Mike Mearls, in his LJ, posted a very smart, insightful, and useful observation about something called a "core story" and how it relates to RPGs. (The post can be found here.)
Mike Mearls, in his LJ, posted a very smart, insightful, and useful observation about something called a "core story" and how it relates to RPGs. (The post can be found here.)
I was just going to post a link to his entry.
Yeah, very interesting. I was thinking that lack of a "core story" is one of the reasons why Blue Planet, a great game, fails to engage a lot of players. They can't see what it's "about."
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Wolfspider
"What would a HYBRID LARP look like, I wonder? A room full of people sitting at folding tables, hammering at graphing calculators and screaming in frustration?" --Servitor_2152
"Someone asked me yesterday if Dracula met Saruman and there was a fight, who would win. I just looked at this man. What an idiotic thing to say. I mean, really, it was half-witted." -- Christopher Lee
Last edited by Wolfspider; 05-29-2005 at 04:41 PM..
I think we generally refer to this as "usual playstyle" here on RPG.net.
i.e. "The usual playstyle of D&D is to gather a group of adventurers, leave civilization for dangerous locales, kill opposition & take their stuff, gaining power and trinkets, then return to civilization to sell it."
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I agree that core-story is what most RPGs are all about, and why they appeal to certain groups. My gaming group, for example is attracted to RPGs with strong metaplots, and/or core-stories. But they are also combat/action oriented, hence they choose games which have both characteristics, in the order I mentioned them.
Such as: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Heavy Gear.
They dislike power-gamer games, roleplay heavy games, or gamist games.
Such as: Exalted, Vampire and D&D.
All 6 games I've mentioned have strong core-stories, you pretty much know exactly what to expect. But, different groups want different things.
Even games like Buffy and Star Trek have core-stories, althought i view them as somewhat weak.
What about games without a core-story? Like RIFTS? Seriously folks, what the fuck do you DO in RIFTS??? theres just TOO much magic/technology.
What about games without a core-story? Like RIFTS? Seriously folks, what the fuck do you DO in RIFTS??? theres just TOO much magic/technology.
"A group of adventuring freaks go out, with their phat loot, and travel away from Civilization into the wilds. They come across absurd foes, and blow the crap out of them. They then return home with even more phat loot. And do the same next week."
It's really easy to be a genius, considering. You need to be in the 99.7th percentile, meaning that just over one in three hundred people are geniuses. Slightly higher than that in areas with higher than average education... like the West.
None the less, this is one of those things that's a real eye-opener, if you've never seen it before. Then it's just nifty, because it's still true.
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Would the Exalted-heads please assemble so we can apply this concept to Exalted?
I think the core story of Exalted is:
"A circle of Solar Exalts assemble for mutual protection against the Realm, they then wander through Creation fighting great and powerful opponents while learning to control and expand their own power." (Core book standard)
This sometimes then grows into other stories, such as "The Exalts are finally powerful enough that they do not have to hide from the Realm, but start politics on a grand scale and/or raise armies to remake the world in their image" (Bull of the North style) and/or "The Exalts find that those who they hated are not their real enemies, and must learn to overcome the prejudices of the past to face the real threat that will blow up the world" (Empress Returns style).
The core story of DB's is "a group of still noble DBs assembles in order to fight evil forces on the outside while trying to hold up the crumbling and decadent empire from the inside."
Lunars is something along the lines of "a group of barbarian outcasts from civilization gathers together to form a pack to gain respect from their elders and fight against the evils of both civilization and the wild."
And so on.
Edit: It's also worth noting that I've seen a lot of Exalted games that not only follow core stories similar to those, but that have a very similar structure that goes something like: Introduction / Kicker Scene, Personal Scene, Information Dump, Panorama Shot, Set Piece, Personal Scene, Information Dump, Panorama Shot, Personal Scene, Set Piece, Personal Scene, Final Set Piece.
So you start off presenting an epic level challange (something has gone wrong, you have a chance to make something right, the Realm is after you, you have a chance to stick it to a Death lord) in your Introduction.
You then mix in: Personal Scenes in which players are both free to develop their own sub-plots and deepen their personal involvement in the current plot; Panorama Shots in which something huge, cool, or impressive is revealed and displayed (floating islands, teleporting tombs, endless forests, etc); Information Dumps in which players have a chance to learn things either about their enemy, themselves, or opportunities for either politics and power; and Set Piece scenes in which players have combats (sometimes social, often physical) in spectacular locations with spectacular foes.
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- Brand Robins
Last edited by Brand_Robins; 05-29-2005 at 05:52 PM..
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