War is Child's Play / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page War is Child's Play.

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AUTHOR POST

Agent MacLeod 26 Jun 2015 09:58

Too many people to thank. Just, like, reply here to take credit.

This is meant to have five chapters; the remaining three will be added on the same way entries were added on to Incursion over an extended period. However, these two are both meant to be complementary standalones, as are the subsequent chapters.

I hope you folks enjoy reading it!

EDIT: Quick disclaimer that I should have made when I first posted this story: at points, this story deals with racial tension and outright racism; characters within this story explicitly use derogatory language and racial slurs. The opinions of these fictitious characters do not reflect my own opinions in any capacity and it is my intention that invocation of such provocative imagery positively impacts the narrative and provides insight into the characters expressing these negative opinions. I understand that it's an immensely sensitive issue and I hope it was handled in a way that is understandable

Last edited on 06 Jul 2017 07:16 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Re: AUTHOR POST

NovaeDeArx 26 Jun 2015 18:40

Props for doing your research - most people (well, most Americans anyway) don't know that if America hadn't nuked Japan, Russia would have rolled over the top of them in roughly 2-6 weeks. (Or that the Russians' actions trying to get there quickly are why South Korea really doesn't like communists, but that's not related to the story)

Anyway, this was fantastically written; you've done a great job of capturing the "feel" of war, both how it feels during and after, and the characterization is well-done also. You should definitely finish this.

I'll be replying to the original Author Post for updates from here on out, I think.

Agent MacLeod 24 Aug 2017 08:47

This story is something of a source of shame for me because of how much it has stagnated, incomplete. I hadn't initially intended for it to be this monolithic, multi-chapter novella that it's become. And, when I decided on the route I did, I hadn't anticipated that it'd stagnate for so long. I ran headlong into writer's block that, for this particular story, persists. Maybe I was too ambitious, I don't know. I do that sometimes.

However, I knew how this story was going to end fairly early into its expansion from its initial chapter into what it is set to become. One way I work around writer's block is to chip away at different stories from the one that's got me stumped. It just so happens that I finished the epilogue to this story a long time ago. It's been sitting in my sandbox in its current form for a very long time.

Since it's been two years since I updated, I figured I might as well give you guys something to show that I haven't forgotten, that I'm still trying to work out the kinks.

Sorry this has been delayed so long. I hope y'all enjoy what's here, and I hope I can deliver the rest sometime relatively soon.

Last edited on 25 Aug 2017 04:34 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Re: I'll be replying to the original Author Post for updates from here on out, I think.

Agent MacLeod 22 Mar 2018 05:40

Interlude is live.

Last edited on 22 Mar 2018 06:42 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Re: I'll be replying to the original Author Post for updates from here on out, I think.

Agent MacLeod 12 Nov 2018 05:58

Would it be in poor taste to include the content warning in the author post in the story itself?

Re: I'll be replying to the original Author Post for updates from here on out, I think.

Agent MacLeod 13 Nov 2018 04:25

Content Warning / Author's Note added to the text of the page.

Open Applications for Critics

Agent MacLeod 01 Aug 2021 12:20

This project has been dead in the water for years. However, I'd like to fix that. If you've read this story, liked it, and would like to help critique and iron out the remaining unfinished bits, I'd be very grateful. Just leave a comment here and if/when I have drafts that need attention for this project, I'll know who I can call on for help. Any responses to this comment are immensely appreciated.

Last edited on 30 Oct 2021 03:37 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Re: Open Applications for Critics

Prime Girl 09 Oct 2021 04:02

Hey, I just read this and quite enjoyed it. I'll gladly help critique any unfinished bits, if you like.

Re: AUTHOR POST

Agent MacLeod 27 Nov 2023 14:39

Hey um… Are the tags recently added to this tags that we actually use now? I've never seen those tags before but i don't want to revert the edit if it's actually within expectations.

