Fanfiction Rules

[The Veteran]

Right. Now this is pretty much unedited so there may be bits that I should've changed and didn't but there you go...

Anyone writing in the fic should have read through these... If you haven't do it now... This is pinned and closed so you can't reply but it won't be lost in the fanfic section!

Enjoy.

 

First thing to mention is character rights. So basically any characters who actually belong to XTC members participating in the fic MUST NOT be killed or maimed in any irreversible way (that applies to the maiming not the killing which in my experience is almost always irreversible)

Any characters that are simply filling space, such as the black guy on horror films, CAN be maimed or killed by pretty much any participating character as long as it is realistic enough to make good reading (that we'll come to later)

On the other hand though it would be much appreciated if everyone writing in the fic when it comes to being does try to write about other characters than themselves. There will be a 'Fanfic discussion and character profiles' thread where each writer can inform everyone else exactly in which direction their particular epic is going. Or alternatively this is a place where writers can inform others that they do not wish for them to write about their actions for a certain amount of time (Anyone familiar with the Apocalypse fanfic will understand that Carlos and Trigger currently have this kind of storyline in progress)

 

Secondly, comes posting and discretion to a small degree. As this is intended to both read well and remain interesting there are a few guidlelines to be set in this area.

Firstly comes the times for posting. Each person may post ONCE in the fanfic at any time each day. Noone may post twice in one day. Editing of old posts is allowed any time but must not affect the storyline and should only occur to correct spelling, grammar or consistency errors. This is primarily to ensure that one person does not write the entire fic and that large developments cannot occur too quickly that some writers cannot contribute to them.

The length of posts must also be considered for the same reason, therefore posts should be kept reasonably short wherever possible. Obviously occasions will arise where it is inconvenient to stop writing at a certain point, for example mid conversation or while a new development is being revealed. This factor of writing in the fic is really down to the writer as noone can judge the amount they have written until it is written. There is no minimum length for a fanfic post but they should contain at least enough to make them relevant in the fic. (if in doubt simply imagine how the fic would read without your post)

The last point on this section is that the same writer may NOT enter two consecutive posts even if the fic has not been written in for over a day. The reason that people are not posting may simply be that they are not able to so again it would be unfair to remove the chance of these people to write.

 

Thirdly we are on to Realism. As XCom is indeed simply a game following a ficticious plot it is at no point going to follow any kind of realistic plot. So by realism I do not necessarily mean realistic. I simply mean that all aspects of the fanfic, given the parameters of the game it is based on, should be believable. Even if certain things entered in a fanfic can add character and a little extra amusement it is not always a good idea to use them. For an example I use the whole 'chicken' incident in the apocalypse fanfic.

This for those of you who don't know was an incident in which an XCom interceptor had engaged an alien saucer. After exchanging several volleys the traditional way, the XCom pilot decided to charge down his weapons and fly directly at the enemy craft. The alien craft also powered down weapons and increased it's speed.

Amusing though this was, and technically it would be possible for the game to allow this as manual piloting was a feature, the alien saucer would not increase speed, would not fly towards the interceptor and would have shot it out of the sky before it was even close.

It's this kind of scenario that is best avoided. Try to keep the fanfic realistic and it will read much better as it will simulate more of a structured storyline.

There is of course, as there always is, one exception to this rule. Human characters. As is so often the case in many television shows and films, the important characters in a fanfic cannot be killed off except by their creator. Therefore several zany things may happen to save a human character from certain doom! But again this must still remain believable. For example, a character is sitting on a grenade and gets blown half way to hell. He would probably die in the game. We cannot have that but he would be critically wounded and fall unconscious. Someone with a medikit woult then need to attend to ensure his safety (again the Apocalypse fic contains Trigger's near death and loss of heart and eyes, a good demonstration)

All things like this must be taken into consideration and avoided whenever possible. When this is not possible they must be justified as described here.

 

Fourth is the base and areas. In both of the previous fics people have been unsure of what the base looks like and it has been blown out of all proportion (the apocalypse base having way too many floors in one description) To avoid this happening in the new fic a base must be constructed. Everyone knows the original XCom base. Three hangars and all the junk inbetween. Anything else will be added at a later date and will be mentioned both in the fic and the discussion forums. The base being used in the Enemy unknown fanfic will continue to be the pine gap facility in Australia. The base features an overground airstrip and large hangar which will be removed soon after XCom's official formation, and six rows of four radar dishes atop the hill of the installation, twenty four in all. These dishes will also be removed at a later date.

