battle grounds - Writers Forum

GhostingReality101 · 08-03-2005, 08:00 PM

If you were seeking a location to for battle what sort of location would be ideal for you?

Gehrig · 08-03-2005, 08:14 PM

Depends on some things - like era, setting etc. Not much of a sci-fi guy, but many space battles around.

I prefer Civil War and WWI, WWII settings where you can individualize soldiers and set up a nice story.

You can use terrain, such as a fortress or cliff (high ground) to set up a favourite and an underdog.

Drzava · 08-03-2005, 08:18 PM

Yeah, that's way too vague. Who is fighting, where, over what, etc etc etc

GhostingReality101 · 08-03-2005, 08:31 PM

Its a fight to the death between as little as two civilizations or as many as 1000's of civilizatoins all trapped on the surface of a planet that puts each civilization in its ideal fighting enviroment. Once on the surface the chances of getting off are silm to none.

journyman161 · 08-03-2005, 10:30 PM

Sounds like the Well World. Try reading some of Jack L Chalker's series; it will give you a view on how to do it. Particularly later in the first 5 books when Nathan Brazil is trying to get to the Well of Souls with Mavra.

GhostingReality101 · 08-04-2005, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilyak1986

Depends what kind of battle. Fighting tournament? A ring. Huge epic battle? Vast space with terrain advantages such as higher ground. Want to build suspense? Have your characters try to infiltrate an enemy fortress and try to ninja their way through somewhere that they have no clue where they're going, with an enemy or a trap possibly lurking across every corner. What kind of boss will your heroes be fighting? If it's a huge monster, then an enclosed space really won't make for a nice duel, so have your godzilla bash down a castle wall. What if your arch-enemy is an equal (or perhaps large, but overly humanish-sized character) sized character? Well, how about a battle through the narrow halls of a ruined ancient city or floating city or whatever (ever seen gundam wing? Final battle between Wing Gundam Zero and Gundam Epyon. Duel through the abandoned corridors of space station Libra).

Really, there is no one ideal place for a battle. The type of battle dictates the setting. You're not going to have an army fight where a main character final battle should be held. You're not going to have a duel take place on a huge vast mountainous expanse that will hold armies. Come on now...think about it in depth a little bit.

You are exploring the vastness of space looking for a new home or a world to enslave, when you come across a planet the resembles your old home world. You decide to land and once on the ground the world is everything your civilization is looking. A large portion of your civilizations fleet lands and starts colonization, everything is going really well until another civilization comes across this world that your race is trying to colonize.The planet changes with the apperance of this new civilization almost as if it is reaching out into the minds of the other civilization to learn what that civilization is looking for. The planet is now covered in a misty fog, though while on the surface no mist is visible, it is only clouded from space.

This new civilization, sees in the planet exactly what it wants to see, a world take resources from and then leave behind.

However your civilizaton found the planet first and wants to protect it from being taken. Before any action can be taken, the remainder of the fleet is told to land and save those on the surface, they cannot take off none of their ships are working. The rest of the fleet lands and becomes trapped on the surface.

The other civilization takes a chance and sends a small landing group to the planet. This landing group gets trapped, and requests help from the rest of the fleet which also gets trapped once it lands.

With no way off the planet the two civilizations try to locate one another, it is then that the death tolls of each civilization begins to rise for unknown reasons and with each hour, the planet begins to merge the desires of these two races and form a very bizzare surface that suites each race. Though this is all a Mirage to lure those who want into to a trap where eventually they well die fighting others who have taken the lure or those who are hidden within the depths of this Battleground world that has everything to offer and even more to take.

playstation60 · 08-04-2005, 04:44 PM

When you have so many, or possibly so many different civilizations fighting against each other it is impossible to have each side be in ideal fighting conditions, because logically one side is going to have the disadvantage. In order for there to be a winner/survivor, someone has to have the upper hand.

Ilyak1986, the world of video games is completely separate from the world of writing, with the exception of writing a story within that world created in a game. Bosses are not a term that is used in writing about a war/battle between combatants. Boss brings to mind work, supervisors and the such.
The world of video games and literature are similar, but very much different. Try not to confuse the two.

Monkey King · 08-04-2005, 07:13 PM

From what you've discriped, if I were in the first civilazation, I would try to take some high ground that stood between my home and the bad guys. I'd set up as many traps as I could and try to destroy the way in (callaspe bridges or roads etc). If possible, force the attackers to come through a way that my forces could rain fire down on them from out of their range. Remember this isn't about setting up an honorable way to resolve differences, it's war. You fight to win. If there's an advantage to be gained from the terrain, you take it.

GhostingReality101 · 08-05-2005, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playstation60

When you have so many, or possibly so many different civilizations fighting against each other it is impossible to have each side be in ideal fighting conditions, because logically one side is going to have the disadvantage. In order for there to be a winner/survivor, someone has to have the upper hand.

Ilyak1986, the world of video games is completely separate from the world of writing, with the exception of writing a story within that world created in a game. Bosses are not a term that is used in writing about a war/battle between combatants. Boss brings to mind work, supervisors and the such.
The world of video games and literature are similar, but very much different. Try not to confuse the two.