Re: AUTHOR POST

LORDXVNV 27 Nov 2023 14:41

This should answer the questions you have: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/tale-tagging-guide

Re: AUTHOR POST

Agent MacLeod 28 Nov 2023 02:23

Ah. Thanks.

Robert Voor 26 Jun 2015 19:59

Thanks for reposting this. I really enjoyed it the first time, and didn't realize it'd gone away.

Was this section added or is my memory just failing me? Site-17, January 20, 1992
Sorry in advance for the thread-jack to come, but I skimmed over that date at first, and when reading, couldn't help but think that the tale up to this point would be a good way to insert SCP-2273 into the Resurrection canon. When you read the interview as a potential recruitment for Alpha-9 instead of as a threat assessment, it still works. He should be able to hold his own against an Orange Suit…

Last edited on 26 Jun 2015 20:01 by Robert Voor Show more

Agent MacLeod 26 Jun 2015 21:14

Na. If I write him into Resurrection, it'll only be one of two things: him turning the Foundation's offer down, or a cameo, and I'm still on the fence about Resurrection anyway.

And an Orange Suit would kick his ass.

Petrograd 07 Jul 2015 07:20

Tangent (but one of my favorite ones), but the only military skip I'd put money on against an Orange Suit would be SCP-2117. I'd love to read it, but don't quite have the balls to write it.

Belitrov is awesome, but he's still a grunt in what is probably outdated for even a White Suit. We're talking genre mismatch. He'd stand a better chance against a Fallout player character and the Brotherhood of Steel than any kind of OTT anime mecha or even Heinlein's Mobile Infantry.

Rancorious 16 Sep 2022 16:50

2117 feels like way more force than necessary to bring down an Orange Suit, to be honest, and to 2273's credit, his suit could allow him to carry some pretty heavy armaments, and his suit's biological nature might make it harder for sensors tuned to conventional technology to track him. Although he still has the issue of lacking anything truly groundbreaking like super-durability or earth-shattering strength, so it would be like pitting MCU Captain America against a Metal Gear.

Well, either that or he's a Heroic Spirit, in which case the mismatch would swing in the entirely opposite direction (just realized that battleboarders could use that one article to majorly buff 2273 because 'there is no canon', lol).

TL333s 26 Jun 2015 22:48

Fantastic. I love how much attention 2273 get; I wonder if there are any other Series III skips that have as many tales, series aside. Pairing him up with 191 was brilliant, as was expanding his backstory. I love the idea that the Engineers were war profiteers.

Agent MacLeod 26 Jun 2015 22:51

Why wouldn't they be profiteers? For them, it's not matter of costs and revenue, it's a matter of revenge.

TL333s 26 Jun 2015 22:55

Oh.

Well, that does put a different spin on things. I was just going off "they made suits for the Americans, too".

Agent MacLeod 26 Jun 2015 23:03

Yeah. In Alexeiverse, they weren't wiped out so much as temporarily slowed down. When WWI came around, they decided that they could take advantage of the huge divisions that existed in human culture and became the entire world's R&D department. Now, they're just watching and waiting for us to get out of their way.

Benjamin Stokes 26 Jun 2015 23:06

I really, REALLY want to like this, and to some extent I do… But there's something about the writing style that bugs me. The quotes are all quite long, with little to no descriptors of the speaker's manner and paralanguage; in other words, it reads like a transcription of a written conversation (a particularly well-thought-out text message exchange, maybe).

That stylistic approach would be fine, of course, except that the lack of description leads to the dialogue getting bogged down as it attempts to tell rather than show. People keep saying things that they shouldn't have to, which makes every line feel exposition-ey and breaks immersion.

The actual story is fine, though, even if I couldn't lose myself in it. I'm gonna neutral vote for now.

Last edited on 03 Jul 2015 23:33 by Benjamin Stokes Show more

Agent MacLeod 28 Jun 2015 14:15

Yeah, this thing is dialogue-heavy, I can't argue that. I'm pretty bad at "show, don't tell," and I felt letting the reader imagine what's going on while letting the folks talk about what's going on would be the best option, stylistically. I know it won't work for everyone, and if you don't like it, you don't like it, so I understand.

