Code Geass Fanfiction Drinking Game

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Inspired by other fanfic drinking games, like this Evangelion one.

Standard Drinking Game Disclaimer: Don't do this with real alcohol, blah blah.

Plot

*If the fic begins...
...during or before R1, take a drink.
...between the end of R1 and the end of R2, drink twice.
...after the end of R2, drink three times.

*If a canon event happens despite its original cause not happening (e.g. Suzaku being accused of a different crime and being rescued in the same way), take a drink.

*If the canon death of a character doesn't happen on schedule, drink...
...once if it's Lelouch, Shirley or Euphemia.
...twice if it's someone else.

*If the plot hinges around fixing one or more (actual or perceived) mistakes a character made in canon, take a drink.
-If the plot involves actual time travel or some other method of explicitly giving the characters the benefit of hindsight, drink again.

Characters

*If Lelouch is or becomes much more physically able than in canon, take a drink.
-If there is a clear plot reason for this (he joins the army, etc.) beyond the author wanting to erase one of his more obvious flaws, down the glass.

*If Nina is shown doing something other than working on sciency stuff at her computer, being racist, and/or mooning over Euphemia, take a drink.

*If Nunnally is shown doing something other than worrying about Lelouch, being cute, and/or being in danger, take a drink.
-If she opens her eyes, down a glass.

*If Jeremiah switches sides and becomes Lelouch's loyal sidekick well before he did in canon, take a drink of something orange-flavoured.
-If Jeremiah consumes orange-based foodstuffs, or some connection to oranges is retconned into his backstory (despite the fact that Lelouch's Orange comment was entirely random and off-the-cuff), down your glass.

*If an original character appears in a prominent role, take a drink (warning - do NOT do this section with real alcohol if you are reading Code Geass: Age of the Chaotic Truth).
-If they are...
...Britannian, take a drink.
...Japanese, take two drinks.
...any other nationality, drink three times.
-If they are related to one or more canon characters, take a drink...
...and they're not Britannian royalty, drink again.
-If they have/acquire a Geass (or Code), take a drink...
...and if their Geass can affect physical objects and/or is clearly a more powerful/less limited version of a canon one, down your glass.
-If they have/acquire a custom Knightmare frame or other cool vehicle, take a drink...
...and if it is more powerful than every other machine of its kind in the world, drink again.
...and if they built/designed it themselves, cave and/or box of scraps optional, take another drink. Then take a third drink and replace your heart with an advanced piece of technology.
-If they are paired with a canon character, take a drink.

Descriptions/Technology

*If the author takes more than 100 words to describe a weapon or Knightmare, take a drink (warning: do NOT do this one with real alcohol if you are reading Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon).

*If the author spends more than 100 words describing something exactly as it appeared in the anime, take a drink.

*If a technology that didn't exist in canon Code Geass (e.g. powered armour) appears, take a drink.

Pairings

*If the author promises a pairing in the summary but never gets round to including it in any meaningful way, take a drink...
...and if said pairing is Lelouch/harem, share a drink with several friends.
...and if the author alludes to the pairing in-text as if it was happening, but hasn't actually developed it earlier, down your glass.

*If Lelouch is paired with...
...Suzaku or Kallen, take a drink.
...Shirley or C.C., drink twice.
...Euphemia or Nunnally, drink three times.
...anyone else, down your glass.
...no-one, chug a bottle (yes, this includes fics where he isn't around).

*If Suzaku is paired with...
...Euphemia or Lelouch, take a drink.
...Nunnally, Gino or Kallen, take two drinks.
...anyone else, drink three times.

*If Nina is paired with Euphemia, and they actually get together, take a drink and pleasure yourself with a table in celebration. (Also, please tell me where I can find this elusive fic.)

*If Milly is paired with...
...Lelouch, take a drink.
...Rivalz, open a bottle of 'borrowed' champagne.
...anyone female, drink twice.

*If Kallen is paired with...
...Lelouch, take a drink.
...Gino, drink twice.
...anyone else, down a glass.

*If Jeremiah is paired with...
...Sayoko, take a drink brought to you by your loyal maid.
...anyone else, down a bottle of something orange-flavoured.

Miscellaneous

*If the author sounds off in their notes about how much they hate a character, take a drink...
...and if it's not Suzaku or Nina, chug a bottle.
...and if those notes are in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning or end, drink again.

*If some of the author's creative decisions make no sense whatsoever, drink until they do.

*If the author starts adding original characters/Knightmares/Geass powers etc. created and sent in by reviewers, chug a bottle, because the fic is probably about to go downhill.

