G-Tech Corporation wrote:Sounds like a fun concept, Second Order - I'm actually running a band from the Secret War in a RP here on P2TM myself. I think there's lots of latitude there for a good writing project, though it is a shame you feel it would be difficult to keep the Soviet setting. I'm not entirely sure what meat there would be to the story without a defined setting. Did you have another one in mind, perhaps?
Well, I've thought about throwing it to sci-fi in a couple of ways, but I think it'd lose the primary tension from The Secret War, that is a feeling of unease and constant threat; with excessively futuristic equipment you'll just feel to safe to really savour it. I've run through setting it as a team exploring a giant trading hub space station that has suddenly cut all of its communications with the external world - but that would stray too far from the original idea, and would exclude the mechanic of survival unless I make the space station have a truly colossal size. I've also considered just a good old planet exploration gone wrong, but not only is that too cliché, it also does not hold a candle to the original idea's merits; tension is often nullified if you have enough plasma handcannons!
All that being said, I have considered doing the opposite: pulling this back a hundred years to the Napoleonic era. I'm far more used to that setting and can make a somewhat credible attempt at holding an RP with it, and I think the inherent limitations of technology due to the period may enhance the dread present in the original story. A quick, fast, and hauntingly organised opponent against a patrol of probably conscripted soldiers who are given a slow to fire and reload weapon and - if they're lucky - a bayonet, and told to make do. I'd imagine that I could stick to history and let this be a French expedition to Egypt, one motivated by a desperate Napoleon stuck in the deserts of Alexandria by virtue of the British command of the sea. Discretely, he would be organising a few military expeditions into the uncompromising desert, uncovering - however - hints of an evil that had not been discovered before in other Egyptology efforts, and that now unleashed itself into the world. This would play into the "ancient danger" trope and keep the setting grounded in reality. Instead of the bitter and silent cold of Siberia being the enemy, the scorching days and the shivering nights of the African desert would be the challenged to any who would dare attempt to understand the secrets of the desert.
There's also the admittedly easier to set-up idea of just making a fictional universe within the parameters of 1800s tech from scratch. With this I could play with a far larger number ideas, but again, some people may be attracted to the history aspect, so I'm not sure which I should pick. Creating a fictional world would not be much of a challenged to me, I'm sure I can make something interesting and believable, so it really is a matter of taste and convenience. Honestly, I'm thinking about this too much without first assessing if there'd even be enough interest for me to consider fleshing out this further. I, again, am getting ahead of myself!
All that being said, I have considered doing the opposite: pulling this back a hundred years to the Napoleonic era. I'm far more used to that setting and can make a somewhat credible attempt at holding an RP with it, and I think the inherent limitations of technology due to the period may enhance the dread present in the original story. A quick, fast, and hauntingly organised opponent against a patrol of probably conscripted soldiers who are given a slow to fire and reload weapon and - if they're lucky - a bayonet, and told to make do. I'd imagine that I could stick to history and let this be a French expedition to Egypt, one motivated by a desperate Napoleon stuck in the deserts of Alexandria by virtue of the British command of the sea. Discretely, he would be organising a few military expeditions into the uncompromising desert, uncovering - however - hints of an evil that had not been discovered before in other Egyptology efforts, and that now unleashed itself into the world. This would play into the "ancient danger" trope and keep the setting grounded in reality. Instead of the bitter and silent cold of Siberia being the enemy, the scorching days and the shivering nights of the African desert would be the challenged to any who would dare attempt to understand the secrets of the desert.
There's also the admittedly easier to set-up idea of just making a fictional universe within the parameters of 1800s tech from scratch. With this I could play with a far larger number ideas, but again, some people may be attracted to the history aspect, so I'm not sure which I should pick. Creating a fictional world would not be much of a challenged to me, I'm sure I can make something interesting and believable, so it really is a matter of taste and convenience. Honestly, I'm thinking about this too much without first assessing if there'd even be enough interest for me to consider fleshing out this further. I, again, am getting ahead of myself!
