Story telling is both the most important part of a role playing game and the most common poorly designed aspect of the game. Here I will talk about a few ways to create more complex story lines and possible ways to generate fresh ideas.
In most rpgs the player is tasked with saving the world, galaxy or universe in most cases and although this gives the player a great feeling of importance it has been used far too much. I spent much time thinking how to develop better story line and gain a fresh aspect on the role playing experience. The best ways I have discovered are to think outside the box and try exploring concepts or areas that might appear simple to your eyes but with some simple development could grow into a very complex and detail story.
One of the great tools I used was to create or design an intellectual property and from that fleshed out history, characters, places, races and even cultures. From this information I have a living breathing world in which I could pull resources to develop plot with. Past experiences could be drawn on to enhance the story or change the player’s perspective on what is happening. It may even be of use to complete a task that is of great difficulty.
The structure of the plot is also of great importance for example many role playing games have a main plot and several less involved side stories which can be engaged if they so desire. I don't believe this is this best design. If you have ever played the nights of the old republic games you can see that having several interconnect plots can be of greater enjoyment. When there are some common links to other stories or experiences the player feels as if they are exploring the world and the plot by delving deeper into the world and all its inhabitants. You see characters should not be placed at random but be designed to play a role just like any character does think of each character as having a purpose to push forward the story just like a novel does.
Getting back to themes or concepts you could consider possibilities could be life/death, events of the world maybe some sort of strange political happenings have occurred, the environment and all its laws i.e. maybe the rules have gone wild gravity is changing or the sky is fading, Beliefs and culture are good ones that can open all sorts of avenues for plot. So if you’re stuck sit down and think about what is around you and what could be explored in a fictional world.
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2 comments:
I will agree with you on the fact that stories are key to RPGs and alternate storylines--not just side quests--make for a much better experience. Perhaps it is the game writer's inability to understand the malleability of the medium? Or perhaps they are so hellbent on a particular series of events and method of character development that they aren't willing to deviate from that development.
Another thing to consider, though, (and I don't mean to play the devil's advocate) is that the with the budget of games skyrocketing, it's harder to facilitate multiple stories in games with the current development practices. It may often require more art assets and animations that could potentially add on thousands if not millions of dollars to the development cost.
This is true it is probably why the only chance of story and character development growin are from the indiependent scene. If people would give the process some thought I look outside the box a lot can be acheived
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