Writing a New Starcraft 2 storyline

[GnaReffotsirk]

Hi guys, I'm trying to write a storyline for Starcraft 2 outside of what we have right now. I intend to scrap everything we've been told so far with WoL, HotS.

I'm wondering what story points have been developed from SC Vanilla, Brood War, and the stories after that? The "road so far" when it comes to Starcraft without the stuff we see in WoL and HotS.

The Terrans, the major players there: corporations, groups, other governments, etc.
The Terran Characters.
The Zerg.
The Protoss.
The UED.

Example, where did we end with Raynor in BW or in other books? What's been happening?

What do you recommend the most relevant plots are? I'm currently looking at this:

Duran and His Hybrids without Amon and the prophecy.

[Turalyon]

It's hard to help without knowing what you envision/your overall goal of your fanfic. Otherwise, I'll be putting my spin on your story and that probably wouldn't work well for you.

For instance, I'm probably one of the few fans that care the least about Hybrids and Duran so if you intend to go down that plot path, there's not much I can add by saying that Duran should win because nothing can stop him.

I'd like to see the growth of factional elements in each race leading to internal strife and conflict occurring between factional elements of each race. Another way of seeing it is that I would like it becoming less about Terran vs Zerg vs Protoss in general and more about this faction of Terran/Zerg/Protoss vs this faction of Terran/Zerg/Protoss or this faction of Terran/Zerg/Protoss vs Terran/Zerg/Protoss in general only. It'd make things quite multi-layered and complex but it would allow you some creative freedom to make some stuff up to flesh out the varied differences in the 3 races.

[Nissa]

Are you asking for ideas? I have a ton of them.

- Completely ignore the books. The ones that aren't crap are meh at best, and none of them add interesting plot points. Well, except the one about Nova, but it's hard to get past how badly that book was written.

- Remove any idea of using Amon. Amon is a boring thing from nowhere that's coming around to do something. Unless you have some sort of great idea that makes him interesting. Just don't use him as he is. He wasn't in SC or BW anyway.

- Give the hybrids some other motive besides destroying everything. That's really boring and cliche. Have them rearrange planetary matter, create more species like the Xel'Naga, claim to be a superior species, or whatever. Just something that's more than them killing everyone for the fun of it.

- At the end of Brood War, Raynor and Zeratul disappeared. Zeratul is presumably doing something that involves going after hybrids, but we don't hear about Raynor. Mengsk is licking his wounds and dealing with human issues. Artanis is more or less doing the same. No one knows what Kerrigan is doing, but given that she's already gotten her revenge on anyone who ever hurt her, there's no guarantee she knows either.

[GnaReffotsirk]

I generally just want to know the story so far before WoL came around with the retcons. I'm trying to look for an interesting plot that could drive everything into one place.

I don't like the Narud/Amon/Hybrid plotline in SC2. I always thought the hybrids would be far more than just beasts of destruction. Zeratul was appalled by them, calling them abominations. I don't think that necessarily means they're what the SC2 storyline makes them to be.

Duran have thousands of them "seeded" in worlds, and are close to being awakened.

I don't like how Duran is portrayed in SC2. He seems to just be another fanatic, driving his horns without thought, and getting entangled. He was far smarter than this.

I don't think Zeratul's discovery of his experiments was a mistake or coincidence either. He wants something from Zeratul, and this is what he baits him with. Duran, I feel, from broodwar, is a far more cunning and intelligent being. He couldn't have survived the galaxy this long if he acted like he did in sc2.

That's one.

I'd like to know more about the other Terran factions. What we know about them so far before WoL and retcons. The Protoss. The UED. The Dark Voice/Voice in the Darkness. That entity that's been the enemy of the Xel'Naga. The Xel'Naga, are they all dead? Were there survivors? Did their plans end with the Overmind consuming them?

The universe as a whole, what what you guys think are important storylines, and where they're at before WoL and the retcon session.

[ragnarok]

Are you asking for ideas? I have a ton of them.

- Completely ignore the books. The ones that aren't crap are meh at best, and none of them add interesting plot points. Well, except the one about Nova, but it's hard to get past how badly that book was written.

- Remove any idea of using Amon. Amon is a boring thing from nowhere that's coming around to do something. Unless you have some sort of great idea that makes him interesting. Just don't use him as he is. He wasn't in SC or BW anyway.

- Give the hybrids some other motive besides destroying everything. That's really boring and cliche. Have them rearrange planetary matter, create more species like the Xel'Naga, claim to be a superior species, or whatever. Just something that's more than them killing everyone for the fun of it.

