User blog comment:Jed Revenant man/Suggesting for a possible collaborative idea./@comment-1824611-20130905094139

Ok, so immediate thoughts I'm having based on what people have said. I'd like your opinions on these suggestions - that's all they are at this point, suggestions. If anyone thinks I'm talking total bullshit, please feel free to say I'm thing total bullshit.

I'm thinking the primary conflict might well be best off being Chaos vs Imperials - since looking at articles by peeps who've shown interest, everyone has at least one faction from one of those, if not factions from both, plus that makes motivation fairly simple and story less likely to get over complicated. If other factions got involved it'd simply be a matter of finding a right motivation. Alternatively, it could be a completely different kind of war: like for example, Eldar vs Dark Eldar on an Imperial world being hampered not only by that but also a Chaos incursion.

Brings me on to motivation: while I'm hesitant to say the MacGuffin of Win (insert less shit name here) should be the reason armies gather (since it's so passé) if done correctly it might prove interesting. If it's Chaos vs Imperials for example, it could well be that Chaos wants a Daemonic MacGuffin of Win secreted on X planet ages ago to create an unassailable Daemon world, and the Imperium has to stop them (without most of the Imperial forces knowing what the fuck Chaos is up to). Alternatively, in my Eldar example, it could be an Eldar relic that they're fighting to get to before their Dark kin that is inconveniently situated on an Imperial world, that also holds interest for the powers of Chaos. Or a different kind of Chaos relic the Imperials don't know about so they want to kill the Eldar while simultaneously fighting off the a Chaos forces who also want the relic.

Now, Supahbadmarine raises two very good points. Firstly, any assemblies of more than one group from each faction (multiple craft worlds, multiple Imperial units, etc) needs a supreme Commander. Rather than pick characters who already exist for these roles, I think it would be a mite better if we created - as a group - brand new ones so as to make it fairer. After all, other Imperial guys wouldn't be happy if I just said "yup, my Restorers are in charge", same with Chaos and my Halor. If we create collaborative leaders, that way it's not like anyone's faction is being bossed about by anyone else's character - instead they're all being bossed around by character's everyone's created.

Next, we have to collaboratively decide on the plot before we write it: that's, the World, what it is that draws these factions to it, what the main combat zones are and who goes there, what the main engagements (the ones that build towards the conclusion) of the conflict are, and who wins. Minor engagements between forces can be written into the conflict too, and those can be decided by the author/s of those conflicts, but if the integrity of the main plot is to be maintained, then those minor conflicts would naturally not affect the main conflict's final outcome.

Those are some thoughts I've had. What do you guys think?