Exercise 01: Establishing the Status Quo

[KaiserStratosTygo]

I'm curious Stratos, back when you saw the hybrid in Dark Origins for the 1st time, if you didn't think terran tech was vital for creating it, what role did you think terran tech played in Duran's lab there?

I think it might have helped a bit, but imagine the Protoss or Zerg didn't have the type of infrastructure needed for him to do certain tasks.

[ragnarok]

I think it might have helped a bit, but imagine the Protoss or Zerg didn't have the type of infrastructure needed for him to do certain tasks.

I see. For me back then the terran tech was to help Duran make a makeshift hybrid army to keep everyone else busy while the REAL hybrid army awaits its awakening.

[Turalyon]

But in WoL, there were a lot of people wanting different things, and the story meandered here and there like in Rebel Yell. But how is it that the divergences in WoL felt like a cop out, while it seemed natural and organic in Rebel Yell?

The story of Rebel Yell meandered? Seemed like there was progression from one mission to the next for me.

WoL "meandered" because all the missions were disconnected/unrelated to each other and that there were too many missions (Blizz noted this and made fewer missions for HotS which actually flowed better narratively as a result). They didn't feel like they progressed to the eventual climax of the Char assault - it just seemed to just occur after doing enough missions. I remember at the time being confused when the Char arc began because I felt the narrative was actually and finally starting! Then I realised I had done a lot of missions and went "hmph, I guess it's ending now....?"

The numerous characters in WoL were kinda hollow because they seemed like were only there for one reason or another: either for flavour/background/points of interest or to serve as mission givers. Out of all the characters aboard the Hyperion aside from Raynor, Tychus is really the only important one in terms of WoL's entire narrative. Even then, he kinda felt short-changed in the end since we don't fully understand his motivations for some of the things he does and doesn't do.

Rebel Yell only had 3 main characters but their motivations were tied into what they were doing in that campaign/ "came out" as a result of the events they were taking part in. This both gives insight into the characters and gave the narrative at large, momentum.

I thought SC 1 was about the Zerg invasion, and the Overmind's quest to become perfect. Everything started with that, and ended when the premise was completely dealt with.

You're not exactly wrong here but it seems kinda reductionist to me. I'd like to think that any story that features a major antagonist as being more than just about the conceit of the antagonism/ antagonist. Sc2's story is so thin however, that it seems to be nothing more than exactly this. For me, Sc1 is about the 3 races, how each race interacts within themselves and/or with each other race and exploring the consequences of such interaction.

[ragnarok]

You're not exactly wrong here but it seems kinda reductionist to me. I'd like to think that any story that features a major antagonist as being more than just about the conceit of the antagonism/ antagonist. Sc2's story is so thin however, that it seems to be nothing more than exactly this. For me, Sc1 is about the 3 races, how each race interacts within themselves and/or with each other race and exploring the consequences of such interaction.

Not thin, just that it was too narrow-minded when you concentrate on one person for each race, which makes it seem like no one else ever did anything

[GnaReffotsirk]

i wasnt clear on what i just said. im sorry. its my brain, sometimes i cant find the right words or phrase.

anyway, what i was referring to was with regards to developing plot. the overmind was the one who upset the status quou, and was trying to achieve the story goal.

The terran throughline focuses on mengsks efforts to rise to power and gather the terrans to fight against aliens.

the zerg throughline is about the overmind trying to setup his broods for their final assault to start the final confrontation.

the protoss throughline is about tassadar's quest to convince the conclave to follow his plan to stop the overmind from completing his goal.

everyone wants something, but they are all centered on a single story goal. their concerns are overshadowed by this one thing, which in this case was the overmind trying to assimilate everyone, but needs to assimilate the protoss first.

[ragnarok]

i wasnt clear on what i just said. im sorry. its my brain, sometimes i cant find the right words or phrase.

anyway, what i was referring to was with regards to developing plot. the overmind was the one who upset the status quou, and was trying to achieve the story goal.

The terran throughline focuses on mengsks efforts to rise to power and gather the terrans to fight against aliens.

the zerg throughline is about the overmind trying to setup his broods for their final assault to start the final confrontation.

the protoss throughline is about tassadar's quest to convince the conclave to follow his plan to stop the overmind from completing his goal.

everyone wants something, but they are all centered on a single story goal. their concerns are overshadowed by this one thing, which in this case was the overmind trying to assimilate everyone, but needs to assimilate the protoss first.

True, though I really don't think this was explained much in the terran campaign. Look at it this way: if you never read the SC1 manual, could you understand what the swarm's intents were from the terran campaign ONLY?

