Archive through March 25, 2010
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Captain's Log: New Fiction:
Journal-compatible material?:
Archive through March 25, 2010
Hi.
Elsewhere, the issue of fiction which is not directly tied to an SFB and/or FC scenario came up.
On the one hand, Captain's Log has a role which is intended to more directly tie in to the games it supports - so a story which reflects something you can replicate on the tabletop is at a premium.
However, there are many types of events and stories which could be told that do not fit into this pattern, but would still be worth exploring. Be it a piece looking at the decisions being made by those in a more strategic (or political) level, a look at the actions of a Prime Team in the field, the unexpected findings of a civilian group in an out-of-the-way star system, the contact made by a survey cruiser with a strange, new world, or any other kind of event which would not directly echo SFB or FC (though could echo Prime Directive, or perhaps even F&E) there is potential to be had.
So, as I have argued elsewhere, I'd say that the Journal series might be a better way to go. The first volume, For the Glory of the Empire, collects 5 previously-published stories, while Day of the Eagle will do something similar.
So far, so good - but then the question becomes one of what to do with the Journal format next. Should it be the outlet for new non-CL fiction work? If so, would it be better to have all-new stories, or keep sieving through the back catalogue of CL fiction to add to an ongoing mix?
And for those of you who have contributed to the range of SFU fiction already in print, what kind of stories might you be interested in writing - or even reading - in Journals to come?
As I have noted elsewhere, there are other long-standing gaming franchises which use the anthology approach for telling new stories - some of which, while far from the battlefield as reflected in some (but perhaps not quite all) of their games, are no less compelling even so.
Do you think that the same can be true for the Star Fleet Universe - and if so, would you like to see the Journal format be a way forward in that regard?
Fiction not tied to gaming is not a possibility, I believe. We'd need a scenario or characters or something, I think, to stay within the license.
We need stories. There isn't really a "backlog" of them.
But for us to publish an entire book of new fiction, we have to free up time (or not publish something else) and I don't see me gaining more PD time until 2013.
I think in the context of Jean's comment, it's really this that we'd have to do:
Quote:Be it a piece looking at the decisions being made by those in a more strategic (or political) level, a look at the actions of a Prime Team in the field, the unexpected findings of a civilian group in an out-of-the-way star system, the contact made by a survey cruiser with a strange, new world, or any other kind of event which would not directly echo SFB or FC (though could echo Prime Directive, or perhaps even F&E) there is potential to be had
(emphasis mine)
It's definitely something that would need to be tied to SOME SFU game, Prime Directive is the most obvious candidate. And that's good - more material for PD is always welcome!
That could be something that the 'Journal' would do - perhaps have longer fiction pieces than the typical Captain's Log cover story - and tie them in (sometimes obviously, sometimes not) with Prime Directive material.
I wonder - could you do a multi-column approach to the story...or perhaps have in-line/breakout text boxes - that 'break the fourth wall' of the story to explain what was happening in game terms.
IE., a paragraph or two describes dialog in a first contact situation between the Prime Team leader and alien representative. Previous to the encounter, the Prime Team XO had instructed the team science officer to surreptitiously take some scans of the aliens when possible. Unfortunately, they detect this and become offended, the Prime Team XO only saving the day by tearing out a fantastic analogy from the planet's cultural past and how, even though they erred, this discussion could still go forward.
The break-away box would indicate the situation that the GM/DM had described to the players, the XO's initial conversation rolls, the science officer's flubbed use of his tricorder roll, further recovery from the XO ending up saving the situation.
The story running along like that, then - the bulk of the page covering the story/narrative, while breakout boxes appear regularly to explain how the material being read, the story, exists "in game terms".
"Captain's Logs" always had the idea of fixed scenarios, which paired well with FedCom/SFB's "scenario" idea - you could design a scenario that played out in an hour or two, write up the events of the battle, then add characters and dialog as needed...or go the other way around - either way, we end up with a scenario and a story.
Much harder to do with PD, as the nature of RPG gaming means that the 'plots' or 'campaigns' (vs scenarios) tend to be a LOT longer affairs, involve quite a big of imagination from the players, planning from the GM/DM, etc. And I don't know many people who replay a particular RPG encounter to validate balance - balance is often up to the GM/DM, to continually 'correct' the game to keep things always challenging, but never impossible.
This type of sequence might make an interesting running narrative to turn into a story, though, with notes! The net-net of that would be potentially a 'seed' story for a GM/DM to start a campaign 'continuing on from', perhaps a plot for a GM/DM to use for a new encounter for his group outright, or just plain compelling ready (ignoring the in-line game material).
The link must always be obvious between the fiction and the games. There must be something associated with the story to force it into being "gaming" material.
Therefore, you have to have engaging stories, stats for the characters in the story (for all of the gaming systems, preferably), and if a critter is introduced, stats for it.
I could see other sorts of things coming out -- a "map" of a trading station along with descriptions of the people you might meet there (sort of like the Citybooks do, but much smaller).
These are all possibilities, but I cannot tackle them now. Truthfully, I haven't the time. Literally, I get up early, do ADB reports, go to work, come home, work on ADB stuff until very late, go to bed. Rinse, repeat, with a few "interruptions" such as a play, a daylily meeting, or going to visit my family. Honestly, I have no more time to give. 
Personally, I think it would be better to separate the gaming material from the story proper.