Add your own; I'm sure there are plenty of CG fanfic cliches I've missed.

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*laughs like mad* Oh, man, yes. I love the "Warning: do not do this with real alcohol if you're reading such-and-such fanfic" bits!

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

I have one:

*If you read this list and compared it to your own fanfiction, down the appropriate number of drinks, and then an extra bottle.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I like the way the Miscellaneous section is pretty much a list of signs that I use to mentally put the fic in the crap category. As are some of the earlier ones, too.

But I LOLd.

[katsura-shinju.livejournal.com]

...and if they built/designed it themselves, cave and/or box of scraps optional, take another drink. Then take a third drink and replace your heart with an advanced piece of technology.

I lol'd.

Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

If Lelouch has to 'come out of retirement' and save the world in a post-R2 fic, take a drink.

If he refers to CC as Cecaniah, take another.

If he actually wasn't hanging out with CC and having fun on a farm somewhere in Australia, but was in fact trapped in a grave until someone came to wake him up, down the glass.

If he was something in between those two, have a drink.

If he was too busy having inappropriate relations with sheep and a dog named Lassie to pay attention to the world in need of him, down the bottle.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Is it really sad that I tend to enjoy many of these? (Nothing from the misc section, description section, or anything involving changing Lelouch's physique, but otherwise)
Then again, some of them are definitely good things, like for example writing Nina or Nunnally outside of the little pre-defined box of "racist lesbian scientist" and "handicapped ineffective girl" respectively.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

If he actually wasn't hanging out with CC and having fun on a farm somewhere in Australia, but was in fact trapped in a grave until someone came to wake him up, down the glass.

Does this happen a lot? And if you've seen it done as part of a good fic, do you have a link?

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

I've actually only seen this once and it was in an awesome meta-fic that unfortunately hasn't been updated in ages. And he didn't come back to save the world, some kid accidentally woke him up during a history field trip.

Here (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/737643/Tobi_Tortue)

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Dammit, why hasn't that fic been updated for ages? Though I admit I liked the meta-stuff more than the chapter of Lelouch expositioning his life.

I saw another fic like that once, but it was a horror one.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

... you wouldn't happen to have a link, would you? Horror!Lelouch sounds very delicious.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Easier to find than I thought. (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5263074/1/Requiem)

It's more psychological horror than anything else.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

... that was depressing, but also awesome.

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not all of them are meant to be 'bad cliches'. And it's a mixture of "drink when something happens for the millionth time" and "drink when something rare and unusual happens".

[schneizel.livejournal.com]

*If some of the author's creative decisions make no sense whatsoever, drink until they do.

I like this one. ^^

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Misc section could pretty much be retitled "Authorial Stupidity". I considered including things like "if the author has inane conversations with canon characters and/or their imaginary friends in the author's notes", but decided that those aren't Geass-specific.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Where's 'Cecaniah' from?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

You have a point there - though a lot of this stuff can be easily adapted to other fandoms.

I'm sure there are more Geass specific ones people can come up with. (Author has made up a ridiculously powerful army of OCs to screw things up post series just so Lelouch actually has someone to fight against! Author gives a character the benefit of hindsight but the character doesn't actually make any significant changes to their methods! Characters ponder at length how much they hate other characters whom in canon they were neutral towards/liked/loved - especially if Lelouch is the character in question.)

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I thought so, but I don't read a whole lot of Geass fanfiction so I wasn't sure.

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Addendum: I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed the thing with the reader-created characters/Knightmares/Geass powers. I've never, ever seen this have a good effect on a fic because it destroys any attempt at coherent storytelling while we listen to how Trenchcoat-Wearing Mercenary #37,584 is oh-so-speshully different from Trenhcoat-Wearing Mercenary #37,583.

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, "Drink if Zero Requiem doesn't work" would be a simple and obvious one.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Honestly, as soon as people start letting their reviewers dictate your fanfic plot points, I give it the side-eye. Why start writing if you don't have a general idea of where you are going? Little throw-away references are one thing, but when you put "Who should die/Lelouch fall in love with?" up for popular vote 10 chapters in...

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I think it can be valid as a form of entertainment - I tend to enjoy participating in collaborative works like round robins for fun, and I can see this being fun in a similar way - but it's generally not the kind of story-telling I'm interested in when I go looking for fanfiction or similar. Also because reviewer-generated character chapters end up being a huge competition of Sues, or the author is just using it as an excuse to be really lazy.

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

OK, doing this for my fics, based on things that have happened so far and definite future plot developments...

