Fluff Wars: 40k vs. Star Wars vs. Starcraft

[vk]

Ok, got into a fight with my bro and friend.

My bro says Star Wars has the most impressive fluff against 40k and SC.

My friend says SC.

I say 40k.

What is your opinion.

Of course, to add in more fun.

Let's do what Factpile does.

God Emperor of Man/Malal vs. Jim Raynor vs. Darth Vader.

Just for fun.

GEOM is Pre-Horus Heresy.

Jim is in his usual Marine armour and with his handy dandy sniper rifle.

Darth Vader is Pre-Machine form.

GO GO GO!

[jundswarmmaster]

Star Wars has the most expensive fluff hand down; hundreds of books, 4+ television series, 30+ video games, multiple graphic novels, many, many comic book series, and the 6 movies of course.

Also Boba Fett would totally beat all of them...

[vk]

Him and the Star Crusher......

[vodimier]

In a pure matter of how much fluff there is, I would have to concede to star wars, but in the matter of quality of fluff, my vote is with starcraft.

I kind of feel 40k's premise of "this takes place 40,000 years in the future" is kind of cheating, though that isn't as bad as kind of laying an overview of things like "over the course of this many years, man forgot how to create machines and now worships them as spirits". That in of itself always seemed strange.

Starcraft, on the other hand, takes time to explain from current times all the way to the start of the campaign. Though their premise that ancient gods created two of these races could be seen in a way as cheating as well, I feel the way that they describe how each race matures and evolves is something I am impressed with.

anyway, just my two cents.

[aramil]

I'm not a big Star Wars fan, so I can't really comment on it.

In terms of 40K v Starcraft: Starcraft wins hands down. 40K seems to suffer from having everything that's supposed to happen already planned out. That means you can't do much of anything with it plot-wise. Not that there's much to do plot-wise anyway. It's mostly just: Space Marines work to prevent humanity's eventual distruction. When entire worlds getting destroyed means very little (seeing as it seems to happen with surprising frequency) I lose interest.

Now, Starcraft isn't by any means without reproach. However, it has a solid story line and can actually progress somewhere. It might not have the extensive material in terms of races and gear that 40K does, but it makes up for it by having more depth.

[The New AIDS]

I like 40,00 the most, as it is the grittiest and the most visceral. Blizzard have a habit of stealing ideas, and while they do it so obviously that no one minds, it pisses me off, and while I like SC fluff, it's pretty lack lustre.

Star wars on the other hand has no grit or darkness. It's to black and white and way too simple. There isn't enough complexity.

The 40,000 fluff has its own problems, but I feel it is the most intellectually developed and the least simple, as well as being the most evocative.

[N.I.B.]

Starwars and Starcraft fluff is for kids. 40,000 background > all.

[Hive Carnithrope]

A long time ago...

...yet somehow still in the future.

I have often wondered how this worked. Did the Romans have Starships and a huge, galaxy spanning empire that just dissappeared overnight then everyone forgot about all the aliens etc and became Peasants?

I'm confused...

[zephoid]

None of them have all that great of fluff. Not compared to some of the better scifi books. Revelation space, Pandora's star, The Dreaming Void, Enders Game, Foundation, even Armor are all better scifi books.

Dont look to popular TV/game series for good scifi book series. Its really not there.

[vk]

Jun 13, 2011 15:55:56 GMT zephoid said:

None of them have all that great of fluff. Not compared to some of the better scifi books. Revelation space, Pandora's star, The Dreaming Void, Enders Game, Foundation, even Armor are all better scifi books.

Dont look to popular TV/game series for good scifi book series. Its really not there.

Dune beats 40k, Star Wars, and Starcraft all at once.

That or at least some of Go Nagai's or Ken Ishikawa's work.

[Xyver]

Jun 13, 2011 15:29:02 GMT Hive Carnithrope said:

A long time ago...

...yet somehow still in the future.

I have often wondered how this worked. Did the Romans have Starships and a huge, galaxy spanning empire that just dissappeared overnight then everyone forgot about all the aliens etc and became Peasants?

I'm confused...

You're forgetting the "In a galaxy far far away..." part.

Saying that, Star Wars shouldn't have humans in it.

[zephoid]

Jun 13, 2011 17:04:47 GMT vk said:

Dune beats 40k, Star Wars, and Starcraft all at once.

Dune started out well, but it REALLY started to drag fast. There just wasnt enough material they were willing to go into to continue the plot in conceivable ways. They needed to expand to the world outside of dune more.

[jason2250]

Starwars hands down. Scratching the surface there you are seeing more than ten thousand years of history where most all of the major occurrences are written. There is more StarWars fluff than Dune, StarCraft, and 40k combined not to mention all the books, games, and comics that are available. It has a unique "magic" system, more races than the previous listed universes combined, and the coolest weapons ever seen (Lightsabers are freaking wicked!!)

I love Dune and have read all of Frank Herberts stuff. His son does him no justice.

I have played all of SC and while it has a cool collection of characters it isn't amazing outside of gameplay.

The 40k universe is short and sweet and sells lots of games but couldn't touch StarWars in a hundred years.

Paul

[yuiiut]

Jun 13, 2011 15:55:56 GMT zephoid said:

. Revelation space, Pandora's star, The Dreaming Void, Enders Game, Foundation,

[The New AIDS]

If we're going to combine genuine Sci fi series, which are created fro fluff, this argument is not going to work.

That being said though, 40,000 does have a lot of wasetd potential, and the focus on marines chokes the fluff somewhat. If the fluff had an expanded focus, it would be much better.

And as for starwars winning, I disagree. Quantity doesn't win over quality, and as I've previously stated, everything in that universe is to simple, too black and white. It's all archetypical black and white morality, and if you delve into the actual politics, that's dull as well. Star wars also lacks any element of dystopia, which 40,000 has in abundance. One of my favourite things about 40,000 is that all the factions are evil. Even the tau are genocidal space communists who won't take no for an answer.