- At the end of Brood War, Raynor and Zeratul disappeared. Zeratul is presumably doing something that involves going after hybrids, but we don't hear about Raynor. Mengsk is licking his wounds and dealing with human issues. Artanis is more or less doing the same. No one knows what Kerrigan is doing, but given that she's already gotten her revenge on anyone who ever hurt her, there's no guarantee she knows either.

The books aren't total crap, you know. The only one that fell WAY flat was Queen of Blades by Aaron Rosenberg.

[Nissa]

You're cute, Rag. Really cute.

Well, Queen of Blades isn't one I've read yet, but I have read:
Heaven's Devils -- badly written crap
Shadow of the Xel'Naga -- hideous characterization, paint by numbers plot, worst book I've ever read
SC Ghost Nova -- mostly good plot, horribly written, poorly used characters
Speed of Darkness -- good beginning, but quickly becomes tedious and spoils its own ending
Liberty's Crusade -- a non-interesting re-hash of the first terran missions with a shoved-in OC, essentially poorly written fanfiction.
Firstborn (DT Trilogy) -- while having some good ideas, the plot was not well thought through and the characters were shallow. And it showed humans entering the Khala, which shouldn't be possible. No Dark Templar.
Shadow Hunters (DT Trilogy) -- Leaves too much from the first book unexplained, boring, fewer good ideas than first book. No Dark Templar, other than in flashback.
Twilight (DT Trilogy) -- spends most of the book talking about things the reader already knows, doesn't tie up loose ends, shrinks the only interesting parts of the book. Only two Dark Templar.

In other words, the franchise would be better off if the novels didn't exist. Except for the Nova one. That didn't really affect anything.

[ragnarok]

Well, Queen of Blades isn't one I've read yet, but I have read:
Heaven's Devils -- badly written crap
Shadow of the Xel'Naga -- hideous characterization, paint by numbers plot, worst book I've ever read
SC Ghost Nova -- mostly good plot, horribly written, poorly used characters
Speed of Darkness -- good beginning, but quickly becomes tedious and spoils its own ending
Liberty's Crusade -- a non-interesting re-hash of the first terran missions with a shoved-in OC, essentially poorly written fanfiction.
Firstborn (DT Trilogy) -- while having some good ideas, the plot was not well thought through and the characters were shallow. And it showed humans entering the Khala, which shouldn't be possible. No Dark Templar.
Shadow Hunters (DT Trilogy) -- Leaves too much from the first book unexplained, boring, fewer good ideas than first book. No Dark Templar, other than in flashback.
Twilight (DT Trilogy) -- spends most of the book talking about things the reader already knows, doesn't tie up loose ends, shrinks the only interesting parts of the book. Only two Dark Templar.

In other words, the franchise would be better off if the novels didn't exist. Except for the Nova one. That didn't really affect anything.

You forgot one: SC Ghost Spectres

[KaiserStratosTygo]

You're cute, Rag. Really cute.

Well, Queen of Blades isn't one I've read yet, but I have read:
Heaven's Devils -- badly written crap
Shadow of the Xel'Naga -- hideous characterization, paint by numbers plot, worst book I've ever read
SC Ghost Nova -- mostly good plot, horribly written, poorly used characters
Speed of Darkness -- good beginning, but quickly becomes tedious and spoils its own ending
Liberty's Crusade -- a non-interesting re-hash of the first terran missions with a shoved-in OC, essentially poorly written fanfiction.
Firstborn (DT Trilogy) -- while having some good ideas, the plot was not well thought through and the characters were shallow. And it showed humans entering the Khala, which shouldn't be possible. No Dark Templar.
Shadow Hunters (DT Trilogy) -- Leaves too much from the first book unexplained, boring, fewer good ideas than first book. No Dark Templar, other than in flashback.
Twilight (DT Trilogy) -- spends most of the book talking about things the reader already knows, doesn't tie up loose ends, shrinks the only interesting parts of the book. Only two Dark Templar.

In other words, the franchise would be better off if the novels didn't exist. Except for the Nova one. That didn't really affect anything.

Don't bother either, that one is by far the worst of the bunch, basically a Kerrigan-fan-fic that retcons Vanilla StarCraft.

[Nissa]

You forgot one: SC Ghost Spectres

I haven't read that one. Have you? Is it any good?

[ragnarok]

I haven't read that one. Have you? Is it any good?

It's the 2nd half of Nova's story. It explains the situation with Tosh and all that.

DT Saga Shadow Hunters was a good book, give some insight to Protoss history and all that.