SC2S Plot Poll

[Protogod]

Alright, I picked the two most promising ideas we've had in the other thread. The first is the idea that we have a Platoon Leader who is losing touch with reality. He is sending his troops to places without enemies, and he is sending too few troops to places overrun with enemies.

Yadda yadda, Darksoul's psychological stuff.

The other idea is the idea about Time Travel, where our protagonists are doing missions when they find themselves (somehow) with the ability to/trapped go(ing) back in time.

They go back in time and warn aldaris about stuff, which turns out to be how he knew kerrigan was deceiving the templar.

[DarkMirror]

Time Travel FTW! Plus, its such a great idea... warning ALDARIS. Its so... Ironic.

But the other idea with the ghost platoons and shit is great too.

[TitanWing]

I like the Aldaris idea.

[BludSyko]

The time travel seems cliché, but then it relates to the actually storyline in a very unique way. And the lost grip on reality seems trippy, and might be fun to do. Tough choices. I'll have to ponder it.

EDIT: I just noticed you misspelled psychological in the poll choices. ;)

[Ktan]

Time travel is near impossible to do well, somewhat tired and something I hate with an absolute passion.

The first idea, about the squad leader, sounds a lot more interesting, and a little bit Apocalypse Now. This kind of thing fits WAY better into StarCraft lore, whereas time travel never has, and I doubt (with much hope) that it ever will.

For a sci-fi, SC is actually quite 'feet on the ground', even compared to more esoteric sci-fi like 40K. Hell, even 40K avoids time travel like a horny and ugly fat girl.

Plus, Aldaris is smart and cynical enough to have divined Kerrigan's plot on his own. He didn't become an Adjudicator for nothing, and he trusts no-one. Attributing his fortune to a wandering bunch of lost marines seems silly.

Time Travel's too much of a mindfuck, and I'm highly opposed to it on most levels, only in things that take it lightly or blatantly use it as a plot device for the fun do I find it passable at best.

[Kawagata]

Time travel is near impossible to do well, somewhat tired and something I hate with an absolute passion.

The first idea, about the squad leader, sounds a lot more interesting, and a little bit Apocalypse Now. This kind of thing fits WAY better into StarCraft lore, whereas time travel never has, and I doubt (with much hope) that it ever will.

For a sci-fi, SC is actually quite 'feet on the ground', even compared to more esoteric sci-fi like 40K. Hell, even 40K avoids time travel like a horny and ugly fat girl.

Plus, Aldaris is smart and cynical enough to have divined Kerrigan's plot on his own. He didn't become an Adjudicator for nothing, and he trusts no-one. Attributing his fortune to a wandering bunch of lost marines seems silly.

Time Travel's too much of a mindfuck, and I'm highly opposed to it on most levels, only in things that take it lightly or blatantly use it as a plot device for the fun do I find it passable at best.
but if he was that smart then wouldn't he have known that the others wouldn't believe him and it would all screw up?
Time travel has alot of potential but it's really easy to go wrong. The reason time travel storylines usually don't work is because the story explains everything leaving no sense of irony. We won't even say that they went to tell aldaris. Aldaris could start off being too trusting and then after a very vaguely put visit from a character (raynor), aldaris becomes erratic. Everything just needs to be well worded.

[Thedutchjelle]

Time travel is near impossible to do well, somewhat tired and something I hate with an absolute passion.

The first idea, about the squad leader, sounds a lot more interesting, and a little bit Apocalypse Now. This kind of thing fits WAY better into StarCraft lore, whereas time travel never has, and I doubt (with much hope) that it ever will.

For a sci-fi, SC is actually quite 'feet on the ground', even compared to more esoteric sci-fi like 40K. Hell, even 40K avoids time travel like a horny and ugly fat girl.

Plus, Aldaris is smart and cynical enough to have divined Kerrigan's plot on his own. He didn't become an Adjudicator for nothing, and he trusts no-one. Attributing his fortune to a wandering bunch of lost marines seems silly.

Time Travel's too much of a mindfuck, and I'm highly opposed to it on most levels, only in things that take it lightly or blatantly use it as a plot device for the fun do I find it passable at best.
Hmm, you do have a point.I like both ideas. I don't know. The TimeTravel seems the easiest to set up, I don't really know how we're going to do the crazy platoon one.

