[WIP] Letters From Home Mod

[GoldenRivet]

A work in progress as an addition to SH3 Commander by JScones

A mod by:

GoldenRivet
TheDudTorpedo
UnderSeaLcpl
Contact
Chad
Sharkley
Brag
TorpedoMo
Archive1

Currently, the Letters from home mod is a work in progress which, is intended to serve as a total immersion mod by functioning through SH3 Commander.

Letters From Home will provide your Kaluen with an option to check mail at the start of each patrol while in port.

Letters will develop a story line for your family, friends, parents, wives or girlfriends or even your children. Sometimes mail will be held up by allied air raids, in later war years you may not hear from your family at all... and sometimes... your entire family may even be killed in an air raid.

The goal of the Letters from home mod is to not only provide you with something to look forward while being in port between missions... but it is also meant to tell a story of the second world war that is often overlooked; The interpersonal relationship between those at home and those abroad.

The mod is loosely planned to work as follows:

A high number of random story lines are currently in development.

once these story lines are complete (made so by a series of letters that moves the story line along) they will be submitted to JScones for inclusion into a release of SH3 Commander.

when you start a new career in 1939, your commander will be randomly assigned one of these story lines. As the war rages on, the story line will develop in a logical sequence until the completion of the war.

Will your family survive the allied air raids?

will the bomb shelter in your parents basement hold together?

will the advance of the Russian front well into your home town separate you from your family for untold decades as Germany is devided into East and West?

the answers lie in the storied pages of... Letters from home.

progress to be posted in this thread

EDIT: UPDATED 4/11/2009 1955 HOURS CENTRAL USA

[GoldenRivet]

We are still taking volunteers.

if you are interested in participating, please visit:

Tonnage Wars - Index

sign up and and look for the Mod workshop forum

[von schatten]

Fantastic idea. Looking forward to this one.

[HW3]

What a outstanding idea! Like von schatten, looking forward to this one.

[Sharkley]

Here is a great timeline for WW2, this one deals with the battle for the Atlantic. May be of use in storylines etc.

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

[UnderseaLcpl]

@ Sharkley- thanks for the timeline


So.....can we discuss plotlines and stuff here? Or do we have to keep them secret?

[Sharkley]

My thought would be to make them public without diving into to much detail unless needed or asked for.

I mean the history is already written so plot lines should follow this to some degree..

[GoldenRivet]

limited publicity i would think.

for example i have developed the characters a wife for the kaluen in my story line, his parents and a baby boy. his friend Josef always seems to be out to sea and is sending him little notes now and then about his victories and challenges at sea.

the wife sends news from home, occasionally mentioning the childs first steps or first words etc etc or she may reflect on old times she had with the player in peace time.

our goal is to develop the idea that the player who takes the time to read these letters from home will eventually begin to care for the character - and when letters stop coming, or are delayed for a mission or two - the player should hopefully start thinking "man- i wonder what is going on? i have not been getting any letters from home"

of course like any good book or story you dont give away the ending or hint at it too much... but there are numerous plot outcomes possible

either the family has escaped bombing raids into the country, or they are constantly on the move from advancing fronts, or perhaps they have been tragically killed im a bombing raid?

there are dozens of possibilities.

EDIT:

a word about time lines... i have been using a similar time line to that which sharkley posted however a word of caution which you already may know... some of the events of the war the characters may not hear of for a few days if at all... so for example, if a U-boat sinks or the USA signs the lend lease agreement - the german mother character might not know of these things.

just something to think about

[UnderseaLcpl]

That all sounds reasonable, but it is too bad we can't share plotline ideas too much, we might be able to come up with some good stuff and keep from giving the player too much of the same. I trust that will be fixed in the editing process if it happens.

I have one more question, though. Can we set up an email account to send these things or do we have to use PM? The text limits on PM make it hard to send more than two month's worth of correspondence at one time. Also, what kind of timetable are we working with here?

[Sharkley]

In order to do that a "Private" forum would be needed for a select few.

