About the FoxFire Titles
Planeswalker
“What would Yu-Gi-Oh be like if they played Magic: The Gathering instead of Dueling Monsters?”
That's the question I asked myself when I was invited to create some content for the now-defunct Grimmoire, a Magic: the Gathering fansite. I came up with a simple answer in under five seconds: Make Yami a Planeswalker from Dominaria.
My second question came two seconds afterward: “How can I keep Kazuki Takashi from siccing the copyright gestapo on me for making this comic? Wizards of the Coast doesn't worry me that much; I'd gladly let them use the comic provided they send me their wishes in writing, hopefully with some money attached.” That took me more time to figure out, and I ended up taking my initial concept and switching it from Shonen to Shojo; a boys comic to a girl's comic. I did it by replacing Yugi with a girl and brought the focus on the character relationships, especially the Yugi-Yami relationship, to the same level as the card game play, which at times will actually be the very spells those cards represent.
Remember, we're talking about Planeswalkers from Dominaria here. Planeswalkers won't hold up a card, place it in a reader, and make a spell appear; they'll tap some actual real estate for actual mana and cast the actual spell themselves! And at times with rather nasty effects. Like whole city blocks going in in smoke. Or human bodies having their brains removed by hungry zombies
And it was with her actual lightning bolts, fire breathing Shivan Dragons, and a tongue as sharp as her dagger, that Jasmine Sparkfloe, the Planeswalker, came from Dominaria to the FoxFire Universe and into some of my darker fantasies. And here she stayed because she locked the door behind her; a portal between the two realms that had to be sealed before something from her world wrecks havoc to this one, or worse, someone from this world does so.
Unfortunately, the latter appeared 5,000 years after the actual sealing. And now a spirit, she has to work through the body of one young Jamie McIndy to face down any and all threats that come their way. Be they formidable scions of an artifact from Dominaria's Odyssey era, a sleazy tournament promoter bent on global domination, or even rivals from Jasmine's life who went the same route of her own and have chosen avatars for themselves!
BakaBreakers
I'll admit it, I used to self-insert a lot as I learned how to write a story, and in fanfiction no less. Despite what the effects of senate hearings and PC-based lynch mobs would want to make you believe, you have to do something frowned upon in life if you're going to be considered a person. At the very least, I was able to make something good out of all this, when I made a home for my 'Author Avatar,' a coffee shop in a laid-back rural town. The initial story of a murder mystery didn't go off as planned, but I was content to just let the concept go and move on to better things (Like Planeswalker) but someone else decided to bring up another storyline, which actually focuses on a co-star in the original story; Tara Kit, a android fox girl, and a familiar struggle for civil rights to those with Artificial Intelligence. Add the revelation that Jamie could need a place to hang out and play her game, and BakaBreakers gets moved to her home town and into the FoxFire Universe.
The title comes from the name of the coffee shop, a homemade Starbucks to some, but with room for card games to go with your triple mocha latte. The town it's in is Landings, Nevada (the same town that Planeswalker is placed in) which is about 100 miles from Las Vegas, and at the border of an mountain range. The store is officially run by Adam Packbell (my 'Author Avatar' who'll also contribute to this notebook) but it's Tara that does all the number crunching, routine cleaning, form filling, and all the grunt work outside of showing off at the elaborate coffee and espresso maker. Not that she minds, she likes her current situation in her robotic existence, especially with Adam, her 'Alpha User' enjoying things as well. However, she gets a feeling that things will come that will shake up their little world, a feeling that won't disappoint her.