[BludSyko]

Hmm, you do have a point.I like both ideas. I don't know. The TimeTravel seems the easiest to set up, I don't really know how we're going to do the crazy platoon one.

Schizophrenia? Perhaps we make the storyline from his point of view, and he receives his orders from paranoid delusions he believes to be real.

Just spit-balling some ideas. It might work....

Yeah, I'm voting for the psycho idea. Something about it appeals to me.... :)

[Ktan]

but if he was that smart then wouldn't he have known that the others wouldn't believe him and it would all screw up?
Time travel has alot of potential but it's really easy to go wrong.

Which is precisely why I think it's really not worth the risk. If it was an awesome idea that would tip the world on its head, like writing a book without punctuation or trying to write something in 2nd person, or anything esoteric like that, it's a gamble but an original enough one that it would be worth a shout.

Time travel simply isn't worth the risk. The only time it's used well is in Dr. Who, because it's simply a plot device to allow them to expand their settings, and even then it's all light and fluffy fun. SC is not about light and fluffy fun, so I doubt we could take that angle.

Unless of course we wanted to do something like the Doodan Chronicles. In which case, it could work, but I'd suggest not even going near original SC characters, since they constrict our options immensely in any case.

[DarkMirror]

I still want Aldaris to be warned by them. Time travel can be a good idea. Wouldnt some of you love to go back to the Eon of Strife? Maybe one of the toss who ends up going bavck becomes Khas, and decides to stay behind to keep time intact?

Doran Ruth could be a enterprising terran who was inspired by the fact that he apperently did succeed in colonizing other planets. They just didnt mention they didnt find the right ones.

I would love to make time travel tie in to a lot of the history of SC. It could be really fun.

[Ktan]

We don't have to do this via time travel though. Also, the butterfly effect and other such vastly misunderstood time related phenomena are just too silly to attempt to shoehorn into something we could do another way.

Sure, it's interesting to have time travellers visit these past events, but not more interesting than a holo-suit ala Star Trek or a datapad ala R2-D2's projector from Star Wars

[DarkMirror]

Damnit. I still want to warn Aldaris. I guess I'll just have to make my own mini campaign to do so. Ok, can we change my vote to the psyco one?

[Eivind]

What if it wasn't time travel? What if you just played some missions from a different perspective? Like, for example, playing as Raynor and Fenix after Zeratul leaves Aiur. I don't know, it's almost the same save for no time traveling.

[Thedutchjelle]

The whole idea was to keep the main heroes out of this as much as possible.

[Dark_Soul74]

Yes, so we don't have glaring canonical issues, or "ZOMG CARPPY FANFIC" reviews. :)

[Ktan]

True, but I do like the idea. Of course, it's best to avoid using canon characters wherever possible.

[Protogod]

psychological wins 19-6 (counting the one changed vote)

Anyone care to go more in depth before we move on?

[masterofhobbiton]

I don't like either, I think that the Xel-Naga should be coming back bent on revenge and start reposessing Toss and Zerg; the fight would be terrans backed by a few toss (opposite of raynor joining toss in SC1) against protoss fanatics who worship the xel naga and the zerg who were completely taken over.

[DarkMirror]

Sorry, but it is highly likely that that would be much to intrusive to the ACTUAL storyline.

[Dark_Soul74]

Yay. I win. :)

[Protogod]

Sorry, but it is highly likely that that would be much to intrusive to the ACTUAL storyline.

Yeah, this isnt SoW where we get to pull random anit-sc2-caon out of our asses

[TitanWing]

Somebody doesn't like SoW.

[Protogod]

Somebody doesn't like SoW.
Ironically enough, I wrote the story for SoW. I get to trash it if i see fit.

[Kawagata]

SoW has all the best modellers though so it'll be a kick ass mod none the less even if the story line is full of holes.

[Ktan]

Ok, let's stop talking about SoW now, it's way off-topic.

[Basan]

From the options that I've seen the one that compels to me the most is the psycho' one, but with a slight twist. In the near end it is found that Kerrigan has been playing with his mind all along to fit her agenda.