Yes someone has the upper hand but its not the civilizations that are fighting.

Its the race of beings who live on Mirage otherwise known as a (Battleground world.) Only they know what the planet truly looks like, to everyone civilization that passes Mirage see it as a world that holds exactly what they want. This is a lure and once on the planet, their ships and other high tech that would help them defend themselves from the native beings or get off the planet stops working. They are then hunted down, or kept alive until another civilization finds its way to the planet.

playstation60 · 08-05-2005, 11:51 AM

[quote="Ilyak1986"]@ playstation60, a boss is any villain that is different from the ordinary bad guy that just dies within a page--a recurring enemy. For instance, if you were to novelize Star Wars ep 1: Phantom Menace, Darth Maul would be the BOSS. Why did I use boss? Because it's more comfortable than using final enemy or recurring enemy...

Darth Maul is not a boss, unless you are talking about in a VIDEO GAME. The novelization, which has been made, for the record.
Darth Maul is a VILLIAN, it's what we writers call the antagonist, of any sort.

And the world of videogames is NOT separate from writing, and that is what I am out to PROVE with my own work, that you can make writing come to life with vivid imagery and memorable characters while also having the work have a fast pace.

Video games are different in that they have music, and images, and things that just can't be accurately transferred into a story. Part of what makes Resident Evil so terrifying is the music. The sheer feel of the game is scary to most. That's not something you can get in a book, not in that way anyhow.

I WILL accomplish that, mark my words. Just you read and see!

I wish you the best of luck, but I don't think it's possible, I'm sorry.

GhostingReality101 · 08-05-2005, 12:05 PM

[quote="playstation60"]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilyak1986

@ playstation60, a boss is any villain that is different from the ordinary bad guy that just dies within a page--a recurring enemy. For instance, if you were to novelize Star Wars ep 1: Phantom Menace, Darth Maul would be the BOSS. Why did I use boss? Because it's more comfortable than using final enemy or recurring enemy...

Darth Maul is not a boss, unless you are talking about in a VIDEO GAME. The novelization, which has been made, for the record.
Darth Maul is a VILLIAN, it's what we writers call the antagonist, of any sort.

And the world of videogames is NOT separate from writing, and that is what I am out to PROVE with my own work, that you can make writing come to life with vivid imagery and memorable characters while also having the work have a fast pace.

Video games are different in that they have music, and images, and things that just can't be accurately transferred into a story. Part of what makes Resident Evil so terrifying is the music. The sheer feel of the game is scary to most. That's not something you can get in a book, not in that way anyhow.

I WILL accomplish that, mark my words. Just you read and see!

I wish you the best of luck, but I don't think it's possible, I'm sorry.

I do plan to release a soundtrack with my book series, in doing this I hope to at least give you the types of soundscapes and a feel for the atmosphers of the locations through my books. If anything I think it would be very interesting to try to produce a soundtrack for a book or many books...

playstation60 · 08-05-2005, 12:24 PM

That is a very novel (pardon the pun) idea. I can honestly say that I've never really heard of a BOOK having a soundtrack to it.

Ilyak1986,
Another thing to remember when comparing video games and books is that video games are audio/visual stimulation. You ARE the character, and what YOU choose the character to do has a direct result in how the story goes. If you're playing Resident Evil and you decide to just roam the halls, you're going to end up dead, eaten by a zombie. In a book you follow the actions of character(s). You have no control over what happens, at all. Save for Choose Your Own Adventures, which have thankfully fallen out of vogue years ago.

Dookie · 08-05-2005, 01:51 PM

I'm actually writing a story at the moment that also involves a lot of battles. It is not sci fi though, it is set back in the time of knights and so on. But it might be in a fantasy world, I dont know yet.

I think the best terrains for battles are just big open fields. That's where all real battles took place and they were pretty coooo.

Hey I quite like the idea of stories being sorta like computer games. Computer games can exaggerate things to maximum equivalent which is nice as nice can be. I now, thanks to this specific forum, think I am going to make the BOSS/VILLIAN an eight foot tall muscly guy. With a hammer.

playstation60 · 08-05-2005, 02:18 PM

I like battles that take place in diverse conditions....not all just in open fields. Have battles in a city's outskirts, or along a highway. With as industrialized as the world is now, most major battles to take place in anything other than a "3rd world" country would almost certainly touch a city of some sort. Be creative, try and do something no one else has done....maybe a underwater battle...or a multi dimensional time battle that is a really big chess match (each side has to go back into time to try and prevent the other from doing something to prevent them from gaining the upper hand).

GhostingReality101 · 08-05-2005, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playstation60

I like battles that take place in diverse conditions....not all just in open fields. Have battles in a city's outskirts, or along a highway. With as industrialized as the world is now, most major battles to take place in anything other than a "3rd world" country would almost certainly touch a city of some sort. Be creative, try and do something no one else has done....maybe a underwater battle...or a multi dimensional time battle that is a really big chess match (each side has to go back into time to try and prevent the other from doing something to prevent them from gaining the upper hand).

think of how bizzare it could be to be fighting and then all of the sudden the terrain you are fighting on changes and so does the atmospheric compostion of where you are fighting.