If these books are to be of any interest to casual non-gamer types looking to enjoy the fiction first, insert boxes and breakaways would kill the story momentum, in my view.
Better to keep it at the back, where it can be used for those with a copy of whichever game is involved, and side-stepped for those who do not.
In PD terms, perhaps one option could be to include sample profiles for GURPS and/or D20M for characters introduced, creatures encountered, and/or devices found - as noted above - but, again, not mixed in with the story proper.
As to the feasibility of future Journals (or a fresh look over Volume 1, for that matter), I would hope that even if it's a while off before anything can be done, a thread like this could still at least be a useful venue for discussion - one which might be useful to look over if, and/or when, the concept can find its legs as a workable project.
Another possibility is to do a "game interpretation" after the fiction story. Tell the story first. After it is over, include a much shorter write-up of the actual game that was played that generated that story. It would be like a battle report containing only game details.
The hard part, at least for me, is writing up the story so that it conforms to the FC rules in the first place.
One thing I might suggest is to put all of the game-related material at the back - not after each story (as in Journal #1).
A catch-all rules/gaming annex might be a better way to let those reading these stories for their own sake to flick from one tale to the next, while still presenting the information that gamers might wish to have on hand.
Terry - would a PD-themed story be more of an option, then?
Gary, no can do. Story and game material must be closely linked. I won't risk our license because Paramount lawyers didn't flip to the back of the book. You have to wrap your mind around this concept: the game happens to have fiction that goes with it. We just happen to put the fiction first.
That link must be even more clear when the book appears to be a collection of fiction. The gaming link must be clearly obvious and not look like we are trying to pull a fast one.
Quote:These are all possibilities, but I cannot tackle them now. Truthfully, I haven't the time. Literally, I get up early, do ADB reports, go to work, come home, work on ADB stuff until very late, go to bed. Rinse, repeat, with a few "interruptions" such as a play, a daylily meeting, or going to visit my family. Honestly, I have no more time to give
The 'time' issue...is in generating content?
Or editing it?
If the former - would a significant number of submissions showing up help make this a possibility? (If the latter, obviously not - that'd just be more work in the pile. 
)
Xander, I rarely "create" content. Once in a while, there is an input guide or a blog entry. Filk happens and I cannot control that and it takes little time when it happens that way. Olivette Roche transcriptions just happen.
Editing takes time. You must enter it with the assumption that your author made mistakes and it is up to you to find them. You'll miss them otherwise. It takes time to handle those errors either by typing them up or by calling them in. Moving to Amarillo would mean I could fix them directly and that would save time.
We'd need plenty of stories to make this idea work. The stories would have to arrive with some sort of characters attached so the PD staff didn't get overworked. I'd like a deep enough pool for three issues before I even took it on so that I could have people working on creating, editing, and layout throughout the year instead of "Oh....it's due in three months; do you think we need to write something?"
It does mean that I have to have replaced the day job with working in Amarillo. That means I have to be retired.
Asking a stupid question...
Who is Olivette Roche?
Randy,
YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED IS.
SHE IS EVIL INCARNATE.
Ryan
Randy
I fear her less than these other guys. 1) Look up the male version of the first name. 2) Look up what "Roche" means 3)Note she has a somewhat "revisionist" view of SFU history.
I'm almost certain she's why we Tholians got such a bad rap in the Old Galaxy...
regards
Stacy
Ok, neither of you guys are being very helpful...
Olive tree rock? Peaceful rock creatures (Tholians)?
C'mon, throw me the bone you'd give a 5 year old...
Let's just say she never lets the truth get in the way of a good story.
Randy
What's another word for rock? People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw WHAT(Singular)?
One might say she's the MSNBC of the 23rd Century...
Thank goodness there isn't a PLATOON of her. She'd be annoying - especially if you're BORN ON THE 4th Of July...
regards
Stacy
Nice ones Stacy.
Ok, Oliver Stone...
So what the hell does that have to do with SFU?
Randy
You know how when you explain a joke it ain't funny no more? Well this is it, Ms. Roche's scenarios have as much to do with actual SFU history as Stone's JFK, NIXON, or W have with our histories. When Ms. Roche does a scenario the Klingons are the good guys, the Romulans are misunderstood, the Federation is ALWAYS the villain-and so on...
No one ever explained it to me, I figured it out slowly and contextually from cryptic statements made on here...
And I'm sure it doesn't seem nearly as funny as it would have if you had figured it out on your own...
regards
Stacy
Randy, sorry, I was at a daylily meeting or I would have explained it earlier.
Try this: http://www.starfleetgames.com/documents/CL39_Supplemental_File.pdf and go to page 8. Try reading about her there.
Several of the scenarios mentioned there are freely available through Communique. There will be another in the forthcoming issue of Captain's Log.
In reality, I love writing about Olivette's creative works because it lets me set up scenarios that could never happen anywhere but in her fevered dreams artistic endeavors.
Folks, really, you have to realize that not everyone has been on this board for decades. Be nice when someone asks a question, please.
Hey, now... they're not all that bad.
In fact, Scoutdad both approves and endorses the scenario:
Die, BEM! Die! 
Aw jeez.
I thought this was a real person.
The joke's on me! Ha HA!
Ah yes, that one appears in CL#40, so isn't reviewed in the link above. Just a reminder that Olivette's trivideos are not necessarily historically accurate ...
Randy
Well SHE thinks she's a real person. Until Jean can get her back in the bottle again anyway...
regards
Stacy