I guess it could be done if we ask nice enough to the mods or create a board somewhere else on a temp basis.

[Sailor Steve]

Looks like it might be a good one! Best of luck to the writers.

[TarJak]

Can't wait! Great idea fellas.

[Archive1]

Seems like an interesting idea. How do you intend to handle the existence of heavy censorship by the Security Service? Not only would the 'folks at home' not know about a great deal of stuff (except via clandestine radio and the BBC) but they would have been precluded from divulging events considered useful knowledge to the Allies - eg, the results of a local bombing raid, the transfer or frontline experience of a family member ("Your brother, Kurt, was recently injured in the retreat from Benghazi last month." etc)

How will the 'letter' appear onscreen? As a popup? I would suppose that Scones will be the guru for that since they will be part of his commander program.

Is the group listed at the beginning the entire group writing, or are you accepting volunteers with some writing experience and a reasonable command of the language?

I should think that the writing group will be rather small and, thus, able to communicate via personal email. Perhaps a free email account used by all - such as Lycos, Qmail, hotmail, Juno or some equivalent - would suffice. In that case writers can move product around the horn with ease and rapidity and keep the suspense behind the tapestry, as it were. I would not broadcast too much to the sim world or the randomness and mystery will be at least diluted if not destroyed.

Might be helpful to see if one can involve a female writer. Hairy males are at a disadvantage when it comes to simulating "Anna" or "Schwester Liese" or a mother.

I seem to remember Scones working on an Award Project in which certificates equivalent to awards would somehow become part of the Commander's file. Perhaps this would substitute for that.

Archive1

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

That all sounds reasonable, but it is too bad we can't share plotline ideas too much, we might be able to come up with some good stuff and keep from giving the player too much of the same. I trust that will be fixed in the editing process if it happens.

I have one more question, though. Can we set up an email account to send these things or do we have to use PM? The text limits on PM make it hard to send more than two month's worth of correspondence at one time. Also, what kind of timetable are we working with here?

Set up a free email account at yahoo with a password. Once the account is set up give the Password via PM to those involved in your great project. Each of you then would be able to check/add daily to the account. Downside is only one password so you would all share and manage the email.

Good luck.

[GoldenRivet]

("Your brother, Kurt, was recently injured in the retreat from Benghazi last month." etc)

LFH MOD translates this as "Your Brother, Kurt, Has not been heard from for almost two months now." or similar message. Occasionally, the sensors will in fact heavily edit a message from home

How will the 'letter' appear onscreen? As a popup? I would suppose that Scones will be the guru for that since they will be part of his commander program.

this has not been finalized and will ultimately be up to JScones... however, my thinking is that there will be an addition to the menu where you can select "update your personnel file, manage your crew, review your patrol logs, CHECK MAIL." or some similar function.

Is the group listed at the beginning the entire group writing, or are you accepting volunteers with some writing experience and a reasonable command of the language?

so far, yes. more volunteers are needed, ideally as much as 15 total would be good but probably not more than that.

I should think that the writing group will be rather small and, thus, able to communicate via personal email. Perhaps a free email account used by all - such as Lycos, Qmail, hotmail, Juno or some equivalent - would suffice. In that case writers can move product around the horn with ease and rapidity and keep the suspense behind the tapestry, as it were. I would not broadcast too much to the sim world or the randomness and mystery will be at least diluted if not destroyed.

Im looking into options for alternative means of communication, however with the Easter Holiday holidays we are on a bit of a slow weekend to start with. Im open to suggestions at this point and we should have something resolved by the end of the week.

Might be helpful to see if one can involve a female writer. Hairy males are at a disadvantage when it comes to simulating "Anna" or "Schwester Liese" or a mother.

This i have considered but i can only work with those who volunteer. I guess as players of SH3 and as males - we sort of know what sort of things we want to hear from our "Annas and Elizabeths" at least one of our members has military experience and is used to reading these letters - we all know what sort of things moms say when they write to us or call