I’ve always been inspired by animation. As a matter of fact, when I finished high school, I was debating whether I wanted to get into animation or video games. Video games ultimately won out, but I still love animation. With all of these streaming services and cable channels, we’ve also been fortunate to live through a renaissance of animated series.
Sure, there’s a lot of shows that are fluff or painfully repetitive — looking at you, Caillou — but there are so many more that will tell you a compelling story and emotionally immerse you into the character’s experiences. Complex universal experiences are laid bare and the trauma is processed into catharsis — in a kid’s cartoon meant for a 10 year old! Heavy stuff!
Now that The Heroes of Radness: Camp Tenderpeak is on Kickstarter, I thought it might be fun to discuss some of the many cartoons that inspired this scrappy little zine and how it’s impact was felt.
Adventure Time
I’d consider Adventure Time the prototype for all of the shows mentioned below. Adventure Time focuses on the adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog in the post-apocalyptic world of Ooo.
The series starts out with standalone adventures that introduce us to the world, rules, and characters of the show. As the series continues, details slowly flesh out the world and backstories are introduced and expanded upon.
For example, there’s a Candy Kingdom ruled by Princess Bubblegum. and an Ice Kingdom ruled by the Ice King. The Ice King wants to kidnap all of the princesses so he can date them. There’s a vampire named Marceline. The Ice King used to be a man named Simon who looked after Marceline, sacrificing his sense of self to save Marceline and becoming the Ice King in the process. Marceline and Princess Bubblegum are in love. And that’s just three characters!
Adventure Time snuck some impressive world building into an 11 minute episode runtime. It built an extensive world with distant worlds that made almost no sense together, but each was very consistent within itself. This consistency meant that you could have a Candy Kingdom, an Ice Kingdom, a Fire Kingdom, a Treehouse out in the plains, the Astral Plane, the Ant Nation, and they would all fit perfectly juxtaposed against each other.
Camp Tenderpeak draws inspiration from Adventure Time’s worldbuilding, giving players a dozen strange realms that their campers can explore, each one given at least one notable NPC with starting motivations and a few basic “laws” that the inhabitants of that realm follow.
For example, the Fortress Technica is a robot stronghold. It is ruled by Tronica, the Machine Empress. She needs to be the most advanced being in all of the pocket dimension and will send her robotic scouts to steal any tech that she deems a threat to her supremacy. Only machines are allowed in the Fortress Technica, which can be a challenge for any camper visiting.
Bravest Warriors
If Adventure Time was about a tween’s adventures without adult supervision, then Bravest Warriors would be the teen progression of the concept. In this series, a quartet of intergalactic heroes — Beth, Chris, Danny, and Wallow — help anyone in need and deal with their own teenage angst, which is referred to as “moop.” They are the children of the previous generation’s greatest heroes, known as the Courageous Battlers, and have picked up the mantle of heroes until their parents return from another dimension, called The See-Through Zone.
This series definitely has a lot of the same DNA as Adventure Time, which makes sense as they were both created by Pendleton Ward. In the first few episodes, we’re introduced to the main characters, a few of their recurring friends, and their relationships. Soon, we’re introduced to the larger world and interconnected storylines, such as the time travelling Emotion Lord — a mix of The Doctor and Star Trek TNG’s Q — and his nudging of events involving the heroes.
Camp Tenderpeak drew a LOT of inspiration from this series. The character relationships affect how well they work together, which is something I’ve been working on in my game systems for the last few years. The premise of being intergalactic heroes/problem solvers allows for the characters to have unlimited opportunities for adventure; problems will seek them out, as opposed to Finn seeking out problems in Adventure Time.
Infinity Train
Each season of this anthology series focuses on a passenger that wakes up on the Infinity Train with a glowing green number on the palm of their hand. They were retrieved by the train due to a problem they can’t resolve on their own.
Each car on this train is a strange little world, such as a forest of family trees with the families living as wooden busts on the trees themselves. They have a problem that needs solving — in the case of the trees, two of of the families are feuding and don’t want their kids marrying each other. Once the problem is resolved, the doors to the car will unlock and allow the passenger to continue to the next car. If the passenger takes a step towards resolving their own problem, the number on their palm goes down. Once it reaches ‘0’, they can go home!
Each season focuses on one passenger. Each episode explores a facet of that passenger’s issues, allowing us to explore the problem they are facing and why it is so hard for them to face.
The first season is about Tulip, a young girl that loves to make video games. Her recently divorced parents don’t seem to care what Tulip wants, which doesn’t seem fair to her at all. This frustration comes to a head when her parents say she can’t go to a programming camp because dad confused which weekend he needed to take her and mom was going to work that weekend. Tulip decides to get to the camp all by herself by taking the train. You can guess what train she ends up on.
This series doesn’t have a lot of immediately noticeable inspirations in Camp Tenderpeak, but it actually has some of the most profound impact on how it works. This show is about resolving your own problems, which is a key mechanic in this game. Most RPGs will focus on combat for levelling up, but this one focuses on character growth to level up. Similar to our previous game Home by Dark, characters will have flaws and personal problems that they need to resolve. As they learn how to resolve these problems, they will gain the experience to be better heroes! Younger players can choose less complex problems, such as a fear of water or heights. Mature players that are looking for an emotional challenge could choose engaging problems, such as abandonment by people they care about.
I think that’s it for now! This turned out to be much longer than I expected. I do love cartoons! I’ll release Part 2 within the next week!
Until then, please help us reach our goal with this Kickstarter! Share this article and the Camp Tenderpeak Kickstarter page far and wide! We’ve had a slow start, but we can still make it!
Talk to you soon, campers!
— Jason