Post originally by Matthijs Holter at 2005-02-11 01:31:02
Converted from Phorums BB System

Paul,

well, yeah, but no. First of all, not everyone knows what a good story is. Second, people will disagree strongly across cultures and timesabout what a good story is. Third, just knowing what a good story is when you hear it doesn't enable you to construct one. I can appreciate art without being able to produce it.

I'm guessing that most Uni players will come from pretty much the same Hollywood-based storytelling culture, which makes it very easy to construct a story - the template is well-known and easy to apply. So it draws on what we've learned about stories. But what if one of the players wants a radically different tale? If he wants to tell a story like "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun, or "A doll's house" by Ibsen, or anything else that doesn't fit into the most basic plot structure?

My point isn't that Universalis has to produce high art. But my point is that in saying nothing about story structure, it defaults to the lowest common denominator. Which can be great fun, don't get me wrong. However, I think it could benefit from add-ons showing different potential story types, as an inspiration.