11-16-2007, 11:47 AM

Hiya folks! This is just going to be too fun...so I wanted to invite all of you to join in!
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From the Dresden Codak Message Boards...

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day

You must spend the entire day in costume and character. The only rule is that you cannot actually tell anyone that you are a time traveler. Other than that, anything's game.

There are three possible options:

1) Utopian/cliché Future - "If the Future did a documentary of the last fifty years, this is how badly the reenactors would dress." Think Star Trek: TNG or the Time Travelers from Hob. Ever see how the society in Futurama sees the 20th century? Run with it. Your job is to dress with moderately anachronistic clothing and speak in slang from varying decades. Here are some good starters:

- Greet people by referring to things that don't yet exist or haven't existed for a long time. Example: "Have you penetrated the atmosphere lately?" "What spectrum will today's broadcast be in?" and "Your king must be a kindly soul!"

- Show extreme ignorance in operating regular technology. Pay phones should be a complete mystery (try placing the receiver in odd places). Chuckle knowingly at cell phones.

2) Dystopian Future - This one offers a little more flexibility. It can be any kind of future from Terminator to Freejack. The important thing to remember is dress like a crazy person with armor. Black spray painted football pads, high tech visors, torn up trenchcoats and maybe even some dirt here or there. Remember, dystopian future travelers are very startled that they've gone back in time. Some starters:

- If you go the "prisoner who's escaped the future" try shaving your head and putting a barcode on the back of your neck. Then stagger around and stare at the sky, as if you've never seen it before.

- Walk up to random people and say "WHAT YEAR IS THIS?" and when they tell you, get quiet and then say "Then there's still time!" and run off.

- Stand in front of a statue (any statue, really), fall to your knees, and yell "NOOOOOOOOO"

- Stare at newspaper headlines and look astonished.

- Take some trinket with you (it can be anything really), hand it to some stranger, along with a phone number and say "In thirty years dial this number. You'll know what to do after that." Then slip away.

2) The Past - This one is more for beginners. Basically dress in period clothing (preferably Victorian era) and stagger around amazed at everything. Since the culture's set in place already, you have more of a template to work off of. Some pointers:

- Airplanes are terrifying. Also, carry on conversations with televisions for a while.

- Discover and become obsessed with one trivial aspect of technology, like automatic grocery doors. Stay there for hours playing with it.

- Be generally terrified of people who are dressed immodestly compared to your era. Tattoos and shorts on women are especially scary.



And that's it. Remember, the only real rule is staying in character and try to fit in. Never directly admit you're a time traveler, and make really, really bad attempts at keeping a low profile. Naturally, the dystopian future has a little more leeway. And for the record, I've already tried out all of these in real life, in costume. It is so much fun you want to pee yourself.

I've set the tentative date for December 8th. Who's in?

(also the Facebook group is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=4776183583)

Come on....it's "mess with the normals" day!

11-16-2007, 01:36 PM

That's sounds hilarious, especially if you're into acting. It's very method. Unfortunately, I'm not, so I can't participate. This would be very cool for Halloween or April 1st though.

11-16-2007, 01:42 PM

but if you did that on those dates...it'd be obvious.

I'm not an actor...yes I play in LARPs (live action roleplaying), but by no means an actor. Anyone can really do this...

11-16-2007, 01:46 PM

The Dystopian one sounds like fun!!!!!!!!!! I could actually get away with this one. Hmmm... The possibilities are interesting.

11-16-2007, 05:55 PM

Oh it'll be quite fun. If you're going to do it...take pics so we all can see

11-17-2007, 12:34 AM

MikeYMS is from uptime, like I am. You think my avatar is whimsical? Think again. I last drove that thing four years ago, when it was new, after clocking back from 2250 your calendar, crashing head-on into a Kissel and wrecking all chances of a time-warp escape when the chrono was flattened by the impact. Its warp field collapsed after only 80 years into the return trip.

Mike YMS is a chronocop — oops; a chrono police officer — using the term cop brings a two-year term at the height of the black death (two years in the same year) — and I'm on the lam as it is.

Hey, Mike. My avatar wasn't a mistake. I was suspicious you'd follow me, so I used it to smoke you out. I'm not sure why you'd acknowledge so publicly that you're on to me, but whatever you've got up your sleeve, it won't work. Check your tachyon bridging circuit. I built a circuit-fryer out of a crank-telephone magneto and broadcast a signal to short it out using an old 50,000-Watt AM-radio broadcasting vacuum tube "liberated" in 1965 from WLS in Chicago. Well, I won't break it to you gently: Now you're trapped here, too, so I guess it comes down to who first gets the letters hidden in the rare-book stacks at the New York public library — your side or mine.

I'll let you in on a secret. My side doesn't use those stacks anymore, so you can't purloin my letters, whereas I can destroy yours. When mine are read in 2250, I'll be outta here. But you're stuck here forever. I hope you sold your Microsoft shares in time. NOT.