Testing the waters (story idea)

[Zeealex]

Hi all!

 

How ya doing?

 

So you guys may or may not know, I like to write in my spare time, I find it quite fun, and with the release of breakpoint not far around the corner, I've been getting a lot of story ideas to start writing again.

 

I still have that really old, really bad story in the back of my mind from when I was like, 12 as to what NOT to do (dont go there, trust me, the whole thing is an acid trip) 

 

Not a lot is known on a lot of subjects within the Ghost Recon-verse. And I thought of a kind of 'origin story' for the ghosts. Set in the Bosnian war of the 1990's 

 

I want to write it as close to Clancy style as I can get. But my big thing is, would you guys as a community want to see that? 

 

Do you guys have any ideas for it?

Thanks!

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Zeealex

[Jack Wachter]

It's an interesting premise. I took a glance at the wikia to see what the established history and seems like the setting is appropriate.

As for writing in the Clancy style, I don't feel that's necessary (granted I haven't read Clancy novels). Up to you though.

How much creative liberty are you looking at using with this in terms of the established lore?

One of the questions I'd ask is what role the Ghosts are supposed to have versus other JSOC units of the time. May be better to find a specific niche for the Ghosts to fill within JSOC so that it feels more like its own thing. Maybe something with less of a direct action focus than Delta and DEVGRU? I'd probably start the story a little bit before the formation of Ghost Recon to give time to play around with what they are supposed to be.

[Zeealex]

37 minutes ago, Jack Wachter said:

It's an interesting premise. I took a glance at the wikia to see what the established history and seems like the setting is appropriate.

As for writing in the Clancy style, I don't feel that's necessary (granted I haven't read Clancy novels). Up to you though.

How much creative liberty are you looking at using with this in terms of the established lore?

One of the questions I'd ask is what role the Ghosts are supposed to have versus other JSOC units of the time. May be better to find a specific niche for the Ghosts to fill within JSOC so that it feels more like its own thing. Maybe something with less of a direct action focus than Delta and DEVGRU? I'd probably start the story a little bit before the formation of Ghost Recon to give time to play around with what they are supposed to be.

yeah, I've researched the lore pretty heavily already, I'm writing out a few 'plots' that tie up a few loose threads and tie in the old ghost recon games better with the newer ones. I know the Ghosts was formed in 1994, and Buzz Gordon was one of the first TL's so I'm focusing on centralising the story on him 

I think a clancy-esque style of book would be good for the overall universe tbh, not necessarily as long but written as a thriller, rather than action. 

I do recommend Tom Clancy books, by the way, they're great!

[Jack Wachter]

As far as connecting old games to new games, would that mean you plan on having the story continue on past the origin part?

[Zeealex]

Yeah, so it becomes a set of narratives. So the origin story would be one part, then another few that bridge the gap between then and White Razor, and GRAW and Wildlands. While also setting up a few things for them looking forward. 

 

It's difficult to explain but I'm already writing one set in 2016 that sets up a new team while closing some open plots.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Zeealex

[Jack Wachter]

Oh that sounds cool. Could maybe use some of the OGR mods for inspiration or just use them in some fashion (Blood Oil and Frostbite come to mind).

[Rocky]

Do it. DO IT 🐵

[die7]

It would be nice to read it, I am from Bosnia and was in that war, I can support you on this topic

[Zeealex]

Okay, so I've managed to so far get a solid plan for at least one story which follows Blackjack; a new purpose built Ghost team for black and guerrilla operations. 
Progress is slow, currently on page 34, but it's coming together pretty nicely, I'm wanting to be as accurate as possible so I'm doing more research than writing at present. 

I don't want to be giving too much of it away until I'm certain on every factor but the primary mission is set in 2016 in Kusong, North Korea. 

Blackjack Team(2016):
Ace - Team Leader/EOD(CBRN) Technician
Cyclops - ATL/Weaponsmith 
Chiron - Medic
Cipher - Intelligence Liaison
 

The team is for the most part pretty low tech, and operates almost completely comms dark; no cross comm eyepiece, no drone, they don't take US made Night Vision equipment either, which means they're usually relegated to Generation I or II night vision equipment. They're highly trained in OPFOR weapons and equipment and use equipment captured from operations as early as White Razor(2008)

In terms of the "origin story" I'm still heavily researching that, trying to figure out the most logical way for the Ghosts to come into fruition and what they would be doing on their first operation out, but I'm planning the story to start on the heels of the battle of Mogadishu. 

[Rocky]

Sounds great. Would be cool if you finished this, then someone took it up to make a campaign from it!

[nyleken]

This reminds me of how messy the Ghost Recon lore is. People over at /r/ghostrecon still debate over whether they're actually still Green Berets or not!