Inside the base everything is very much a work in progress but the hangars and living quarters as well as the short range radar and general stores are all nearing completion as the story begins. On top of the base facilities featured in the game there will be the MEDICAL BAY, or MED-LAB. To avoid confusion this is what everyone will refer to the room as in the fic and it is clearly where all of XCom's wounded are cared for. There is also the much talked about REC-ROOM. This is where the soldiers scientists and engineers alike will spend any spare time they have. A firing range will also exist for troop training alongside the gym. This will officially be the TRAINING COMPLEX but will probably be referred to simply as the above names. The ARMOURY will house all of XCom's tactical equipment and for the sake of the fic it will be located seperately to the general stores. Enough said really, before tactical missions troops retrieve armour and weapons from this room. That's it. The troops also need feeding so the MESS or CANTEEN or whatever you wish to refer to it as will be situated along with all of the others one floor below the actual military base. This is simply for eating and any conferences and meetings taking place in the base, recruitment for example.

And that's it for Pine Gap Military Base. The only other thing that I feel obliged to point out in this section is the word MEDI-KIT. That is what the game calls the med-kits and medikits that the old fics are so attaced to. So if everyone can try to remember that along with the words MED-LAB, ARMOURY and CANTEEN then it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Following on sequentially (yeah you don't have a clue what that means do you!) is the organisation itself. XCom. Extraterrestrial Combat unti. Once known as X-INV, the Extraterrestrial Investigation unit. The organisation switched names when the aliens were discovered to be without a doubt bad seeds. XCom is an American run Organisation and as such is completely top secret BUT! Unlike most top secret places in the world today, XCom actually is secret! So noone knows about it. The organisation itself is headed by the XCom commander who will be decided upon later. I believe it will be myself as it was previously but that affects nothing here. A character which I will retain is David "Dameon" Bossguy. He is the evil American Dictator like head of the commitee of funding countries. This itself is the source of all money for XCom and so is very necessary for the running of the whole anti-alien campaign. This guy David would very much like to think of himself as in control of the whole thing but really he never is so he just provides a little amusement at the monthly summit meeting of the funding countries which will take place on a different continent each month. Inside the organisation everything is pretty much self contained. They build their own gear, find their own guys and shoot their own aliens. Anyway I don't imagine I need to go on anymore about this particular topic seeing as that's the reason that you all found this site! So moving on...

 

And the next section is on the tactical missions that the fic will revolve around when it gets going. The tactical mission begins in the fic whenever someone decides to write in an ufo sighting or a terror attack or anything similar (missions such as this will be covered shortly) They will begin generally with the shooting down of an alien saucer by XCom interceptors or later in the game, Lightnings, Avengers and Firestorms. The pilots of these craft will also be incorporated into the fanfic and as such will make up a large part of the tactical mission. When engaging larger UFOs than the regular scout ships an interesting shootout may occur, sometimes involving two or even more interceptors if another base or hangar is built. Therefore this is the first stage of a tactical mission.

When the UFO is safely on the ground the story will turn to the Skyranger or other transport craft which will take the selected squad to the crash site or mission zone. This will include the kitting out of the soldiers to fly the mission and the selection of which squad this will be. The journey over in the craft may also be contained in this section of the tactical mission.

After this there is the actual mission and this takes place as would any normal tactical mission in the game itself. Each writer is given free control of the entire squad in this situation NO EXCEPTIONS. So a rookie may control the Commander's actions (if he is present which will not be the case for a long while yet) and vice versa.

What I don't want to see here is a lot of unrealistic superhero fighting. This is what killed the previous fanfic! The battle will almost always contain human casualties and early on in the game will often result in deaths. The ways in which an alien dies and a human moves and numerous other things in a tactical mission all rely strongly on the game. Slight variations can be used but only small! It is vital that the terrain and AI remain what they were in the game. We will have no 100% accurate troops or commando army men in these missions, even if the character IS a commando army man! Basically the rules for tactical missions are DO NOT be a hero with your character (it is often better to write yourself as a casualty as many people find this hard to do but it must be done) and be sure to stick to the game 99%!

Of course one more thing that is important to remember (and which I neglected to point out) is that many of the tactical missions undergone by XCom in the fic will somply not be written about other than to point out to readers that they have happend. As there are so many squads in XCom it means that there will be a large number of missions undergone by rookies with no connection to the real writers' characters. Put simply we won't write in the cannon fodder missions (except possibly that horrendous terror site they have to attend which leads to them all getting slaughtered! )

 

Another very important aspect that needs mentioning to avoid the catastrophe of the last fnfic is conspiracy and timelines! The original fanfic was littered with suits and organisations right from the word go. Bear in mind that for the first month noone even gets contacted by aliens. The second month and abductions and cattle mutilations begin. But only in month three do we want to begin with government unhappiness. And this is a pay cut! Nothing else! It will take at least four or five months IN THE FIC for any countries to become interested in closing us down and siding with the aliens.

