Story Structure

One of the most important changes in my approach to RPGs since discovering the self-published RPG niche involves story structure. By story structure, I mean the framework and pacing of the events narrated in the game. Indie games like Primetime Adventures, Dread, and Fiasco have led me to reflect on how this pacing occurs in a game and have helped me address something I disliked about my previous game experiences.

(Now, in the interest of full-disclosure, I have an English degree, and my parents would say that I have been telling stories for a long, long time, so I have probably spent more time thinking about what goes into a good story that your average John Q. Half-Orc Barbarian. But I'm going to intentionally describe what I've learned without using technical terms like five act structure or denouement.)

Essentially, what I've learned about story structure is that it is always best to skip to the interesting part. By interesting part, I mean anything that actually involves tension for the characters and that is, therefore, fun for the players to work through. Anything that involves actual risk or reward is interesting. Anything that simply advances the timeline is not. Back when the neighborhood boys were playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the RPG, we assumed that the GM should narrate a story chronologically. If the characters had to wait for the big boss to arrive, the GM would describe how we sat around, not doing anything interesting. The players would say (in a Ben Stein-like voice), "and we're waiting, and we're waiting..."

It came to me as something of a revelation that we could simply cut scene and skip to the interesting part of the story. Assuming we had finished our preparations for battle, the GM could simply say, "Five hours later, you feel the earth begin to tremble and the door to your hideout begin to shake." This ability to cut scenes could have saved us from narration of boring events, and given us more time for mutant ninjitsu action!

Furthermore, games like Primetime Adventures, Dread, and Fiasco have story structure built right in. In Primetime Adventures, the players know the general shape of a campaign/season, and they know which player characters will be the focus for individual game session. Fan mail helps the players to encourage each other to be interesting storytellers. Players have an incentive not to spend time on the boring parts of the story that they could narrate, but instead to skip to the interesting parts. Similarly, in Dread, we know that the game will last for only one session. We know that tension will slowly increase throughout the story, and we can make educated guesses as to when characters are starting to risk death. Thirdly, in Fiasco, there is an explicitly drama-geek-esque pacing mechanic that tells us when the story is half over, and what will make the second half of the story more intense than the first. The structure of the game itself discourages players from describing anything except the moments of tension for the characters, when they have something to gain or something to lose.

Now whether or not I'm playing a game that specifically encourages skipping to the interesting parts, I try my best to do so. Certainly, were I to find myself playing TMNT again, I would do my best to push the story from one action-packed scene to the next. If the GM needs a break in order to gather his thoughts, that's great, but there is no reason to spend time on parts of the story that no one finds interesting.

Maybe you think it's silly that this was a revelation for me. Or maybe you have had a similar discovery about improving story structure in your games. Let me know.

Write it Right

Ambrose Bierce

I have recently been reading Write It Right by Ambrose Bierce, an American short story writer, punctilious grammarian, and wry wit. In this book, Mr. Bierce delineates a blacklist of improper, or at least misused terms. He states his intent as follows:

The author's main purpose in this book is to teach precision in writing; and of good writing (which, essentially, is clear thinking made visible) precision is the point of capital concern. It is attained by choice of the word that accurately and adequately expresses what the writer has in mind, and by exclusion of that which either denotes or connotes something else. As Quintilian puts it, the writer should so write that his reader not only may, but must, understand.

I highly recommend this list, as it is both helpful and humorous to writers who wish to improve the accuracy of their speech. Some of the blacklisted terms have become acceptable to professional English speakers in the past 100 years. It's no surprise that some terms considered slang in 1909 are now acceptable. For example "an hotel" and "an hero" have been replaced by "a hotel" and "a hotel" in American English. Here, however, are just a few of the blacklisted words which still vex careful editors today:

• Anticipate for Expect. "I anticipate trouble." To anticipate is to act on an expectation in a way to promote or forestall the event expected.

• Fail. "He failed to note the hour." That implies that he tried to note it, but did not succeed. Failure carries always the sense of endeavor; when there has been no endeavor there is no failure. A falling stone cannot fail to strike you, for it does not try; but a marksman firing at you may fail to hit you; and I hope he always will.

• Have Got for Have. "I have got a good horse" directs attention rather to the act of getting than to the state of having, and represents the capture as recently completed. [We Midwesterners are particularly guilty of overusing "get" -JJ]

• In for Into. "He was put in jail." "He went in the house." A man may be in jail, or be in a house, but when the act of entrance--the movement of something from the outside to the inside of another thing--is related the correct word is into if the latter thing is named.

• Occasion for Induce, or Cause. "His arrival occasioned a great tumult." As a verb, the word is needless and unpleasing. 

• Poisonous for Venomous. Hemlock is poisonous, but a rattlesnake is venomous.

• Ways for Way. "A squirrel ran a little ways along the road." "The ship looked a long ways off." This  surprising word calls loudly for depluralization.

• Unique. "This is very unique." "The most unique house in the city." There are no degrees of uniqueness: a thing is unique if there is not another like it. The word has nothing to do with oddity, strangeness, nor picturesqueness.

Plot Types Part Eight

Rebirth

This is the final basic plot type. In this plot type, the hero faces a powerful threat that eventually kills him (literally or figuratively). He endures this state of death until it seems that it has become permanent, but then, incredibly, he is reborn or revived. Some authors consider this to be the female equivalent of the male Epic Quest. (I don't buy that, but it does seem common to have a male hero on a quest.)