Here's my headcanon: the Ghosts were initially formed out of elements of the 5th SFG to field test the Land Warrior system in a direct action capacity (we don't see the Ghosts doing a whole lot of UW or FID, the traditional niche of the Green Berets). After that is where it gets tricky. We know from Weaver and Fury that they take operators from different branches of the military as both are from DEVGRU, but Weaver was also made a Master Sergeant, which suggests the Ghosts are still primarily an Army unit.

Eh, I don't know. Nomad mentions that he's from "Ghost Recon" during the R6 crossover mission, which sounds pretty lame. I've always thought of the Ghost moniker being a nickname.

[Zeealex]

Yeah, it's a big grey area,

The lore is so messed up. And I'm planning on writing these to fix it up a little. 

I know the Ghosts didn't need to follow the gender rules when they were founded, but it said nothing about branches. 

 

Honestly that's the biggest thing I want right now, is a lore cleanup. 

 

Ubi arent likely to do it. Having said that though, after the failure of breakpoint it might kick them up the butt a bit.

 

While I'm here, some slight alterations

 

Ace is now a PSYOPS specialist. 

Cyclops is now EOD/weaponsmith. 

 

 

My theory for the Ghosts creation, And it's revealing a little from the origin story. Was that they were comprised primarily of 1st SFOD operators after Mogadishu. They were formed to be the 'new delta' as 1st SFOD's presence was known to the public at that point and it's likely they had been led to believe that several of their operations had been compromised. 

The ghosts were founded in Ft Bragg and trained with 1st SFOD in Germany before deploying to Bosnia as their shakedown run.

 

 

[die7]

Sounds a bit as joint task force (game) it starts in Mogadishu ends in Bosnia

[nyleken]

I agree, Ubisoft should really consider cleaning up the Ghost Recon lore. That way we won't have to deal with arguments about who the Ghosts are.

Granted I still sort of want them to be Green Berets, doing what Green Berets do best.

Hell, I even think an open world Ghost Recon game where you nurture and assist a guerilla force would be pretty neat. Ubisoft loves having dynamic elements in their games, why not a Ghost Recon game with a dynamic campaign that reacts to your actions?

[ApexMods]

On 07/02/2020 at 04:46, nyleken said:

 

I agree, Ubisoft should really consider cleaning up the Ghost Recon lore. That way we won't have to deal with arguments about who the Ghosts are.

Granted I still sort of want them to be Green Berets, doing what Green Berets do best.

 

 

I wouldn’t count on Ubisoft to clean up... anything. Zeealex, on the other hand, may be able to give us the GR lore the game deserves. I sure would love to read a story that ties it all up nicely, possibly in Tom Clancy style.

Heck, I could envision a bestselling novel, movie rights, hollywood blockbuster, Oscar nomination... Go get‘em girl! 👍

[Zeealex]

on that note.

New story in progress: Quarterback

Settles some loose threads from GRAW and sets up the baseline for Blackjack's story with some subtle nods to Wildlands too.

Little bit more Actiony than the others because there's a lot going on. Buut, hopefully still will be a good read. Updates to follow!


The origin story is taking some time because i'm researching the hell out of it to make sure the setting is authentic etc.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Zeealex

[Zeealex]

God, I found my old story from when I was a kid... I kinda wanna live stream myself reading it. But I don't want to end up streaming my death from cringe overload...

[Rocky]

😂😂😂😂😂

[Zeealex]

58 minutes ago, Rocky said:

😂😂😂😂😂

legit I can't even get past the 3rd line without dying of embarrassment.

My Fiance and I are going to hold a competition to see who can get the furthest

 

[Zeealex]

I've been debating on whether or not I should treat the events of Breakpoint as canon. 

 

While in some ways it does contribute to where I'm going with Blackjack team, the story was just so abhorrently outlandish I'm not sure if I should.

 

 

Thoughts?

[ApexMods]

Please don’t. 😖

[ApexMods]

Honestly, I cannot even see how anything after (maybe) GR2 could be part of a reasonably believable story arc, at least one that would honor Tom Clancy’s iconic fact based and science driven style.

[Zeealex]

5 hours ago, ApexMods said:

Honestly, I cannot even see how anything after (maybe) GR2 could be part of a reasonably believable story arc, at least one that would honor Tom Clancy’s iconic fact based and science driven style.

Quarterback takes place just before/during GRAW 😬

[ApexMods]

Good to hear. 🙂

[nyleken]

Breakpoint, no. Wildlands, sure. Not the greatest story but having US SOF screw around in South America is very, very plausible.

 

I don't know if you've read Sean Naylor's Relentless Strike but there's definitely some good stuff in there for inspiration (and I'm only 13% done with the book), such as Delta testing out new tech like cams mounted on aircraft or how JSOC's SMUs are organized.