Foundry 2409 Continuity/Synopsis/Lore

ashebyrne

Hello all,

Long time viewer / listener - returned player and 1st time attempt at foundry. Whilst I have been playing around with my idea I thought about all that has come before not in the game per se but what everyone has written.

Would it be a good idea to put down somewhere what has gone on in all foundry missions to form a sort of non-canon foundry memory beta? is this something that people would like to have?

In a way the latest podcast talking about missions in the past - the Road to 2409 - made me think that if this was done it would be good if this was Foundry-canon (maybe even STO canon - it would be good if the main game referred to Foundry missions as well)

Anyway just thought I would initially post something and if I need any help i'll ask re my foundry mission

thay8472

Could be fun to have I suppose.

drogyn1701

An interesting idea. Would take community-wide participation to fill up a wiki though, and someone knowledgeable about how those work to start it.

I think someone tried to do a wiki before, but just for mission titles/descriptions.

djxprime

I wonder if that was what the old Star Trek Online Geekipedia was for. I remember it was a wiki where you could list your characters, but I don't remember if it featured anything about Foundry missions. Unfortunately, it was taken down within the last year or so.

markhawkman

Actually... STOWIKI has pages related to foundry stuff.

ashebyrne

So how many foundry missions would people say have been created?

I understand that this would not be an exact number but i would guess that there are a few regular creators with a few with a handful to one. If its a fair number then perhaps its not worth it or just a quick search of the ugc website would get the information needed?

thegreendragoon1

ashebyrne wrote: »

So how many foundry missions would people say have been created?

This is a HIGHLY anecdotal answer, but I'd say some where in the tens of thousands. But really as the known Foundry community is likely only a small fraction of actual Foundry authors, it's next to impossible to say.

ashkrik23

So are you suggesting a wiki with the foundry mission lore being in one universe?

ashebyrne

I see it more Memory beta stuff - though it could be argued that actually for the purposes of the game whatever we come up with is sort of STO canon. To be honest I do figure this is a personal thing. In part if ever I create anything when I tabletop I need to know what the world is like etc -i.e what I call the 'fluff' of the world. In coming up with ideas for the foundry mission I've been utilising the wikis out there but I thought I wonder what others have written.

Then listening to the latest podcast where they were throwing around the concept of creating historical foundry missions and made me think that a log of missions / timeline (albeit very rough) would be interesting.

paxfederatica

ashebyrne wrote: »

I see it more Memory beta stuff - though it could be argued that actually for the purposes of the game whatever we come up with is sort of STO canon. To be honest I do figure this is a personal thing. In part if ever I create anything when I tabletop I need to know what the world is like etc -i.e what I call the 'fluff' of the world. In coming up with ideas for the foundry mission I've been utilising the wikis out there but I thought I wonder what others have written.

Then listening to the latest podcast where they were throwing around the concept of creating historical foundry missions and made me think that a log of missions / timeline (albeit very rough) would be interesting.

While the equivalent of a Memory Beta wiki for Foundry content could work, I don't think it could reasonably be based on the premise that all Foundry content belongs to the same continuum. Just because it is all derived from the STO storyline, the Path to 2409 and/or established Trek canon doesn't mean it's all compatible with each other.

The same holds true of any other IP's "expanded universe" (which is basically what Foundry content is to STO) - you could easily have two or more stories derived from the same established premises but end up in completely different places, with no apparent way to reconcile them so that they can both be considered part of the same continuum. So, any "expanded universe" wiki such as the one you're proposing would have to include the caveat that there's bound to be a ton of conflicts between stories covered therein.

ashkrik23

I am sure that the majority of foundry missions would break each other's canon.

bazag

I would definitely like a memory beta style wiki. However as long as we recognize that there is simply no way to enforce it NIR that we should even try to force it thrn. I see no problem. It should be a resource with things like characters, ability's, locations and unusual tech stuff for people to look at and see if it fits with their mission and what doesn't. Allow authors to pick and choose.

wombat140

Yes, the existing missions surely contradict each other all over the place, there'd certainly be no point expecting new missions to try and follow the "canon" they set down. (The front page should say that in very big letters, otherwise you'd just be worrying new authors making them think that they're somehow supposed to take account of everything that's mentioned about whatever their theme is!)

But I do think that it would actually still be good, even so. As Bazag says, people could look up other missions featuring the things that are going to be in theirs, and bring in things they liked from those missions - tie-ins are always fun. For example, I'm writing a mission about an ESP experiment, which is part of a secret research effort called "Project ESPER" - "Project ESPER" is taken from XerosArmera's mission "Mind Games" (not to be confused with Bazag's mission "Mind Games"). Different research team and volunteers, different experiment, but players who've seen "Mind Games" will recognise the name.

For those who haven't, I plan to say what mission "Project ESPER" is originally from, and recommend it, in an "acknowledgments" box at the end; that would probably be a good practice for anyone else doing tie-ins like this.

paxfederatica

wombat140 wrote: »

"Project ESPER" is taken from XerosArmera's mission "Mind Games" (not to be confused with Bazag's mission "Mind Games").

Neither of which are to be confused with Cryptic's Romulan Republic mission "Mind Games".

ashebyrne

Your all right - we don't want to lose people's creativity so maybe not as canon (though arguably Star Trek itself contradicts each other with books etc). Though even if we just have a list of what foundry missions have been and where they took place may help in seeing what people have written about.

Just to ask - Have a lot of missions have gone? - I have had an initial look at lists of what people have created and compared to what's in game. how long do the foundry missions stay in there? When are they removed (do they return)?