-Code Geass: Children of the Revolution gets 8 drinks and one downed glass.
-Code Geass: Nunnally of the Liberation gets 4 drinks, one downed glass and a bottle-chug (for Lelouch dying and therefore not getting paired with anyone).
-Code Geass: Nunnally of Britannia gets 10 drinks and a bottle-chug (again, for Lelouch being dead and therefore single), and technically a downed glass for Nunnally opening her eyes, though here she was never blinded in the first place so it doesn't really count.

(These ignore the one about canon deaths not happening on schedule, because that entry is mainly intended for fics that follow the canon plotline more closely than any of mine do. Otherwise a lot of AU fics would require massive amounts of drinking for all the character-killing events that are averted entirely.)

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

That makes sense - some of the devices seen in a lot of AU fics are fresh and interesting the first couple of times, but get dull when you read a lot of them. Retreading canon events with minor changes is a big one - I don't need to read a blow-by-blow account of the Battle of Narita or the cat-chase episode or whatever 50 times.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

IDEK, I've just seen it pop up in a few too many post-R2 fanfics for it to be just one author doing it.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

That was pretty amusing...I'm kinda hoping Lelouch isn't going to narrate his entire life to the reader though, particularly everything we already know from the show. I'm more interested in what I expect (if it ever comes to pass, which probably won't ever happen) could be an amusing fish-out-of-water story.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

That first chapter was excellent.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that the author's going to have him spin a lie that hides the fact he was the original Zero, honestly. I just really loved the visual of zombie Lelouch rising from the grave and being completely pathetic, lol.

Also, I'm convinced that Phoenix is Suzaku's reincarnation. All in all, I have high hopes for this fic, which according to the author's profile has definitely not been abandoned.

Re: Can't believe you missed this one...

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I know he said it, I just tend to get skeptical when it's been over a year since the last update. Not that I've never gone huuuuuuge amounts of time without updating and got around to finishing the fic way later, but I've abandoned plenty of others (and have been disappointed by far too many fics that didn't update even after promises). But I'm willing to be cautiously optimistic; I don't think he's *lying.*
I adored everything with "undead" Lelouch. Just great. I probably could've done with a tad less about the OCs but I don't see it as a story flaw, more of a personal preference.
I do wonder whether or not - or, more accurately, exactly how much or how little - Lelouch will lie. He doesn't want to ruin the peace he "died" for, obviously, but at this point I don't think he has the power to even if he confides in a history student that he was actually Zero and wasn't just some evil tyrant. But he has a tendency to lie in order to cast himself in the worst light possible.

[impa.livejournal.com]

If the author starts adding original characters/Knightmares/Geass powers etc. created and sent in by reviewers

Wait... this actually happens? In CG fanfic?

Oh, and--

If C.C. loses her memory and falls in love with Lelouch as a result of that, take a drink.

If Schneizel is paired with Kanon or Lloyd, take a drink.

If the fic is Schneizel-centric and doesn't involve porn, take a drink.

If Schneizel is actually paired with a woman, down the glass and chug the rest of the bottle.

If Lelouch magically gains more than one Geass power, take a drink.
...And down the glass if he can take or negate other people's Geass powers.

If there's a Lelouch x [insert character here] pairing, and chess pieces are somehow involved to invoke romantic feelings, down the glass.

If there's any Lelouch-centric story that uses chess as a metaphor of any kind, take a drink.

I have so many more, but most of them are R18. (I guess not general enough?)

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Wait... this actually happens? In CG fanfic?

Sadly, yes. It mainly happens in the kind of fics which are more about 'cool' (read: overpowered/inappropriate) OCs and technology than things like plot and characterization. One of the fics mentioned in the drinking game, Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon, is a particularly egregious example.

[impa.livejournal.com]

I tried reading the first chapter of Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon. I could not get past that first chapter. It also kind of bothers me that is has about 398 reviews and none of them seem to focus on constructive criticism...

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

I think it belongs to a subcategory of fanfics that always has an audience, namely ones that just pile on massive amounts of 'awesome' tech-wank and action and don't worry too much about anything else. You see a lot of them in Gundam Seed fic as well, for example. A very bad sign is if the first chapter of a fic is a collection of RPG-esque character profiles and technical specifications (Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon doesn't do this, but it has technical files interspersed among the regular chapters). The only fic I've ever seen that did this and didn't suck was Code Geass: Age of the Chaotic Truth (and I know people's mileage will vary on that one).

The lack of constructive criticism is par for the course in almost all fanfic, to be honest.