Benjamin Stokes 03 Jul 2015 23:34

Mmm, I know whatcha mean. I'll give it another reading sometime, maybe it'll click better.

AUTHOR POST

Agent MacLeod 27 Jun 2015 20:02

Minor update, all chapter names now visible.

And now, Prologue, "The Old Sailor from Massachusetts," is GO!

Last edited on 28 Jun 2015 08:16 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Andy Mok 28 Jun 2015 12:24

It's great to see new extensions to the Alexeiverse! +1

Still, a minor technical curiosity bugged me: why bother to re-chamber AK into 12.7mm when the Soviet already has the 12.7mm DShK machine gun? That doesn't quite suit Soviet doctrine, which always make use of what's already there first.

Agent MacLeod 28 Jun 2015 14:09

According to Wikipedia, the DShK is 1.6 meters long. (I'm not gonna bother mentioning weight, because, for these folks, it wouldn't be an issue.) Even sawing off the barrel would still leave it big and cumbersome. A beefed-up AK, on the other hand, can be significantly smaller, and easier to move when you're moving through, say, enemy bunker complexes, which are guaranteed to be CQB situations.

Plus, the AK is probably the most reliable weapons system ever constructed, so why not use it for the end of the world? That was my reasoning, anyway.

Last edited on 28 Jun 2015 14:10 by Agent MacLeod Show more

Scorpion451 07 Jul 2015 20:25

Also worth noting that one of the ways they made use of what they already had was making dozens of variants of the AK-47 and its descendants rather than designing an entirely new gun every time. Traded some optimization for being able to fix a gun made in the 90's with parts you found in the back of the warehouse next to a stack of WWII pinup magazines, basically.

Yaaaaaaaay!

Petrograd 07 Jul 2015 06:48

Yaaaaaaaay!

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

Agent MacLeod 07 Jul 2015 08:49

You seem awfully happy about a story that takes place in a post-nuclear hellscape.

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

NovaeDeArx 07 Jul 2015 17:14

Maybe he's from West Texas and was feeling homesick?

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

KholetteDrake 07 Jul 2015 17:24

West Texas does consist primarily of blasted hellscape and a significant dearth of civilisation. Then once you get out of town, it gets worse.

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

Scorpion451 07 Jul 2015 19:53

Also forgot the huge number of hazardous flora and fauna, and the crazy survivalists.

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

KholetteDrake 07 Jul 2015 20:23

True. But it's not like it's Australia. Everything isn't venomous and trying to kill you. Just most things.

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

Agent MacLeod 30 Oct 2021 04:19

No idea why I never responded to this, but when I was in West Texas, I *did* have at least one nightmare about nuclear horrors. Maybe you're onto something.

Re: Yaaaaaaaay!

Petrograd 08 Jul 2015 03:36

It just hits all my genre buttons, and I really enjoy the writing. :)

Last edited on 08 Jul 2015 03:36 by Petrograd Show more

Argenti Aertheri 20 Sep 2015 03:08

Moar plz! You've hit my feels, and I want to keep reading but I'm out of text :(

Agent MacLeod 20 Sep 2015 03:43

Eugh, I've been actively avoiding bringing attention to this (it's not even listed on my author page, for example) because I've been having trouble with Chapter 3.

Author Post

Agent MacLeod 29 Sep 2015 05:42

After way too damn long, Chapter 3 is GO!

Huge thanks to TheRaven, Fae, Decibelle, minmin, and an ungodly number of other people for helping me to make this happen.

Reader Survey

Agent MacLeod 17 Oct 2017 04:03

Who thinks it would be a good idea for me to post each chapter as its own tale and turn this page into a hub or summat?

Re: Reader Survey

(account deleted) 17 Oct 2017 15:51

I say keep it the way it is.

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