Both ideas have merit:
Aliens - whats their motivator? What sort of aliens are they? Can we identify with them? Will they be looking to be political and play us off against one another? Are they planet locusts? Machines? Chrome Robots with that 60's vibe?
Fantasy - Are we talking dark lord armies, or glittering Paladins riding griffons? Do they want to "purge our evil" or are they a gritty fantasy world? Is it a Sauron expy? Is the magic elemental, demonic or a variation therein?
Lots of questions but wanted to see what your thoughts were about the basics of the two options?
For myself, I'd go for bio-organic alien invaders, so something completely at odds with the rest of the setting. And you could set up some crazy Earth Defence style stories.
For Fantasy, having the invaders as noble knights, paladins, all Lawful Good, could be an interesting twist - they think they're here to stop the evil of BOTH sides of the Cold War? In their eyes, both sides are hideous armies of mooks who want to conquer the world through slaves and shadow armies. So they want to strike out and "slay the dark lord" (The leaders of both countries?)
For the aliens the most basic idea I have now is that they don't want the planet for it's resources but more for the fact that it's a thriving green world that can support life, it's a colony world they want. Seems sympathetic right? Well the Aliens do have their own command structure and the higher ups are less sympathetic, sure they want a new colony world for their growing population... just with subjugation of the local indigenous lifeforms to the planet for easy labour. A lot of Poor Communication Kills and the road to hell being paved with somewhat good intentions (the colony world for growing population not the slavery part).
As for the fantasy world it's more gritty than high fantasy, magic is mundane but not in the common way, more in the used for common items by people knowledgeable about it sort of mundane. Sort of like how in earlier days of war a Rifleman was a specific class of soldier who had the training and skill to use a rifle.
The plan I had for the empire was that they invaded because they heard about unconquered land through a portal to another realm and wished to seize it. Though I like the idea of many of the soldiers of the Empire from the fantasy realm thinking they are going to conquer a great evil, something of Empire Propaganda.
The Empire itself wouldn't really be evil, not exactly, some of the commanding officers would be heavily corrupt and the Emperor would be somewhat useless being in a advanced age. And of course Deliberate Values Dissonance would be there as well. Of course being the cold war there is a lot of Grey-and-Gray Morality about.
So... Half-Life.
edited 7th Apr '15 11:02:58 AM by DeusDenuo
I suppose so. I decided to go with the fantasy world because it hasn't been done a lot and thus provides a interesting look. Especially with the cold war going on.
Besides being a Fantasy set in 1981, how else is it not Half-Life?
I can see the main character running around and racking up a troublingly high number of successes, with nothing but protective wear and a +5 Vorpal Crowbar - the setting is not the issue here, and Cold War-era tech would make the fight more even in a way. I've seen your ideas before, and I doubt it ends there - c'mon, show the rest of your cards for this one! 
Well I wouldn't say it's like Half Life. No one on our side opened the portal, which is pretty much all realistic physics.
I'll start off the idea I got so far with a description of the event that changed the course of history.
"January 2nd, 1981 12:00am a Portal Mysteriously appears in London, England. From this gate comes a wave of men in armored suits with strange beasts and other humanoid beings. Within the hour they overtake the center of London in a slaughter, bathed in blood they raise a flag of their land. The UN sends in Peacekeepers to try and resolve this situation, this event is forever known as the New Years Massacre"
In short, Portal Opens, Fantasy Empire invades, things don't end out well. chose London after talking to a friend about the ideal location since both the US and Russia step into the portal and I needed a reason for both to get in. Russia for how close it is, US for it's ties with England during the Cold War.
In this story there are no one man armies or Gordon Freemans. Plus no side is instantly outclassed, sure modern weaponry is far more devastating towards the fantasy world, but said fantasy world has fantastical beasts and mages who can cause explosions with but a few words. Of course modern world manufacturing and experimentation pushes that out a bit.
It's a general grayer setting of mine, with all the paranoia and worry of the cold war, a setting where no one if tomorrow will come or if it all may end in nuclear fire.
Yeah, I wouldn't use the UN that quickly. It has always taken them freakin' forever to actually get deployed anywhere (UNIFIL
took 4 days to get there, and that was only because forces were already in the area), and logistics of the era would have prevented a full-on deployment that could in any way be called "rapid". Plus, "Peacekeeper" is a bit literal; they're there to keep the peace, not win one.
You want NATO instead (they would be caught a little off-guard by it not being the Soviets, I think). Article 5 is very specific about armed attacks on member nations, and is meant to kick in before the UN Security Council can get out of bed that morning. This is of course after the conventional UK forces have had their go.