That or writing a completely new story plot that it tighly woven.
For example you can have a [insert race here] rogue group trying to get their agenda fulfilled in the greater picture to dominate the sector but actually never getting the full success to meeting their initial objectives. That way it can have some canon character cameo's but nothing too serious of profoundly messing with the storyline.

[Ktan]

I think having Kerrigan affecting them would cheapen it. It would be nice to analyse the effects of battle on Marines without and kid of deus ex machina coming into play.

[Dark_Soul74]

I don't think using plot characters would be a good idea, or trying to make up some sort of supergroup. Would anyone seriously buy that there is another secret group besides Duran's, when the two groups have nothing to do with each other?

Simple insanity can work. If you really need to include a character, though, I'm sure that hallucinations of a plotline character would be perfectly viable.

Is anyone working on writing an actual plot? If neccesary, I can make a basic run-through of things, but I'll warn you beforehand that I'm no professional writer.

[Protogod]

Is anyone working on writing an actual plot? If neccesary, I can make a basic run-through of things, but I'll warn you beforehand that I'm no professional writer.


Go for it.

I'll think up what I can, when I can. We'll do another poll.

[Dark_Soul74]

Coolio. I'll get started over the semi-holidays.

[SgtHK]

Ironically enough, I wrote the story for SoW. I get to trash it if i see fit.

Don't worry. We'll trash it ourselves if we don't see your story fitting. ;)

[Kawagata]

anyone else notice that it's tied 9 9?

[Protogod]

anyone else notice that it's tied 9 9?

Quite a recent development. The deadline was some time ago, and we decided that the crazy leader idea was best.

[Dark_Soul74]

Yes, to avoid mindf*** storyline action. :)

I'm still coming up with my possible version of the storyline, but I should be finished for this weekend.

[Protogod]

Heres an extraordinarily rough idea I had. When Darksoul puts up his idea, I'll put up a poll to decide what we're doing.

Sc2s Plot: Psychological - proto vers.

VERY ROUGH OUTLINE!!!

Long after the brood wars, the broken UED float aimlessly through the sector, scraping up just barely enough to get by. One fringe group, however, still remains relatively successful, with a few moons under their control, along with some territories planetside.

Our game begins, however, with a group of these men frantically fighting their way to an awaiting dropship, carrying some captured artifact across the battlefield, narrowly escaping with a squad of men remaining. Upon returning home, we learn that these men have the highest casualty rate of any surviving terran column in active duty. Intelligence indicates that a dominion city is under attack by the zerg, and soon to be overrun. The defense platforms around the planet, however, are intact. In order to kidnap several valuable dignitaries in the ensuing chaos, we must thus break the dominion lines, and then evac the dignitaries in a surgical strike, dead center in the middle of the zerg onslought.

Following the suicide mission, the dignitaries are interrogated by your Commanding Officer. With a Dominion counterattack in progress, you must defend the fleet as it prepares to warp out. After warping out, however, you stumble upon the C.O. executing the prisoners one by one, claiming that his interrogation found them to be liabilities. More importantly, though, he says that in the interrogation, he learned of a secret plot to surrender vital terran weapons technology to the zerg. Your mission is to wipe out the traitors and any indication of a conspiracy.

Unfortunately, they are residing on a protoss-protected world. And so, you must flank the protoss in a diversionary tactic, while the bulk of your forces is the ntransported to the main cityscape (defended now by other terran), and you raze it all in an attempt to flush out traitors. Finally, you come across the head-honchos, who are completely taken aback by your actions. They are promptly dealt with, and your forces wipe away any evidence of the murders - or the city, by flattening it as you leave. You cannot afford to let any remaining conspiritors escape with the plans, or allow their allies to alert others.

Your next mission, as explained by your CO, is to liberate a terran research facility, suposedly working on upgrades for the weapon plans the conspiritors had. However, when you get there, you are able to find no such facility, but rather, a massive cluster of zerg. After being driven off of the planet, you realize that your flagship has an infestation, and that the zerg have been tracking you since you left the surface. You pull out of warp space near another protoss world, as you clear the infestation. While you are in normal space, though, a swarm of zerg comes out of warp nearby. The protoss defenses are alerted to the massive entrance of zerg and a large battle ensues, with you stuck in the middle.

