. Since I was so hyped for A Thing (and I didn't have a full setlist), I nuked it. I'm not sure if that was the right decision.
Silver helped write 103. Give him a hand.

The Brick? Totally a throwaway line that I made a thing. I'm good at that.

Speaking of throwaway lines, here are some lines I liked that I couldn't work in:
"arrrrrrrrgh ye never be knowin' how many shivers be gettin' timbered here matey" Kathy's eyes widen knowing that she is in the presence of such history. (079)

"why did you do that anyway" "We Thought You Might Have Foiled Our Attempted Theft Of The Brick By Just Giving Us The Brick" "oh that sounds logical" "We Know Right" (012 before I decided on vague time travel [ctrl+f "NOW FOR STORY EXPLANATIONS AND SHIT"])

"Guys Jakey Also Has The Diamonds They Are In His Blood Stream" "Zero Out Of Ten" "That's Just Ridiculous" "But Guys I-" "Fuck Off Robert Truckdriver Eleven" "No" "Fuck" (post-096)

I ought to make a list of characters I stole from Purple:
01: Len
02: Belt
03: RANDOM ERECTION SYNDROME
04: hey! arnold
05: Robert Truckdriver
06: The Prince of Wales
07: Michelle
08: Kenneth Lewis
09: Professor Eif
10: Kung-Fu Chad
11: Kickboxing Algernon
12: Loki
13: Jakey

WHERE'S THE ART BRO
I didn't make much, but here's what I've got:

Spoiler:

I ended up giving up after doing the girls and Jakey because I'm really fucking lazy.
To be fair, though, I've drawn the main cast a million times.

NOW FOR STORY EXPLANATIONS AND SHIT

One of my favourite things is the continuity between 008 and 012. Since the hypothetical player can do either mission first, they're written very subtly.

The official timeline from the clones' point of view is:
1: 012 happens, and they meet Jakey for the first time
2: Robert Truckdriver 5 gets knee surgery at Jakey's suggestion
3: The clones hear about The Brick changing hands in the past
4: They go back in time to get The Brick
5: Jakey foils their plans and they hate him forever
6: They go forward in time to the then-present

If Jakey does 008 first, his point of view is:
1: 008 happens, and Jakey meets the clones for the first time. Jakey gets lucky in kicking Robert Truckdriver 5 in the knee
2: 012 happens, and since the clones don't recognise Jakey, he knows to convince Robert Truckdriver 5 to get knee surgery to help past Jakey

If Jakey does 012 first, his point of view is:
1: 012 happens, and Jakey meets the clones for the first time. Jakey notices Robert Truckdriver 5's bum knee, and helpfully suggests surgery
2: 008 happens, and Jakey knows to attack Robert Truckdriver 5's knee

I fucking love this shit.
No, Robert Truckdriver 5's injury wasn't arrow-related.

The map is very fluid, divided between the island-countries of Alabama, Canada, Chicago, The United States (inaccessible due to the air force trying to shoot Jakey down for hurting their feelings), Japan, Hell, and Mojavistan. Mojavistan came from me being surprised that the Mojave Desert was in California/Nevada years ago, by the way.