(For historical accuracy, it's the "Soviet Union" and not just Russia. Yes, the Russians were running it; no, they weren't fooling anybody.)
So there's one problem: how do the Soviets get to be in London to step through the portal? They've already invaded Afghanistan a couple of years ago (with less... finesse than what has recently happened in Ukraine - and for Security Council reasons there aren't any Peacekeepers there even as I write this), so the UK won't want them there even if they have benign intentions. And if they don't... NATO calls it an invasion and nuclear tensions skyrocket.
Way I see it, it's difficult to have both the Soviets as an active contributor to the storyline, and East-West nuclear tension. I have two suggestions, if you absolutely need to keep the Soviets in the storyline.
First, the portal doesn't open on London, which is a densely populated city, then and now, and would really only be useful as an invasion foothold to prevent an immediate large-scale counterattack. After the first couple of days, it's a major city in a major country that just cries out for attempts to take it back, and it's got enough people who think "we rebuilt it once, we'll do it again". I'd suggest Iceland, Sweden, or Finland; the former has never had a standing army and is distant enough to prevent an immediate NATO-scale counterattack, while the latter two aren't NATO or Warsaw Pact members and so would be more open to a United Intelligence Taskforce (or whatever you're going to call it) going through. All three are small enough (I think combined they would've had London's metro population) that an initial invasion would be successful and curb-stompy, but also have enough natural resources that would make an invasion worthwhile.
Or, second. After the initial NATO counterattack, a multinational UN "Peacekeeper" team takes over. Things remain testy (Afghanistan is still under occupation), but the Soviets have made it abundantly clear that an extra-dimensional invasion isn't something they can afford to be picky over. The side-effect is that this chills the nuclear tension down considerably, but the narrow British streets prevent military logistics officers from getting any sleep.
...what sort of storyline is it?
The Soviets are a big part as its 3 parties in a tough political climate, especially with a newcomer that demands land and abides by outdated laws and practices yet has the power to keep those practices.
The story is a bit of a political thriller, what with the politicians and bureaucrats trying to negotiate peace (and more importantly fresh resources from a unpolluted world) with standard in the trenches views of the grunts. Two teams of which are being forced to work together.
So Finnland, Iceland, and Sweden are the best options for the New Years Massacre. So perhaps one of them attempts to drive the invading force back, NATO and Warsaw step in and demand a slice of the pie. Forcing political climates even higher.
What sort of resources, then? Food? Power? Magic? Or is there a possibility for trade: our "magic" for their rare-earth metals?
And what sort of magic is it that the Empire uses?
Well plant life. Ores. Gems. Water. A lot of basic resources.
As for the magic of the empire, their mages use a lot of offensive magic which can range from tearing out chunks of the ground to hurl at enemies to causing the air around you to combust.
Hello everyone, Silence is world building again, Why? Because I like to.
So here is a new idea to kick about for all of you.
The general setting is it's during the Cold War, the date is 1981 January 2nd, the New Year just begun literally yesterday, Ronald Reagan is the President, and already something life changing has happened.
Now the issue is I have two ideas I have running and I want them to be poked and prodded until we have the right one.
Situation Number 1 is that the world has gone Xcom and Aliens have invaded, why? I sadly have not figured that out but the resulting invasion forces the East and the West to stall their Cold War and use all that fancy technology they have been developing to fight back.
Sadly this isn't easy as tension is still high and many are certain that as soon as a opportunity presents itself someone will be backstabbed.
Situation Number 2 follows the idea that a new party is introduced, a Portal Opens up in the world and from there out spew men in metal suits of armor, riding large beasts with various other humanoid creatures who declare this section a new part of The Empire. The UN sends in Peacekeepers to clean up the situation as best as possible and rescue as many civilians as they can.
In short it's like the events in Gate only with the Fantasy world not so hopelessly outclassed by the modern world what with the magic being powerful and mundane enough to match most soldiers and weapons and the tech level being high enough that industrial mining and refining facilities exist. There is lot more focus on the politics of the rest of the world as a alternate plane of existence has appeared. The US and Russia both try to be civil and gain a new ally with the possibility of new land. And a lot less Otakus.
In both situations the tech and weaponry is advanced to deal with a new situation and the story is really focused on how the humans that get saddled up with said situation feels.
I am leaning towards the Fantasy Idea more because honestly I feel it's a interest situation and I'm worried about being too cliche with the Alien Invasion situation.
So. Ideas?