Castle Paradox

Mr B · Joined: 20 Mar 2003 Posts: 382

I found this online. It is a link to a short essay on storylining. Although the essay itself is more-or-less irrelevant to the OHR, the list of the 36 types of storylines is worthwhile.

http://www.io.com/~jlockett/RPG/HEGGA/Stuff/frp-plots.html

It makes you think -- if RPGs tend to be the 'daring enterprise' storyline, how much more room there is for other types of things! Of course, a good storyline would probably make use of several of these elements.

Hmm...

Setu_Firestorm · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2003 2:02 pm Post subject:

Oh, man, Mr. B! This is so sad.

And it's sad because it's true.
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Rinku · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 690

this is another one of those 'too abstract to matter' type categorizations. it tells you types of conflicts, but not types of plots -- plots are often much more complex than these. for example, final fantasy 6 has at least fifteen of these types of plots at different points in its story. pursuit? check. disaster? check. revolt? check. abduction? check. madness? check. etc. etc. see what i mean?

for actual improvement in plot ability it'd be more fruitful to (a) read fiction and (b) read books on fiction writing, such as john gardner's stuff. screenplay writing books are also useful because game stories are often written in the form of screenplays.

but even there, that only applies to linear plots. if you want to write non-linear plots (which is what games deserve), it takes a bit more work -- you might begin by reading choose-your-own-adventure books.
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Mr B · Joined: 20 Mar 2003 Posts: 382

Too abstract to matter in what sense? Because you couldn't take all of the plots and get a ready-made storyline? I don't think so...

I didn't mean it to solve all of the storyline 'problems.' It's just that, by seeing other plots, fresh life might be brought into the realm of the story.

What if the conflict with the final boss was because of "All Sacrificed for Passion?" (instead of "Madness" or "Ambition")

I know that I am often stuck in a rut that I don't even recognize because I haven't seen beyond the stereotype. Looking at other plot elements helps me realize that there are other possibilities.