Examples: Sleeping Beauty, The Matrix

Stages

1. Awaking to Trouble

The immature hero falls under the influence of a malevolent threat.

2. Fighting For Normal

The hero’s life goes reasonably well, and the threat seems to have faded to the background.

3. The Sleep of Death

The threat asserts its power over the hero, so that the hero enters a living death.

4. Loss of Hope

This state continues until it seems that the power of the malevolent threat is completely victorious.

5. Kiss of Life

The hero is miraculously reborn or revived, often by an innocent character of the opposite gender. 

Plot Types Part Seven

Tragedy

The hero, who begins as part of the community, becomes increasingly separated from others, and in the process causes some others (and usually himself) to suffer.

Examples: Romeo and Juliet

Common Victims Include

A. The Nice Old Man

B. The Hero’s Rival

D. The Tempting Woman (who participates in the hero’s destructive path)

Stages

1. Dangerous Desire

The hero is incomplete/unsatisfied and hopes for some future unusual gratification. Some object/desire/plan appears, and his energies have found a focus

2. Dream

Hero becomes committed to his course of action, and for a while things go improbably well. He seems to be “getting away with it.”

3. Frustration

Things begin to go subtly wrong. The hero can’t rest, and may need to commit “darker acts” to ensure continued success. A shadowy figure may begin to threaten the hero.

4. Nightmare

Things are now slipping seriously out of the hero’s control. He feels threatened and despairs. Fate/opposition is closing in on him.

5. Destruction or Death Wish

Either the forces that the hero has aroused or his own final act of violence destroys him. 

Plot Types Part Six

Comedy

For those of you who remember your Shakespeare or your Greek history, you already know that comedies are not always funny.* A comedy is a story where the trouble starts strong early on, but eventually a happy ending is achieved. 
Examples: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Princess Bride
This plot type seems less like a neat line and more like a jigsaw puzzle. The story moves the heroes from some kind of division or darkness to wholeness or light. More concretely, the story builds on several conflicts that move the character from danger and disappointment toward happiness. The plot is a series of moments of “recognition” where any of the following may occur:

A. A dark or hard and unloving character experiences either a change of heart or punishment. Either way, the character will cause no more harm.

B. One or more characters reveal his identity, which had been previously concealed.**

C. Emotionally lost or incomplete characters identify and join up with their “other half.”

D. In general, separation is repaired and what was lost is found.

The happy ending cannot occur until all disguises are gone, and all characters are revealed for what they are.

Stages

1. People are confused, upset and separated.

2. The confusion grows until the climax of the story, when everyone is mixed up or messed up.

3. Suddenly the truth is revealed, so that people begin to perceive things in a different way. The situation is no longer gloomy, for the characters have been united.


*Anyone who has watched enough Will Ferrell movies can tell you that American comedies aren't always funny either.
** Once could certainly run a spy game that was essentially a comedy of mistaken identity.

Plot Types Part Five

Tale of a Voyage “There and Back”

Like the Epic Quest, the Tale of a Voyage involves the hero traveling great distances, but here it is the journey itself that is the focus of the story. The hero discovers a world very different from his own, so that when he finally returns home, his perception of his own life has changed.

Example: The Hobbit

Stages

1. Anticipation and “Fall” into the Other World

The hero and his companions stumble out of their familiar, limited existence into a strange new world unlike anything they’ve experienced before.

2. Initial fascination or Dream

Exploration of this new world may be exhilarating, though puzzling. However, it is never a place where the hero feels at home.

3. Frustration

Gradually the mood of the adventure shifts to one of frustration, difficulty, or oppression. A shadow begins to intrude, which becomes increasingly alarming.

4. Nightmare

The shadow becomes so dominating that it seems to pose a serious threat to the hero’s survival.

5. Thrilling Escape and Return

Just when the threat seems to be too much for the hero to bear, they make their escape from the other world back to where they started. The question posed at this point is, “how much has the hero learned/changed from the experience?” Has the hero been fundamentally changed, or was it all ‘just a dream?’

Plot Types Part Four

Epic Quest

The Epic Quest is the most well known plot type among gamers. The hero discovers a great evil, receives the call to stop it, and travels a great distance through harsh trials to meet his goal. (Perhaps one reason this story transfers well into a game is the ease with which it can incorporate allies for the hero. In fiction, this plot type is the one in which the main character is most likely to have traveling companions who are fully developed characters.)

Examples: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars: A New Hope

Stages

1. The Call

Life in some “City of Destruction” has become oppressive, and the hero realizes only he can fix things by making a long, difficult journey. He is given supernatural/visionary direction toward his destination.

2. The Journey

Hero and his companions cross hostile terrain and overcome ordeals, each ending in a thrilling escape. Ordeals alternate with periods of rest and recovery, when hero receives help and advice.

3. Arrival and Frustration

Hero arrives at his goal, but sees a new and terrible series of ordeals/obstacle that must be overcome before he can secure his goal.

4. The Final Ordeals

The hero must go through a last series of tests (often 3) to prove he is worthy. This culminates in the last, great battle/ordeal that may be the most deadly.

5. The Goal

After a last thrilling escape, the hero wins the kingdom, princess, and/or treasure with an assurance of renewed life stretching indefinitely into the future.

Possible Ordeals:

1. Horrific monsters to be overcome

2. Temptations to be resisted

3. Need to travel between two deadly (but different) obstacles

4. Journey through the underworld (hero temporarily transcends the power of death and comes into contact with helpful guiding spirits from the past).