[Turalyon]

Not thin

The entirety of the story in Sc2 was thin (it's nothing more than the 3 races preparing to fight some great existential threat) and spread even thinner by making it as a trilogy. Sc2 spends two-thirds of its plot about fighting a big bad guy that isn't supposed to be that big nor bad (nor that important in the grand scheme of things), only to have the actual climactic battle with the actual biggest and baddest guy yet happen only in the back-end of the last third. That LotV is and can be experienced standalone just fine without knowledge of the previous two is also testament to how thin the story is.

everyone wants something, but they are all centered on a single story goal. their concerns are overshadowed by this one thing, which in this case was the overmind trying to assimilate everyone, but needs to assimilate the protoss first.

I somewhat disagree. The Zerg are indeed important for the specific plotting of Sc1 to develop since it's the conceit/catalyst for much of the action but I don't think that the Zerg are the sole reason for the behaviours that we see. Mengsk's megalomania for example would still be present with or without the Zerg. It's just that in Sc1, the story uses the Zerg as a means to express it. The Zerg are lens in which to gain insight about how this specific character would normally operate on a general level. Likewise, the Tassadar/Aldaris conflict can be seen to still occur without the Zerg since their respective ideology and viewpoints are rooted and developed within the charactiers and their collective racial history. Like I said, Sc1 is about the interactions within each race just as well as it is about the interactions with each other race.

[GnaReffotsirk]

I see your point. Still none of these interactions would be meaningful if the major premise was not there. Yes, their characters are ofcourse there, and the potential for conflict is there, but my point stands, that in order to make a meaningful, or at least coherent story, and overarching plot must exist.

This is what I wanted for us to discuss and try to narrow down later, after we decide on the current status quo after BW. However, as it stands, neither of us can come up with one story point we could agree upon.

Maybe it's true, a group could never come up with a story? I wish you guys can prove me wrong.

Nissa? Any creative work you've done there?

If not, maybe someone could rise up to the task, and mine the 23 pages we've already spent on, and list all the possible starting points we can consider.

edit: I apologize for my frustration. As it is, I would expect this to continue as it already does, and 20 pages more would be filled with the same things. Instead of building, I notice we all take turns turning each other's idea down.

I have yet to review the pages for how each one responds to ideas, in hopes of finding what the problem is, and why we cannot come up with a single story point we could all agree upon.

If interested, it's simple: How, where, and what are the current standings of the three races after BW? The characters, what are they doing? What are their current concerns, before we introduce an inciting incident (which we will discuss later)?

[Turalyon]

I see your point. Still none of these interactions would be meaningful if the major premise was not there. Yes, their characters are ofcourse there, and the potential for conflict is there, but my point stands, that in order to make a meaningful, or at least coherent story, and overarching plot must exist.

You're not exactly seeing my point though. You're focusing on one particular aspect and conflating it as the be-all, end-all. I'm saying it's not one factor but multiple things tied together. For example, if we hypothetically isolate the Rebel Yell and The Fall chapters as separate individual stories and replace all references to the Zerg as some other arbitrary antagonist, the interactions between the characters in each of those stories alone would still be meaningful and coherent.

This is what I wanted for us to discuss and try to narrow down later, after we decide on the current status quo after BW. However, as it stands, neither of us can come up with one story point we could agree upon.

We're (well, I am at any rate) just throwing out ideas and counter-ideas for consideration. You're the one that wants to write it so you have the final say. Don't look to others for agreement of your ideas since that will just muddy things that you want to put forward. Your initial ideas were good.

If interested, it's simple: How, where, and what are the current standings of the three races after BW? The characters, what are they doing? What are their current concerns, before we introduce an inciting incident (which we will discuss later)?

I think the immediate concerns for the races are their own internal intrigues: Terrans are divided after the UED smashed up the Dominion and Mengsk is in no shape to take the reigns or be the representative for the majority of the Terrans at the present time. The Zerg sort of need some agency without Kerrigan and Kerrigan needs to be less overpowering, so you could just have parts of the Zerg evolving away and start rebelling despite Kerrigan and/or give her limitations on her power of the Zerg (you've started doing that already). The Protoss are still struggling with getting along with each other - the Nerazim are resentful of the Khalai for bringing their war to Shakuras because the Nerazim numbers and society are smaller, they've lost their leader and are now expected to still assist those that vilified them in the past when they really just want them to go away. The Khalai want to work towards retaking Aiur and become more abrasive with the Nerazim because they think they're not wanting and needing their help to do this, but act as if they do.

The biggest immediate threat and common goal to all (including the Zerg themselves) is still the Zerg. The Terrans and Protoss still fear what they might do and work to either protect themselves or to take further action against them. Whilst they're doing this to either mixed success or failure, you could then introduce the major inciting incident for all three to work against (and not necessarily together mind you) in the form of Duran and the Hybrids. The rest is just details.

[GnaReffotsirk]

Okay, I just realized I'm a big loser and hypocrite. I may have derailed things more than anyone else.

I apologize. Something's wrong with me. I'll try to keep my stupidity in check.

Anyway, here are the Zerg stuff I collected from the previous posts. If there's anything missing, please post them.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

It's on google docs..