Your ship is severely damaged, and without engines you begin descending to the planets surface. Your C.O. demands that you attempt to arm all of your weapons and go out in a blaze of glory, destroying the protoss mennace. The crew findsthis to be the last straw, and the captain is mutinied & executed. You must finsih getting the ship prepared for the crash.

You crashland, with much of the crew surviving, and are left to clean up the mess that you made for the rest of the game. Eventually you discover that the city you razed was 100% innocent, and the dignitaries were actually quite valuable scientists working on a powerful anti-zerg chemical weapon.

[Dark_Soul74]

It begins with a short introduction. You're a portion of whatever Terran group is controlling the area(doesn't matter, really). You're stationed on a planet, under the control of (some rank) Johnathan Marsh, generally respected by his troops for his good nature. (Fluff!)

Next is an inside mission, investigating a friendly battleship that has apparently been autopiloted to the boundaries of the planet. Marsh has personal interest in the craft, since he seems to remember an old friend of his that was stationed on a ship of the same name. (Could be the Jove, Polaris, Mercury, etc, doesn't really matter, it's just fluff.) He leads the expeditionary team inside, as the scans are too corrupted by the EM emissions of the damaged craft to give any real insight to the contents. Long story short, the Zerg chomped on everything. Om nom nom nom, y'know? Poke around for a bit, download the datacore, and get notified by the computer about the remaining group locked down in the armory, while fighting Zerg off. I was hoping we could have it so that they spawn if you ever leave a guy by himself, for added effect. Anyway, you fight down to the armory and clear out the Zerg(should be made a big fight, and the other group of Terrans will be taking potshots at the Zerg as well). Once safe, the new marines join you and notify you that their leader(Marsh's friend/a ghost), is cloaking around the ship, and he was the one who managed to activate the autopilot while they secured the armory. One of your guys manages to reactive sensors for more of the ship, and they show his signature in one of the reactor rooms. You clear out even more Zerg to get there, and find him trying to overload the reactor to self destruct the ship. The new ghost(We can call him Leon or something) recognizes Marsh, and starts to freak out and shoot at them. Marsh calls for a dropship to get to the nearest port, and he runs up to Leon(tentative name!), sedates him, and forces him to the dropship. Marsh, Leon, and a small group now tail you automatically as you clear the path to the dropship, with a timer signifying the reactor overload.

Now there's a briefing, you go over the destruction of the ship for a minute, and talk to the marines. The marines reveal that the ship was on a secret mission, and they weren't fully aware of what was happening, only that they had been attacked. Leon is soon brought to the briefing, and after apologizing for his behavior(he thought they were infested, etc, doesn't matter, it's only an excuse), he asks to talk to Marsh in private. They leave, and the marines ask a question about whether or not they had been able to retrieve any information from the datacore. Marsh and Leon soon return, and Marsh reports that there is a Zerg force located a few systems away, that must be eliminated.

You lead a mission there, with a lead force of two battleships, several valkyries, and a small swarm of dropships, that must break through the orbital defences of the Zerg on the planet. The dropships are required to survive, and have Marsh, Leon, and several groups of infantry and mechs on them. If you lose any, the losses should carry over to the next map, but I'm not sure if that's possible to code, realistically. There will be several direct attacks by some anti-air forces, as well as some infested platforms with spore towers and the like on them. The secondary objective of the map is to clear off a certain number of the aforementioned infested platforms, to "secure the pathway" or something. Marsh notes that it's odd for the planet to have infested platforms, since there was no record of it having Terran occupation.

Next mission involves a direct strike against the main centers of the Zerg occupation, which Leon appears to have direct knowledge of. No questions are asked, though, as the strikeforce gets attacked immediately after setting down. Mission runs fairly straightforward, except for the abnormal numbers of infested terrans. Leon sets an objective to capture one of the infested command centers, and Marsh obliges. Once it's secured, the rest of the hives and infested CCs must be destroyed for the mission to complete.

That's all I've got written so far. I've got a bit more of it left to write, but I've got something to do real quick. Peruse it, if you will.

Edit: The rest of the story is summarized in the second thread.

[Yohdan]

what i think would be really cool, is if you get to decide how many troops you take along and what the strategy would be. it'd make the briefings way more interactive if they give you like 2 or 3 sentences you can choose from, just like you sometimes have in FPS's, ah well.. me and my stupid imagination xD