Also the aliens have no idea about the location of the Pine Gap installation and will NEVER have anyone on the inside. It doesn't happen it the game so it doesn't happen in the fic. The only intelligent alien is an Ethereal and most people would notice one of them walking around the labs!

The timeline comes into importance not only for conspiracies but for mission types, research and alien activity. Missions in month one as pointed out will me small UFOs and very rare. In month two there will be medium ufo sightings and possibly an occasional (but not difficult) terror attack. The third month brings regular scouting missions, medium and large UFO sightings and more frequent terror attacks. There may even be alien bases making appearances by now but that will be considered closer to the time.

And so on. All is really common sense but I feel it needs pointing out to avoid the chaos of the last fic.

 

Research and manufacture next. Obviously a drain on the next point I'm going to make but that can wait until I'm ready to make it! Basically though, Manufacturing goods for XCom relies on researching them first anyway so forget manufacture for now while I talk about research. Research... Right. Well basically to use something we need to make it, to make something we need to know how to take it apart, to take stuff apart we need to know how it works and to know how stuff works we need scientists to tell us! So it's all basically down to the scientists in the long run. These will feature as a large part of the functioning of the XCom base at Pine Gap as will the Engineers. Some of them will hopefully have backgrounds and characters provided by their writers.

First thing's first though, we need to find some stuff for the scientists to play with. That's why there's the section on tactical missions! Yeah you knew it was there for a reason didn't you? Well this is why! At the end of a tactical mission everything that our wreckless rookies haven't destroyed will be stuffed into small plastic bags and taken home for the resident boffin to study. That is basically all there is to it!

And now back to manufacturing which I will put very simply as I am completely knackered! Basically if it has been researched and can be built and afforded then hey presto! Expect your delivery in eight to ten weeks! Or something similar... And that's another section done! Phew, someone out there had better appreciate this!

 

And now doen to the all important money subject! So important that I feel the amount I have to write about it may be dwarfed by the introduction! There really is very little to say. Put simply it is a story so we can have as much money as we need! Monthly summit meetings will be called for the commander to attend in which any funding changes will be made and the funding for the next month will be provided. That is pretty much that I think. Clearly money IS important in the long run as what can we do without it? It gives me an idea for a good addition but I'm having that sub plot to myself until we're ready for it in about two months game time! But basically research, manufacture, construction, salaries, upkeep and all sorts of things are going to be draining XCom's funds so it will be important to mention the fact that the money is actually being used. It could give the fic the realistic edge it needs.

 

Last section you'll all be pleased to hear! Troops and squads. As was intended in the previous Enemy Unknown fic I'd like to begin with a large amount of troops. Preferably about 60 soldiers and the one tank you begin the game with (a tank cannon) This way we have our six squads of ten which in time will be whittled down to fifty and five squads then down to forty and so on. Eventually we are left with twenty of the most elite soldiers known to man. Basically, two squads, a night shift and a day shift alternating every week. Of course come the avenger we'll have a much larger crew than that but we have a year or so before that happens!

Each squad will contain one squad leader, one medic, and 8 soldiers. All rookies. The medic will still be armed and capable of fighting but this member of the team will be able to work miracles with his medi-kit on wounded friendlies. The elimination of snipers, sappers and whatnot just simplifies the game. It will become clear at a later date who is what by the weapons that they choose or that are assigned to them by their squad leader.

In the way of ranking, all soldiers will start as rookies and the base will have one commander and one NCO. If the fanfic steers in the same direction as last time which I believe it will do theses two posts will belong to Warlord and myself. The actual ranking will be dealt with after each mission in the fanfic by the squad leader although discussion of pending promotions will take place in the discussion and character profiles topic as well.

Squad assignments as always will also take place in the fanfic discussions and character profiles thread. This thread does not currently exist but I will create it as soon as these guidelines have been posted. Which I believe will be soon as I am almost finished. Needless to say recruiting begins imminently and anyone is welcome to put forward a character. As I said earlier, many of the characters used will at some point be killed off so these characters are probably best not to be human controlled. However anyone who would like a character in their name, even if they don't wish to contribute to the fanfic themselves, is welcome to submit a name and callsign for their character. Just go over to the topic now and see what you think to the idea.

 

And that as far as I can think wraps it up. So please read, enjoy and feedback as much as you can. I hope you all enjoy writing in the fic much more than I enjoyed writing this! See you in Cydonia!