Yes, it's unfortunate that the books I've read (Campaign Paradiso (partly), Infinity N3, Human Sphere N3, Outrage, 3rd Offensive (partly), aren't more engaging. The current format of describing troops doesn't really work for me, it always kinda reads like this: Trooper A The Trooper A's are one of the Faction X's most outstanding forces. Always ready to join an intervention where the fighting is fiercest, they never back down, and have won honours throughout their history for valour beyond the call of duty. They are the best of the best. Trooper B Trooper B's are newly formed unit who, having no regimental history, fight hardest to prove their worth. Seeking new ways to prove themselves, they've earned a reputation for being the craftiest of the crafty, and the meanest of the mean. Trooper C Trooper C's were formed from the remnants of the Q Troops who were almost wiped out in the Z Offensive. As such, they will stop at nothing to avenge their fallen comrades, and have a reputation as the best of the best of the best. Now in fairness, I'm not sure how - faced with an entire book to write myself, I'd approach the problem to do any better, but ... it still doesn't work. You know what I mean?
Outstanding. Find me at the back of the hall, probably being thrashed insensible by some nerdy kid half my age who can recite every attribute and skill of every single unit in his favourite faction; do please take me out of my misery and hit me up for beers instead! [Regular readers will notice that I frequently offer beer (or drinks of the person's choosing) as incentives in my posts. This is because I've realised that as much as I like to play all sports and games to win, the sports and games themselves don't actually matter, whereas sharing the sports and games definitely does. This epiphany is more easily obtained if you are a) Old and Wise™ or b) totally shit at the game, and therefore less likely to kid yourself it really matters or, as in my own case of course c) both. ]
Well, this does seem to be my inescapable destiny ... I feel a Tragic Haiku coming on! Warm days in Vigo Young men's callous hearts prevail Old men smile and drink
Okay, I am worried now. Is the Wargarage.org website not working for anyone else? I can't access it. I was going to make my submission to the contest yesterday, but I can't check the full requirements on their website.
Exactly, that is really annoying and not actually giving us any information about the unit besides few snippets. In my opinion unit description should follow different formula: general history, specialization of the unit (taking into consideration their in-game stats and history), something about unit composition (that is actually needed for all armies in general), special weapons and tactics used and then finally some "fluffy" stories from the unit history written as an actual story (full page or so) featuring iconic characters (if any) from that particular unit. I know that CB does not want too many characters in Infinity, but that is what builds the world. What really annoys me with all CB books is that between hundreds of names and places in the fluff, most are featured in one book or one story and never make a come back. The reader never has a chance to build any sort of care for the characters or those places. It is like a bad movie that fails to build any character so the viewer couldn't care less for them. Outrage does a better job, but I would hope to see some of it in the fluff as well.
Eh. Characters, arcs and long-term focus are often pretty overrated. These names and quotes and snippets are there to illustrate the setting, not tell a story.
And they do appear to be tying some of the characters together, from the Dire Foes into Uprising and then Third Offensive. I expect to see more of the exploits of Dart, for example, in the new book due at Adepticon. This has not been without criticism, however.
Both the Spanish and English site seems functional from where I'm browsing tonight (Thu 19 Feb) Infinity Writing Contest at Wargarage.org (English site) But I think the submissions are supposed to go by email anyway, before 28 Feb?
The thing is, we need Character somehow. Not 'Characters' in the sense of people or persons who undergo some sort of development over time, but 'Character' in the sense of how a faction or unit usually behaves, what makes someone join them, and so on. For example, in my head the Taskmasters are basically all a bunch of Judge Dredds in power armor, but by reading the blurb about them in the unit description you don't really get that feel. In fact, you get little to no feel because they're too small and too sparse to get a full picture. Things have changed for the better thanks to the RPGs, but it's a slow crawl towards good Character in Infinity.
YMMV, of course, but I am honestly really happy with this level of ambiguity. It's nice when a setting lets the audience's own imagination do a lot of the work. For the Taskmasters, you know their general role, how Bakunin works and how such things would play out in the world generally, which is enough. The details - mostly individualized and unimportant overall - are up to you. I'd be really sad if we saw Infinity get the same treatment as 40K has over the last decade or so, where every unit and organization is breathlessly detailed to the point of near-immobility. It's just served to make the setting dumber and more anodyne.
Despite my general criticism of the Uprising fluff, I didn't mind the soft-retcon (really just an expansion of the DF stories) that tied all the Dire Foes into a single story.
Yes, i think thats an important point. The CB’s Human Sphere is quite a remarkable achievement, but it is decidedly characterless - in the sense of flavour and texture you describe. I presume CB also realise that, and its a good part of the reason they produced Outrage. Apart from their obvious interest in graphic novels, they appreciate that telling actual stories in their universe will help provide that missing character, and hence they’re supporting this venture.
I'm sorry but I'm from Venezuela and, as some of you may know, things are a little complicated here. I'm happy you like it and I love there are people participating and making their best efforts, I want we help to give some "color" to Infinity's units and factions. @infoholico, how much longer are entries open?[/QUOTE] We'll be receiving entries until february 28. I'm sorry, we've been having some technical problems but it is online now. We want to help and stimulate Corvus Belli into publishing more fiction in the form of novels, comics and similar media.
Stay safe, @infoholico ! If things get ugly enough that you're more worried about eating (heaven forbid getting shot) than playing Infinity, do what you need to. Post a note announcing delays in the judging for the contest, get out of town for a while, whatever.
Thank you very much @Section9 , I'm worried mainly about the insuline for my kid running low, as well as the glucometers test stripes but there is not much I can do, even so, I'm trying to solve one way or another. This contest is not only a compromise with the community, but a way to forget our reality for a while, I will go ahead as far as I can.
Just remembering there are just two days left to send your sumbmissions ;) One of the prices is the upcoming expansion book
